From Our Home to Yours w/ Nancy Campbell

 

Episode 9: Pound your Stakes Deep!

 

Rocky: Welcome to the podcast, FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy: It's lovely to come into your home today, and I send you love from our home. Now this is actually July 4th week. I say “week” because we usually have July 4th day, don't we? But it seems that, in our home, it's a whole week. We've just had such a wonderful week, lots of wonderful folks staying with us and staying with some of our other families on the hilltop. I have with us today, Allison Hartman. She and her husband and their beautiful family of 10 children have been staying with us for the week. They came for July 4th, and we've had a wonderful time together. This morning, they're packing up, ready to go. But before they left, I said, “Allison, you've got to come and talk to the ladies on the pod.” I know you're going to enjoy listening to Allison. They have, as I said, 10 children, such beautiful children, ranging from 19 years down to five months.

Nancy: How did you come to have 10 children? Did you plan that when you started?

Allison: Oh, definitely not, definitely not. When we first got married, we had pretty much agreed to limit it to four. That sounded like a good, reasonable number. And then my mother-in-law actually introduced me to the Above Rubies' magazine. I went to a ladies retreat, and the whole concept of letting God decide the size of our family was new to me, but it made sense. We trust God with everything else in our lives, but most people don't trust Him with the size of their family. That's a little scary to do. So when I went home and shared that with my husband, he was completely on board, and he said he actually had wanted 12 children, but he didn't want to scare me off when we were dating. So we pretty much, at that point, decided to not worry about the numbers, whether we have a large or small family but just basically leave it up to God.

Nancy: And you have been blessed. They have the most wonderful children. Anyway, Allison came to a number of Above Rubies' retreats and then she decided to organize some herself because she is an organizer. I think you put on about three ladies' retreats, and they were just so great because when Allison organizes something, wow, it's power-packed. And now, her and her husband, Daniel, have organized four family Above Rubies retreats down in Panama, right on the beach. And they have just been the most beautiful, wonderful time of families coming together. In fact, they've becomes so popular now. And our Above Rubies family retreats and our ladies retreats are usually just for a weekend, but now this family retreat, it's not enough for them, just a weekend. Although we have the main part of the retreat for the weekend, a good part of the families . . . How many would you say? About 80 percent?

Allison: I would say about 80 percent.

Nancy: Yes. They all come for a whole week to enjoy the fellowship together and enjoy the beautiful sunshine and the beach. You're ready to go for next year?

Allison: We are. We already have probably 20-25 families that have reserved their cabin.

Nancy: When is it next year?

Allison: The end of April. So it'll be April 25th through May 2nd if you're staying the whole week. But the conference itself will be Thursday through Sunday.

Nancy: Yes, it's going to be an exciting time. We had people in this last retreat, this year in April, we had a family that came all the way from New Zealand, right down at the bottom of the world. And they brought, I think they had seven children. Yes, all the way from New Zealand. We had a family drive all the way from Idaho.

Allison: Four days driving.

Nancy: And they want to come again.

Allison: They want to move. They want to move down here.

Nancy: Yes. So anyway, maybe you should start thinking about coming. It'll be such an amazing time. Anyway, now that your children are growing, your oldest daughter is 19, and you also have a family business. Tell the ladies, how do you keep the family together? I know you and Daniel have such a vision to keep your family together. Tell us how you do it in the midst of your busy schedule?

Allison: I think you definitely see a trend with families nowadays coming and going, and one parent takes one to some sport, and another parent takes another. Everybody's everywhere, and there is no unity. And that has been something that Daniel has felt like is so important that he's almost made it like a rule in our house that we will have dinner together. It may be at a restaurant. Very often, it is. It may be just grabbing something quickly, sitting down and eating. But we always try to eat as a family.

We also limit extracurricular. We have three boys that would love to play just about every sport because they love sports. But we've just decided it's not going to work. It's not going to be worth it to have every child on a different ball field at dinner time.

We do let our girls. They're really good in volleyball, so we do play volleyball, but we go as a family. We go and watch them as a family. They go to the same practices and that sort of thing. The other thing we do is, if they come to us and ask, “Hey, can I be a part of this? Can I be a part of that?” My first question is always, is it something we could do as a family? Is that a reasonable activity that isn't going to pull them away from our family for too long? And that's just really been something we have, Daniel has taken it very seriously because we see it's very much a problem I think in today's families.

Nancy: Yes, I agree with you Allison. I do believe, dear ladies, we should make every decision regarding our families or what we're doing with our children or what they want to do while they're under our roof, that every decision we make, we should make it in the light of strengthening families. We should say, “Now, is this going to weaken our family? Is it going to fragment our family? Is it going to make us go in all directions?” If it is, I would say, don't do it. That's your answer. But if it's something that will strengthen your family togetherness, keep you together as a family unit, yes, do it. And I believe we should use that criteria for making the decisions of what we do in our family lives. It's so easy to get pulled by what everybody else does.

We truly are like sheep, aren't we? We follow one another and, of course, what does everybody do today? I mean, in public education, they promote the extra-curricular activities, but same in homeschooling. I see homeschooling mothers totally, oh goodness me, they are so overwhelmed. They're driving their children here and there, to this, to that, to everything, and the family gets fragmented, and I don't believe we have to do it.

Now, maybe you're right in the middle of raising your children, and you think, wow, if I don't do this, my children are not going to grow up well-grounded. They're not going to have all these opportunities. Well, I'm looking at it from a different angle. My children have grown. We're now having great-grandchildren. In fact, we had another little grandbaby born to our family this July 4th week so that was exciting. I'm now looking at it at the other end.

I look at my children. Some of them are in their fifties now. And I see, oh, are they okay because I didn't take them to all these extra-curricular activities? And actually, I didn't, because back in those days I didn't even have an extra car, so I was stuck. I couldn't take them if I wanted to, but if they had to go to something, they had to walk. And, of course, I wouldn't have allowed them anyway if it was going to fragment our family life.

And I look at them today, they are all doing, they are fulfilling what God intended them to. They never missed out on one thing and so don't think you have to do these things. I found that choosing to do that which strengthens the family is the most powerful thing that we can do. In fact, even for family meal times, as Allison said, they make sure they eat together as a family.

I am such a believer in this. And even as our children grew, they left school, they went out into the workforce, but some of them were still living at home. While they were under our roof, they had to be home for the evening meal unless it was something special. Oh, you don't live by rigid rules. There can be special things that happen, and you change the plans. But on a whole, the family habit was we all came together for that evening meal, to strengthen the family.

Let me read you a scripture. I love Isaiah 54:2: “Enlarge the place of your tent and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations. Spare not, lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy stakes." Now, those people were living in tents. I guess you have done a bit of camping. And if you camp in a tent and you don't pull those ropes tight and lengthen them, the tent sags doesn't it? It sags in the middle, and you haven't got much room. To make the most of the room, you've got to pull those ropes really tight and lengthen them as far as you can and strengthen your stakes.

Oh my. I love that word. Can I just give it to you in one or two other translations? I love the New English Translation, and it says: "Pound your stakes deep." I like to take that for my goal in establishing family life. Every decision I make, the way I plan things, it's all POUNDING MY STAKES DEEP. What do you think about that, Allison?

Allison: So good. And I was just thinking, you know, if you do allow your children to get a part of other curricular, they're building relationships with other people outside their family instead of going in the backyard and spending time with their siblings or their cousins or their parents. And those are the relationships we want to strengthen. There's nothing wrong with having friends, but if you're spending so much of your time, you're not strengthening your own family walls. You're strengthening maybe some childhood friendships, but we don't know whether those will even last. Sometimes they do, but very often they don't. I mean, I don't keep up with people.

Nancy: I don't remember one . . . well, I can remember them, but I don't have any association with one childhood friend. But it's family that keeps together.

Another translation, the New English Bible says: "Let out the ropes to the full, drive the pegs home." I like that too. And the Holman translation (HCSB): "Drive your pegs deep." Do you think you could take that today, ladies? Take it as a goal. In everything you do, pound your stakes deep. Make that the motto of your family life so that in everything you do, it's something that strengthens the family.

Now, that actually hits home. You know, many times we think, oh goodness me, I just need time for myself, and I want to get involved in this, and I want to get involved in that. Well, that's okay to a limited extent, but when we're raising a family, we have to be careful, I believe as mothers, not getting too involved so much in all these other outside things that we're pulled to get involved in. Because that takes us away from the family, that fragments the family, and sometimes women are involved in things that take them even away from family meal times. Sometimes they're even working at a family meal time. My, that's when the mother needs to be there. This is where we're pounding our stakes in deep, and this is what we've got to do. Oh, you have a lifetime. Your children are going to grow. This time of raising them, you may think it's going on and on at this moment. But my, as I look back, it was just like one blink of my eye. Oh, I am just so grateful that I was there with my children, and I just wanted to pound the stakes in.

And so be encouraged to do that today, precious ladies. I've got to ask you another question, but before I do, I must tell you, we had the greatest July 4th. The night before we finished putting in a volleyball court. Over the last five days or so the young people haven't gotten off the court until it is pitch dark. I mean, I look out in the morning, and they're playing; they're playing there until it's dark. And Allison's children are pretty good volleyball players. We had all these Floridians with us, and we had the competitions between the Tennesseans and the Floridians, and it was pretty hot competition, but they just played often. I mean, I think yesterday I was out watching them in the afternoon, and they were just teams going back and forth, and they had to make up teams because there were about 36 young people who wanted to be on the teams.

In fact, Friday night we had a potluck, with just our families on the hilltop and those staying with us, and we had counted 84, and then we had a big quiz which was so fun and then we had improv. The young people have been having a glorious time together. It's so wonderful, isn't it, for young people to meet with other godly young people?

Allison: Those are relationships that were built from the Above Rubies' family camp.

Nancy: That's true.

Allison: They've been going for years and years and really building friendships with these other people.

Nancy: Can I tell you a secret? My dream is that at our Above Rubies' family camps, there will be young people who meet one another, and God brings couples together. I can't think of any more wonderful place and that's why we encourage the families to bring their young people. Our grandson, Zadok, gets with the young people and inspires them. Colin and I met at a family camp, and I guess that's why I think, what a wonderful place to meet.

Now, let's talk about other things your children do. You really encourage them to get into businesses, don't you? Even at a young age. Tell us about some of them.

Allison: Yeah, we do. Obviously, we are self-employed, and we own a photography business, which they all help out with that, and it's become a real family business.

 

Nancy: It's amazing. The whole family goes?

Allison: We do. As they get older, I get more employees out of it too because this past Easter, which is one of our busiest seasons, we didn't have any employees outside the family. All of my little ones, from our seven-year-old on up, they had a different job.

We really encourage them to, if they're interested in something or they feel like they have a product or a service that they can market, we try to encourage them to do that. So one thing, we have a lot of chickens, so we have a ton of eggs. Well, we can't eat all those eggs, and it teaches our boys responsibility that they have to feed the chickens, they have to gather the eggs, they have to wash the eggs.

Nancy: And they give you the dirty ones.

Allison: Yes, I get the ones that are not cleaned. But they will take them to a market or to our business store front, and they'll sell them for a reasonable price, but they still get the concept that money doesn't grow on trees. The Bible says if you don't work, you don't eat. Well, most young people like to eat, so we let them know if you're going to eat, you need to help out. There's nothing wrong with that. We're a team. Our family is a team, and we can't do it without one of them. So we've done the eggs.

Nancy: And then how did the boys help you or how do they all help with the photography? Do they all have certain animals or something they look after?

Allison: They did. Well, we do Easter portraits with live animals. We will have bunnies and chicks and ducks and a baby lamb, and all that is a lot of work. So even the little ones will help by running and getting daddy a baby duck or a baby chick. Maybe the younger boys will help with feeding the animals, making sure they all have food and water and their cages are clean. My big girls, wow, I couldn't do it without them, the 14 and the 16 year old. They are amazing at getting smiles out of little ones and that's important. I mean, parents don't want their pictures unless their little ones look happy. So they are the best smile-getters. We even have customers that request them. I have to make sure Eden's there, make sure Hally's there, and they love these children.

And then Makenna is my little saleswoman. She's pretty much taken my job of showing people their pictures and then letting them decide what package they want, but she's wonderful at it. She’s very confident, but yet, she's very kind and patient to customers, and she answers their questions. And people are really starting to respect that my children know what they're doing. They don't think, oh, they're young, so they don't know what they're talking about. They do know what they're talking about because they've lived it their whole lives.

Nancy: And I think you told me about them picking mistletoe?

Allison: Yes, yes. When I was young, my brothers would go, we would go up in trees and get mistletoe, and we've kind of carried on that tradition where Daniel will climb up an incredibly high tree and get mistletoe and then we'll break it into sections and put little red bows, and they'll go to a couple of grocery stores in our town, and they'll sell it, donation only, and that's what they use for Christmas money for each other. This past Christmas, there was a struggling grocery store in our area, called Apple Market, that everybody loves. Well, because of the nature of Publix and Walmart, they were pretty much putting them out of business, and it was so sad because this is a grocery store we went to as a kid. So my children said we want to do the mistletoe this year and just give it to Apple Market. You know, the owner was in tears. Seriously, it was amazing. It's a neat thing; they're learning how to work as a team and then they get to enjoy buying people presents. Everyone enjoys that, but it's a lot more fun when it's your money and not mom just gave you money.

Nancy: We did that too. Our children never got money to buy gifts. They had to earn it.

Allison: And I don't really believe in giving them money for doing chores. That's part of living in our house.

Nancy: I don't believe it either. You know, to think you have to get money for everything. It's not teaching our children. There's so much we do in life that we just do out of love and out of giving, and they need to learn that too, especially being part of the family.

Allison: I'm completely okay with them making money on something that they do. My girls have started doing furniture. They will get up early on Saturday morning, and they will go look for furniture at garage sales, and it's so neat because they do it together, which I love. Then they'll come home and show all the family their findings and oh, look at the bed I got for $5. And then they'll spend time. They'll gather their paint and all their supplies, and they'll basically redo these pieces of furniture, and they can really make good money on them. You know, they may spend two or three hours, but they'll sell them and then they have money to do what they want.

You know we're probably going to try to put a sand volleyball court in. Well, they can use their money to put that sand volleyball court in. They're the ones that are going to enjoy it. There's no reason they can't take care of paying for it.

Nancy: Oh, and you also told me about the Moringa trees.

Allison: We did a beach photo shoot for a family a couple of years ago, and the guy was trying to talk us into joining his network marketing where he would sell this Moringa powder. Well, we don't normally do stuff like that, but my husband researched it and discovered that Moringa is just an amazing superfood and that you could grow them just from seed. So he ordered hundreds of seeds and started planting them, and we grew trees that are now 30 feet tall that are only a couple of years old. So it's a fast, fast growing tree. It's amazing, but he would eat the leaves, and you could eat just about everything in them. You can eat the seeds. Well people started hearing about them and thinking, well, I want them for my family. So he and the boys started planting the seeds, and we took about 90 trees to a farmer's market, and they sold every one of them and made about $900 one day. Just my seven, nine, and eleven year- old boys, all by themselves. They had no help from us. Well, not many boys that age can make that kind of money, but it was amazing. I mean, they prepared their soil together. And it's a good thing. It's something that we're teaching them, not just good work ethic, but we're also spreading good health tips to people.

Nancy: Yes. Oh, that's so great. And another thing I think that you've talked to me about, you know, different times when we've been getting together, is the whole concept of college. What are you going to do? Makenna, she's nineteen and you're facing that. What are you coming to?

Allison: Well, you know, Makenna is 19, and she just finished a year in college. And, you know, it's funny. I've been going to your retreats for years, and you've mentioned that, you know, college is just not the end all be all. And I kind of would put that in the back of my mind that, Oh, that's not for our family. We are college people. We went to college. I went to college. My husband almost got a Masters, and we were just assuming that that's what we would do for our children. And then I guess it was last year, it just kind of dawned on me that my whole life, as this family I'm growing, our goal is to be counter-cultural, not go with the flow, not follow what every other family is doing just because every family is doing it. And I realized that that's all college was for us, for teaching our children. I'm not using my college degree. We make great money, and we didn't go to school to be a photographer. Daniel was an engineer, and I was a communication major, and honestly, I think I would do just as well without a communication degree.

Nancy: Oh, that's just your personality!

Allison: It's just the way God made me. I didn't learn anything from a state school that's helping me today.

Nancy: See this is the thing, I believe the Word which says that a man's gift will make room for him and bring him before kings (Proverbs 18;16). It is so true. And I think, dear mothers, we have to learn to trust God and to know that He has put in our children the gifts that He chose for them, that He has put in them. We didn't. I look at my children now because they have grown, and I see the giftings in their lives. They have giftings that I don't have. In fact, I couldn't have even put them into them and no college could have put it into them. In fact, none of them have ever been to college. Even one of my sons, he trades the future markets. He could never learn that in college; that's something you don't learn at college. And in fact, all the things they are doing.

Allison: Well, Serene and Pearl. Serene encouraged Makenna last year that college really would have been a detriment to her because it would have put her in such a box. You're not going to learn how to write an amazing recipe book that's going to become a lifestyle for so many. You just can't learn it there. Now college, you know, there are reasons that some people will go to college and that's okay, if they need the degree; they're wanting to be a doctor or dentist. But as far as putting your children, putting that over them saying, you will go to college before you get married. I just feel like we're limiting our children, which is opposite of what culture says. Culture would say, you're limiting your children by not letting them or encouraging them to go to college. But I say that's just a bunch of junk because I think that what Makenna learns from our business is so valuable.

 

Nancy: Yes. And she's really like you. She's born with marketing ability and organization; it just comes out her ears. In fact, she could go to college for five years and never learn another thing that she's not already doing.

Allison: It would almost inhibit her. It would almost make her, like I said, put her in that box that I don't want her in. I want her to do bigger and greater things than ever I could have.

Nancy: Exactly. That is the thing. We have big visions for our children. Although I have to say, as I was growing my children, yes, I wanted them to do well in life, but I really didn't have any vision for them to be famous or anything like that. I just wanted them to walk with the Lord and to be faithful to God.

But he has done more than that because he has raised them up to do great things. Amazing things. Things that other people have never done before because they were never put in a box, and they just thought that they could do anything. And I think that is even a greater thing. I often like to say that encouragement is the rich soil in which we grow our children to their full destiny. And I think that there's nothing like encouragement and affirming. And being aware of the giftings God gives to our children and opening up opportunities for them, and they're fulfilling who God created them to be.

So many people are in jobs that, oh goodness me, they really are not happy, they're boring, and they're not doing what they were born to do. And sometimes it may be going to a college, especially for a man, a young man, because he does have to be the provider of the home. And there are some things he will have to get a college degree, which can be done online or even he may have to go. But especially our daughters, I think they are the most vulnerable place to send a daughter. And we see so many sad things happen when daughters go to college. I've talked to women all over the nation and they've said, “You know, the worst things that happened to me were at college,” and it really didn't benefit them at all.

So let's not get in the box. That's the thing. Not just on this issue, but every issue. We are so much like sheep. Well, God calls us His sheep. We're His sheep to hear His voice. But let's hear God's voice, not the pull of the world and not follow society and what they are doing. Let's be those who seek after truth and to seek after what God wants. And let's be those, as we close this session, let's be those who will POUND OUR STAKES FIRM. We'll drive them into the ground, and we will do everything that strengthens our family rather than fragment it.

Can I pray for you today?

“Dear father, I thank you for every precious mother listening, every daughter, every young child, every older woman. Father, I pray that You will lead us all closer to Your heart, nearer and nearer to Your truth. Lord, we're so surrounded by deception and what everybody else is doing. Help us to be those who seek Your ways, seek Your truth. And Lord, I pray for everyone today, everyone listening, that they will be those who will pound their pegs deep into the ground and into the home, and they will do everything to strengthen their family. Help us all as grandmothers, mothers, daughters, children, to be family-strengtheners. Oh Father, I pray that this anointing will come upon everyone listening today, in the name of Jesus. Amen.”

Be blessed, dear family-strengthener, today. This is a most powerful thing that you are doing. As we strengthen our marriages and we strengthen our families, we are strengthening the nation.

 

Episode 8: ANY JOYFUL MOTHERS LEFT?

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

God equates JOY with motherhood (Psalm 113:9). How do you become a joyful mother when you feel overwhelmed? How do you break through self-pity? How do you move from being despondent and in despair to being delightfully happy? You’ll find the answers in this episode.

I got to share things in this episode that I never meant to talk about. But I believe it is a message that every mother in the world needs to hear. Please don’t miss this one. It’s a little longer than usual, but you’ll want to hear it over and over again to get it into your very being. Share it with your friends too.

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, From Our Home to Yours, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy: Hello ladies, how are you today? Today we're going to speak about another dwelling word. On the my very first podcast. I told you about the word, “dwell.” That word occurs 468 times in the Bible, just in the Old Testament. Actually, there are 26 different Hebrew words for that word, “dwell.”

On the first podcast I told you about the word, naveh.  Today we're going to look at another word. This one is yashab, spelled y a s h a b. This word occurs over a thousand times in the Bible. Sometimes it's translated “dwell,” but it's translated many other different words as well. The Hebrew word occurs over 1000 times.

It's a very important word. What does it mean? It means “to marry, to settle down, to remain, to continue, to keep house, to inhabit, to endure, and to sit down.” It contains all those meanings, so we'll look at a couple of Scriptures today with that word.

The first one we'll turn to is Psalm 113:9 where it says: “He makes the barren woman to keep house.” There it is. That's the word. Yashab, meaning “to dwell in a house, and to be a joyful mother of children.”

As we read this Scripture, oh, by the way, I didn't read it all. The last phrase of this Scripture says: “Praise ye the Lord!” This is worth praising the Lord about! It's talking about the woman in the home, keeping her house, managing her home, living in her home, and making her life in her home.

How is she to do this? Well, it tells us how! It says that she does it with a joyful attitude. God makes her to be a joyful mother of children. Joy is the attribute that God equates with motherhood.

Now, dear mother, did you know that sometimes you don't really feel very joyful, do you? You feel overwhelmed, and you feel despondent, and you just wonder how you going to manage everything. But God wants you to . . . He wants to bring you into a place of joy. He wants mothers to be joyful.

I wonder why so many mothers are not joyful today. I believe it's because of the attitude in society toward mothering. It's the attitude in our education system toward mothering. It's the attitude we hear from the feminist and humanist agenda.

It all puts down motherhood, so we see it as something insignificant and not important This is the enemy, who is robbing us of the truth. Because we've got to learn to see motherhood, not as society looks upon it, but as God looks upon it, because precious mother, God is the One Who designed motherhood.

He's the One who created us to be mothers. He put this mothering anointing deep within our hearts. Every mother has a mothering anointing in her heart. She has a nurturing desire that is in every female person. Every female created by God has this nurturing instinct within her.

Now you say, “Hey, I know some mothers who are not motherly at all, and I know mothers who don't even want to have children.” Yes, that is true. Because many of them have been brainwashed. They've been propagandized. They have been infiltrated with lies. So, they have suppressed this instinct, but they never can truly suppress it. Because if they say they don't want motherhood, and they deny motherhood, they don't even want children, you will find that they will have a pet. Oh yes, they will, because they must nurture something!

They'll nurture a little dog or a cat because it is within them. This is how God created us. Not only did He create us with this instinct innately within us, but He created our bodies for the very purpose of motherhood. He created us with a womb. Why do we have a womb? A man doesn't have a womb.

That's the difference between male and female. There are only two types of people in this world; a man without a womb, the male; and a man with a womb, the woman, the womb-man. This is who we are, dear ladies. How sad to go through life, and not embrace who we are, and who we were created to be.

You see, the devil is a deceiver. The devil is a robber, and he has robbed so many beautiful women of the truth of who they are. We have women today who have been brainwashed with feminism who are denying their womb and their womanhood.

They are denying who they are. It is totally ridiculous. In fact, the foolish, the so-called wisdom of man is so foolish. It's foolish to God. God gave us a womb, a womb to be used, a womb to bring forth life, a womb to continue the generations. For if all women were to deny their womb, civilization would stop!

We are the continuers of civilization. Not only do we bring life into our own precious families, and into this nation, but we bring it forth for the generations, and ultimately for eternity. In fact, just the other day, a lady commented on one of my Facebook posts. She was saying how, “Oh, it's not about having children. I believe God wants us to be saving souls. We don't have to be having children. We just need to be saving souls.”

That sounds very spiritual. But if we, as mothers, don't bring forth children, there'll be no souls to be saved. My, we can actually . . . Do you know, precious mother, sometimes we don't really think things through. Do you know that we can deny precious babies life whom God has destined before the foundation of the world, because every life is destined?

God knows every life before the foundation of the world. We, because of our selfishness, or our ignorance, we can stop them coming into this world, who God intended to come in.

More than that, we forfeit them from experiencing eternal life. Now on this earth, we cannot, even with our wildest imaginations, understand the glories of the eternal Kingdom. They are beyond what we will ever even imagine, the glories of the eternal Kingdom. And, we can deny lives being born to experience that. Unless they are born and they come into God's Kingdom, they will never experience it.

You think, “Oh well they weren't born, they won't know!” But, oh to deprive them of the glory, which is beyond all glories. Why would we want to deprive someone of the glory of the eternal world? This is what we do when we stop a child coming into the world. We don't only deprive ourselves of the greatest blessing that we could ever enjoy. Because that's another thing, the enemy robs women of the greatest blessing they can ever receive.

I'm in the process at the moment of printing the new Above Rubies, Number 95. It's rolling off the presses now. In my editorial, I have a picture of four new babies already born into our family this year. I got each mother to write a little sentence about how they felt about motherhood. So beautiful to just read how each one felt, and how, oh, this is the greatest blessing that could ever, ever happen to them.

I think of Serene now, her new baby, little Solly (Solace Ling), she is number nine biologically to Serene. Although there are 14 children in the family. Now you could think, “Okay, number 14 in the family coming in. Well, we're used to having babies. It's lovely. But, you know, this is old hat.”

Oh no! Oh, when little Solly was born, Serene said, “Mother, I am smitten!” She is in total love with this baby. What did Sam say? “I am besotted.” I mean, this is the joy of a baby, and Satan wants to deprive women of this joy. All their precious babies.

They not only deprive themselves but deprive grandparents. They deprive the church. They deprive the world of the influence in the image of God. They deprive future generations, because when we stop one child, no, no, we don't. No, we stop a whole dynasty. A whole dynasty. How many children? How many amazing children who would impact the world for God come from one child? Then we deprive God, and we deprive eternity.

So not only has God created us with this womb, but with breasts, to nurture this life. This is who we are as mothers. We must understand the truth. When we understand the truth, and we know that motherhood is mandated by God, it's the highest career He has given to women. When we understand this and embrace it, then we can walk in the joy of it.

There is something that I often say to women: “Every mother loves her children, but not every mother loves motherhood.” I think this is where it comes down to the core, because it is true. Every mother loves her child. She would die for her child, but there are so many mothers who don't actually love motherhood.

They love their children, but they think they could be doing something more exciting, more powerful, whatever, and they really find, “Oh, this motherhood! Oh goodness me, yes, I love my child, but, oh, I've got to keep on with my career. I've got more important things to do!” So, there is confusion, and you never ever really come into the fullness of motherhood when you have this attitude.

I know because I was there when I started off mothering. I didn't understand all the beautiful truth I share with you today. I didn't know. I so intensely loved my children, but all this motherhood business, oh goodness me. I just wondered what had happened to me. Help!

In fact, there was a time when I wondered whether I should have even got married. I wondered whether I was out of the will of God because I could no longer serve God in the way I thought I could serve God.

Because my husband and I, we went out full time for God when we were engaged. We were ready to change the world. We went out to the mission field, and we were going to do great things for God! Then, babies came along .  . . Well, my husband carried on doing great things, but where was I? Stuck in four walls at the very beginning with three screaming babies!

I knew nothing about motherhood. I had my first baby. Seventeen months later, I had another two babies, unexpectedly! Didn't even know! That was way back in the days when they didn't have ultrasounds. Nobody checked me.

I knew I was having something pretty huge. I thought, how am I going to get this baby out? I didn't know it was twins. Actually, I have to confess, well, I didn't really get much attention. We were in the Philippine Islands doing missionary work when I conceived. We didn't get back to New Zealand until I was eight months pregnant, and I went to a doctor in the hospital.

He checked me over and said, “Oh yes, everything's fine. I’m going off to England, so when you're in labor, just come in and whoever's on duty will attend to you.” I didn't know anything about home birth in those days. And so, I thought I was in labor, went into the hospital. They checked me all over again and it was a false alarm. So away I went home again.

Still nobody had even detected twins. I went in, I got right to my due date. I went in, and the nurse was just listening to the heartbeat with the old Doppler. She says, “That's interesting. I can hear another heartbeat, but it just might be an echo. We'll wait and see.” So, we still don't know anything.

Then came the time and Evangelina was born. She was born breech as often twins are. I really didn't notice any difference between her breech birth and a head birth. They checked my tummy. Oh yes, there's another one there. So that was the very first moment that I knew I was having twins. He was born about five minutes later.

Here we were. Oh, with twins! Oh, we were so excited, my husband and I! My husband went home to my parents who were looking after my son at home. He was on cloud nine. He had brought forth twins. Well, he was the father of these twins.

He went into their room, and he said, “Guess what?” And they said, “A son!” He said “Yes, and a daughter!” Well, there was stony silence. My mother had always said to me, “Nancy dear, never have twins.” And I went and had twins!

Why did she say that? I think she thought they would be a lot of work. So, we didn't really get any great congratulations from them. My dearest mother, who stayed with me for a few days, was not very well. She couldn't really take it with these three little babies. We had nothing. We just come back from the Philippine Islands and we were living out of suitcases.

She couldn't take it any longer. She left me and went to stay with a friend. So here I was with these three screaming babies all on my own. I knew no one. We had just come back from the Philippine Islands. Oh, I hardly survived those days.

I think it was in those days I wondered what had happened to me. Would I ever be able to serve the Lord again? What have I done? Is this my life? I had to cry out to God: “Oh God, oh God, what have I done?” Oh, but as I cried out to Him, He was so faithful. He began to show me, little by little, that I was in His perfect will. This is who He'd created me to be.

Yes, I was fulfilling my destiny. Little by little, the revelation came. I began to understand who I was, and the power of mothering. As I embraced it, instead of living in the confusion and the torment, I came into the joy of mothering. Because it's all in our attitude. It’s all in our understanding of what it's about.

So, precious mother, if you're in this state of confusion today, and you know, oh yes, you love your children, but, wow, you're not really loving this motherhood business, you get up each day, and it's just another day to face. Oh, can I encourage you? Come into the truth. The truth sets you free. Yes. And when you know who you are . . . “I am born to be a mother. I am created physically to be a mother. I am created to nurture with all the mothering hormones to be a mother.” Oh, we are so blessed, precious mothers!

Oh goodness me! Fathers, they don't have the blessings we have. When we have a baby, we have this beautiful little baby and God just fills us to overflowing with motherly hormones. Every time we put the baby to the breast, oxytocin flows, that beautiful hormone, oxytocin, which is the love hormone, and the cuddle hormone, and the bliss hormone, and the stress-free hormone.

God gives it to you, precious mother, so that when you're facing all the tensions of caring for a new baby, and other little ones, and maybe older ones, He gives you this stress-free hormone, so when you nurse your baby . .  .  sometimes you just want to go off to sleep.

You just have this relaxing hormone, and He gives you prolactin. The more you nurse your baby, every time you nurse your baby, presto, prolactin operates. The more you nurse your baby, the more prolactin you have, and prolactin is a motherly hormone. You become more motherly.

You see, in the doing of these motherly things, we have the hormones that make us more motherly.  This motherly love pours out upon you, not just for your baby, but for all your other children. God is so amazing!

Do you remember when you had your first baby? Oh, I just couldn't believe how much love I could have for a person, for this baby. The love was so incredible, and I used to think, well, how could I have another baby because I could never love another baby like this baby. It would be impossible!

But then you have another baby, and that love pours in. You love these babies. Then you have more love for your other baby, and it happens with every baby. Another baby keeps a mother flowing with love, even for her other children.

And for her older children, who are, maybe, getting a bit stroppy, and she's perhaps not feeling quite so loving to them. She has a new baby and this motherly hormone just flows out on the whole family. God is so good, isn't He? So, embrace your motherhood today, darling ladies. Oh, and as you do, you will be filled with joy.

What kind of joy is this? Well, the word in the Hebrew is sameach. If you want the spelling, it is, s a  m e a c h. It's the very same word that's used in Proverbs 15:13: “A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance.” And again, in Proverbs 17:22: “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.” It means to have a merry heart. You're full of joyfulness and merry-heartedness.

It's the same word used in the Bible when people drank wine and became happy. It's the same word when you're celebrating. It's the same word that was used when the people celebrated, when Solomon was made King. In 1 Kings, Chapter 1:39-40, it says: “And Zadok the priest took an horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpet; and all the people said, God save king Solomon. And all the people came up after him, and the people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy.” 

Here is that same word in 1 Kings 1:40 that's used to describe the joyful mother: “They rejoiced with great joy so that the earth rent with the sound of them.” I beg your pardon? What happened? The earth broke open? Yes, that's what it says. I checked out the Hebrew because when I read that I thought, Oh, that couldn't have happened, so I checked out that word.

“Rent” is baqa in the Hebrew. It means “to cleave, to break, to rip open, to make a breach, to divide.” The Holman translation says it correctly. They rejoiced: “with such a great joy that the earth split open from the sound.” Did you ever read that before in the Bible? Well, it's there. That's how much the noise of the joy was that it actually split open the earth! Amazing.

Now that is the same kind of joy that is spoken of in Psalm 113:9, that the mother in the home who is yashab (living, dwelling in her home), will be a joyful mother of children. So dear mothers, as we live in our homes, let's do it with joy If you just don’t have any joy, and it's all flown out the window, and you are just a mess of self-pity, well, what are you going to do?

This is what you're going to do. You're going to confess it to the Lord. “Oh God, I am so sorry. I confess my self-pity before You. Lord, It's a sin. I confess it. I thank You, Father, that You fill me with joy, because You are joy and You dwell within me. I thank You for Your joy that fills my heart. Thank You, Lord. I'm going to live in Your joy today. I thank You in the Name of Jesus.” And appropriate it!

Now, does Christ dwell in your heart? Well, if He does, joy fills your heart. Jesus, who lives in us, is not filled with self-pity. He's not filled with despondency. He's not filled with despair. He is filled with joy, because He is joy. This is where joy originates, in God, and now He is in you. So appropriate it!

I love that Scripture in Philemon 1:6 which says: “That the communication of your faith may become effectual,” how? “By the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.” Now what is this Scripture saying? It's that King James language. How can our faith be effectual? We want it to work, don't we?

In our home, in our kitchen, with all the children screaming at once, how do we make it work? Well, we acknowledge the truth. That's what it says, “by acknowledging.” We acknowledge, we appropriate the truth, that is “Jesus Christ lives in me. Every good thing that is in Jesus also lives in me, because if it's in Him, it's in me.”

Are you getting it? If Christ lives in me, His joy lives in me, and I can thank Him for it. If I'm getting angry and upset, and, whoooo, “look out, everybody!” Hey, just a moment, stop and thank the Lord Jesus.

“Thank you, Jesus, that Your patience dwells in me. You are patient. You are long-suffering. You live within me. I thank You for Your patience now. Thank You, Lord. Thank You. I'm the most patient mother in my city. Thank You, Lord!”

Now you're not confessing lies, because who is more patient than Christ? He dwells in you. You see, dear ones, we've got to acknowledge the truth, that every good thing that is in Jesus is in us. You either live according to the flesh, and by your feelings, or you live according to the truth of the Word of God.

“Man shall not live by bread alone,” Jesus said, “but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” This is how I learned, I should say, gradually learned, to live as a young mother. I started off living by my feelings, up one day and down the next.

It's a terrible way to live, isn't it? But I learned to live by the truth of the Word of God. What God says, whether I feel like it or not, I'm going to live by it. I'm going to confess it. Now, the amazing thing is that when you confess the truth out loud, your body begins to line up. Even your attitudes begin to line up.

Confession is powerful. So, confess the truth! Don't confess lies. Your feelings are lies! If you live by your feelings, you're going to live mostly in the downs, rather than the ups. Oh yes. Sometimes you'll feel up, but most of the time you'll feel down, because feelings are deceiving. You cannot live by them. They come and go and they're a lot of rubbish. You live by the truth of the Word of God.

This is how you come into the joy of the Lord. I remember one time, this is a New Zealand story. I started (we are New Zealanders), and I started raising my children when we were in New Zealand. I remember one time feeling overwhelmed. I didn't really feel I could keep going. It was just all too much. Everything was on top of me, poor me, and I'm just getting into a state of self-pity.

Anyway, I got up to have my Quiet Time in the morning before I faced the day. I was reading Second Corinthians, I'll turn to it here to remind myself, yes, it's Chapter One. I was reading verse eight: “For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength”.

Oh, I stopped. Wow, this is amazing. I'm reading about me. Wow. I just feel I'm pressed out of measure. It's more than my strength can cope with, “insomuch that we despaired even of life.” Well, I hadn't got to that, of course, but then I read on.

Paul says: “But.” But! “We had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead: Who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver: in Whom we trust that He will yet deliver us.”

As I read those words, I was convicted. Oh, my. I realized, what was I doing? All this self-pity junk. I was trusting in myself. “Poor me. I've got too much to do. I can't cope.” Well, what's that? Trusting in myself, in my flesh, in my capabilities! I wasn't trusting in God!

That's what Paul said: “We should not trust in ourselves, but in God, a God Who raises the dead!” Wow! No matter how low I get, He's able to pick me up. And so, I said, “Oh God, I am so sorry. I confess my sin of trusting in myself. I'm so sorry. Cleanse me with Your precious Blood. Lord, I trust in You. I give it all to You. All these worries and concerns, and Lord, all my weaknesses, I give them to You. I thank You. I trust You. You are my strength. You are my portion. I trust You, Lord. Thank You. In the Name of Jesus.”

Well, it left me. Wow, all that self-pity was gone! I remember, I can still remember later in the day, thinking, “Now what was all that? What was I in such a state about?” Do you know, I couldn't even remember what it was all about? It was just in my mind, it wasn't even real. I was able to come out of it because I was trusting in God.

Can I pray for you as we close today?

“Oh Father, we thank You. Thank You for Your beautiful plan for us as mothers. Thank You that You have created us for this glorious anointing, and that You love for us to dwell in our homes and love mothering in our homes.

I pray for every precious mother today, that You will bless them, and encourage them, and lift them up out of the doldrums, and their self-pity, and into the truth, and into trusting You. Oh God, save us, each one of us, because we're all tempted to trust in ourselves, which is so ridiculous.

Lord, how can we trust in ourselves when we can trust in You, the God Who raises the dead, the God Who delivers. I pray that You will bring each one into that beautiful place of trusting in You and living in the Truth. You will make them joyful mothers of children in their homes today. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.”

 

Episode 7: ARE YOU A READING MOTHER?

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

And introducing granddaughter, Chalice Allison.

Books mentioned are shown at the end of this transcript.

 

Rocky: Welcome to the podcast FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy: Hello ladies. It is so great to be with you again, and today, I'm going to introduce to you another member of our wonderful, big family. I have here sitting with me, Chalice. Chalice Hosanna Allison is Serene's daughter. Chalice is here today because she is learning the ropes of recording these podcasts, and Arden will be teaching her. She's meant to be here since the very first one, but something has happened every single time. Many times, Serene has needed her. In fact, Chalice is Serene's right hand lady. I don't know what she would do without her, and we all love Chalice. She's 18 years of age, and an angel sent from heaven, and you will get to meet her 18 year old sister. Yes, she has a sister who is the same age as her, originally from Liberia. When you get to meet Cherish, she's a little bit different than Chalice. Chalice is quieter, but I hope she'll say a few things today.

Chalice: Hi!

Nancy: When Cherish comes, well, she won't stop talking. She is the social one of the family. In fact, she is head of CNN on the hilltop now. I won't tell you what CNN is. Of course, it's not the fake news, but it's something else we have. I'll tell you when I introduce Cherish to you. There are 14 children in the Allison family, 10 of them still at home. Chalice, let me ask you a few questions. Tell me, what is your favorite thing to do? One of your favorite things, because I think you must have so many favorite things you love to do.

Chalice: I have so many favorite things, but my favorite thing would probably be hanging out with my family, having a fun time just hanging out.

Nancy: Yes. I love that. Don't you love that? To hear from a beautiful 18-year-old girl. She's not wanting to just go out and do so many of the things 18- year-olds are doing today. She just loves to hang out with her family, but I better tell you a secret. It's fun hanging out with her family because Colin and I, we just love to go over to their family. Sometimes, after supper at night, my husband will say, “Let's go over to Serene and Sam's,” so we'll pop over, and it's always the same. They are all sitting around, mom and dad and all the children, each one doing their own thing or talking together and just being together, and it's so wonderful. I love the family atmosphere, don't you love it?

Chalice: Definitely.

Nancy: Yes, and it's never boring. In fact, when you have Serene around, there's always some very interesting information, discussion, or some amazing thing that happened because, with Serene, there is usually something rather interesting happening nearly every day. Isn't there? All the funniest things in the world happen to her. There's always a story. I just love that, and I know Chalice has said to me that her best friends in life are her Mum and Dad and that's just such a beautiful testimony. Even though Chalice loves to be home and loves to be with her family, she has still traveled quite a bit. How many countries of the world have you been to, Chalice?

Chalice: Well, I've been to the United Kingdom--all of them.

Nancy: That's four countries.

Chalice: And I've been to the Bahamas and China.

Nancy: Wow. Yes. Chalice actually does get to travel a lot because she travels with Serene because usually Serene always has a baby. When she's having to do interviews or filming, Chalice comes along so she can watch the baby while she's doing an interview. She ended up going to China with the whole Trim Healthy Mama team. I wonder if you ever saw my Instagram picture of Serene on her way to China? They were gone for, how many days was it? Twelve days or something? You went?

Chalice: Yes.

Nancy: Evangeline was going too, her and her husband and Pearl and her husband, Charlie, and Serene and Sam, and other Trim Healthy Mama members of their organization. Serene decided she was going to travel light. She was tired of lugging around cases everywhere. She thought, “this time I am going light.”

She searched the Internet and found that there are people who do loads of traveling and have to travel light, and they purchase these Merino wool clothes. They are so fine, and you can wear them summer or winter, and because they are wool, they don't sweat, so they don't get stinky, and you can just keep wearing them every day.

Chalice: They do get stinky, but you just have to lay them out overnight. In the morning, they're fine.

Nancy: Wow, that's amazing! Anyway, Serene purchased these Merino wool clothes. Of course, I said to her, “That's so great.” Because I was brought up in New Zealand, a sheep country, and my father was the one who designed the way shearing is done across the world today. He was, in his prime, the world champion shearer, the fastest shearer in the world in his day.

He has now passed on, but he always used to say that you must wear wool. He always wore wool, and he tried to get us to always wear wool because it was healthy for you.

Anyway, Serene purchased a skirt, some leggings, a top, and an extra little top, which she wore. That was her outfit in which she traveled to China and which she wore every single day. She arrived home in it--the same outfit. She did not have another outfit. When she left, she had this little backpack on her back of just a few little things. She had nothing else because she had her outfit on her and that was all. And Remmy, she had purchased for him these little Merino wool clothes. He had an even tinier backpack and that's how she traveled. She didn't get too stinky?

Chalice: No, she had a couple extras.

Nancy: Oh, she did, yes, but they fitted it in her tiny little backpack, didn't they? Anyway, I've never quite got to traveling like that. I always try to travel light, but I never get to that extent. Did you like going to China?

Chalice: Yeah, it was amazing. It was probably my favorite country I've ever been to.

Nancy: Yes, but you'll most probably go to many more. When you traveled to the UK, in fact, that's when you came with us. You were only 14 then, and you were a little bit homesick? Which country did you like best in the UK?

Chalice: I think I liked Wales the best.

Nancy: I thought you liked Scotland the best, but she liked Wales. That was beautiful. We went for some gorgeous walks in Wales, didn't we? That was so amazing. Then we went out into the highlands when we went to Scotland. You'll always remember that. The snow fights up in the highlands, do you remember that?

Chalice: A little.

Nancy: Too long ago? Oh yes. I think you've traveled to lots of states here in America too. Have you ever counted how many?

Chalice: Nope.

Nancy: You haven't?

Chalice: I've been to lots.

Nancy: Yes, and you've even lived in different states before Trim Healthy Mama came into being. Sam did quite a number of projects where he had to go overseas and to other states in the nation. I think you lived in Mississippi, didn't you?

Chalice: Yes, Mississippi, Texarkana, and Maryland.

Nancy: Texarkana is in Arkansas, wasn't it? We visited you in all those places, and they were all very interesting. In fact, I remember that's why we visited you because we missed you so much. We were used to having you around. In fact, I remember an incident, and this is when you came back from one of your trips,

I don't know whether you remember this, Arden (Arden's here recording) and you were just young. Here on the hilltop, we have Evangeline's family, Serene's family, and Pearl's family, and the children have all grown up together. They all live their own separate lives, but there's also this wonderful coming together. The children, after they would have homeschooled in the day, are always wanting to get with their cousins. They're like brothers and sisters. I remember one time Serene and Sam arrived home unexpectedly, and I remember, I was over at Evangeline's place. Arden was coming around the corner of the house, and his cousins saw him.

I have never seen anything like it in my life. They were so excited to see their cousin who they love. They pounced on him. They had him down on the ground with bear hugs of love. I've never seen such love poured out with such kind of demonstrativeness because they were all guys. To see that love together, when they were together again, it was so amazing.

Do you ever remember that, Arden? You do? Anyway, I know another thing you love to do, Chalice. You love to read. What are some of your favorite authors?

Chalice: My favorite author would have to be George MacDonald because when I was little, my dad got me to read “THE LIGHT PRINCESS” and then I started reading all the bigger books, and they're so amazing. My dad's dad gave them to my dad, and then my dad gave them to me. They are like heirlooms.

Nancy: Chalice is a George MacDonald fan. Have you ever read any of George MacDonald's books? Well, I've got to read them too because Chalice has borrowed them to me. Chalice loves to come over when she's read a good book, and she doesn't just tell us about it; she arrives with it, and she says, "Here, Nana and Granddad, you've got to read this. It's so good."

George MacDonald, you may know, was actually C. S. Lewis' mentor. He was a Scottish minister, but he wasn't the status quo, and he didn't bow to the status quo, and he had so many revelations of understanding that they didn't always accept in the so-called church. He began to write instead, and he wrote novels, but filled with doctrine and revelation. They're wonderful stories, always in Scotland, but also filled with wonderful, beautiful biblical revelation.

Chalice was blessed as a young girl. She read these books and got all this wonderful deep stuff as she read them. They're good. Get hold of one if you're not familiar with a George MacDonald book. You love the Lamplighter books too, don't you? What's your favorite?

Chalice: I was going to say “THE WHITE GYPSY” but even better would have to be “ISHMAEL”

Nancy: Oh yes. Oh yes. That's what happened the other week, Chalice came over. She said, "Nana and Granddad, you've got to read “ISHMAEL" I read it, and I would have to say, oh my, it's one of my favorite books too, along with the sequel, which is called “SELF RAISED.” They're actually one book--one story just carries on, but it's in two books. It was written by E.D.E.N Southworth. It has E.D.E.N, and it actually stands for Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte. She was the most popular American novelist in the latter part of the 19th century, and she wrote more than 60 novels.

This one, if ever you can get hold of ISHMAEL and SELF RAISED, they’re worth reading. It's about this little baby that was born in shame. He didn't even have an acknowledged father to take his name. He was born in utter poverty. He was born dying. In fact, his Auntie, who was left to look after him was expecting him to die any minute. In fact, she hoped he would. She didn't want to be bothered with this little baby that was born in shame and also added another mouth for her to feed. She just hoped he'd die, but he didn't die.

There was something in this child, and God put something in him, and he just rose. He had within him such a longing for knowledge and for righteousness and for justice. There was something of God upon this child. Even out of poverty, God caused circumstances to happen where he was helped along the way. Eventually, he rose to the zenith of height in our nation and became a great man of righteousness and judgment.

He was just something else. I remember when he rose to that status of being a lawyer in Washington DC, and he had not been to college. He had no opportunity to do that. He hadn't been able to go to college to study law, but he read books. He was a voracious reader, and he read, and he read, and then he would go to the courthouse and watch and observe, and God had miraculously put him in touch with a supreme court judge.

He came to him and he said, "I believe I'm ready to sit the bar exam." He just laughed. He said, "You cannot do that; you haven't even been to college."

He said, "I beg to differ with you sir." And he said, "I believe I'm ready."

Anyway, this judge gave in and said, "Okay, you can sit the exam."

Of course, he passed with flying colors, and do you remember reading about his first case? This great big lawyer, one of the best in Washington (because he was friends with a certain supreme court judge) he gave him this case, and it was about this husband who was wanting to take the children off his wife. Somehow Ishmael didn't feel it was right. Something was wrong. He went and searched and ferreted out this poor woman who had been left by this man with the children, and he had gone off and squandered money. Now he was wanting the children back, but he'd never taken any notice of them. Ishmael realized the right justice was with this woman. Although this man had plenty of money to pay him, he decided No, I will not take that case.

Instead, he stood on the side of this woman who could not pay him any money, and he had to stand against the three best lawyers in Washington. There was such an amazing gift on this young man that he won the case, hands down. The whole of Washington had never seen anything like it. In fact, these big lawyers, they wanted to get them into their firms, but of course, he declined because he did not agree with their justice. He was always out for justice. Anyway, I can't tell you any more of the story. It is the most amazing story. They have to read it, don't they?

Hey, did you ever read “THE HIDDEN HAND”? You did. Did you like that one?

Chalice: It was really good.

Nancy: I have read that it is the most popular Lamplighter book, but I haven't read it yet, but maybe I will. You still liked ISHMAEL better?

Chalice: Yes.

Nancy: Anyway, do you get the Lamplighter books for your children? They're wonderful stories, aren't they? The only one problem is they are rather expensive. Do you have a better way of finding them? I know you have great ways of getting books.

Chalice: Well, some of them, I look up the author's name and find older copies that aren't Lamplighters. They are older copies, and sometimes they're cheaper.

Nancy: Yes. That's a good idea because you can always search and find ways of getting them cheaper. Although I'm not back-dooring Lamplighter, they are the most wonderful.

Chalice: They won't be as beautiful.

Nancy: I know. That's right. You know what? I had quite a number of Lamplighter books. They weren't Lamplighter books then. When I was a child, I had these old copies. They were in my library when I was a child, and I can remember reading . . . I wonder if you've read these ones. I had “A PEEP BEHIND THE SCENES.” have you read that?

"CHRISTIE’S OLD ORGAN."

“THE HEDGE OF THORNS.”

“THE BASKET OF FLOWERS.”

They were all my favorite stories when I was a child. I read them over and over again and cried my way through them every time. I love these books and now they are available with Lamplighter. As Chalice said, you might be able to find them cheaper which would be so great.

Oh, I know another author that you like. You like G.A. Henty books too, don't you?

Chalice: Yeah, I like history.

Nancy: Yes, so you have found lots of those online haven't you? What's your favorite?

Chalice: My favorite would have to be “ST. BARTHOLOMEW’S EVE.”

Nancy: I haven't read that. What's it about?

Chalice: It's about when the Catholics in France are trying to kill off all the Protestants. It was really good.

Nancy: Yes. I'll have to read that sometime. I have read a few G.A. Henty. If I had all the time in the world, I'd love to read more. I don't get time, but they are such wonderful books of history. They give it in such an exciting way. Wonderful books for your children. Of all the ones I have read, my favorite is “FOR THE TEMPLE.” Didn't you love that one?

Chalice: Oh, that was my first.

Nancy: Yes, “FOR THE TEMPLE” about the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70. You've got to get that one. I'm sure you can pick it up or download it for free. It's such an amazing story It's one you can read to your children. It's so wonderful.

Isn't it great to read? Reading a book is like having a friend. The sad part about it is you come to the end and the friends gone, but I have always loved reading.

In fact, I have a huge library of books and beside my bed, I have three piles of books, about three feet high each. All of these are books that I desperately want to read, but I can't find time to read them, so they stay in their piles. When I get to bed at night, which is really the only time I have to read, I think, "Oh, I could read that book," and then I think, "No, I've got to get a little bit more Word into me." I have such a longing for the Word. It's not just a book. It's food for my soul, and my soul hungers after it. I love to read it, so of course, I would read the Word more than anything else. I do love to read Bible commentaries.

I guess not everybody loves to do that. And meditational books like A.W. Tozer, his books. Have you read any of A.W. Tozer? I love especially “THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD,” “THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE HOLY,” and ‘THE PURSUIT OF GOD.” All of those are amazing books. They take you into the depths, away from the shallow, into the depths and challenge your soul. I'd encourage you to read them if you can.

In fact, I was reading somewhere recently where this author said, "If you read something new, you should also read something old to balance it." I think that's quite a good idea. Today, we usually just read what is modern, what's around today, but it's good to balance that out with reading something old. There's a wonderful scripture in the Bible. I love it. It's in Matthew 13:52. Jesus was telling a story. "Therefore, every scribe which is instructed in the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a man that is a householder which brings forth out of his treasure things new and old." I love that.

Bringing out of our treasure both the new and the old. Perhaps you could take up that challenge. When you read some modern book, go back to something old as well. I think this is a good Scripture to remember too, even with music, because music evolves over time, and every different generation has a different style of music. The young generation usually only likes their style of music, especially in the church. Today we are blessed with beautiful worship songs. Some of them are shallow, but many of them are so beautiful, worshipful, and glorious. I think we as older people, because I'm one of the older ones, have to embrace and enjoy the new.

I love to do that. I also think that, in embracing the new, we shouldn't forget the old. I love to have the good old hymns, which are filled with doctrine and such wonderful truth about our great redemption, to have our grandchildren sing them so they don't lose them. They have the new, but they have something of the old too. Today, most young people have never even heard of a hymn; they don't even know them. They do miss out on some of those wonderful doctrinal truths. Let's remember new and old.

Now, while we're talking about books, perhaps I'll keep going. Would you like to hear about some of the interesting books I've read over the years? I've read hundreds of books, although I must put a little word of caution here. Before I was married, I was what would be called a bookworm and read whenever I could. I read into the hours of the night; I read under the blankets with a flashlight because my parents had told me to turn out the light.

Then I got married. Then children came along, and I found that I could no longer keep up that practice because I had to discipline my life to be ready for each new day, to manage my household, and care for my children. Gone were the days when I could just read any book I liked or whenever I liked. What I found is that I would usually keep for my light reading a good historical novel. I would keep to perhaps Christmas time or some vacation time where I was relaxing. In normal daily life, I would keep to my Bible and my commentaries and my meditational books. Because when you read a meditational book as you're going off to sleep, it sends you to sleep.

If you read an exciting story, it keeps you awake, and you're tempted to keep reading into the hours of the night. Then you wake up the next morning bleary-eyed and tired, and you cannot function as a mother. I believe, dear mothers, we must discipline our lives for the great task that God has given us to do. We can't let other little things take over, so they take away our strength and our anointing for the job that God has given us. So, we should get to bed at a reasonable hour.

Now, I haven't always done that, so I'm not actually talking from real experience, but God has been speaking to me. I'm realizing more and more how important it is to get to bed at a reasonable hour to function the next day. Don't read any old book into the hours of the night. Because you're a mother, you must discipline yourself and keep your reading for when you can have a very special moment, when you're on vacation, or perhaps you're riding in the car or doing things like that.

Another thing we must watch too is that social media because that takes over a lot of mothers in the evening hours. Eventually, when children are in bed and everything is done, at last, you've got some “me time” as you call it. You think, "Now I can get on social media, and I can get on Facebook." That often gets a hold of you and takes you longer than you intended. A dear friend of mine was telling me recently; she handles a big homeschooling email group. She said she notices that at about 10:00 at night it gets busy. All the mothers have got their children in bed and now they're getting on social media. It's the way it goes, but that's sad. 10:00 at night, you should be getting to bed ready for the next day.

Is your husband in bed? You're not just leaving him there alone, are you? No, you need to go to bed with your husband when it is possible. That's what we're meant to do. We're meant to be available for one another, not sitting out on social media while he lies there waiting for you. Let's remember, be disciplined about social media, even about reading.

Let me tell you some wonderful books for when you get the time, this wonderful “dessert” time. I always call books that are enjoyable my” dessert.” They are special. Have you ever read any of Elizabeth Goudge's books? She wrote an amazing book called “GREEN DOLPHIN STREET.” It was situated in England and then eventually went to New Zealand at the time of the Maori wars. It was the most fascinating, amazing story.

When we get a good book, it does the rounds. I read it; Evangeline reads it; Serene reads it; my sister reads it. We all talked about it, and we loved it, such an amazing story. Of course, the most amazing part of the story is that this young man knew two sisters who were both in love with him. When he went down to New Zealand, he wrote for the one he loved, but sadly, he got the wrong one. Then the book tells the story.

She also wrote “THE CHILD FROM THE SEA” which was the story of King Charles II and his secret wife, Lucy. That was an amazing story. She also wrote “THE DEAN’S WATCH,” “THE SCENT OF WATER” and many others.

Oh, let me tell you about a book that you most probably don't know about. Hardly anybody knows about it. It is just a simple paperback, but I think it's a book that everyone in America should read, and we should read it to our children.

In fact, Chalice, I gave it to your mom for all of you to read. Now, have you read it? Well, I better tell you the name. It's called “THE JOURNEY OF PRIVATE GALIONE: HOW AMERICA BECAME A SUPER POWER.” Have you ever read it?

Chalice: I haven't even heard of it.

Nancy: Wow. I'm going to have to get onto your mother and tell her, "Hey, you've got this amazing book. You've got to read it to the children." It tells the story, his daughter writing it, and she only found out in very, very later years as he was nearing the end of his life, because he could never tell. He could not speak about the things he saw. God miraculously led him. It was towards the end of the Second World War. He felt that he had to go and walk. He didn't know why.

He hadn’t met God, but God directed him. In fact, he walked, and he kept walking, and he felt these hands behind him, pushing him onward when he was too tired to take another step. He felt these hands pushing him on, and he found Camp Dora. This was the concentration camp where the Germans were making the missiles in the second world war. He discovered them, just at the end, just before Russia got to them.

The US were able to gather up all those scientists and all that technology, and they brought it back to the states, which eventually helped our space program. Without this young soldier, life would not be what it is today. We may have been taken over by the Russians. It was a divine thing that happened. God was with him, and God used this young soldier to discover this camp. It is an amazing story. I'm sure you can pick it up on the Internet, but it's something you could read to your children. It's history that most people don't know about yet affected the course of the whole of USA. I'd really encourage you to get that and read it.

Another interesting book that I have read recently is “CYROPAEDIA.” It's the education of Cyrus by the great Greek historian, Xenophon. Now, I'm sure you've all heard of Cyrus who was the “King of Persia.” He was also called the “King of the Four Corners of the Earth” and “Cyrus the Great.” He was not what you would say a godly man, and yet he was. He didn't walk with God, but he was a man who walked after righteousness and justice. It's amazing.

Did you know that Cyrus is mentioned 23 times by name in the Bible, and he's alluded to several more times? In fact, his name, Cyrus, was written in the Bible, not just about him, but his actual name before he came to power and became Cyrus the Great. One hundred and fifty years before he came to the throne, his name was written in the Bible. Isn't that amazing?

It's worth reading about him. I got to find out his history. In Persia, he was sent to a school. The whole purpose of the school was to learn righteousness and justice. Wouldn't it be amazing to have schools like that today? The children who went to that school were also taught generosity and benevolence, and this was upon Cyrus. Even as a little child, he was taught it. Even more than that, it was in him. It's interesting how God is in everything. God obviously raised up a child who became a man with these attributes, because He had to find a man with these attributes and in power who could fulfill His prophetic word, which was that the children of Judah, who were taken to Babylon, that after 70 years they would come back to Jerusalem.

Now, how is that going to happen? Well, God raised up a man. He raised up this man who was so benevolent. The stories of his benevolence and his generosity were amazing. In fact, when I read this book, it wasn't a Christian book, but it was like I was reading the Bible. I was getting convicted every day. He became the General and then he became the great King of Babylon because he conquered Babylon. He was always looking out for his soldiers to praise them, to affirm them. When he saw them do something good, he would always praise him, and he would give them gifts. He loved to give gifts. He was so generous.

The people back then wanted to be conquered by him because when he conquered them, he didn't make them slaves; he freed them. They all worshiped him to the ends of the earth. They loved to know that they were under his power. This man, because of who he was and because he was so generous, thought of these Jews. "Here they are, they are captives in my country of Babylon, but they have their own country." God put it in his mind to send them back to Jerusalem, and he even provided the finance for them to rebuild the temple. It's amazing how God raises up people in history, even those who don't know his name. In fact, in Isaiah 45, it says, "I raised you up even though you did not know me." God was using him. I loved reading that book.

Another book that was amazing that I read was “THE TONGUE OF THE PROPHETS” by Robertson John. This is the biography of Eliezer Ben Yehuda, who is the father of modern Hebrew. Now, the Hebrew language was lost; there was no longer a spoken language. For 2000 years it had been lost. God raise up this man Eliezer Ben Yehuda to restore the Hebrew language. He went through absolute suffering and ridicule the whole time he was doing this book. He gave his life for it. It's an amazing story of how the Hebrew language came into being again. Amazing!

At the end of our podcast today, let me get back to, perhaps, where you really are, as a mother with children. I hope you are reading mother to your children.

It's so important to be a reading mother. I love Strickland Gillilan’s poem. The last stanza says:

"You may have tangible wealth untold,

Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.

Richer than I, you can never be.

I had a mother who read to me."

Do you read to your children? When I was raising our children, I constantly read. When the little ones were getting upset and bouncing off the walls, I would say to them, "Children, let's have a story." I would gather them around me, cuddle them in tight, and we would read stories. They would get up, and they would be happy again. When they all got into a bad state again, "Okay, let's have story time again." I was forever reading them stories, and I always loved to read in rhyme. It's so much easier and more fun than just reading a story, isn't it?

One of the favorite authors I read to my children when they were growing up was Bill Peet. Have you read any of his storybooks, ladies? If you haven't, get them for your children. You can go online. They are paperback, but they are amazingly illustrated, and they are all in rhyme. This guy, Bill Peet, wrote 36 children stories, and they were all amazing. Let me tell you about some of them.

We are going a little bit longer today, but I want to tell you about this. The favorite one that our children loved was called “HUGE HAROLD.” It was about this great big, huge rabbit. In fact, there were a couple of lines in that book, and the children still remember them today. I mean, some of my children are in their fifties, and they will still say,

"Doggone and dagnabbit!

That's what I call a whoppin' big rabbit!"

Those lines just stayed with them because they were so fun to say. He wrote “KERMIT THE HERMIT” about the hermit crab and loads of other books. I haven't got time to tell you about them all.

It's fun to read rhyme to your children. That's why nursery rhymes are so good too. I read nursery rhymes to our children. They all learned them by heart because nursery rhymes are so important for their language development, their memory development, even their music development because you sing them to them as well. Also, their math development. They are amazing. Do your children know the nursery rhymes? Well, I do have to admit that a lot of them are pretty crazy. You don't even know what they're talking about.

I used to think that, even when I was teaching my children nursery rhymes, I thought, "They're really a bit crazy," but the writing was so good. Children love rhyme, and they need the rhyme. They need to say it. Eventually, I thought, I will one day write my own nursery rhyme book, which I have. I wonder if you have a copy of it. It's called “NANNY’S NURSERY RHYMES.” I wrote these nursery rhymes and Serene and Pearl wrote some of them too. These are nursery rhymes that speak about the things we want to impart to our children, like working hard, being happy, putting on a smile, honoring your parents, and so on. Of course, there are fun ones as well. If you want to get this book, it's hard covered, you can just go to aboverubies.org, and you'll find it there because nursery rhymes are so good.

Here's the link: http://tinyurl.com/NannysNurseryRhymes

As the children got older, we read them serial stories at night time. We'd get a great book, and we would read, well supposedly one chapter, but it was always more because the children would plead for more. We'd read another chapter, then they'd plead for more. We'd read another chapter, and I used to read for hours. Some of the books, we'd cry; some, we'd laugh, but they were just such wonderful times together. One of the ones we specifically loved was “CHILDREN ON THE OREGON TRAIL.” Anyway, our time has gone today.

Perhaps I will close by reading to you the whole poem by Strickland Gillilan. It's called “THE READING MOTHER.”

The Reading Mother

I had a mother who read to me
Sagas of pirates who scoured the sea.
Cutlasses clenched in their yellow teeth;
“Blackbirds” stowed in the hold beneath.

I had a Mother who read me lays
Of ancient and gallant and golden days;
Stories of Marmion and Ivanhoe,
Which every boy has a right to know.

I had a Mother who read me tales
Of Gelert the hound of the hills of Wales,
True to his trust till his tragic death,
Faithfulness lent with his final breath.

I had a Mother who read me the things
That wholesome life to the boy heart brings-
Stories that stir with an upward touch.
Oh, that each mother of boys were such!

You may have tangible wealth untold;
Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.
Richer than I you can never be -
I had a Mother who read to me.

By Strickland Gillilan

BOOKS LISTED IN ABOVE PODCAST:

“THE LIGHT PRINCESS” by George MacDonald 

“THE WHITE GYPSY” by Annette Lyster

“ISHMAEL” by E.D.E.N Southworth

“SELF-RAISED” by E.D.E.N Southworth

“THE HIDDEN HAND” by E.D.E.N Southworth “A PEEP BEHIND THE SCENES” by Amy Catherine Walton "CHRISTIE’S OLD ORGAN" by Amy Catherine Walton “THE HEDGE OF THORNS” by John Hatchard “THE BASKET OF FLOWERS” by Christoph von Schmid “ST. BARTHOLOMEW’S EVE” by G.A. Henty “FOR THE TEMPLE” by G.A. Henty “THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD” by A.W. Tozer “THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE HOLY” by A.W. Tozer “THE PURSUIT OF GOD” by A.W. Tozer

“GREEN DOLPHIN STREET” by Elizabeth Goudge

“THE CHILD FROM THE SEA” by Elizabeth Goudge

“THE DEAN’S WATCH” by Elizabeth Goudge

“THE SCENT OF WATER” by Elizabeth Goudge

“THE JOURNEY OF PRIVATE GALIONE: HOW AMERICA BECAME A SUPER POWER” by Mary Nahas

“CYROPAEDIA” by Xenophon

“THE TONGUE OF THE PROPHETS” by Robert St. John

“HUGE HAROLD” by Bill Peet

“KERMIT THE HERMIT” by Bill Peet

“NANNY’S NURSERY RHYMES” by Nancy Campbell

“CHILDREN ON THE OREGON TRAIL” by A. Rutgers van der Loeff

 

Episode 6 – PROCLAIMING MOTHERS

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

You will be excited and inspired as Evangeline, Nancy Campbell’s evangelistic and extroverted daughter, joins her for this session.

As we read the Scriptures, we constantly face “the tension of truth.” We often notice two apparently contradictory things, and yet because the Word of God is divinely inspired, both are true! We cannot hold one over the other. We face this as we read Psalm 68:11 where it talks about the “female proclaimers.” Does this mean women are to leave their homes to become preachers and pastors? What about the other Scriptures that reveal God’s plan for women to embrace home and mothering? How does it fit together? Listen to this podcast to find the answer.

Two quotes for you:

“Truths that are compelled to stand alone never stand straight and are not likely to stand long. Truth is one, but truths are many. Scriptural truths are interlocking and interdependent. A truth is rarely valid in isolation.” ~ A. W, Tozer

“No matter how much two teachings of Scripture may appear to be contradictory, they are not. They may be paradoxical, but they can never be contradictory . . . Denial of one set of biblical truth in order to affirm another is never an option for the faithful student of Scriptures.”

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, From Our Home to Yours, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: So great to be back with you. Today we're carrying on from our message last week. I was speaking to you again about this great, mighty army that belongs to the home. And I talked about PURPOSEFUL mothering, and then I talked about PROTECTING mothering, and then PRAYING mothering.

Today I said I would talk about one more P, but today I'm also bringing on my daughter Evangeline. Evangeline is married to Howard, and she has 10 children, 25 years old down to Saber, their eight-year old. Anyway, say hi them!

Evangeline: Hello, you beautiful mummies, young ones and old ones. I love you.

Nancy: What is this fourth P? It is PROCLAIMING mothers. This comes right from this Scripture we're talking about in Psalm 68:11, where it says, “The Lord gave the word: great was the company . . .” It really means “Great was the ARMY of women who published it.”

I like the Young's translation. The Young's translation of the Word of God is the same guy who did the Young's Concordance. Taking it straight from the Hebrew, he says “the female proclaimers.” Now we've got to talk about this for a little bit, ladies, because in this Scripture we come across something which we call the tension of truth.

Now, right throughout the word of God, we come up against subjects and doctrines in the Word of God that look opposite. There is the tension of truth on one side, and something on the other side.

What is the truth? Sometimes they look totally contradictory. For example, we look at the absolute deity of Christ, and at the same time, the absolute humanity of Christ. Now some people can often take one and put it above the other, or less than the other, but no, both are eternal divine truths.

What about the fact that God is One, and yet He is three distinct divine Persons? Both are true. What about the fact of God's ultimate sovereignty, and yet our human responsibility? Some take one area, some take the other, but no, they are both absolute divine truths. In this tension of truth, we have to find what God is saying.

I love the words of one writer and he says: “No matter how much two teachings of Scripture may appear to be contradictory, they are not. They may be paradoxical, but they can never be contradictory. Denial of one set of Biblical truth in order to affirm another is never an option for the faithful student of Scriptures.”

Now, why am I saying this? Because when some women read this, “Oh, the female proclaimers, woo hoo! Now I can get out and I can be an evangelist!” Today's women I find are encouraged and exhorted to get out and to be speakers, and even to speak to men, and became great speakers of congregations, and even pastors.

Okay, we've got that truth on one side. Then on the other side, we've got that God created the home for the mother. He created His women to be mothers and to raise the children. It is impossible to be in the home and raise children, and at the same time be out as a great evangelist.

Now, I faced this many, many years ago when I was speaking at a women's conference in Malaysia. I was invited to speak along with a very, very well-known speaker, Daisy Osborn. I don't know, some of you may not have heard of her, but back in the days when Tommy Osborn and his wife Daisy were alive, they were just about a household word in the Christian scene. Tommy and Daisy Osborn were great evangelists. They traveled the world. They preached the Gospel to just about every country in the world, and they brought thousands, maybe millions, into the Kingdom of God.

I had great respect and honor for their ministry, but it was not an easy thing when I spoke at that conference, because although I honor this woman who has now gone to be with the Lord, and so has her husband, Tommy, I had to preach the other tension of truth, which was also the truth. Now Daisy was saying to the women, “You've got to get out. You've got to become an evangelist. Yes, you can become the pastor of your church.”

She had a little bit of the truth there, but you see ,when you speak to women in their childbearing years, and you're telling them to get out and to be evangelists and yes, they can be speakers, and they can be positive, and they can do this, well, what do they do with their children?

They'll have to stop having children, and they won't even be able to care for the ones they've got. So, you see, there's something wrong. So, let's get it right. Let's find out what it really means.

It is true this Word does say “female proclaimers.” But that's because we proclaim, and we are meant to be proclaimers, first to our children, and then wherever we go. We speak about Jesus, we speak the truth, we drop seeds of truth. We are proclaimers wherever we go, and God has given this to women because we know how to speak.

Women talk more than men, and so we just talk. Wherever we go, we talk. We're female proclaimers. It doesn't mean to say that we became pastors and evangelists. Yes, we'll be that individually, we'll be that. To stand up before congregations does not put proclaiming in that little wee segment. No, proclaiming is a lifestyle and its part of our lifestyle of mothering.

In fact, dear ladies, you do not give up your home and your mothering to become a proclaimer. It is part of your mothering anointing. Did you get that? Can I just say that again? You don't give up your home and mothering to be a proclaimer. It's part of your mothering.

Now let's find out what this word proclaim means. We've always got to go back to the original and find out what it means. Okay. Oh, it's an amazing meaning. It means “to be fresh.” How do you like that, Vange?

Evangeline: It's so good, Mom! It's so good!

Nancy: The only way you can speak about Jesus is if He is real to you. If He's not real, if you're not walking with Him, if you're not hearing His voice, what can you say to anybody? But when you have been reading the Word and, oh, you've just got something God is saying to you, you can share it with someone else. You could call up another mother and encourage her.

Evangeline (we call her Vange): It's so good, because you know it's fresh. You know when it's regurgitated, old dead style. You just want to say to that person, shut up. That's not fresh.

Nancy: I know, we're not talking about giving a sermon. We're talking about speaking something fresh that's going on in your life.

Evangeline: And that's life. And that's what changes.

Nancy: Oh, absolutely! And get this. I could not believe it when I read this. It also means “rosy.” Oh, can you believe that.

Evangeline: Forget that rouge, woman, it's a rosy world!

Nancy: Yes, isn't it beautiful! I just couldn't believe it. Full of cheer. Oh, it's so good. Yes. See, this is our testimony, ladies. We go out with our children, with our little ones around us, who we've been training. We go into the supermarket, and oh, you know, we're a testimony.

Somebody says to you, “Oh goodness me, are all these children yours?” You answer, “Yes, we love children, don't you?” What a testimony.

Evangeline: And we usually just say, “It's just our first set!”

Nancy: That's a great idea. Yeah. Some say, “Oh, you've got your hands full!” You could answer, “Well, actually I'm only up to number six. I've got four to go!” And you've become a testimony, and you've got a smile on your face. It's fresh testimony.

It also means “to announce, to bring good news, to tell glad tidings, to be a messenger.” Now, this is your day-to-day walk. In fact, Psalm 96:2 says, “Sing unto the Lord, bless His Name, show forth His salvation from day to day.”

Day-to-day in your home. If you have to pop down to the grocery store, if you have to go somewhere, wherever you go, you're showing forth His salvation.

What about this one? Isaiah 52:7: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of hi that bringeth good tidings, that PUBLISHETH peace; that bringeth good tidings of good that PUBLISHETH salvation, that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!” Also, Nahum 1:15. Both talk about the feet, the feet of him that brings good tidings. It's the same word for female proclaimers. So where do your feet go? If your feet are just going into your kitchen in the morning, what are you going to do, darlings?

You're going to be a proclaimer of good tidings to your children. You're not coming out of the bedroom with your dressing gown on. Is that what you call it here? I don't know. Something you put around you. That's what we call it down under.

And you're all morbid, and you're hardly awake. No, you come out. “Good morning children. Isn't God so good? We're going to have a great day together. Oh, I love you. And I love being your mother!”

You're proclaiming the best news you ever could to your children! You'll be proclaiming all day to your children. If you go out somewhere, you'll just keep on proclaiming. What do you reckon, Vange?

Evangeline: It's so true, and I just so love it, because we are made to hear proclaiming news. We love a heraldress. I mean, people love to hear news. Your children are loved.

It's what's in our DNA to want to hear something fresh and that's why we have Facebook, and we have these memories. I was just talking on Pearl and Serene’s Poddy (Trim Healthy Mama) all about this. We get all these new things and it's just a lot of real nonsense. Rather than, you can be the mother, giving them the fresh word that you've got from Jesus, and then getting them to get it.

Otherwise you'll be running off to this conference, running off to this retreat, trying to get something to fulfill your life, where you yourself are the one to bring refreshment. You are the one to bring the rosy cheeks to your children, and the life, and to the world, and to your neighbor, and to all those people in the grocery line.

I mean, that's it. You know, a lot of people say to me, you should be a preacher, and I say to them, “Well, I am! Every day to whoever I meet! I mean, yeah.”

Nancy: Got any stories?

Evangeline: I've got so many stories, Mom, but to the point where, you know what? Really, the world should be trying to shush us up, but we cannot be shushed up. Our homes are not to be a retreat center. They are to be an advancement center. They are to be advanced headquarters, and that's it. They can be a haven, but not a retreat. And that's a big one. Mom, do you want to go on? Because I've got lots to say. I know you've got lots to say too.

Nancy: Going to one little thought there. I think that is so true. We have again, the changing of truth. Like some people think, “Oh, yes, I can send my children out into the public school. They will survive there, and they will be a great testimony!”

Oh, I beg your pardon. Your precious little children are so vulnerable. So, we protect them in those early years. We're protecting them in the home. We're protecting them. We are filling them richly with God's truth, and we are getting them ready. But no, not forever, because one day we're going to send them out into the world. We're getting them ready to do that.

Evangeline: It is an advancement. You know, I want to bring on the Scripture right before we keep on going. It was either Isaiah or Jeremiah, he said, “Here I am for You, Lord, with the children You have given me.” Do note, one of the greatest prophets wrote a book of the Bible. He didn't just say, “Here I am.” He said, “AND THE CHILDREN YOU HAVE GIVEN ME.” (Isaiah 8:18).

So, he was a man. How much more we as mothers should wake up and say that daily to the Lord! “Lord,” not just “Here I am,” but “Lord, here I am, and the children You have given me.” That's been my thing since I was first married. Soon as they were in my womb, not when they were born, even while they were in my womb. I'm like, “Here I am, Lord, and the children You have given me, for what?”

“For SIGNS AND FOR WONDERS in Israel.” We are not just having children. We're not just being any old family. We're being signs and wonders in this country. Wherever we are, whatever country you are, for signs and wonders for the glory of God, for the Kingdom He wants displayed on this earth. That's why. 

People do have a point when they say, “You know, you Christian families are just hiding out.” Stop it. We are to be a haven where, when they're little, we're training them. It's an advancement center for the God squad that they are going to be, and that we are as a family. It's where literally Christianity starts, where social justice starts, where missions start.

It is not a place to hide from the world, or hide our light, but the complete opposite. When the family unit, and you as a mother, as a part of this army, as a leading SEAL team person, leads your children, you become a God squad. It's powerful, adventurous, and exciting. Your children get to experience the power of God themselves, rather than doing just this little writing of ticking the boxes, versus they actually get to experience it.

It's not an endorsement to leave your family for some church ministry so others can raise your children for you. No, no. It's a call to take your family out when the time is right, and also to take yourself out of hiding. When you go to the grocery store, you are not in hiding. You have a voice, as Mom said, women and children, stop shutting your voice up, proclaim it. Don't hide! Be the adventurer and give yourself to God and His Kingdom for purposes together.

Nancy: Yes. Well, I find if I ever happen to be out shopping the same time as Evangeline, and that doesn't always happen, but on the occasions when it has happened, and with being in Whole Foods, or maybe Aldi's, or somewhere like that, and I don't know if she's there. Well, if she is there, I will soon hear her, and goodness, she's here! I hear her voice and what is she doing?

She's got some ladies round her, and she is sharing with them one of her God stories. She just tells them, doesn't matter who it is, Christian or non-Christian. She just tells them what God is doing in her life, and what God is like. That's how it happens. That's how it's meant to be. You see, lovely ladies, this is the understanding of this tension of truth.

Yes, we are free as women to proclaim. We have been given this anointing to be the proclaimers of the Gospel, the proclaimers of the truth, but at the same time, we have this powerful mandated career from God, to take up this career in our homes and raise godly families for the nation to be a godly nation.

Now we don't have to do one or the other. You see, they fit together. Do you understand it now? They fit together. We do both. As we mother, we are proclaiming. As we go out and about with our children, we are proclaiming His Word. There's nothing to stop us. We are free to proclaim!

Evangeline: It's true, Mom, because even yesterday, and it is true about my life, because yesterday (Vickie is here watching us, a friend of mine), and she couldn't believe it. Yesterday I was just at Aldi's, and somebody could hear me three aisles over. A lady shouted out, “I can hear you, Vange!”

You know what? People sing out when they're happy, and they're excited at something, and they think nothing of it. But people think something of it when you sing out and are happy about Jesus, and I just don't care. I'm happy and excited, so I sing in the shops, I sing at home. I'm just like . . .  This is my life, and I get to live it, and so should you.

If you're happy, stop letting the dictating negative thoughts of your brain say, “Oh, somebody might be watching you all. They might think you're just a little bit over the top. Ooh, why are they singing?”

Well, let them think it. Maybe they'll come up, and say, “Hey, you're happy!” Or, “Hey, I know that song!” Or, “Hey, I heard the words of that song!” They might hear your latest truth that you got this morning, or the story that happened to you last week.

I mean, they don't have to be . . .   Just look at everybody before you as a human being before the Lord, whether they know Him or they don't. Just give them Jesus, and you don't need to go and find some ministry. You have it all at your feet.

Nancy: You have it right before you, and the world is waiting for you. Mother, you don't have to vacate your great calling of mothering.

Evangeline: They're actually really waiting for you. They’re desperate, that desperate.

Nancy: Another thought to release you. In my early days, I didn't understand fully. You know, you don't understand all God's truth all at once. It takes years and years of searching His Word and seeking after Him.

I can remember when I was a young pastor’s wife. We were, my husband and I, we'd been pastoring for all our lives. In fact, we went out full time for God when we were engaged.

So, I've always had that opportunity, and that pull, as a pastor's wife, to get involved in ministry. There was that pull there. In the early days, I thought, “Oh, I am meant to be doing this and that,” but then the children were coming along. I had to realize I had to seek God to know what was my calling. And yes, I began to see, yes, it is in the home.

This is where I was to be. And just because my husband was a pastor does not make me a pastor. Now this is one of the strangest things in the whole of the world that I still can't get over. I have been a pastor's wife now for, goodness me, 55 years!

Yet I find that when a wife is married to an engineer, she doesn't feel that she has to be an engineer. When a wife is married to a doctor, she doesn't feel that, “Well, I have to be a doctor too.” When she is married to an accountant, does she have to be an accountant too? No, she is who she is!

Why is it that pastors' wives think they must be pastors too? That's a strange phenomenon, isn't it? But I got freed from that. My grandest role as a pastor's wife was to be the greatest mother and to show to all my congregation what it means to be a mother.

That's why it says in Titus Chapter Two, verses three to five, that the older women teach the younger women to love their children, and love their husbands, and be keepers at home. And then, if they don't do it, what does it say, what is the word? It's pretty strong! “BLASPHEMED.” Yes, the Word of God will be blasphemed.

Oh goodness me. I wrote about that once. I got all these women writing back to me and saying these most terrible things. In fact, I think if they were looking at me, they would have had rocks to throw them at me! The funny thing was, I was only quoting the Word of God! Isn't that funny? I often find when I say things and I'll quote the Word of God, then I get all this feedback. It's as though people never ever heard the Word of God. They just thought it was me.

Evangeline: They haven't. They haven't because they just go, and they hear other people, but they don't pick it up for themselves. I'm genuinely speaking. I urge you to just go and pick it up, and start reading it. Start reading one that you can understand . . . the Bible. Start with the gospels. John, it's amazing. I can't get out of John right now. It's freaking me out. Changing my life daily.

Nancy: Yes, we must be careful. When we don't show the right lifestyle, we do blaspheme the Word of God. Why do we blaspheme the Word of God? Because it's showing the opposite picture to what God originally ordained.

Now, I haven't gotten on to my little point. When I was going through this dilemma myself, and I hadn't really got through to victory way back in those days, God came to me one night. He said these words:

“The perfect will of God for your life will never contradict My existing commandments.”

Therefore, if I felt called to this great ministry. I have always had such a love to teach; I was a teacher before I was married. Because I have a passion for the Word, I love to teach the Word. I could have been tempted to go out and be a teacher of the Word.

Oh, I remember when I first had an opportunity to go and minister the word. My husband said to me, “Nancy, what are you going to speak about?” I told him some great revelation I got out of the Word. He said to me, “No, you're not. No, you're not.” He said, “God is showing you in the Word what you should speak about. You're to speak about loving your husband, loving your children, building your home.”

I am so grateful for a husband who was my protector, and in him protecting me, and him guiding me in the right direction. I'm doing what I am doing today. Maybe I wouldn't be doing Above Rubies if he hadn't protected me from keeping to where God wanted me.

The wonderful thing is understanding God's truth. If we have to go out and do something, and because we're doing all that for God, but goodness, we don’t have time to maybe have another baby, or have another two babies, or three babies, or however many God wants to give us. If we haven't even got time to be at home with these children God has given us . . . that is not the perfect will of God. So, forget it. It's your will, not God's will, because God's will doesn't contradict His original commandments. His tension of truth doesn't contradict another truth. Are you getting it, ladies?

Evangeline: That's so good, Mom. That's so true. You often find women who are gifted, but they don't understand this. I also want to say here to all of you, when you are living an absolutely wild-mothering laid-down life, and many people say, “It is like I'm giving up.”

It's not really, because you've already given your life over to the Gospel. When you get the Gospel, and Jesus comes and pervades your whole being, you have died to your own life and you're living for the Lord. That's the same with mothering.

You've already given over to Jesus because He lays his life down for his children. In doing so, we're the female version of the Gospel. It is our time to shine. Literally, we get to do the same thing for our children, and raise, just as he was the high priest, we're raising priests and such before the Lord. We are.

We're doing the same thing, and it is an army, and it's soldiering. Mothers, your most amazing value on earth is when you were soldiering for the future. This is what you're doing, Mothers. You're soldiering for the future.

You cannot sit down on the job and wish you that you were somewhere else, or wish you were doing some other ministry. Because it's pretending that you're soldiering in the future, but you're not really doing it. It's not going to look right. It's like a SEAL team member, or a guy who's trained or waited his whole life to be a soldier. Go out and take that nation, or into that war!

It's like he's sitting down at a desk, and he's unsatisfied. He's irritated, but he's pretending to do a good job. The same with you, you will be frustrated in your motherhood, you will be trying to find another job because you aren't giving your all over. You have to give your all over.

You can't go to all these little formulas and stuff where you're trying to get the meal over faster. You're trying to get the children out of the door faster. Your highest form in your life of doing the Gospel is when you're mothering.

We can sing, we can pray like all these Christians do,” Lord, let your glory come,” but we neglect, Mom, how that can be done. How is it done? Children are created. We are His glory, and we're like, “Nah, I'm good. I'll pass. I just want to go down to the woman's ministry center.” We're forgetting how His glory is revealed on Earth by US raising kings and priests to God! They are His Glory!

Nancy: I think that's the most wonderful thing, Mothers. It's a double portion we have, because we are the feminine proclaimers. We are also raising proclaimers for God's Kingdom. They're going to become proclaimers as they see us proclaiming. Are your children going to grow up being proclaimers of God's Kingdom if you're not doing it? No! It's what they see us doing, a lifestyle that they emulate and follow.

Now Evangeline's children, they are just following her lifestyle. I look at her oldest son, Zadok. He is. well, it's rather hard to describe him, isn't it? Zadok has such a passion for Jesus and for winning souls to Jesus. He can't go anywhere; he can't even go to the gas station to get some gas without winning someone to Jesus, without praying for someone to be healed. And he sees them healed.

He can hardly go into Walmart without preaching the Gospel, without waiting in line for whatever he's paying for. There's someone in the line that can hardly walk. So, he stops, and, “Can I pray for you?” He prays for them right there and sees them healed.

Evangeline: But I want to interrupt, sorry Mom, because there's lots of good stories there. But you know what, when they were little, you mothers have to rock the boat a little bit. I've read this story today. It says do something uncomfortable. I love that saying. We had to sort of, we don't keep them in the boat. We are to rock the boat. They might feel a little bit inhibited.

When they are out with you, children are drawn to the drunks and the old people. When they're like, “Mom, look at that old person,” and you go with them because you've got to be their protector. It's like, “Would you mind if my child prays for you?”

Who's going to refuse a little girl, six-year-old girl, wanting to pray for an old woman who's drunk, or you know, with a wine bottle. Or an old person. Let your children be with them. But let them be the Gospel. Let them be the Gospel.

If they see you do it, they will be so excited, because then you allow them to pray. It is not your story anymore. It's their story. It's their story! My children have grown up with it being their story. It's so fun. It's so exciting. Yeah. It's not about us. It's not.

Nancy: And even if they do what you did . . . Remember when you were about six years old? Yes, I went to this store and Evangeline's just a little girl. She looks up at this guy at the counter, and she says to him, “Are you a Christian?” And the guy says Yes, and she looks up at him. She says, “No, you're not! you smoke!”

Evangeline: That's so funny. But you know what? Our children, we don't do it perfectly. No one does it perfectly, and our children aren't. But you know what, Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me.” He hears the prayers of the children. So why don't you get the children to pray instead of you? Because he hears the prayers. I mean, we are a family squad for his Kingdom. If you're just doing it by yourself, you're all about yourself. Can you just get off your high horse?

Nancy: So anyway, lovely ladies, I'm sure you got the message. Alright, okay, tell a story.

Evangeline: Well, you most probably said it, Mom, but I want you to tell me stories. You know that it might be a little bit hard for you because you've kept your mouth quiet for a long time. But you know mothers, you're talkers, so start opening your mouths!

In the meantime, I want you to proclaim also in prayer. We live out in the woods, and I would often go on these lovely walks. I have a baby on my back or pushing a stroller. That's when they were little, and you might have little ones. Now, take your children for walks, and proclaim out loud. You think that you might not be affecting the world. I have acted like the President, not just of the United States, but of the world.

I tell you what, the spiritual dimension is so much bigger than the natural dimension. God has shown me pictures through the night. One day, I saw this picture of this huge statue falling down. Well, I didn't understand what it meant. The next day, I was out in the woods, and I think I had a baby on my back, and I was with a friend.

I said, “Look, this is weird, but I just feel like yelling out from what this picture God's shown me, “Pull it down! Lord, pull the statue down!” I felt like it was a statue representing evil. Do you know, two days later, on the news, they had that huge statue of, who was it? Saddam Hussein? It was something like that. It was a massive statue that was on the news. They had this huge statue, and they were pulling it down.

Another time, you know, just me, I'm a little mother, not knowing many people out in the woods.

Nancy: She's a six-foot mother.

Evangeline: Yes, yes, that is true. But, I just felt led to pray for all the soldiers of our country, that as they were going over to, I think it was they were going to Iraq the first time, that they would, as they were on their way, they would receive revelation for who Jesus is. They would be able to receive Him, maybe even get baptized. I had this whole imagination.

God uses your imagination, mothers. Two days later, in the paper, everything that I'd imagined happened. Because I was imagining all these soldiers getting baptized in rivers, and I started to pray it out loud on my walks. Well, guess what? Two days later, in the main page of that paper, and on the cover of one of those big magazines were all these soldiers getting baptized in a river on their way.

You know what? Do not, do not, regard your prayers as insignificant because God hears the prayers of praying mothers who cry out. You can change the very foundation of the world. You live in, not just your country of the world, you are a sniper, a SEAL force sniper, in prayer.

Wipe out evil countries! Wipe out evil in the world, to change the foundation for what your children will grow up in. You could be the President in the spiritual realm. “God, what nation do you have me pray for today? What is it? What presidents do we need to be praying for? What's on your agenda, God, for this world?” I'll tell you what, you can either let your brain go to the brink as a mother, or become the most brilliant woman on earth. You have this time to raise this incredible future and change the world.

Can I just say one more thing? You know, I've got this great friend of mine, and she's of opposite faith. She says she's not even of faith. She is a, she won't say the word “God” even. Anyway, I met her, and she said, “Well, I'll eventually speak to you.” She never wanted to talk to me.

She said, “I've been married three times.” She refused to ever, ever have a child, because she wants to save the world. I said, “Ooooh, you are my kindred friend. I've had 10 children for the same vision, to save the world too!” So, she laughed. She couldn't believe it. I said, “No, we both want to save the world. We're just coming up from different angles. Let's talk!”

You see, this is the deal. Hey, you are changing the world! Get out there and do it. Don't hide.

Nancy: That's the thing, dear ladies, and remember, this is our word to you today. You are in the home embracing your mothering and raising Godly children. You are a proclaimer and you're raising your children to be proclaimers.

Let me just read the Scripture to you once again, so you get it. This beautiful story, Psalm 68:11, 12: “The Lord gave the word. Great (GREAT) was the army of women who proclaimed it.” Great was the army of feminine proclaimers. It goes on to say: “Kings of armies did flee apace.” All the armies fled because the men went out, they won the battle. But she (SHE) once again. Get it, precious ladies. It doesn't say “he who dwells in the home.” “She who stayed in the home divided the spoil.” The two armies, and you are part of this great army in the home.

Let's pray as we close that God will bring back the women to this army, this army that's deserted. We can't win a war with a deserted army. God wants his army back in the home. Because it's as this army of women, these mighty women, these powerful, praying, protecting, proclaiming mothers come back to the home, wow, we will, we will begin to raise a godly nation.

Now we have a president who wants to make America great again, but it's no man that can make America great again. It's only God, and doing it His way, and His way is the home. Because a nation is only what the homes and families of the nation are. We cannot build a strong nation when the mothers are not in the home. It does not work. This army has got to come back.

“Oh God, we pray now. We ask, Lord God, in the name of Jesus, that You will move by Your Spirit, and You will draw Your army back into the home, oh God. Back to this glorious realm, because this is where the glory is. The enemy has totally deceived women, taking them out of this sphere of glory.

This is where You have placed them, in their glory, Lord, and to raise godly children who will become the glory in the nation. We can only bring Your glory into this nation as we come back to the home, and there to raise godly children.

So, we ask, Lord God, that You will bring a great revival of women coming back to their home, and embracing the children You want them to have, and bringing forth the godly seed and more godly proclaimers to fill the world with Your glory. We ask this in the precious Name of Jesus. Amen.”

Evangeline: Guess what? I agree.