LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 348: FOOD TWINS, Part 6

The last of the Food Twins today—food and leisure, food and a merry heart, food and prayer and praise, food and the presence of God, food and prophecy, food and protection, food and provision, food and motherhood, food and strength, food and teaching, and food and work! Wow. God associates all of these things with food. Check out what God has to say about them.

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies. We are still working through our food twins. Remember, I found 25 different things that God associates with food.

Today we are up to . . .

No. 15: FOOD AND LEISURE

 Let’s look at the Scriptures, shall we? In Mark 6:31, Jesus was with His disciples: “And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.”

That’s a very interesting Scripture. It was time for the disciples to eat some lunch, but life was busy. Everything was happening. People were coming and going. And Jesus said, “No, we can’t eat lunch here. We’ve got to get away to a leisurely place, to a quiet place where we can sit and eat and sit and fellowship together.”

We see here another principle in the Word of God, that once again, as I have shared with you before, we are not meant to eat food on the run. We’re meant to sit down. We’re meant to take a little leisure time and sit and eat. And preferably not on our own. Preferably with others, because as we know, food and fellowship go together. Of course, when you're in a family, you've got it all there. You’ve got your table, you've got your children around you, and your husband, and you can sit together and eat.

But make the time, dear mother, to make your meals a leisurely time. Now, of course, you can be so busy throughout the day, and you've got so much to do. But when you sit for your meals, don’t hurry through them! Or maybe there’s times when we do, when we’re going out somewhere. You’ve got to get something in the tummies and get out.

But from day to day, usually when you are home, try to make your mealtimes leisurely times, especially, I think, the evening meal when Daddy comes home. You’re all sitting around the table together. Don’t just eat and rush off. Make it a time where you talk together, you discuss together, and you enjoy one another’s company. That is so important.

No. 16: FOOD AND A MERRY HEART

I’ll read in Ruth 3:7: “And when Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down.” We see here that after he’d eaten that his heart felt merry.

That word “merry” is the same word that’s used in Proverbs 15:13 where it says: “A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance.”

And in Proverbs 17:22: “A merry heart doeth good, like a medicine.”

So, food, yes, it makes your tummy feel good, but it also makes your heart feel good. It puts you in a good mood. I think this is why it’s such an important thing, dear mothers, to always make sure that you have the meal ready for your husband when he comes home. I think this is a very important thing in our married life. I’ve always sought to do this, so that when my husband comes in, I have the meal ready for him.

Of course, we all go through different seasons in our lives, and different things happening. Of course, you will have to change things according to your husband’s work pattern at the time and so on. But, when possible, when you know about what time he is going to come home, stop in plenty of time before that. Stop what you're doing and begin to prepare the meal so that you know that when he comes in the door, you’ll be able to sit down together.

If you don’t do that, you’ll find your husband comes in and supper is not ready, so what’s he going to do? He’s going to go off and find his own thing to do. Maybe he’ll sit in front of the TV and then how do you get him up from that? Or maybe he goes out to his man shed to do whatever he wants to do out there. Then he gets involved and how do you get him back for the meal again?

There’s something about having that meal ready. When he comes in, and you all say your wonderful hellos and welcome, and the children are all excited to see Daddy, then you can say, “Just go and wash up. The meal is ready. While you're freshening up, we’ll put it out on the table.”

You all sit up together and Daddy sits at the head of the table, and what happens? While he is eating, he relaxes. He gets in a good mood. His heart becomes merry, especially as you prepare a lovely meal. Also, you think of what you're going to talk about at the table and you all dialog together. Your husband is being blessed, and he’s releasing oxytocin, because we do release oxytocin in a small way when we’re eating. It helps to make us relaxed and have a merry heart.

It’s true. The Bible says when we eat, it will make our hearts merry. Remember that dear mothers. That’s a real secret in your family life, to get that meal ready, have it on time, ready for when your husband comes home, so you can all sit up and eat together, and have happy hearts. Amen?

No. 17: FOOD AND PRAYER AND PRAISE

We usually separate these two things. We think of having food, and then we think of maybe going to a prayer meeting, or having a worship meeting, and so on. But in the Bible, God combines them together. We have quite a few verses. I will give you all the Scriptures in the transcript. I’m not giving them all here.

Let’s read Acts 2:42: “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.”

In verse 46: “And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their food with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people.”

We see there that they were eating their food, and they were praising the Lord too, from their hearts, as they talked with one another. But of course, at our mealtimes also, morning and evening, we love to always have a time of worship, either singing a hymn, or a worship song, at our family devotions. That is part of our devotion time, to read the Word and to pray, and to worship. Don’t forget the worship part.

Some of you are more musical families than others. Some of you will just sing a capella together. Others of you, if you have children learning instruments (you don’t always have time for this) but you can make certain times when they can all bring their instruments and play them. You can sing and worship together.

Yes, Joel 2:26. Let’s check this Scripture also: “And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never be ashamed.”  In this Scripture we see food and praising the name of the Lord together. They are also twins.

No. 18: FOOD AND THE PRESENCE OF GOD

Let me take you, ladies, to a couple of Scriptures in Exodus. To me, these are some of the most wonderful Scriptures in the Word of God. I love them.

Exodus 18:12: “And Jethro” (remember, Jethro was Moses’ father-in-law. He came to visit Moses in the wilderness) “And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God: and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God.” Other translations say: “In the presence of the Lord.”

Once again, we don’t disassociate our eating with being in the presence of the Lord. They are all a part of one another. When we eat, when we gather around our tables, we do it in the presence of the Lord. God loves us to eat our meals in His presence. He is the One who designed food. He is the One who designed tables.

I’ve shared with you before. Where do tables originate? They originate in heaven. God was the One who had the first table, and He loves families sitting around the table as it says in Psalm 128:3, giving the picture of the family sitting around the table with all their children.

A lovely idea is when you give thanks for the food, to also ask the Lord to come and sit with you at your table. Remind your children. Sometimes the table can be a hair-raising experience, especially with little ones, as you're training them. But remind your children, and even your little ones, “Children, God is here at our table. We are eating our food in the presence of the Lord. Let’s remember that.” That will make such a difference to their understanding of eating their food.

Then we go over, also, to Exodus 24:10-11. This is also when Moses went up to the mount. When he came back, in verse 8: “And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words.”

Then, after that, Moses and Aaron and Nadab and Abihu, and 70 of the elders of Israel, “saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also, they saw God, and did eat and drink.”

Can you take in those words, dear ladies? “They saw God, and they did eat and drink.” Here we see food, eating and drinking and fellowshipping together in the presence of God. Here Aaron and his brother and the 70 elders actually saw God. Well, they didn’t see God face-to-face, because the Bible also says that if a man saw God face-to-face, he would not live. But it says they saw part of God. Maybe it was just the feet of God.

Here it says: “And they saw the God of Israel. And there was under his feet as it were, a paved work of sapphire stone.” They saw something of the glory of God under His feet. That was enough to know that they were just getting a glimpse of the awe-inspiring God of the universe. That happened while they were eating and drinking and fellowshipping. So, lovely ladies, remember that eating and fellowshipping together is coupled with the presence of God. Remember that at your family mealtimes.

And when you're showing hospitality too, always invite God to your meal tables, at your table. You will be amazed at what a difference it makes, just knowing that He is there with you, and how He loves and longs to be with you. Not just in church, but in these beautiful times of family fellowship around the table, because this is something that is so dear to the heart of God.

I think too of that little illustration, well, it’s a huge illustration really, because the first time we read the word “table” in the Bible, it is the table of showbread. The table of showbread was made according to the heavenly pattern. Everything in the tabernacle was made according to the heavenly tabernacle. We know God had tables in heaven before we ever had them on earth.

The table of showbread in the tabernacle was made of acacia wood. That was wood that was very common. It was all around where they were. It was a common kind of wood. That speaks to us of our earthliness, and who we are. We’re just sinful people. But there was more than that. That table was overlaid with pure gold, speaking of the glory of God.

When we come to the table, often everything is not perfect, especially when you're training little ones. But in our earthliness, God comes, and He covers us with His presence, and with who He is, and with His glory. Remember that dear ones, even when your table seems to be so earthly. Remember that God covered that first table we read about with pure gold. He wants to cover you too, at your table, with the glory of God.

No. 19: FOOD AND PROPHECY

 We read in 1 Kings 13:20 about this man: “And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the LORD came unto the prophet.” He wasn’t in a synagogue. He wasn’t in a church. He was sitting at the table. They were eating together, and the word of the Lord came upon him.

I do believe that our tables can also be places of prophetic words. It’s amazing when we’re sitting around together at the table. I think it especially happens when we’re showing hospitality, and we have invited people to our table. Sometimes we invite sinners. Sometimes we invite people who need so much help and encouragement. Other times we might invite some very godly people to our table. Sometimes we may have angels unawares. We never know.

But there was always that moment when someone may speak the word of the Lord. Or someone is just sharing something, and you know, “This is a word for me. This is what God is actually saying to me. It’s an answer to my prayers. It’s an answer to something I’ve been thinking about.” This happens so often at the table.

Elevate your table to a higher place, dear mothers. It’s not just a place to sit and eat. It’s a place where God wants to come and visit you with His presence. It’s a place where He wants to speak to you. Of course, when we end a meal with our family devotions, and we’re opening the Word of God, we are always open to God speaking to us, speaking to me, speaking to my husband, speaking to each one of our children. Oh, it’s so incredible that the table is a place where God speaks!

I think of another illustration of where God aligns food with speaking. It’s a beautiful story in John 21. You’ll remember this story in the last chapter of the Gospel of John. This is where Jesus had already risen from the dead. He wanted to see His disciples again. He goes down to Lake Galilee. He knows that’s where they will be. They are out on the lake fishing.

So, what does Jesus do? The Bible tells us that He began to make a fire of coals upon the shore. And then upon that fire, when He got it all ready. He most probably had it big in the beginning. It had to settle down. Then in those embers, He put bread, and he put fish. He began to cook breakfast for His disciples.

Now, we read that and think nothing of it. But when we really realize what is happening, mothers, it is awesome. Who is this One who is cooking a meal for His disciples? It’s Jesus, Jesus, the One who has just risen from the dead. He is King of Kings. He is Lord of Lords. He has defied death, and He is alive again!

And yet, what is he doing? He’s cooking. Sometimes, ladies, you may think, “Oh, goodness me! I’ve got more important things to do! All this cooking seems to be all I do. Cook, cook, cook!” Ladies, cooking a meal is a powerful thing. It is one of the first things Jesus did after rising from the dead!

Here he is, cooking this meal, and His disciples come in from the lake. They’ve had this great big catch of fish, 153 fish they caught. And Jesus says to them: “Come! Come and dine!” They come over and the Bible says that Jesus began to serve them. He waited on them, and He gave them fish, and He gave them bread to eat. We could think that someone who has just risen from the dead, and all the glory of who He is, could say, “Now, will you wait upon Me?” But no. Jesus served His disciples. Can you imagine that beautiful meal they had together?

But it wasn’t finished yet. After they had fellowshipped and talked together, I’m sure they spoke of so many wondrous things. But then, Jesus singled Peter out. I’m not sure whether He took him away by himself or whether He said it in front of the others. But Jesus had a word for Peter. It was a special word He had to give to Peter, a personal word.

He didn’t just come down to Lake Galilee and call out for Peter. “Hey, Pete!  Come, come, I’ve got a word for you!” No. Before Jesus gave him that word, He cooked a meal. He prepared Peter to receive the word, because there’s nothing like having some food in our tummies that makes us feel good, relaxed, and more open to hearing the Word of the Lord.

So, Jesus prepared Peter’s physical body. He wasn’t hungry and uptight, because he needed some food. No, Jesus made sure that he was first filled and satisfied with food. And his heart was merry and relaxed. Then He gave that word to him: “Peter, lovest thou Me?” And then: “Feed My lambs.” He asked again: “Peter, lovest thou Me? Feed My sheep.” And again, He said it to him the third time. But Jesus never gave that word until He had first prepared the meal.

Ladies, this is a huge principle for us, because if we want to see wonderful things happen at our table, if we want our children to hear the Word of the Lord, and hear God speak to them as we open the Word at the end of our mealtime, we need to prepare their bodies and their hearts first. We do that by preparing a meal.

That’s why I often say the family worship time is perhaps 99% more the wife’s responsibility than the husband’s. We have to prepare the way. We set a beautiful table with the help of our family. And we prepare a lovely, nutritious meal, and we prepare the way for the fellowship and the dialog. We think about all these things, because we know it’s all preparation for the greatest feeding, to hear the Word of the Lord.

I have some mothers say to me, “Oh, I don’t know. My husband never remembers to take devotions. He’s just not interested.” But really, if we do our part, we will make it so much easier for our husband. And he’s already with a merry heart, in a good mood, ready to do it, too. And so, this is such a beautiful principle.

Let’s move on, lovely ladies.

No. 20: FOOD AND PROTECTION

Psalm 23:5: “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” Yes, that’s a wonderful promise.

No. 21: FOOD AND PROVISION

 That goes together. Sometimes we think, “Wow! How are we going to survive? Are we going to be able to have enough food to feed our big family? And goodness me, how could we ever have another baby? Help! We’re hardly surviving as it is!” But God always provides according to the blessing of children.

Let’s go over, shall we? I love this passage in Deuteronomy 28:  Let me read it to you from the Berean Study Bible. “Now, if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, and are careful to follow all His commandments I am giving you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth, and all these blessings will come upon you, and overtake you if you will obey the voice of the Lord your God.” Listen to the blessings. “You will be blessed in the city, and blessed in the country.”

That is such a wonderful blessing, ladies. I believe that wherever God has placed you, He will bless you. When we were raising our children, we raised them in the city. In fact, when our children were teens, we lived on the Gold Coast of Australia. We were pioneering and pastoring a church there. Our home was right under the casino. Our church looked out on the casino. This was the environment in which we raised our children.

Well, I can tell you that this environment caused me to spend hours in prayer. Every day I would walk down to the beach on the Pacific coast and cry out to God as I walked along the sand with the breakers roaring in. They crowded out my voice. I cried out for our children, but God was faithful, and He blessed them in the city, and kept them following Him. Now our grandchildren have had the blessing of growing up in the country. I think that is such an amazing blessing. Of course, they have been blessed too.

We carry on: “The fruit of your womb will be blessed.” And listen to this: “As well as the fruit of the produce of your land, and the offspring of your livestock, the calves of your herd, and the lambs of your flock. Your basket and your kneading bowl will be blessed.”

The King James Version says: “blessed shall be thy basket, and thy store.” Well, the word for “store” is “kneading trough.” And then it ends: “You will be blessed when you come in, and blessed when you go out.”

We see here, dear ladies, that the first blessing . . .  what was the first blessing? The fruit of your womb. And then God promises all the blessing from our livestock, and our kneading bowl, and our basket. All the provision of food, and whatever we need, that comes after the blessing of the womb. When God gives you another baby, He will give you more blessings to provide for that baby.

I love Psalm 37:25, where David says: “I have been young, and now I am old, but I have never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his children begging bread.” Oh yes, there can be times when you go through very lean seasons. But we always survive, and then we can go through seasons of greater blessings. But God is always there. He has promised to provide, and He will provide our food.

I remember a dear friend of mine. She lived opposite me when we lived in New Zealand. She was part of my ladies’ Bible study group that we had each week. We were talking about hospitality. I was encouraging the ladies to reach out in hospitality. This precious lady said to me, “Oh, Nancy! I so want to do that but I just don’t know how we can do it! We just manage on our budget. We just don’t have any more.”

I said to her, “Look, Sue, forget your budget. Trust God. Just go out by faith, and ask the family, or someone who is on your heart for a meal and see what God will do.” So, she plucked up great courage and she invited this family to come to their place for a meal. Well, she said she just could not believe it. Before this family arrived, and a few days after she had asked them, she came home one day, and on her doorstep was this great big box of groceries. Someone had left it there for her. She just saw . . . she got a glimpse of God’s provision.

Well, she was hooked. She began to show hospitality from then on. She always saw the blessing of God. In our own lives, I know that there are many people who find they need to live on a budget, and that is just the way they are. I think we tried that at the very beginning of our marriage, but it never, ever worked because we have always been open to hospitality.

We found that when we were inviting people, and people were always coming and going, and having meals, that wow, it went above our budget. What were we going to do? In the end, we forgot about budgets. In fact, we’ve never, ever even had one in our lives since, in our 62 years of marriage! We just trust God and He always provides.

OK, time is going!

No. 22: FOOD AND MOTHERHOOD

Oh, dear lovely mothers, you cannot separate food from motherhood, or motherhood from food! Because one of your biggest tasks in your home is feeding your family. You can never get away from it. Every single day, every single week, every single month, every single year, you're going to be feeding your family.

1 Timothy 5:10 talks about this woman and her lifestyle. The first thing she did was that she brought up children. The words “brought up” are teknotropheo, which mean “to nurture with food.” One of the biggest things of our mothering is feeding our families. Dear mothers, please don’t despise cooking, preparing food, or feeding. It is who you are as a mother.

You begin by putting your baby on your breast, nurturing and nourishing that little one. And then, as that little baby weans, you begin to give it solid foods. Then you continue to make more and more food, until it’s eating big steaks, and you're growing these great big teenage boys, and you can’t even fill them! But that’s all part of mothering. Embrace it! Enjoy it! Do it to the fullest of everything within you. As God has told us to do everything with all our might (Ecclesiastes 9:10). Be a mother who feeds your family with all your might because motherhood and food are twins.

No. 23: FOOD AND STRENGTH

Psalm 104:15 tells us that food strengthens a man’s heart. It doesn’t only strengthen his body; it strengthens his heart too.

No. 24: FOOD AND TEACHING

We see so many examples in the Word of God, of how Jesus taught when He was sitting at the meal table, not just in the synagogue but at the table. This is where He loved to teach and tell His parables. I’ll give you all the references in the transcript.

The last one I have is . . .

No. 25: FOOD AND WORK

Yes, our husband has to work to provide for the food. We, as mothers, have to work to prepare the food. We’re both working. It has all to do with food. This is how God planned it. He planned this beautiful joy of eating. We all love to eat. We all love the taste of food. We all love the fellowship of sitting around the table eating. Food and fellowship are part of life.

But they also mean that we have to work for it. God has established work. In fact, He established work right at the very beginning when He put Adam in the garden to work in the garden. Once again, ladies, I know it takes extra work when you're having to prepare food. Often, you've got your own project and you're doing this or that. “Oh dear, it’s time to prepare food again!”

But now, this is important, and even if it takes work, just embrace it. In fact, it takes less work these days than it used to, way back in past days when they really had to work for their food. In fact, they didn’t even have supermarkets where they could go down and buy some food. They had to grow it. They had to prepare it. Otherwise, they wouldn’t eat at all.

Don’t despise getting back to basics. Don’t always take the easy way out and grab some packaged food or just grab some fast food. No, get back to basics and start to prepare your meals from scratch, from the original food that God gave for us. Oh, it will be so much healthier for you and for your family. You will be blessed as you're doing this because it’s what God intended. Amen?

Well, I can’t believe it. I got through our 25 points today. Next week ladies, I’m going to begin something very, very important, to share with you. Don’t miss out. Don’t miss next week’s podcast, will you? Let’s pray.

“Dear Father, we do thank You with all our hearts for Your precious Word and showing us Your heart. Lord, we read so much about food and how it’s so much part of our lives. We thank You for showing us the way.

“I pray for all the mothers listening today, that You will give them a new vision for cooking, for preparing their meals, for blessing their families, and preparing the way for great things. We thank You, Lord, that food prepares the way for You to come, and for You to speak into our hearts, and, Lord, for You to do great and wonderful things. We thank You for this, in the Name of Jesus. Amen.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

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Transcribed by Darlene Norris

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Further Scriptures:

 

No. 17: FOOD AND PRAYER AND PRAISE

When the disciples met together to eat, they also prayed and praised God: Acts 2:42, 46, 47; Deuteronomy 8:10; and Joel 2:26.

 

No. 21: FOOD AND PROVISION

Deuteronomy 7: 13; 28:4-13; 1 Kings 17:2-6, 8-16; 19:4-8; Nehemiah 5:17, 18; Psalm 34:10; 68:19; 37:25; 78:19-22; 103:5; 107:9; 145: 15, 16; Proverbs 10:3; Joel 2:26; Matthew 6:11, 31-33; Luke 12:24; and Philippians 4:19.

No. 24: FOOD AND TEACHING

Jesus used the mealtime at the table or teaching time: Mark 16:14, 15 and Luke 5:27-32; 7:36-50; 14:1-24; and 24:41-49. Not at the synagogue but at the table.

 

No. 25: FOOD AND WORK

We cannot expect to eat if we don’t work for it: Genesis 2:15; Psalm 128:2; Proverbs 10:4; 12:14; 20:4, 13; 21:5; Acts 20:34, 35; 1 Thessalonians 2:9; 4:11; 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12; and 1 Timothy 5:8.

 

LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 347: FOOD TWINS, Part 5

More food twins today. Check them out. It is amazing how much God speaks about food in His Word. You will be amazed.

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies. Here we are, still talking about food and twins. There are 25 of them, and we’re up to No. 7. Isn’t it amazing how much God talks about food?

No. 7; FOOD AND FELLOWSHIP

They are real twins. They are inseparable. We are not meant to eat food alone. Food needs to be eaten in the company of others. That’s what makes it special—sitting down, and sitting around the table, or sitting around something where you're together and you can communicate together.

I love to call it . . .

“face-to-face table fellowship”

That’s what it is. It’s face-to-face. You can look one another in the eye. You can see one another, and you can have true fellowship. I love how the apostle John wrote to the elder lady in 2 John:1: 12. “I trust to come unto you and speak face to face, that our joy may be full.” I know he was meaning face-to-face fellowship, sitting around the table, talking together.

And again, when he was writing to Gaius in 3 John 1:14, he writes, “I trust I shall shortly see you, and we shall speak face to face.” That’s what fellowship is. God wants us to have fellowship with food. That’s why He paints the picture in Psalm 128:3 of the family and the children sitting around the table. They’re not sitting in front of the TV; they’re not sitting in the car looking at the neck of their brother in front of them. No, they are looking at one another, where they can communicate together.

Of course, fellowship is always so much more wonderful when there is food. They’re twins. They go together. When we want to get together to fellowship, of course, we have food. Either someone putting on a meal, or we have a fellowship meal where everybody brings a dish, and we can all contribute together. But we can eat and talk. It’s so wonderful.

No. 8: FOOD AND FULLNESS

Oh, there are so many Scriptures here of how God wants us to be filled, filled to satisfaction, filled to satiation with the food that He provides. I’ll give you all those Scriptures in the transcript. There are too many of them here, but you’ll be able to look them up (at the end of the transcript).

No. 9: FOOD AND GLADNESS, JOY, AND REJOICING

God wants us to rejoice as we eat together. I love Acts 2:46. Let me go to it here. This is speaking about the early church. It says: “And they continued daily, with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house” (that was hospitality) “they did eat their meat (their food) with gladness, and with singleness of heart.”

They had gladness and joy together as they ate their food. God, who is the giver of joy . . . He gives us food to enjoy so we have fellowship and food and rejoicing and joy all together. This morning, at our family devotions, we sang that beautiful hymn, “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee.” It goes on to say:

“Melt the clouds of sin and sadness.

Drive the dark of doubt away.

Giver of immortal gladness,

Fill us with the light of day.”

I love that because it gives the picture of God who is the giver of immortal gladness. Gladness is something that is immortal. It is eternal. It is not just for this present life. It’s for eternity. It’s not something that is just for when everything is going well. It’s something that is for us continually. So, we can have gladness, even when things are going wrong, even when we’re going through a difficult time. We can still experience immortal gladness.

I think God gives us something of that too when we sit down with others and eat together. He wants us to do it with gladness, and joy, and rejoicing. So many Scriptures about that. Let’s just look at perhaps another one.

Deuteronomy 12:7: “And there ye shall eat before the Lord your God, and ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto. Ye and your household, when the Lord thy God hath blessed thee.” God wants us to have joy as we eat. I will give you all the Scriptures in the transcript.

No. 10: FOOD AND CHEER

Once again, He wants us to have good cheer as we are eating.

No. 11: FOOD AND GOOD THINGS

Let’s go to Psalm 103:1: “Bless the LORD, O my soul; all that is within me, bless His holy Name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities and heals all thy diseases:  Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; Who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies, who satisfieth thy mouth with good things, so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”

It’s interesting that when you look at this Scripture, you see that the word “things” is actually in italics which means it’s not in the original. They just added it to give the meaning. So, in the original, it says: “He satisfieth thy mouth with good.” Well, we don’t even need to have things, do we? “He satisfieth our mouth with good.” All the foods that God has created are good.

We remember that from the very beginning, don’t we? Back in Genesis 1:11-12: “And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind . . . and God saw that it was good.” All the beautiful seeds, the fruits, the vegetables, and the herbs, everything that God created is good. So, let’s enjoy God’s good food. Amen?

Not all the junk food. The good food. The good food, remember, is healing food. If it’s not healing, if it’s just chips and white junk and refined food, it’s not healing, and it’s not good. We’ve got plenty of good food to choose from, haven’t we?

All right, now we’re up to . . . We’re getting through them a little more quickly today.

No. 12: FOOD AND HOSPITALITY

That is another twin. You can’t have hospitality without food. That’s really the essence of hospitality. When you invite someone to your home, you're going to provide food for them. If you invite them just to sit in a chair and look at the walls, well, that’s not very exciting, isn’t it? It has to be food with hospitality.

We see a wonderful example of this when we go to 1 Timothy 5:10. This is a picture, really, of what God has planned, the plan, the mandate, the vision that He has given to women. We see it here in verse 10, where Paul was writing to Timothy because he had obviously communicated with Paul that there were so many widows in their midst. He didn’t know what to do with them all.

So, Paul writes back to him and says, “Timothy, this is what you do. If a widow has family, if she has children or grandchildren, they must take the responsibility of caring for her and providing for her needs. This is what the Scriptures say.”

But he says, “If they don’t have any family, there are no children or grandchildren to provide for them, if they are 60 years if age and over, and have lived a servant lifestyle, you must provide for them from the church.” So, what is this lifestyle?

Here it goes: “Well reported of for good works.” The word there in the Greek is kalos. It means “beautiful, lovely, valuable.” What we’re going to read now are beautiful works.

Number one: “If she has brought up children.” Now the words there, “brought up,” mean “to nourish, to pamper with food.” That’s talking about raising children. It’s interesting that the word that is used in raising children is a word to feed our children and to nourish them with food, even to pamper them with food.

Of course, we begin the moment a baby is born, as the mother puts the baby to the breast, and she nourishes her little babe at the breast until the babe is ready to wean. Either way, mothers, don’t be in a hurry to wean your babies. Wean your baby when your baby is ready to wean, not when you think it’s time to wean.

Babies have different times. Some will wean early but others want to linger on longer. It’s most important that we learn to be aware and minister to the needs of our particular baby. Some babies like to nurse until they’re four years of age or maybe some even longer.

The mother nurses her baby. Well, as the baby’s getting older, she’s not only nursing only for food. By that time the baby’s eating solid food, three meals a day along with the family. But the baby’s still nursing, still wants that nursing touch, because nursing a baby is far more than food. Oh, yes. It’s ministering to that inner need, those inner needs of the soul. Remember that, those of you who are nursing babies. You are giving your baby far more than just food. Even when your baby’s eating food they may still want to keep that nursing relationship.

But then it goes on to the next thing. “If she has lodged strangers.” In other words, she’s opened her door in hospitality. Once again, food. You can’t lodge strangers and have people stay in your home and starve them! No, you've got to prepare meals. You’ve got to cook.

So, we’re seeing, as we read this Scripture, that cooking food and preparing meals are a huge part of our lives as wives and mothers in the home. God looks upon it, lovely ladies, He looks upon it as a good work, a lovely, beautiful work.

In fact, I just put out a podcast this morning, not realizing I was going to talk about this, and how that even when we give a cup of water in the name of Jesus, we will not lose our reward. That’s an amazing promise, isn’t it?

But just think about it, ladies. If God was going to reward you for giving a cup of water to some thirsty soul who is in need, how much more is He going to reward you for cooking a whole meal? Wow! If you can get a reward for giving a cup of water, how much more cooking a whole meal? And mothers, you're cooking breakfast, lunch, and supper every day, every week, every year, for years, and years, and years, and years, and years. Just think how many rewards you are going to get!

Oh, don’t despise cooking. Don’t despise preparing a meal, even though you think, “I’ve done this a hundred times! No, maybe I’m up to a thousand times.” Forget counting. This is your ministry. Cooking is not a chore. Cooking is a ministry. Not only to feed bodies, but to feed souls.

When you gather your children and your family, and other people around your table, you're not only feeding them physically, you're feeding them spiritually. The food, the physical food, just prepares people for that greatest feeding of the soul and the spirit. It’s such a beautiful thing, as God says it is. “Well reported for good works, beautiful works.” So, hospitality. That’s another thing. When you're having hospitality, it’s going to take work. It’s going to take cooking. Some people don’t show much hospitality. Maybe they don’t want to work. But it is such a beautiful ministry. God is looking for people with hospitable hearts because our God is a hospitable God.

Right throughout His Word, He says: “Come, come, come unto Me.” He longs for the day when we will sit at His table with Him in the eternal kingdom. Even Jesus talked to His disciples, and He said, “One day you will be sitting with Me at My table, in My kingdom.” Then He invites us to the greatest feast of all time, the marriage supper of the Lamb. What a feast that will be!

But God longs to show hospitality to His people because it ministers to people. Not just the food, but they are being wanted, they’re being loved, they’re feeling special because someone wants to invite them to their home. But it takes cooking. And it takes work, and it takes preparation. So, don’t despise that. Just think how wonderful and how blessed you are to bless others, and you won’t lose your reward, remember.

But we haven’t finished yet. It goes on to say: “If she has washed the saints’ feet.” Back in Bible days, when people came into a home, usually the servants would wash their feet as they came in, because they’d been walking on the dusty roads with their sandals, and they didn’t want to bring it into their home. That was the norm, that they washed their feet.

But here, this woman, she was a servant. She had a servant heart. She washed their feet. If you're going to wash someone’s feet, why are you washing their feet? To bring them into your home. And if you're bringing people into your home, well, you're going to feed them. That’s what you do. So, once again, it’s cooking!

And then, we haven’t finished yet. It goes on to say: “If she has relieved the afflicted,” those who are in need, those who are poor, those who have problems, those who are sick. Once again, if you're going to relieve the afflicted, you're going to bring food to them. You’re going to bring them into your home to feed them or you're going to go and take food to them.

Just like when someone is sick, you make a big pot of soup, and you make some homemade bread, and you take it to them. They’re feeling too lousy to cook for themselves and so you take food to them. You are relieving the afflicted when they’re down, when they’re sick. Every one of these things, every one of these beautiful things, as the Bible calls them, that’s the intent for women to do. They all entail cooking. And they entail hospitality. And then it goes on to say: “If she has diligently followed every good work.” The Scriptures say that that woman, if she doesn’t have children or grandchildren to care for her, she must be provided for by the church. Isn’t that beautiful? God’s provision to the woman who has lived that lifestyle, that beautiful lifestyle, that lifestyle He wants us all to live.

Once again, I have so many Scriptures about hospitality, but let’s just look at a couple of them. I’ll put the rest in the transcript.

Romans 12:13: “We are to be given to hospitality.” That’s really quite a word. That doesn’t give the impression, “Well, maybe about every few months we might perhaps, oh, we’d better have some people over for a meal.” No, we are to be given to it like someone is given to drugs. We cannot help ourselves because we have the anointing of Christ within us.

He says: “Come. Come unto Me.”

We also say: “Come to my home. Come to my table. Come and have a meal at our table. We want you to come.” We have hospitable hearts, because we are given to it. It’s like that family over in 1 Corinthians 16:15: “I beseech you, therefore, brethren, (ye know the house of Stephanas, they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints).”

That’s the same picture. It’s not, “Well, maybe I might do it. Help! I wonder if we’ve got enough food. Oh my, I wonder if we’ve got enough chairs. I wonder this . . .” No! They were addicted to the ministry of the saints, to serve the saints, and show hospitality to the saints. When you have a heart that’s addicted to hospitality, you're going to find a way around all your excuses.

Often, it’s, “Well, I don’t have enough food.” Well, Colin and I learned very, very early in our lives that if we were going to show hospitality, we would have to throw away our budget, because when you have a budget, you only have so much, and you've got to fit it into what you can afford to buy for that month. So, usually it’s just what you eat as a family.

Therefore, if you're going to open your home in hospitality, how do you do it if you keep your budget? I don’t think we ever actually had one anyway. We’ve never ever had a budget ever in our lives. We have lived beyond our budget all our lives. And yet, God has been good. He has provided. In fact, we have found that the more hospitality that we show, the better we live!

How does that happen? Because God aligns Himself with those who are hospitable. When we reach out to people, God sees us reaching out and He wants to feed those people. So somehow, He provides for us so we can feed those people! We have always found that that is so true! We live better the more we reach out and show hospitality to others.

I can remember back in the early days with our growing family. We’d invite families. Especially Sunday dinner, we would always have people to our home. We’d always invite people home. We didn’t have enough chairs in the very beginning, but back in those days, we had these wooden boxes in which we could buy 50 pounds of peaches, or apples, or so on.

We’d be preserving all our fruits for the winter. We would keep those boxes, and everybody would sit on boxes when they came. It didn’t matter that we didn’t have enough chairs. It doesn’t matter what you feel you don’t have. You’ll always find a way around it if you are addicted and given to hospitality.

Let’s go over to 1 Peter 4:7: “But the end of all things is at hand.” Whoo! Wow! What is God going to say next? The end is coming! “Be therefore sober and watch unto prayer, and above all things, have fervent love among yourselves, and practice hospitality, one to another, without grudging.”

The closer we get to the end, the more God wants us to open our homes in hospitality without grudging. Amen? Oh yes, hospitality is such a wonderful lifestyle, and it is associated with food. They are twins.

Let’s go on, shall we?

No. 13: FOOD AND LAUGHTER

Ecclesiastes 10:19: “A feast is made for laughter.”

Isn’t that great? God loves us to have joy and have laughter. It’s so wonderful when you can have laughter around the table, isn’t it? Of course, especially with your children. Don’t make your mealtimes boring and sober. Fill them with joy and laughter.

No. 14: FOOD AND LEFTOVERS

Yes, God not only wants to fill us. We have those twins, FOOD AND FULLNESS, but He provides even more than we need. He loves us to have leftovers. There’s a story in the Bible, back in 2 Kings 4:42-44 about leftovers. I wonder if you are familiar with it. Let’s go there, shall we?

Here’s this little true story: “And there came a man from Baalshalisha, and brought the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley, and full ears of corn in the husk thereof. And he said, Give unto the people, that they may eat. And his servitor said, What, should I set this before an hundred men? He said again, Give the people, that they may eat: for thus saith the LORD, They shall eat, and shall leave thereof. So, he set it before them, and they did eat, and left thereof, according to the word of the LORD.”

What happened there? This man came. God obviously sent him because at that time, just before this, they had found that they had put something in the pot, and it was poison! There was nothing for the prophets to eat. They had nothing! Obviously, they were hungry, but God did a miracle.

He sent this man from Baalshalisha. God must have spoken to him. He came with 20 loaves of barley and some ears of corn. Was that going to be enough to feed how many? 100 men? But Elisha said, “Just put it there. Just give it to the men, and see what God does, because I’m telling you, God has said there will be leftovers.” So, he gave it to the prophets to eat. They all ate, and there were leftovers. Isn’t that amazing?

And then, of course, we think about the story of the feeding of the 5,000, and how Jesus commanded that after they had eaten, the disciples were to go and pick up all the leftovers. And you all know the story and you know how there were 12 baskets full of leftovers.

But do you notice how God was interested in even the leftovers? He didn’t just leave them there for the birds to pick or to rot in the ground. No, they picked up the leftovers, and I’m sure that they distributed them to those who were in need.

But I’m a great believer in leftovers. I love to cook a big meal and hopefully there will be leftovers for the next day. Don’t you like having leftovers for lunch? In fact, food is usually even nicer the next day because all the spices and herbs begin to get stronger as they sit there.

Also, I am a great believer in not wasting food. Oh, my. Especially when we have feasts. We have Thanksgiving and Christmas and big parties. I will always have to give my little speech to all the children and the grandchildren too. “Only take what you can eat. You are welcome to come back and have as many helpings as you like. But you've got to eat everything on your plate. So, just take what you need for a start.

Well, sadly, even though I give my big lecture, I usually find, as I go around to pick up the plates, there is still food left on the plate! They didn’t listen to Nana. And some of it is beautiful meat! Oh, what a waste!

In fact, even on Sunday, at our fellowship meal this last Sunday, I went around to pick up all the plates. I couldn’t believe it! On just about every plate, there were leftovers! I think we should learn to take only what we’re going to eat, so that we don’t have leftovers from plates that are just going to be thrown in the trash.

I don’t mind leftovers in the pot because we’re going to save them for the next day, and they won’t be wasted. I think it seems to be, as I have noticed, a very American thing. It shows you that we are so affluent. I’m sure maybe you've trained your children out of this habit, and they eat everything on their plates.

But I see so many families where they don’t, and children and even adults, I have to confess, they take the food, and they just eat what they want. Then they leave the rest and it’s thrown in the trash. Half the food is thrown in the trash! I can’t bear it! I guess I’m older. I just can’t bear that because I don’t believe in waste at all!

But I think we should watch that, mothers. Don’t you? Teach our children to take only what they’re going to eat. Now, if they’re hungry, they can come back for more! We’re not going to starve them. Never! But we want to make sure they’ll eat everything they take. Amen? I hope you agree with me about that.

Actually, our time has gone by again! Whoo! I can’t believe it! Well, hopefully we’ll finish our food twins in the next session. But it’s just amazing, isn’t it, to see how much God has to say about food.

“Dear Father, I pray that You will bless every person listening today. I pray that You will bless their homes, bless their families, each one in their family. Bless their provisions. I pray that You will provide for them all that they need, and they’ll know Your provision as they walk before You to obey Your commandments. Because You’ve promised that, Lord, as we walk in Your ways, that You will provide.

And You say, as David said: “I have been young, and now I am old, but I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his children, breaking bread.” We thank You that You are a God of provision. And I pray Your blessing and provision on every family listening today. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

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www.aboverubies.org

Transcribed by Darlene Norris

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DON’T FORGET TO TELL OTHERS ABOUT THESE PODCASTS AND TRANSCRIPTS.

“LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell, Above Rubies”

DON’T KEEP THE BLESSINGS TO YOURSELF.

FURTHER SCRIPTURES TO LOOK UP:

No. 8: FOOD AND FULLNESS

Job 36:16b (NLT): “He is setting your table with the best food.”

Leviticus 25:19; 26:3-5; Deuteronomy 6:10-12; 8:8-14; 11:14, 15; 14:29; 26:12; Psalm 37:19; 81:16; 103:5; 104:27, 28; 144:13; 145:15, 16; 147:14; Proverbs 3:9, 10; Isaiah 25:6; Joel 2:19, 26; and Luke 6:21.

Jesus fed the hungry listeners until they were filled (Matthew 14:20; 15:37; Mark 6:42; 8:8; Luke 9:17; and John 6:12, 13, 26).

No. 9: FOOD AND GLADNESS, JOY, AND REJOICING

Deuteronomy 12:7; Ezra 6:22; Nehemiah 8:9-12; 12:27, 43; Esther 9:19-21; Ecclesiastes 9:7; 1 Chronicles 12:39, 40; Acts 2:46; and 14:7.

No. 11: FOOD AND GOOD THINGS

Genesis 1:11, 12; Psalm 103:5; Ecclesiastes 3;13; and 5:18.

No. 12: FOOD AND HOSPITALITY

It is impossible to show hospitality without feeding your guests: Genesis 18:5-8; Deuteronomy 10:17-19; 14:27-29; Judges 6:18, 19; 13:15-21; 2 Samuel 9:10; Nehemiah 5:17, 18; Job 31:32; Isaiah 58:7-11; Matthew 25:35; Acts 2:44-47; Romans 12:13, 20; 1 Timothy 5:10; Hebrews 13:2; 1 Peter 4:9; and 3 John 1:8.

 

 

 

 

LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 346: FOOD TWINS, Part 4

Our food twins today are FOOD AND HEALING. Candace Dickenson from Johnson City joins me today to share her healing journey. Candace was an Above Rubies helper 19 years ago!

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies, and everyone who is listening. Always great to be with you. Today we are still talking about food twins. We’ve got quite a few to go yet. We’re up to . . .

No. 6. FOOD AND HEALTH

Well, I have to concede that a lot of food we eat today does not make us healthy. In fact, a lot of it makes us sick. But God’s intention, His plan, is that food will make us healthy! He created food for the nourishment of our bodies. He created food for our health.

I did share with you a few podcasts ago a couple of words from the New Testament, the main two words that are used for food. The first one is trophe, used 16 times in the New Testament. It means “nourishment, both literally and figuratively.” And then, the other word is similar, trepho, and it means “to fatten, to nourish, to cherish with food.” We see that both these words mean “to nourish.” God intends that the food we eat will nourish our bodies.

Today, I have a visitor with me who is going to share with me on this podcast. It worked out really well, because I have my dear friend, Candace Dickenson, staying with me. She has a wonderful testimony of her own health journey. We’ll talk about that today. Welcome, Candace!

Candace: Thank you! Hello, everybody. It’s good to be here.

Nancy: So good to have Candace staying with me for a couple of days. I have to tell you the origin of our getting together with Candace. Candace came to me as an Above Rubies helper 19 years ago! Isn’t that amazing? Oh, wow! Actually, I think you came for four summers in a row, didn’t you?

Candace: Yes, yes.

Nancy: Yes, that was wonderful. She was an Above Rubies girl four times. And then, I think you’ve visited every year since then, to visit, to say hello, keep in touch. We have always prayed for Candace. Even back then, she was waiting for the man of her dreams to come and off course, her longing and desire to have children.

But Candace had a long wait, waiting for that right one. It was only two to three years, now, isn’t it? Three years ago, the Lord brought Justin to Candace, and they were married. Praise the Lord! My husband was so blessed to be the one who married them. It was such a glorious and beautiful wedding. Now, we’re still waiting for that great answer to our prayers, that Candace will be blessed with a little baby. I hope you will join me in praying for her that God will give her this miracle.

Tell us, Candace about your coming here. I think it was a little different from your own home, which was such a beautiful home life too.

Candace: Yes, yes. There are so many wonderful things about my coming here and meeting you and Granddad, also known as Mr. Colin Campbell. But talking on the subject of food, I will say that I was so excited to come.

I looked at it as a mission trip. I had discovered Above Rubies online all those years ago and signed up to receive the magazine to prepare to be a good wife and mother. Then I shared it with all my friends who were married already. Some of them had children; a lot of my friends who were married already.

So then, when I saw there was an opportunity to come and serve, I got so excited. I emailed you, and when I heard back from you that you could use some help in the summer, because that was the time that I had available to come (I worked with the school system the rest of the year), I was thrilled that I would get to come. To do a mission trip in Tennessee and serve a ministry that I so believed in.

Nancy: That’s what I think of as our Above Rubies girls come, is that it is a mission trip. You may not be going out to Africa or some South American country. You’re coming to Tennessee, although I think back in those days, it was rather like a mission trip, because I think you were in the days when the grandchildren were little. Our grandsons, their favorite thing was to tease the Above Rubies helpers. They would come into the office with snakes and spiders and frighten them all! It was like being in Africa!

Candace: Yes! The grandchildren were all very young. Some of them were not even born yet when I was here. I remember having little sleepovers with the granddaughters. We would do little pedicures and eat healthy snacks on a Friday or Saturday night.

Nancy: They still do that today.

Candace: Oh, it’s so great. But just a bit about my background. I was raised in the south. My mom always cooked the meals from scratch. They were homemade, wonderful meals, but they were very southern, so there were a lot of white potatoes, corn on the cob, pasta, and white bread, rolls, and biscuits. That was all that I knew.

But when I was around 18 or 19, I found out that I had hypothyroidism, low-functioning thyroid, and that I wouldn’t be able to continue eating that way and feel well and be slender. I was gaining weight, even though I was trying not to eat much. That’s what put me on a path to looking into healthier ways of eating. Even though in the south, so many people were eating processed things, and I really wasn’t. My mom made everything, like I said, homemade, but it wasn’t the healthiest for me. That was the backstory.

When I came here, I was excited to try different foods, knowing that you all had come from New Zealand, and wondering what exciting things I might get to try. But I really thought that you couldn’t eat healthy food, and it still taste good. I thought if you're going to eat healthy, and be slim, it would be something like raw celery sticks and water. [laughter] And really no flavor.

But you were the person who showed me that is absolutely not true. I remember the amazing feasts that you would spread all over the large table every night for us. I felt like a queen! Trying all these new things, so full of flavor, so wonderful! One of my favorite things to this day is your sourdough rye bread. But all these amazing foods were so delightful, and I couldn’t believe it. In two weeks of being here, I had lost ten pounds, eating all I wanted of this wonderful, healthy food that was so tasty.

Nancy: Oh, yes, that was so great. I think I remember you telling me that when you went home, you would continue to make the sourdough bread, and you made it with, what did you make it with?

Candace: I was so excited about all these new foods, so I wrote down everything I could in my notebook and went home and prepared as many things as I could, as similarly to you. I would enjoy that. I love the Thai vegetable soup that you made.

I caught my own wild yeast for the rye sourdough. Then I started making sourdough bread. I remember the first time I tried it; it was so sour! But I remember you saying, “I love it sour!” So very sour, and you all loved it! So sour, and I did too. That became one of my favorite things. I never had bread so sour when I first tried it, but the more I ate it, I loved it! And I thought, my body must be really needing it. It’s so amazing.

Nancy: Do you make it with spelt and rye? Or what grains?

Candace: I made it with whole rye.

Nancy: All rye. Oh, that was amazing.

Candace: All rye at first, and then I think I may have added some of the ancient grains like spelt, a little bit. But I mostly did whole rye, and I would feed my starter, and I ended up with all this bread. Even when I froze it, it was too much for me to eat. My southern friends thought, “What is that?” They wouldn’t even hardly try it!

I had all this bread, which was so wonderful, but there was another Ruby helper here one of the times I was here, who loved your bread especially. It was a joy to wrap up a loaf of it every time I made it, and I would ship it off to her in Pennsylvania. She would call and say, “I got your bread today! It makes me think of our time at Nana and Granddad’s.” It was a really special thing.

Nancy: Oh, that’s so wonderful. What were some of the other things that you’d never tried before?

Candace: Oh well, I’d never heard of red palm oil, for one thing. And I’d never heard of kefir. I remember trying it and it was so strange to me! [laughter] But I loved it in the smoothies you would make. I remember you would take us to a blueberry farm nearby, we’d pick tons and tons of blueberries, just loads of fresh organic blueberries.

You would have those and put them in all kinds of things, in smoothies, and muffins, and pancakes, in these beautiful, healthy recipes. I loved the kefir and the blueberry smoothies. Probably my most favorite dish that you made the summer that the Liberian children were here, I think that was shortly after they came, was the sweet potato leaves, oh, a wonderful, spicy dish.

Nancy: Yes! Well, of course, I learned to make that from our Liberian children who we had adopted from Liberia. I had never heard of eating sweet potato leaves. I grew sweet potatoes every year to get our sweet potatoes. But when they came, they looked at these leaves, and said, “Oh, mom, we’ve got to eat them! This is what we eat back home. We love potato leaves!”

They showed me how to make it their way. So, that’s the way I still do it. We began to use the leaves. Ladies, if you grow sweet potatoes in your garden, realize that, yes, you can eat the leaves. You don’t have to wait until you harvest the sweet potatoes at the end of the season. You can go out and pick the leaves throughout the summer and make sweet potato leaves.

This is the way I make them, according to the way our Liberian children showed me. I would sauté onions and peppers and tomatoes, and of course, hot peppers. Oh, and garlic too. They always had to have hot peppers because everything they ate had to be hot. I grew jalapenos, and I grew habaneros, and any hot peppers I could find. At the end of the season when we harvested, I would dry the peppers, the hot peppers. When they were dried, I would then whiz them up in the blender, so it was dried hot pepper. They could also add that to their food.

Oh yes, and our son, John, goodness me! Did he love things hot! So, I would make things hot. I’ve always loved spicy food, and we always eat spicy food here. But when the Liberian children came, we had to up it a few notches. We got hotter and hotter. It’s interesting, even the Above Rubies girls, sometimes it would be so hard for them to take. But as they stayed, they got to love it and enjoy it.

I’d make this base with all that, and the hot peppers and so on. And then the red palm oil. Ooh. And we learned that from our Liberian children too. We learned so many things from them, and they were used to the red palm oil, which we have to go to an African shop to buy in the city in Nashville. It is so good for you and it’s rich red. Oh, it’s so wonderful!

So, I’d make this base with the red palm oil, and then we’d put in the sweet potato leaves. When the children were with us, of course they’ve grown now, they were so amazing at cutting the leaves. They would get all these leaves bound together and they would get a sharp knife. Whoo, whoo, whoo, cut! Oh, they cut it so finely. I just couldn’t do it. But I still had to do it, as they weren’t always there.

I’d be laboriously cutting these leaves so finely because you have to cut a lot. They disintegrate. Someone was watching me one day, and she said, “Why don’t you throw them in the food processor?” I thought, “For goodness’ sake! Why didn’t I think of that before?” I was just copying our Liberian children. So now, I just throw them in the food processor, and they’re whizzed up in a minute. I put them in the dish, and they simmer. As you know, they’re so delectable!

Candace: Oh, yes! So wonderful.

Nancy: Oh yes, so wonderful. So, your thyroid, you really overcome that, didn’t you? Or do you have to watch it today?

Candace: Yes, my numbers have actually been normal for years.

Nancy: Praise the Lord! Just by changing your diet.

Candace: Changing my diet and also taking supplements to help stimulate the thyroid.

Nancy: What do you take for that? Because a load of people need help with their thyroids.

Candace: Kelp is a wonderful, wonderful source for the thyroid. And then you can get, there is a supplement called parathyroid. Again, it helps nourish the thyroid. I was told that, when it was discovered by doctors, the thyroid doesn’t correct itself. It doesn’t heal, so you’ll always need a large dose of medicine to supplement. But mine actually has shown signs of healing.

One of the things God used to heal my thyroid is coconut oil. I know that it tends to be, from what I read, it’s very nourishing to the thyroid. I like cooking with it and baking with it.

Nancy: That’s wonderful. And then, you had another issue. You had a lung issue. Tell us about that.

Candace: About nine years ago, I was diagnosed with, it was really something discovered in my lungs. I was struggling with what I thought was bronchitis or pneumonia, and I was having some pretty bad symptoms. I went to the ER, and it was discovered that I had a growth in the middle of one of my lungs. Thankfully, the growth was benign. It is benign, but the doctors didn’t really know what to do with it. It’s a rare thing that only shows up in younger people who never smoked, ironically.

They generally only go in and cut those things out. They take a portion of your lung with. That’s what they had planned to do for me. When I was talking to them, and asking about the risks, one of the risks was there’s a good chance it could knock your heart out of rhythm for life. They said, “No worries, we can just give you medicine for that.”

I really don’t want to hand over part of my lung if I don’t have to. I prayed about it, and I did not have the surgery. God is so faithful. He had gone before me and connected me with a naturopath/herbalist from another state who would come in once a month near my town. I was seeing her for about a year prior to discovering the lung issue. She was already treating me for general things using herbs and natural supplements.

I reached out to her, and God used her to help me discover some more herbal supplements as well as cleanses, changing my diet quite drastically, even more. I’d already cut out sugar, except for special occasions. But she challenged me to cut out dairy, and even meat for a while, to allow my body to heal. I went through that process, and God blessed it. About a year after the growth was discovered, the scan showed it had shrunk in half.

Nancy: That’s wonderful!

Candace: And no one could explain it. It was a type of thing that I was told by doctors, it will not shrink. They do not shrink. They only slowly grow. I was told, “You will keep chronic pneumonia. You will keep a terrible cough until we take it out.” I said “No, I don’t receive that report, in Jesus’ Name.” I believe sometimes certainly God may use surgery and medical science to help us, and to heal us. But in my individual situation, I did not have peace about going that route, and I’m so thankful God showed me a different way.

Nancy: Yes! And today you don’t suffer from pneumonia and cough every year. God supports healing, by getting onto the right foods, and the right herbs that He has created for our healing. They’re created for our healing and for our health, aren’t they? It is so wonderful. What are some of the herbs that you have used for your lungs, you use mullein, don’t you?

Candace: Yes. Mullein is a wonderful herb to strengthen lungs. A lot of people don’t know that it often grows in your backyard.

Nancy: Really?

Candace: Yes, yes. Depending on how close to the mountains you are, close to the forest, it at least grows on the banks in a lot of areas.

Nancy: Have you found it?

Candace: Oh, yes.

Nancy: Really?

Candace: It’s a fuzzy little leaf. It almost looks like wild lamb’s ears to me. But you can actually harvest it and make tea. You can dry the leaves and crush it and put them into your own capsules if you like.

I transplanted a wild one at one point into my herb garden, and it did well throughout that year. It just didn’t return the next year. You could always, if you find it in the woods, you can pull it up by the roots and put it in your herb garden. It should take off, at least for that season.

Nancy: Well, that is so interesting. It just shows again, when you think of that Scripture in Revelation about “the leaves of the trees are for the healing of the nations.” The herbs and the leaves, and the trees, with their leaves and their fruit, and the vegetables, everything God has given for our healing, aren’t they? That’s so wonderful.

I’ve always believed in mullein for your lungs. But as I was saying to you, I still have a tendency to get a cough. You were sharing how your naturopath said that you need something for your kidneys as well. Tell us about that.

Candace: I don’t fully understand, and I would love one day to learn under her, because she learned from some of the best. But she did tell me that one of the ways to keep your lungs strong is to make sure your kidneys are kept strong as well. I have taken a supplement that supports kidneys for about nine years as well. It naturally regulates blood pressure, and it naturally relieves any kind of fluid retention, if you have that issue, while strengthening your kidneys, bladder, and lungs.

Nancy: Wonderful. Well, that’s really good to know. Oh, and another thing, of course. I think about, oh, I don’t know, maybe the second or third time you came as a Ruby girl, which was when Trim Healthy Mama began. Although you had begun the journey of health, you really got onto the bandwagon, and you've been a real true purist Trim Healthy Mama ever since, I think, haven’t you?

Candace: Yes, well, it’s so neat that I had the honor of, when I first came, that first year, in 2006, I believe, the sisters were actually still writing. They were nursing babies, and they would pop over to visit. They were taking notes for the book, and it was so exciting to get to see that part of it.

I was doing more of very little to no carbs. At that time, I was in my twenties, and I had thrown out all potatoes, and all bread, except occasional rye bread. That was a real treat. So, I had gone almost too radical with it, but it’s what was helping my body get aligned at the time.

Nancy: Yes. Some things you can only do for a season. They are for a season, but then God’s plan is for all the five groups of food that He has given to us.

Candace: Absolutely. When I discovered Trim Healthy Mama, and I read that plan, I got so excited, because I thought, “Oh, I can have rice again, brown rice. I can eat healthy breads again, and mix it up, and not just have greens, eggs, and chicken. But I can have berries again, and I can mix it up and still be healthy and slender.” That was a really exciting time, when that was launched.

Nancy: Yes. So, it’s really your whole way of life, isn’t it?

Candace: Yes, I definitely had to look at changing my eating habits as a way of life, because I’d seen so many people, I don’t know if it’s more so in the south or not, but just from where I come from, many people would go on really extreme diets. They would lose tons of weight, but then they would be done with being deprived, or feeling deprived. They would go on a great big binge and gain it all back.

Nancy: That’s usually more weight than before. Diets never ever, ever work. You can get slim as you say, for a while, but once you get back to your old ways, it all comes back with a vengeance. So, it has to be a way of life. That’s the wonderful thing about Trim Healthy Mama.

As our girls, my girls, Serene and Pearl, they had to learn by experience and trials themselves, because they had gone on many fads themselves previously. And then God showed them, and woke them up, and really got ahold of them, and said, “Hey! You’re not in line with Me! In My Word, I talk about all the five food groups, so if you're not using them all, you're not on My plan!”

I remember Serene having to throw out all her health books. Serene had been quite unusual, really. She’d been a health nut from a child. Serene, of her own volition, has never put into her mouth, her whole life, a grain of sugar, or anything unhealthy. It was just in her, from, I don’t know, from a tiny child.

As soon as she was of an age where she could go to a shop, and maybe I could leave her on her own, her favorite thing, and that would be back in Australia at that time, she’d say, “Mom, could we go to town? Just drop me at the health shop.” She would just sit there and read books.

She gathered so many health books, but in the end, she had to throw them all away and get back to the Bible, which is all the beautiful, glorious, healing, natural, nourishing foods that God has provided for us and to eat them in their natural state. That’s how they had to seek the Lord. “Oh, God, OK, if we’re to eat all this stuff, how do we stay slim?” And the Lord showed them a way of doing that, and that’s the Trim Healthy Mama plan.

Candace: Yes. And it’s so interesting how God designs each one of us so uniquely. Some of us are born for that desire to eat healthy. I was always kind of the strange one in my family. Even in the south, from a really young age, I would be drawn to healthier things. Even though I was eating southern food, I was still wanting carrot juice, things like that.

I remember extended family watching me, because I’d pack my carrot juice and bring it to restaurants, where there were all kinds of fried chicken, and deep-fried everything. I would sip on my carrot juice. They were like, “You’re so weird!” [laughter] I just thought, “Oh, well.” It’s neat that some of it comes by learning, and sometimes we are born wanting to eat healthier things.

Nancy: But it is so sad, as I said at the beginning, that today this generation, on the whole, is eating food but they’re not eating food for their health. You’ve been teaching for many years. Tell me, what did you notice about the children?

Candace: I was amazed. In the short amount of time between my graduating school and going back into the schools to work, I was amazed at the difference in the foods I saw in lunch boxes. Children were bringing hardly any sandwiches. If there were, they would be on white bread, piled high with peanut butter, and tons of jelly, tons of sugar-laden jelly.

But mostly it was processed food. It was pre-packaged. Pop Tarts, little cakes, candy bars, these kinds of cheese things, cheese curls, or whatever they had. All this fake orange dye. I couldn’t believe that that much had changed in a short amount of time, because when I went to school, my mom would always pack a sandwich but there would be a piece of fruit. And there would be, sometimes figs, but it wasn’t like that. I thought, “Wow! What is going to happen if this is all the children are eating?”

Nancy: I know. And what is that really saying? Where are the mothers at home? They’re obviously out at work, in their career. They don’t even have time to prepare a healthy lunch for their children. Just a packet of some packaged foods. This generation is growing up on them. The sad part is, they get used to it, and then they don’t really want the healthy food, because you do get used to what you're given.

Of course, I know that I’m speaking today . . . I know most of you wonderful moms who are in the home, and you have such a heart to raise your children healthily. You are cooking your food from scratch, from the original, and I encourage you to keep doing that. I’m always amazed that actually that in homeschooling, home-mothering homes, there are still a lot of families who just eat packaged cereals for breakfast.

Now, that is not food and health, because they are nothing like the original. If the food looks so foreign from the original, it’s not a healing food. Most of these cereals, wow! Goodness me! The colors, and they’re made into shapes, and they’re all funny things. They’re nothing like the original oats, or the original barley, or the original grain! We’ve got to get back to that.

Of course, it does take a little more time to prepare that nutritious breakfast for your family. But mothers, can I encourage you? Don’t just get up bleary-eyed, and let your children go to the cupboard and get their cereal package out and have it with a bit of milk. No. They deserve more than that. Cook up good oats, rolled oats, or what is the other one?

Candace: The oat groats?

Nancy: The oat groats, yes. Oh, the oat groats, that’s really original. That’s what I love the best. Often, I will soak oat groats for about three days and change the water each day. I will often use whey to soak it. And then by the third day, I can then pour off the water, and put new water in, and just simmer it until it’s soft. It is so glorious!

Then you can do that with barley too. I love it with barley. That’s the best. Beautiful. Then, of course, you've got your quinoa, and you've got millet. It is also a wonder grain. So many wonderful grains, which is how God gave them to us! These are healing foods.

So, dear lovely ladies, one of the things that God associates with food is health. Let’s get it right. Let’s get it straight, and make sure that every food we are giving to our children and our family, and our husbands, is a healing food.

Now, husbands. Oh, goodness me! They don’t always like what you’d call healing foods. They love a dinner of good old anything. As my father used to say, “I can eat anything that goes down a human’s throat!” [laughter] And they don’t seem to care.

Even my own husband, oh, he’ll eat all the good things I make for him. But when I’m not around, I just can’t believe it! He has no idea! He’ll bring things home. He loves to have jam. I said, “Well, just get it without sugar.” But he'll come home, and I’ll read the label. It’s got corn syrup in it, or something like that! I said, “Oh, didn’t you read the label?” “Oh, no!” He’s not interested in reading labels.

But I think you noticed that too, when you married Justin. Oh, goodness me! It was not only that was he not used to all your lovely healthy food. He wasn’t even used to sitting at a table, was he?

Candace: Well, I found it quite shocking, how blessed I was to be able to have a meal at the table with my family, growing up. My mother would always, every day, when I came home from school, dinner would be ready, or almost ready. My mom, dad, and I would all sit at the table and eat. I took that for granted. I thought, “Oh, everyone must do this!”

I think maybe more people did it back then, but today, it’s very, very rare. This is the whole special thing. You’ve written an entire Bible study devotional, “The Family Meal Table,” about the importance of sitting around the table when you eat your meals. It’s such a beautiful thing, but, yes, my dear husband has a sweet tooth, and he does tend to like the fluffier bread.

I will share this. There is one recipe that I make from time to time, because my family loves them. It’s a very southern thing. My grandmother taught me how to make biscuits when I was really little. That is one of the things that I still make from time to time for my family.

I usually don’t eat them. I usually make a low-carb version, gluten-free version for myself. They are white biscuits, but I use all organic ingredients. There are only three ingredients to the biscuits, so I’ve managed to make a healthier version of my grandmother’s very southern biscuits. They’re really fluffy and high. My mother loves them, my husband loves them. They’re wonderful served with homemade strawberry jam. I like to serve that from time to time.

Nancy: Oh, wonderful. As we’re closing this podcast, I would like to ask you to pray for Candace, that she will be blessed with the desire of her heart, this little baby. Candace is 44 years now, but she’s still believing. She’s still waiting for this baby. Actually, you are a great miracle yourself, to be here. Just as we close, tell the little miracle of how God brought you into the world. Yes, and your mother was 40 at that time, wasn’t she?

Candace: God is so faithful, and His timing is perfect, even when we don’t understand all that’s involved. My parents had a son long before I was born. He died, sadly, in an accident, at age 16. My mother didn’t think she could have any children. She had been told for years that her womb had turned around backwards, and it was very unlikely that she would ever conceive. But she did ask God for another child if He would give them another child.

About two years after my brother passed, I was born. I was a surprise. In those days, 40 seemed kind of old to have a child. Today, you're hearing people 50 or more, they’re having children. Praise God!  So, the doctor also told my mom to prepare for a hard labor, a long labor. It would probably be like having her first child again. But she gathered the warriors to pray, and the whole pregnancy was covered in prayer.

I was born very quickly. She hardly had time to get to the hospital. The doctor was amazed. Hopefully all of you wonderful ladies will be encouraged today, if you are past your 30’s, or if you're even in your 40’s, that despite what doctors may say, God has the last word. He loves giving children, and he loves watching over them, and giving you wonderful labors and deliveries, despite what science and the doctors will say.

Nancy: Amen!

“Oh, Father, we thank You again for Your wonderful goodness to us. Thank You for giving us all these glorious foods! Every country has different foods that You give for that country, and those people. And Lord, we have such a vast array to choose from. It’s all healing.

“Lord, help us always to be those who prepare healing foods, and realize food and health go together. Bless these precious families listening today, Lord. Pour out your blessing and your provision, and your protection, and your anointing, all over them. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

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Transcribed by Darlene Norris

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“LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell, Above Rubies”

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LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 345: FOOD TWINS, Part 3

We are still talking about more ideas for Feasts and celebrations in your home.

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! And to everyone who is listening, moms, wives, young people, little ones, and even husbands, I know there are husbands who are listening too.

Well, we have just watched the inauguration. It was so wonderful. President Trump gave a great inauguration speech, so very, very inspiring. It was really wonderful. If you didn’t get to see it, well, pull it up and listen to it. He was calling today “Liberation Day,” and the “revolution of common sense.”

Of course, he is ready to completely wipe out so many things that have been destroying our nation. It all sounds so wonderful, but I do believe we’re going to face some challenges, face some storms. It’s not going to be easy, because this shadow government that we have had that’s been controlling this nation and the world, is so wealthy. They actually have 87% of the wealth of this nation and they’re very powerful. I don’t think they’re going to let everything happen so easily.

So, we, as God’s people, wanting God’s blessing on our nation, wanting evil to be eradicated, wanting righteousness to come forth, praying for a mighty revival which we so need, we need to pray. Nothing will happen without our prayers. In fact, we called emergency prayer for these last three nights, Friday night, Saturday night, and Sunday night, because of the threats that were about for this inauguration. There were many threats. It’s not known to everybody, but we knew that it would only be God’s people praying that would keep this inauguration very safe.

God has answered our prayers, and we thank Him, we thank Him for all the answering of our prayers. But I believe in the days to come, we’re going to have to continue to pray. Pray as families every day, morning and evening. If you are not part of a prayer meeting, praying for this nation, well, start one in your own home. Even if you're bringing one other family each week to pray with you, and pray for this nation, and pray through all that God wants to do.

We are still on our subject of FOOD TWINS. There are 25 different things in the Bible that God associates with food. We’re still talking about food and celebrations. Last time I was talking about what we love to do with our birthday parties.

In fact, one of our birthday parties has become a great tradition. I think I’ve told you before about Breezy’s Ball. That started when Breezy was only four years of age. At that age, she loved to dress in princess clothes and dance around the house like a princess and dream of marrying a prince one day. So, Serene thought, “Well, let’s have a princess ball!”

Of course, it was only a family ball. All the moms and dads and children, that’s what our birthday parties were, usually, everyone got on board. They came, and the girls, the little girls, and the mothers, all dressed as princesses. And the boys dressed like princes and knights. It was such an amazing night that somehow it just became a tradition.

This last year, we had Breezy’s 15^th birthday. Once again, it was Breezy’s Ball. This time, it was a very big occasion. We had it at the Wedding Barn. There were quite a few hundred people there. It was an amazing night. Of course, we had a feast. We had a celebration. That’s what we’re talking about, celebrations.

One of our fun celebrations we have in our family, and I think I’ve talked to you about these before too, is our book parties that we have once a year, around Christmas time, with our older children, and then we have one with the young couples. This is where we have a beautiful meal together. Then we will play the white elephant game with books where we really fight over them and have a great fun time. They’re great celebrations in our family.

There are a number of celebrations that are mentioned in the Bible. I think of the dedication of a NEW HOUSE CELEBRATION. I think that’s a very important one, actually.

We read in Deuteronomy 20:5, “What man is there that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it.”

Because it was a tradition to dedicate a home when a couple moves into a new home. I think that’s a beautiful celebration. I was used to that, back in New Zealand. Whenever a new couple got married, and when they went into their new home, we would always have a celebration. Everybody would bring something for their home, and we’d have food together. Then we would pray over the house. I think that’s a beautiful thing, not only when someone goes into a new house, or builds a house, or even if they buy a house. It may not be a new house, but they’re going into it as a new family. It’s a great idea.

If you know someone in your family, or very close to you, who’s going into a new house, or buying a new home, why not think about a special celebration for them? Gather friends around, take food, take a gift for their home, and pray over their home, especially when it’s not a new home, and people have lived there before.

You never know who lived in a home before you. It’s very important to pray over that home, to pray God’s blessing and pray against any evil or uncleanness that was in that home, and cleanse that home. I think it is such an important thing that I trust, and I hope, that Donald Trump and Melania would have brought people into pray over the White House before they went back in. I couldn’t imagine going and living in that White House without it being cleansed and prayed over. I think that’s important for any house.

Then there are SEND OFF CELEBRATIONS. When somebody is leaving, someone in the family, or someone close to you, someone in your church fellowship, and they’re leaving to go to another town, well, it’s a beautiful thing to have a send-off feast for them. You may have it in their home, or you may have it somewhere else. But get everybody involved. All bring something to eat, a dish. Organize a wonderful evening.

Whatever you decide to do, have a feast and have a celebration. Of course, have speeches, and let them know what a blessing they’ve been to you. Give them words of wisdom as they go to their next place.

That’s a great thing to do, too, although I must tell you a funny story. My father, who passed away, used to tell this story of this family in this church fellowship. They were a thorn in the flesh to everybody in the church. They just put up with them and tried to show them love. But they were a real thorn in the flesh. One day they announced that they were leaving and going to another city.

Well, everybody was secretly very happy about that. They thought, “Wow, we’ll give them a send-off!” They had this send-off for them. People got up to give their speeches. They were saying what a nice family they were, and so on. I don’t think they were truly being very genuine. That’s the important thing. We have to always be genuine in what we say.

Anyway, at the end of this, the father got up and said, “Well, I didn’t know that we were so loved. I think now we have decided we will stay!” That didn’t end too well, did it? But that, of course, doesn’t usually happen. You’re sending off dear, precious friends, and you’ll be missing them. You’ll want to give a special feast for them.

The Bible also talks about WEANING FEASTS. Well, we don’t really do that today, do we? Genesis 21:8 was about Isaac: “And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned.” Well, in Dake’s Annotated Reference Bible, he says that Isaac would have been about five years of age when he was weaned. Other commentators say he would have been at least three years of age. Many babies today are weaned before that, so their weaning is rather insignificant.

But if a baby gets to five years, well, it’s quite a big thing, isn’t it? This is what they did back there. In fact, Matthew Henry, in his commentary about that, says, “Abraham made a feast on the same day that he was weaned, because of God’s blessing upon the nursing of children, and the preservation of them through the perils of the infant age, are signal instances of the care and tenderness of the Divine Providence.” So, we see here, he not only made a feast, but he actually made a great feast! I don’t know whether you want to do that one or not.

WEDDINGS. We read a lot about wedding celebrations in the Bible. Wedding celebrations were more than they are today. They were often lasting for three days, sometimes up to a week. They really celebrated a new couple getting married. Even if we are going to just have a day, I do believe that we should really celebrate with the couple on that day. I think a wedding celebration is very important. God loves them.

Now, let’s see. Jeremiah 33:10. I love this Scripture. It says here: “Thus saith the LORD; Again, there shall be heard in this place, which ye say shall be desolate without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah,” and so on. It was desolate, but there was coming verse 11: “The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the LORD of hosts.” This is talking about a great celebration. There is mirth, and gladness, and joy, and feasting, and the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride. It’s a celebration of a wedding.

God is using that illustration to show His blessing upon the land. When the children of Israel were walking in His ways, obeying his commandments, He says, “This will be My blessing. There will be the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, and the voice of gladness and joy.”

And yet, there are other Scriptures. There are about three other Scriptures where it tells the same thing, but in the negative, because when they disobeyed the Lord, and turned away from Him, he said, “There will be no more the voice of mirth, and the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.” That was a judgement upon them.

But God’s blessing was the joy of weddings! God rejoices in weddings, and we should too. Sometimes you can go to a wedding, and they have the service. Then they have the reception, and it’s just a little cup of coffee or tea, and a cake, and not very much more. Everybody begins to disappear! That’s sad! At many American weddings, they don’t hang around. It’s just a token thing. “Come, yes, watch them getting married.” There are no speeches.

Oh, remember how we love speeches! In fact, wedding speeches, I think, are very important. When I grew up in New Zealand, this was a tradition. Shall I tell you the tradition? We have carried this tradition on. There were traditional speeches. There was always the speech of the father of the bride, and the speech of the father of the bridegroom. Then they would appoint someone to give a speech about the bride’s family.

Someone else was appointed to give a speech about the bridegroom’s family. someone who knew them well. They were always amazing speeches, because the one family would find out all the funny stories, and all the things about the other side of the family. Then there was the speech of the best man, and, of course, the speech of the day, the bridegroom.

That was always the speech of the day. He had to prepare for that speech. It was a speech where he thanked everyone who had taken part in preparing the wedding. He thanked his parents, and he thanked his bride’s parents for giving his bride to him. Then he spoke about their lives. Of course, if they were a couple walking with the Lord, they would give glory to God and speak about Him.

I remember back to my wedding. We had all these speeches. I think when my husband got up to speak, his speech was about a half-hour speech. The best man, his brother, just about all the speeches were about half-hour speeches. It was a tradition of speech-making. We have loved to continue that, and not only that, we then open it up to anyone. Well, first of all, those in the bridal party who know them so well. And then to anyone who was invited. They were also welcome to get up, and speak about the couple, speak blessing into their lives and vision into their lives. It is always so powerful, and so meaningful!

I remember when we first came to the States. When we first arrived, we settled in Atlanta. Well, no, we were there just for a little while. Then we traveled. We were travelling around Canada ministering. Then we came to Minneapolis, because this is where we were going to be marrying Evangeline and Howard. He lived in Minneapolis, and they had both come back from Israel. We went to a city that we didn’t even know, rented an apartment, and put on a wedding.

So, we prepared everything for the wedding feast. We had arranged all the speakers, those who were giving speeches, just like we were used to. But I couldn’t believe what was happening! After the feast, everybody gradually started disappearing! Well, they’d had a nice feast, and all the food. They weren’t used to staying for speeches, so they just gradually all left until it was really just the basic two families, the extended families left.

We had speeches with them, but I was so sad. I thought, “Why are these people leaving?” And I realized it was just typical. That’s what they were used to doing! They weren’t used to having speeches. In fact, we used to have more than speeches. We would have, like I was telling you last podcast, we’d have what we called “items.” We would have someone who would sing a solo, or sing a duet, or something special. We would always have “specials” as well. It was wonderful, not only a feast, but entertainment as well.

Then came the time of Serene’s wedding. I thought, “What will I do?” Because I didn’t want a repeat of that. I wanted people to stay to the end! Of course, I talked to people around who we’d invited. “Oh, you've got to stay until the end! We’d just love to have a real reception, with speeches, and with entertainment, just a wonderful time of blessing the couple.” In fact, I did write on the invitation that, “We will be having a program, and we would love you to stay to the end.” I was very tempted to put on it, “And we will be locking the doors until the end!” But I didn’t, of course.

Serene’s wedding was so amazing. We did have the speeches, and everybody stayed. Actually, it was a cold, freezing, rainy day. The place where we had the reception had a big fire going and it was so cozy and glorious. The speeches were amazing and everything was great. They did stay to the end. That was great.

Well, of course, we are now a new generation, and we’re now marrying off all our grandchildren. We still have all the speeches. It’s part of our family traditions. Although it does sadden me when I go to other weddings and they may have a few speeches, but often the bridegroom himself doesn’t speak. And yet, that should be the most important speech of the day.

If you have a young man preparing for marriage in your family, prime him up. Get him prepared. Let him know that that’s a responsibility he has, at the very beginning of their getting married, to give a speech, to take that authority as a young man. He has a responsibility too, to thank everybody, and thank those who have come to celebrate with him, and to thank all those who helped. So many people are involved, to give thanks to both sides, both parents. That is so important. And to think of what he will speak about, the vision for their life together. I think that’s very important.

Another thing that I think is very important, and I will just share it while we’re talking about weddings. That is that when you go to a wedding, of course, I encourage you, stay to the end. I think it’s great to stay to the end, and wave them goodbye as they’re going. Actually, we were at a wedding just this last weekend. Sadly, I couldn’t keep to my very own principle. I’ve been fighting this flu, and I just couldn’t stay until the very end. But we stayed for the most part of it.

So, you stay until the end, but then (we certainly did this part). you never leave the wedding, or that is, any other function that you go to, without going to thank the host and the hostess. At a wedding, it’s usually the bride’s parents. At this wedding, it wasn’t, because the bride’s parents live in another country, so we had to go to those who were preparing and putting the wedding on for them. Just thank them. Thank them so much for inviting us. Thank them for the feast that they put on. Just thank them for the joy of being there.

So, when Colin and I realized that I needed to get home, we said, “OK, we’ll just go and do our ‘thank-yous’ first,” because we always do that. Often it takes time to find them, but we will always do that. I want to encourage you moms; can you please teach your young people that this is etiquette? To go to a function, a wedding, a party, or any function that someone is invited to, and to not thank the people as you're leaving is very rude. You’re gone. You haven’t said you're going, and you haven’t said goodbye. You haven’t thanked. What is it in this generation? What has happened?

Recently, I was talking to a friend who had just had the wedding of one of their daughters. It was a big wedding, by the way. I said to her, “Tell me, how many people came and thanked you at the end?” She said, “Well, let me think. I think there were about three. And one was you.” Isn’t that sad? It’s really not because people are unthankful. It is because they are ignorant. They don’t realize this is what you do. Or actually, you’d think that they would think that was what you should do, wouldn’t you? But do teach your young people.

I have so many functions. We are an hospitable home. Over the years, I’ve had so many parties, functions, things happening in our home. So many times people, not only young people, but even adults also come in. They don’t say hello or greet you. And then, at the end of the evening, “Oh, where’s so-and-so?” Well, they’re gone. They never said good-bye, and they never said thank you. They just came when they wanted and left when they wanted. It’s time we got back to courteousness and etiquette which is really just being kind and loving to one another.

OK, what follows?  Feasts, what can we talk about? Oh, yes, RECONCILIATION FEASTS. We read about quite a few of them in the Bible. One of them is in Genesis 31. You can read the whole chapter there. That’s when Jacob left Laban. He had been serving Laban, his father-in-law, for 20 years. Can you believe that? He served him for Leah, He served him for Rachel. He served him for all his cattle and sheep. Twenty years. I guess he thought it was time he moved on.

But he was afraid that Laban would not let him go so he secretly moved out by night. But then, when Laban realized that he had gone, he came after him, and he was angry that he had taken his daughters and grandchildren away from him without even saying good-bye. They both had to say their piece and what they thought. Jacob was saying, “I served you for 20 years,” and so on. But in the end, they reconciled, and Jacob put on a big feast. They ate all night. But you can read all about that.

Another one was in Genesis 26. We read about (I always used to call him Abimelech, but I think the correct pronunciation in the Hebrew is “Abby-melech.”) Isaac was becoming more and more rich with his cattle and his herds. Abimelech said, “You’ve got to leave us! You’ve got to go! Go far away! There’s no room for you.” And they sent them away.

But then later he came back to Isaac, and he said, “I want us to be friends.” So, they reconciled. Once again, Isaac put on a great feast. They feasted together. Isn’t that a beautiful thing? When someone has reconciled with someone, and then, well, have a meal together, break bread together. There’s nothing like a meal to clinch reconciliation and friendship.

Another celebration that I did as Serene was growing up . . . I wanted to do something special as she was entering that age of 12, 13 years of age. Many people today like to do that. Many of them will have a special something for their son who’s coming to that age of 13 years of age. We take that age, of course, from the Jewish people, who have a bar-mitzvah for their sons at 13, and a bat-mitzvah for their daughters at 12, although a lot of them do the daughters at 13 as well.

They see their sons and their daughters coming of age, coming into maturity at that age. That’s interesting, isn’t it, because often we still think our children are so young at 13. We think, “Oh, well, they’ve just got to get through these teenage years.” No! At 13, they are moving into adulthood, into maturity.

There is no time for teenage years. Why people have teenage years I don’t know, but they are interim years, usually of wasting their time. No, from 13 on, they are meant to be moving into adult life. Traditionally in Israel, when they have their bar-mitzvah, they are able to be part of all adult activities because they’re moving into adulthood, into maturity.

So, I decided that I would do a bat-mitzvah for Serene. I did it in our own particular way. I’ll tell you what I did, but of course, you can think of all kinds of things that you would like to do with your sons, or with your daughters, when they come to that age. But I think it’s great to do something.

I know some fathers have taken their son out hunting and had a special time with him out in the woods. Others will put on a special meal for their sons and invite other men of God around who will speak into their lives. Mothers will do similar things with their daughters. I think that’s a wonderful thing.

This is what I did with Serene. I took it from the Jewish bar-mitzvah but made it completely our own style.

We had a seven-branched menorah, and we lit the first candle. When we did that, Serene had to give a speech about Colin and myself and her upbringing.

After that, she had to light the second candle. Then Colin gave a speech to her about her life. Then, of course, her vision for her life. Of course, she had been such a special, beautiful child growing up in our home. I don’t think there was a day that she wouldn’t say, “I love you, Mom. I love you, Dad.” We were all very close. Our speeches were so special.

A third candle. I gave a speech about Serene, and an encouraging message to her.

Fourth candle, she had to recite. We gave her a passage of Scripture which she had to memorize. Then she had to recite it there.

The fifth candle, Serene then had to give a speech, really, a testimony of her walk with the Lord, and how she found Jesus and her current walk with the Lord and her vision for continuing to walk with the Lord.

Then the sixth candle, we asked Serene to pray a dedication of her life to God’s will and His purpose.

Then the seventh candle, Colin prayed over her and the others around prayed over her too. That was her special thing, and then, of course, we had a great big feast to celebrate her moving on into adulthood.

OK, well, I think our time is gone. We’ve most probably spoken enough about celebrations. We could think of so many more, but I hope it gives you a vision to be a celebrating family. It seems we make excuses for celebrations because they make wonderful memories. Yes, food and celebrations. They go together. They are twins.

Let’s pray.

“Dear Father, we thank You so much again for all Your goodness to us. Thank You, Lord, for answering our prayers, and for a safe inauguration for President Trump. Lord, we know that there were sinister plans behind the scenes. But we thank You, Lord God, that You protected him, and everyone who was attending. We thank You, Lord God, for what You’re doing, and what is ahead.

“We also thank You for our families. Lord God, I pray that You’ll give all those listening today ideas of things they can celebrate in their families. Each one has different ideas, and different things happening, and different visions. Lord God, just give them the ideas of how they can celebrate and what they can celebrate, to make precious memories and traditions in their families, because You are a celebrating God, and You gave us food with which to celebrate and thank You.

“We thank You that You talk about so many celebrations in Your Word, and all the seven feasts that You gave to Your people. They are all to be celebrated with food and feasting. We thank You, Lord God, for all Your wonderful blessings. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

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www.aboverubies.org

Transcribed by Darlene Norris

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