Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs

As my husband and I started our marriage almost 20 years ago, I did not try to prevent any pregnancies. My husband was in the US Navy then and due to his job hazards and time apart, we hoped and prayed for a baby for five years before we had our first child.

Soon after our first child was born, my husband left the military and I started taking the pill. We barely made enough money to feed our one child, so with no prayer and no faith I took the pill until we were more financially stable and 4.5 years later, we had our second child.

My husband loved having babies and wanted one soon after the last one arrived. This time I “gave into” his desires sooner and we had our third child 2.5 years later. I honestly thought three would be all we could handle financially and emotionally. I grieved when I weaned our third child, our only daughter, knowing it would probably be my last baby to wean.

Up to this point, mind you, God had NEVER FAILED to provide what we needed and beyond, but still, I was a doubter. I had always known I didn’t want to have my tubes tied to prevent pregnancies, but I decided to get an IUD soon after our third child was born (with no care as to what my husband wanted or prayerful consideration).

Fast forward almost four years and we were still a family of three children. Then a copy of THE BABY WAR DVD ended up in my hand, thanks to a dear friend. I knew what the DVD discussed and for about a month, I fought the Holy Spirit about watching it. I finally gave in.

I bawled like a baby watching this DVD. Every word of it stirred my heart and I finally let the Holy Spirit lead. I repented and asked the Lord for His forgiveness for not putting our family truly in His hands.

I talked to my husband about my newly-found convictions and told him I wanted to get rid of the IUD as soon as possible, hoping he’d agree. He was thrilled! Not only that, we made a commitment together that we would never use hormonal birth control again. Especially knowing what I knew about the pill and IUD from watching THE BABY WAR, I couldn’t knowingly sin like that again.

Since then, we have been blessed with two more beautiful children and we are expecting another in October. This last Mother’s Day I cried thinking about how we could have stopped at just three! With every baby, especially these last three, God has provided ABOVE AND BEYOND!

We will soon have six children and God has taken care of so many big financial needs that come with raising a larger family. He has provided us with money to pay for each of the babies’ births, even with rising insurance costs. He provided a much larger vehicle for us where we all fit comfortably. He also provided my husband with a raise at his job whenever we've needed it most.

We are so thankful to God for showing us that His will is best and especially showing me that ALL children are a blessing from the Lord.

ANI WILSON
Jacksboro, Texas, USA
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Picture: Luke and Ani with their children: Ronin (10), Sullivan (1), Dane (15), Alice Starr (8), and Teddy (3) and new baby coming October 2018.

At 21 years of age Sophie was caught and executed. Our young people were all challenged by her passion and strength to stand against evil, even knowing she could be killed.

Oh, how we need to pray for a great revival amongst our young people. Most of our young people in colleges today are being propagandized and brainwashed by progressive and extreme socialist professors. They imbibe an ideology from the pit of hell. A conservative speaker is not even allowed to speak in most colleges today.

Let’s pray together for God to raise up Elijahs who will not fear the enemy and who will expose the evil and proclaim the truth. Let’s pray for a great turning back to God’s way.

Let’s pray for our own precious young people that they will be saved from a life of ease and apathy and will get a passion to seek after the truth, to contend for the truth, and to blaze the truth wherever God opens the doors.

The above picture is one of Sophie’s quotes. Here’s some more for you to read and share with your children:

“The real damage is done by those millions who want to ‘survive.’ The honest men who just want to be left in peace. Those who don’t want their little lives disturbed by anything bigger than themselves Those who don’t take measure of their own strength for fear of antagonizing their own weakness. Those who don’t like to make waves or enemies. Those for whom freedom, honor, truth, and principles are only literature.

“What does my death matter, if through us thousands of people are awakened and stirred to action?”

“One must have a tough mind, and a soft heart.”

“Laws change, conscience doesn’t.”

“I will cling to the rope God has thrown me in Jesus Christ even when my numb hands can no longer feel it.”

Let’s do two things: take your young people to this movie and pray for a mighty revival among the youth of America.

Blessings, Nancy Campbell

The only vehicle we had was a little four-door car. It carried us everywhere we needed to go, but there was no elbow room. Then God blessed us once again. We knew we were going to need another vehicle soon. As the time got closer to the arrival of our fourth child, we decided to be more proactive. We sat our little children down and explained to them that we needed another van so we were going to ask God to provide one for us. We all prayed and then waited to see what God would do.

Every summer we would go to a family camp a few hours from home. While we were there, Ben’s brother needed help with a construction project. Since that is what my husband does well he stayed and helped him out. His brother wanted to pay us something for his work and asked us if we would like a red eight-passenger van! It was perfect for us! It wasn’t new, but it was what we needed. And it was FREE!

Fast forward a few years and a few more babies. That red van was at maximum capacity after our sixth child was born. We loved that van. It served us well, but it would be too small for our family with number seven coming.
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We knew that God wasn’t about to stop taking care of us. He’s a good Father. We placed our trust in Him and knew that He would fill our need since He was the One who was giving us another baby!

It is an exciting life trusting God. We knew He was up to something, but we didn’t know what! While driving around the countryside we noticed a car repair lot with a big white van parked nearby. It obviously belonged to someone, but we turned in and had a look in the windows. It was a hotel shuttle van with a high roof, middle isle, and stair steps into the side door. *sigh* “Wouldn’t it be nice to find a van like that sometime? Wow. So nice!”

A month later my husband, Ben, saw it still sitting there so he went in to ask about it. Just that day the owner was frustrated with the van and told the mechanic to just get rid of it for him. Did he have an asking price? Ben inquired. Yes, he did. We bought our dream van at 20% of the value of the van!

Fast forward another few babies. I am now pregnant with our tenth child. When our new baby arrives in September we will have filled up our 12-passenger white van. It only took us 12 years to do it!

We are happily living our lives knowing that God will take care of all of us. Life is exciting!

JENNIFER TORKELSON
Corinth, Kentucky, USA
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Ben and Jennifer with their beautiful children: Stephen (12), Mary (11), David (9), Amy (8), John (7), Juliet (5), Bella (4), Daniel (3), Josiah (2) and new baby boy due in September.

I was also sad, because apart from the young people that we dragged along, there were no other young people in the audience! And yet this movie should be packed out with young people. Most of them do not even know the immediate history of our nation. They weren’t alive during the holocaust and have no thought about it. They have no idea which United States presidents brought in progressivism, socialism, and fascism. They live in a bubble of deception and have not yet suffered the consequences of extreme socialism.

But they need to be awakened. The nation belongs to the coming generation. To our young people. They will inherit the nation we give to them and which they as young people vote for themselves. Sadly, most of the young people in our high schools and colleges today are brainwashed and propagandized with progressivism and extreme socialism. They have no vestige of the real truth at all. They have no ideas of the kind of country they are voting for the future families.

Dear parents, I would urge you to go to this movie this week and PLEASE TAKE YOUR YOUNG PEOPLE WITH YOU. Don’t take No for an answer. Be the parent! While your children are still living under the protection and provision of your home, you dictate what happens, not them! Yes, it is a documentary, but it is packed with action and they will not be bored! (My husband said that it may have been more popular if they had called it, “Who are the Facists?” or “Is Donald Trump a Fascist?”)

Take your children and then discuss it with them later. Ask them something they remembered. What did they learn they didn’t know before? What affected them the most? Get them talking. Get them understanding the issues we face in this nation. Our young people must be knowledgeable. They must know the truth. They must know how to contend for the truth. And we are responsible to teach them to lead them to the truth.

If you are concerned about finance, got to a 4.00 or 5.00 pm session which is cheaper. And you may have to travel. This movie did not come to our local theater. We had to travel!

Once again, we need to take a stand. If this movie did not come to your theater, call the theater, ask for the manager, and tell them that you want it at your theater.

This movie can impact this nation in a huge way, or fizzle to nothing. It all depends on us. Do we really care about our nation, or not? We may say we care, but it’s mere words unless we do something--even sacrificing time, effort, and finance! But we must do it!

Love from Nancy Campbell

Therefore, I printed out 42 prayers that ask God to deal with his enemies. They are powerful prayers. You could pray one each day. Or preferably, because there are 42 prayers, you could pray six of them each day for a week, and start again the next week!

Here’s an example:
24. May his enemies FALL INTO THE PIT THEY ARE DIGGING FOR HIM (Psalm 35:7; 9:15; 7:15, 16; 57:6; 55:23; and Jeremiah 18:19-23).

You can print them off and use them with your family too.

If you are interested, email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and I’ll be happy to forward them to you.

Blessings, Nancy

Dear mother, please be encouraged. You are right where God wants you to be. You have the highest career in the nation as you train the next generation; as you make a stable, loving, peaceful home for your children; as you daily fill them with God's Word; and as you prepare them for the destiny for which God has brought them into the world.

And there's more. Your career is an eternal one. You came naked into this world and naked you will go out, not taking anything with you, except your redeemed soul and the redeemed souls of your children, which are eternal. Others may pour their lives into careers outside the home which will all be left behind. You are pouring your life into lives that will live forever. You are doing an eternal work.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians telling them: "Therefore, my beloved brethren be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord" (1 Corinthians 15:58).

Motherhood is the "work of the Lord." It is God ordained. God has commissioned us for this task. Yes, I’ll admit, it is work. It's consistent work. It's hard work. It's never-giving-up work. But it will never be in vain. Read the promise again: "Your labor is not in vain in the Lord."

God also tells us that he wants us to be “steadfast” in our calling. This word means “to be settled." Other translations say: “strong in purpose,” “stand firm and steady,” and “stand your ground.”

The dictionary meaning for "settled" is to be "placed, established, fixed, composed, and adjusted." Not tossed to and fro and hankering after another lifestyle. You've come to terms with God and yourself, knowing that this is the life for which you were born. You know you are in the perfect will of God.

You understand there is more to motherhood than just loving your children. You actually LOVE motherhood. Every mother loves her children, but when you love the career of mothering, it makes all the difference in the world. Psalm 128:3 (TLB) is your testimony: "Your wife shall be contented in your home."

Be settled in your great calling today.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

The only way we can keep a soft attitude is by the power of the Holy Spirit working in our lives. Our fleshly nature gets offended, hurt, bitter, and then hard. We must guard against these evils.

Instead, we must yield to the Holy Spirit to flood our hearts with His forgiveness and love. But what do you do when your love flies out the window and there is none left? You still have God’s love—His agape love that loves in the face opposition and hatred.

Romans 5:5 says: “The love of God is shed abroad (poured into) our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”

Offense leads to bitterness, bitterness leads to hardness, and hardness leads to divorce.

Stop the downward path to destruction now. Dear lovely wife, if you are offended by your husband, seek to get right. Forgive—there is no other option. Unforgiveness not only hurts your husband, but YOU, and your family. Love him with God’s love.

“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26).

Love to you today,

Nancy Campbell

Meanwhile, hanging over our heads was the possibility that my husband could lose his job and thus we would lose our visa status. We had been renting a very small three-bedroom house. Absolutely nothing in our circumstances even suggested we could, should, or would buy a home.

We had previously worked with a realtor, and seemingly out of the blue, he contacted us to show us our “perfect house.” Everything we had on our wish list. I opted not to go to see the house. What was the point? Plus, I was very ill at the time.

Very excitedly, my husband called me. He said I HAD to go see the house. I dragged myself out and went. Pulling into the driveway I exchanged a look with my eldest daughter (who was a mere 15 years old at the time). We immediately could see its great potential. Five bedrooms, ample bathrooms, and a wonderful, big backyard. This was indeed OUR Family Home! It truly was perfect.

Against every human reason in the world we bought that house. Now what? If we lost our visa status we would own a home we would have to leave. But God! Don’t you love it when the Bible says, “but God”?

Because He is so loving and caring He showed us we had nothing to worry or be anxious for. My husband ended up being “acquired as intellectual property” when the startup was purchased by non-other than Microsoft. Even in our wildest dreams we couldn’t have imagined that the LORD would show Himself so faithful.

Because of that acquisition, God provided abundantly for our family as it grew to include four more children.

DAWN KERR
Edmonds, Washington, USA
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Picture: Dawn and Clifton’s family: Candice married to Tim who have two daughters--Abigail (8) and Lilian (4), Vanessa (29), Natasha (26), Gabriel (21), Nathaniel (19), Tabitha (17), Josiah (16), Adam (14), Micah (12), and Lucas (11).

And yet it is accepted as norm in our society today. Truly we have turned things upside down. God says these very words in Isaiah 29:16 (ESV): “You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, ‘He did not make me’; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, ‘He has no understanding’?”

No one can mother a baby like the true mother. Day care workers can be conscientious to protect, feed, and care for babies and young children, but they do not intuitively understand the true needs of the child. They don’t even have the hormones of oxytocin and prolactin filling them with love and motherliness. In fact, they are doing it for pay!

Oh, there is a great different when we do something for pay than when we do it intuitively because everything inside of us wants to do it. I watch my daughter, Serene, mother her little baby, Solly. She totally mothers her. She nurses her constantly. Her baby is rarely out of her arms or her baby carrier. When she is on her lap she is talking to her, adoring her, squeezing her fat little thighs (because she is growing fatter and fatter), massaging her, and just doting on her. Solly is mothered to pieces.

And then she has all her siblings vying to hold her, laugh and smile at her, and love her. A baby in a day care is watched over, but never gets this amount of love and attention. And it is all for delight and love. The mother isn’t dreaming of money.

I read this morning in Job 7:2 about the employed person who waits for his or her wages. A day care worker can do her work diligently and conscientiously, but ultimately, they do it for pay. They wouldn’t be there if they weren’t getting paid. Conversely, the mother nurtures out of her mothering anointing. Jesus also speaks of the difference between the hired worker and the true shepherd in John 10:11-13. The true shepherd gives his life for the sheep whereas the hired worker does it for pay.

Let’s not get sucked into the deception of this society. There’s just too much deception around. Let’s stand up for the real and genuine, even if we need to sacrifice and go without!

Love to you today,

Nancy Campbell

Our third child and first son, Joshua William, came six weeks early and was our only child to be born in the hospital. He was transferred to the Children's Hospital a few hours later. After receiving the best care, the Children's Hospital could offer, he passed away in the wee hours of the morning he would have turned ten days old.

Our Lord's provision for us began before any of the bills came in. I have been blessed to be a homemaker and my little girls were used to being with me 24/7. But suddenly I had to be at the hospital with my newborn.

Who will take care of my girls? My parents were able to take our girls (then 3 1/2 and 2) the day Joshua was born, and friends helped take turns. My brother's wife, Regina, was my "hero" during that time. She came with her baby at a moment's notice whenever we were ready to go to the hospital. She was God's answer to my heart's constant prayer for my two precious little girls waiting at home for us.

The Lord had already led us to live without insurance and we trusted Him to provide for Joshua's expenses. As the bills came in, we contacted each billing agency, asking if we could wait a few weeks until most or all the bills had come in. We could then see what payment arrangements could be made for each of them. The expenses were staggering, and we were surprised to receive so many individual bills! We understood having an ambulance bill for me and a bill for transporting Joshua between hospitals, but the hospital where he was born had about five or six bills. (Pathology? I had a baby, not surgery!)

We had some savings to work with. Our church designated an account specifically for us and money came in from family and friends. Prayer went out through the ministry we were part of, and someone we still have not met sent money to help with our need.

A well-meaning person recommended a certain funeral home to us thinking that services provided for infants was free. This was not the case. It was another large expense, expected to be paid within one month. But God pays for what He orders. The first bill we received was for the ambulance and it was the last one to respond to our settlement appeal. That bill was completely forgiven. To God be the glory, ALL of Joshua's medical expenses were settled in just six months!

My parents gave us money to purchase a headstone. The day we were ready to make our selection, the person at the monument company showed us a sale notice in the paper. In addition to an engraved picture of Jesus with three lambs, the name and date, and wording of our choice, we were able to have the other side of the headstone engraved at no extra charge!

The "front" of Joshua's headstone reads, "He obeyed the Voice of his Creator." We had told Joshua what basic position he should be for birth and about when we expected his birth. But we would always add, ". . . unless the Creator tells you something different." Although Joshua had been head-down at our last prenatal checkup, he did a somersault and came out bottom first. (I had pictured him that way a few days before his birth.)

This was good because he had hydrocephalus (commonly called "water on the brain), and his head had already begun to swell. His position, combined with being six weeks early, made for a relatively easy and uncomplicated delivery.

He also obeyed His Creator when it was time to leave us. After visiting with us the last night at the hospital, my brother told his wife it was as if he could hear Joshua saying, "I love you. I'd like to stay with you, but Jesus is calling me. I have to go. I love you."

The "back" of his headstone has beautiful script writing\ with his name at the top and then "For now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me" (Genesis. 22:12b).

A friend donated the cemetery plot. The Lord even provided a couple to "babysit" the site for us and we often find floral arrangements when we visit the cemetery.

The Lord provided a special blessing to help overcome our grieving. About one year and one month after Joshua's birth, Anna Faith was born. The Lord blessed me with the easiest labor and delivery so far--instead of pain with each contraction, I had only a mild soreness. The intensity increased as labor progressed, but the recognizable pain was not there! This was part of our Lord's provision at the Cross where Jesus took upon Himself not only our sin, but all the curse associated with our sin. I was very blessed and very grateful for that experience!

In 2007 the Lord blessed us with a new house, a new job, and another son. David has always been one of my favorite names and I always knew I would either marry a David or have a son named David. Isn't God good to us? You would think we would have named our first son David, but our loving Lord knew so much better!

I told Jeff the week we were engaged that I would like to have a son named Joshua so that was our first choice for a boy. It sometimes brings tears to my eyes to think how much God cared about my desire to have a son named David. He made sure we did not give that name to the son we were not permitted to keep. So today I still have a David! David's middle name is Seth because, like Eve, I felt that, "For God . . . hath appointed me another seed instead of [Joshua]" (Genesis. 4:25).

In 2010, Daniel Joseph was born at home. However, when the midwife came for his 24-hour checkup, she told us we should take him to the emergency room at the Children's Hospital immediately. He was admitted to the hospital around midnight. When the doctor came in and began talking to us about Daniel's physical issues (which were entirely different from Joshua's), the tears came.

I told her we had had a baby die at this hospital and we needed to take this baby home alive. I reminded her every day and she worked with us until Wednesday afternoon, when she told us, "If you want to take him home alive, you need to take him home tonight."

Friends from church passed the word that we would host a "Welcome Home Party" after Wednesday night activities. About 70 people rejoiced with us in Daniel's life.

The hospice nurse (which God provided at the last minute through a service we had heard advertised on Christian radio) encouraged us to take turns holding Daniel and telling him what we would have liked to do with him as he grew up. What a treasured time with our precious son! We were able to have him home for about 12 hours and this Christian hospice service was free!

Daniel lived for 5 1/2 days but his expenses were still huge. The dynamics had changed for us as well. Jeff lost his job just three months before Daniel's birth. Yet we had already been experiencing God's provision. The day after the lay-off, I was at Aldi and found several meat packages with "$2 off" stickers. A neighbor brought us day-old bread, thinking we could use it for our chickens. We made sure they could see us taking some to the chickens, but we ate most of it ourselves. Another neighbor down the road emptied the chest freezer when their son moved out and discovered that he had left several meat packages behind. He didn't want them, so she offered them to us. Wow! Several packages of specialty cuts wrapped in butcher paper! We ate well when Jeff was out of work!

Another thing that happened the day after the lay-off was that we discovered our lateral lines needed replaced. The Lord provided professional help at a discount and a friend who came to help with that project also gave us money he had been saving for a desired purchase, but felt he should give to us.

Shortly after Daniel's decease, my brother stopped by with an envelope from an anonymous donor(s) containing a large sum of money. Our church again designated an account for us as well.

A friend went with us to negotiate our bills. Jeff believed the Lord revealed to him the total amount to be paid. The man at the office for the Hospital did not think our low settlement offer would be accepted, but God answered our prayers with a yes. "The heart of the king is in the hand of the LORD” (Proverbs 21:1).

He called the next day and said we could come right over and pay. He was surprised, but we were not. When negotiating with the Physicians' bill, they were very willing to accept our offer once they understood Jeff had been unemployed.

We were surprised the next week to receive a third bill, this time from pathology. Our doctor had tried to help diagnose Daniel's situation so they could better pursue treatment and so they could tell us about how long to expect him to live. We called the man at the hospital to enquire about this unexpected extra bill. He was surprised as well, but said we should not expect any more. We called the pathology office about it, and when they learned that Daniel was already deceased, they said they would forgive the bill as soon as they received a copy of his death certificate. So the total medical cost was exactly the amount our Lord revealed to Jeff. To God be the glory, ALL of Daniel's medical expenses were settled in just two weeks! Even when Jeff was out of work!

Again, about one year and one month after Daniel's birth, our son Jeffrey Isaac was born. Jeffrey was born the day after Jeff's 45th birthday, so his first name was the obvious choice. The name Isaac came from Genesis 21:6: "And Sarah [that's my name!] said, 'God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me.'"

I hope this account (there is so much more) will be a blessing to you and even if your circumstances and finances appear impossible to face, Jehovah Jireh, the God Who sees ahead, is ready to meet your need and bring glory to Himself.

Remember, God always pays for what He orders.

SARAH BEDFORD
Guthrie, Oklahoma, USA
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Picture: Jeff and Sarah’s family: Mary (18), Charity (16) {Joshua, 10 days and with Jesus}, Anna (13), David (10) {Daniel, 5 1/2 days and with Jesus}, Jeffrey (6 1/2), and Elijah (3 ½).

During this time, I had become more aware of the obstetricians involved in providing abortions under the guise of “DNC’s” and other excuses so I researched to find an obstetrician who was pro-life in our city. This took many months! There were only two and one would not accept me due to a full schedule. Midway through the pregnancy I managed to get an appointment and eventually my fourth baby was delivered in full health, despite threats of medical intervention/caesarean. God is faithful.

Lauren is now three years and I long for more children. We have now begun homeschooling and have been blessed to connect with other godly families. Many have large families and their witness is a light in this dark world.

EMILY McKENNA
Perth, Australia
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Picture: Chris and Emily with MackKenzie, Rosie, Jessica, and Lauren.