My granddaughter, Meadow and Kendall Hall. They will be married on the 10th September.
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Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs
Through the weekly and daily devotionals you can be constantly encouraged in your great role of parenting, the highest career in the nation. You can also stay updated on what's happening with the Above Rubies ministry.
I have inundated you with a number of family pictures the last few days, which I rarely do. However, I thought I'd catch you up with a little family news and two coming family weddings. How we love weddings!
Many of you know Meadow, Pearl's oldest daughter (Trim Healthy Mama Pearl). Some of you have followed Meadow since she was a baby! She used to come and sing at Above Rubies retreats. The Lord has now brought into her life a most wonderful young man, Kendall Hall (I'll post a picture), and they will be married the 10th September. Not long to wait now. We will celebrate her bridal shower this coming Saturday, 13th.
Shelby Potter was one of our Above Rubies helpers. Shelby came to help on two occasions, both for a number of months. She has now moved on to work for Trim Healthy Mama full time. My brother's wife and family live nearly next door to us and are part of our extended hilltop family here. In fact, Melissa, my brother's daughter, looks more like me than my own daughters. Melissa and Cal are blessed with 11 amazing children and while working with Above Rubies Shelby fell in love with Josiah Calhoon, their eldest son (I'll post a picture of them too). They will be married the following month 16th October. So you'll soon have more family wedding pictures to enjoy.
~ Nancy
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After staying for a week to rest after giving birth this sweet little family return to their home. Selah and her husband, Samuel with their three little ones: Sammy, Eureka, and newborn Kyrah Joy. Selah and Samuel are wonderful parents and are also in the process of adopting three children from Liberia (from where they originally come). These are children of family members who have passed away, one through Ebola. The hard part is the long wait to get these children. Selah is Serene's oldest daughter.
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Three of our grandsons--Cedar Allison, Arrow Johnson, and Vision Allison.
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Here is another one of our sweet little great-granddaughters. Christiana with Liliana, her second daughter. Christiana is Serene's daughter-in-law.
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Have you ever seen such a precious father/daughter picture? Jack Simpson (Rashida's husband) with their little daughter, Ezzie (our great-granddaughter). Rashida is Evangeline's daughter.
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An old picture of Wesley, our eldest son with Stephen and Evangeline (the twins) who turned 51 this last week! Where do the years go? It seems like yesterday.
Make the most of every day with your little ones, dear mothers. These overwhelming, but precious and wonderful days, end far too quickly. Savor every memory.
~ Nancy
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Yesterday our dog had 10 puppies! She kept on popping them out all day. We thought she was finished at seven, then eight, and then later we found nine and ten! Can you count them? I am amazed at how easily animals give birth and how instinctively and lovingly they mother. Goldie hasn't stopped licking and feeding them and is so content to let them nurse constantly.
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Holding Kyrah Joy, our 6th great-grandbaby. Selah and her husband and children are staying with us for a week while she rests from the birth of Kyrah. Selah is Serene's oldest daughter. Kyrah is barely one week. Isn't she adorable?
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Isn't amazing that when we embrace children into our lives we actually receive Jesus? Even more! Jesus states in Mark 9:37 that we not only embrace Him, but God Himself! What could be more powerful?
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I read a study about geniuses, past and present, in all different fields (although I should emphasize that we should not put this label on children). Every child, no matter who they are, is brilliant in the field God intends for them if they have opportunity to explore and develop their God-given giftings. Studies revealed three things peculiar to these children. They had:
1. A loving relationship with their parents.
2. Isolation from peers and one-on-one tutoring.
3. Rich educational environment with time to explore and ask questions.
This sounds like home education, doesn’t it?
Have a wonderful day,
Nancy Campbell
You could explore many sites, but here is one for you: http://learninfreedom.org/
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We are a word-formed people. Our children are word-formed people. They become what we speak into their lives. Our words determine the course of their destiny--for greatness or for destruction. Children shrivel up with negative words or thrive on encouragement. As they grow, we reap the reward of the words we continually speak into their lives.
Proverbs 12:18 (GNB): “Thoughtless words can wound as deeply as any sword, but wisely spoken words can heal.”
Proverbs 15:4 (GNB): “Kind words bring life, but cruel words crush your spirit.”
Proverbs 18:20, 21 (GNB): “You will have to live with the consequences of everything you say. What you say can preserve life or destroy it, so you must accept the consequences of your words.”
What are you speaking into the lives of your children today?
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
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It’s so easy to get involved in so many activities outside the home, isn’t it? We can even get entrenched serving in the church. This is just what Satan loves to do. He wants us to become so busy doing “good” things that we end up neglecting our greatest service to the Lord, that of caring for our children and managing our home. What’s the use of helping others outside the home if your own home is in a shambles?
I am always challenged by the words in Song of Solomon 1:6: “They made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept.” Ouch!
If we spend more time looking after other vineyards rather than diligently keeping our own vineyard, we do not please God. Dear mother, your greatest service for God is right in your home. Tend to your own vineyard and make sure it is watered, cultivated, and protected before reaching out to other vineyards!
Do you notice something else in this Scripture? “They made me . . .”? How easy it is to let others cajole us into doing things, even “noble” things. Let me tell you a little secret. The Holy Spirit doesn’t “make” you do things. He gently woos you to walk in God’s perfect will. If you are blessed with children, God’s perfect will for you is to be the best mother and homemaker you can possibly be to bless your family and glorify God.
Don’t get into the deception of working in other vineyards while you leave your own vineyard unattended.
Enjoy a beautiful day in your home today,
Nancy Campbell
Painting: “Tenderness” by Cécile Veilhan
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Many Christians are content with a word from the pastor or minister on Sunday. Others like to read God’s Word every day. But I think we all fall short of the “gold” and “treasure” we hold in our hands. God’s Word is the literal “alive and active” living Word from the God of the universe, the God who created us. He wants it to be constantly part of our lives and the lives of our children.
Proverbs 4:20-22 (CJB) says: “My son, pay attention to what I am saying: incline your ear to my words. Don’t let them out of your sight, keep them deep in your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to their whole being.”
When God says “pay attention,” what does He mean? The word is “quashab” and means “to prick up the ears like an alert animal, to hearken, to give heed.” It’s so easy to hear words, and yet not hear God speak to us. We have to learn to “hear” with our ears. There is nothing more exciting than hearing God speak from His Word. It burns in our hearts and becomes life to our bodies. And this is the way it’s meant to be. It’s the way we teach our children to hear God’s living Word.
We not only hear with alert ears, but our eyes are not to depart from His Word. The ESV says: “Let them not escape from your sight.” How much are they in your sight throughout the day? Do you have the Bible open at different places in your home? On your window sill where you prepare meals and do dishes. In the toilet. In the spot where your nurse your baby. On the table. Every now and then you can speak forth a living Word to your children.
When we really hear and truly behold His words, they get deep down into our hearts. When this happens His Word becomes life to our souls and medicine to our bodies. I was blessed to know a dear old man who had served the Lord in China until it closed. He then moved on to other countries. I met him when he and his wife were in their eighties and at last coming home from the mission field. He told us how he had cancer while in China, but as he read God’s Word out loud daily over his body, God healed him. The Word has life-giving, healing, curative power to heal.
God’s Word is the best doctor in our home--for our souls and for our bodies.
I hope it’s the No. 1 priority in your home.
Love from Nancy Campbell
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Does Christ Jesus dwell in your heart? Let me share a secret with you. Christ lives in rest. God lives in rest. Nothing gets him in a state of nervous tension. Nothing gets His stomach tied up in knots. And wondrously, He wants to live His life of rest in you. Instead of doing everything in your own strength, allow Him to live His life of rest in you. Instead of doing it your way, do it His way.
“That’s impossible,” you say. You can’t imagine how much I have to do. And now the school year is starting again, I’ve got even more to cope with. I don’t know how I’m going to adequately school all my children!”
God is so great. He shows us the way to do everything we face in our lives. God’s way of teaching our children is quite opposite to the public school way. Of course you know Deuteronomy 6:6-9 where God tells us to DILIGENTLY teach our children. “Diligently” is not a half-hearted word. It means: “To impress sharply by verbal repetition, to point, to show, to engrave, to make them penetrate, and to whet as in whetting the appetite with repetition and diligence.”
How do we do this? God tells us to do it as we live life--when you sit in your home, when you walk by the way (or drive in your car), when you lie down, and when you rise up. He doesn’t tell us that we have to complete every curriculum we purchased (just because we spent the money on it). He doesn’t tell us we have to accomplish the set block of teaching we planned for the day.
God’s way of teaching is “precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little” (Isaiah 28:10). They don’t have to learn everything in one day. Children learn better in bite-size pieces. And there is still tomorrow. There is a lifetime ahead!
God says more on this subject. He continues speaking: “To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing” (Isaiah 28:12). Did you get this dear, weary mother? It says: “THIS IS THE REST AND THIS IS THE REFRESHING!” Let me repeat it: “THIS IS THE REST!” God knows the best way for our children; they learn a lot more this way. And He knows the best way for you; you will enjoy rest instead of becoming a stressed-out, anxious mother.
But we have a problem. Many don’t believe God’s way. They think they have to do it like the school system, or like some other mother is doing it. Dear mother, follow God’s way. Don’t be like the people to whom God spoke these words and their response was: “yet they would not hear” (Isaiah 28:1
Are you listening?
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
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You were created by the Divine Life-giver to be a life-giver. Eve, the first created woman, was a prototype of all women to come. She was named Eve, meaning “the life-giving one.”
The Hebrew word for Eve is Chavvah meaning “Life Giver!” She was a life giver; therefore we are also life givers! We have the privilege of conceiving, nurturing, and bringing forth a miracle of life from within our womb.
Let’s look a little more closely at this wonderful word, Chavvah. It has a number of root meanings which help us to understand the revelation of God’s heart for us even more.
1. Chavah. It looks very similar to chavvah, doesn’t it? This word means “to live, to declare, to show.” I think this is wonderful. Because we are created in the image of God, God wants us to reveal His image in the earth. He wants us to show to our families and the world around us who He created us to be. As we embrace, nurture, and then bring forth life from the womb, we declare to the world that we are life-givers.
We are not ashamed to be who God created us to be. We are not ashamed that God gave us a womb and breasts. We are not ashamed to embrace life in our womb. We glorify God by showing it to the world.
2. Chava which is only used in the book of Daniel. It also means “to show” and was used when Daniel revealed the meanings of the dreams.
3. Chayah meaning “to live, give life, revive, preserve alive, nourish, recover, repair, restore, save alive, and to be whole.” This gives us a fuller understanding of what it means to be a life-giver. It is the all-encompassing picture of motherhood.
4. Mechavvah. Some commentators believe that chavvah is abbreviated from this Hebrew word meaning “the sustenance, the propagation of life.”
5. Zoë. When they translated the Old Testament into Greek, they changed Chavvah to the Greek word Zoë meaning “life-giver, life-producer, life-preserver, and life-spring.”
It’s all about life ladies. LIFE. LIFE. LIFE. God’s purpose for you is to be a life-giver. Yes,
* life-givers from the womb, but also . . .
* living the abundant life-giving lifestyle Jesus died to give you,
* speaking life-giving words to your husband and family,
* bringing life-giving healing to your family,
* filling your mind and heart with God’s life-giving words,
* diligently and daily pouring God’s life-giving words into your children, and
* feeding them life-giving foods instead of the Standard American Diet of today.
Be a life-giver to every in your home and every one you meet today,
Nancy Campbell
Painting: “The Wait And The Reward” by Anna Rose Bain
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God has given us weapons. They are not ordinary, but powerful weapons. They have the power to demolish all strongholds. We have these weapons constantly available to us, and yet how often do we use them?
* We have the weapon of the “It is written” Word of God which overcomes the devil (Matthew 4:2-11).
* We have the weapon of consistent, never-giving-up, importunate prayer (Ephesians 6:18 and James 5:16-18).
* The have the weapon of the precious blood of Jesus Christ (Revelation 12:11).
* The weapon of the powerful name of Jesus Christ, the name which is above every name and the name to which every knee will bow, including the devil (Philippians 2:10, 11 and 1 John 3:8).
* We have the powerful weapon of our confession of the truth against the lies of the enemy (1 Timothy 6:12 and Hebrew 10:23).
However, we read in 2 Corinthians 10:4-6 four requirements to effectively use these weapons.
1. Tear down false arguments and reasonings.
When we fight the battle with God’s weapons we have to do it God’s way. We have to think like God thinks. We have to get our minds aligned with God’s Word, His infallible truth. If our thinking is humanistic or worldly, the devil laughs at us.
2. Tear down every arrogant thought that raises itself against the knowledge of God.
One of the biggest preparations for fighting the battle is to allow the Holy Spirit to expose every high-minded thought in our brains. We must renew our minds in the God’s Word. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. Who are we to doubt the knowledge of God? “Let God be true, but every man a liar” (Romans 3:4).
3. Take every thought captive that does not obey Christ.
When an army takes captives in battle he takes them ruthlessly. We must be ruthless against disobedience. This works out in the nitty gritty of life. We can’t experience victory in the battle if we do not have a submissive spirit to our husband. If children do not learn to obey their parents, they won’t learn to obey Christ, and will never be victorious in battle. If we have a willful spirit, forget about winning the battle.
4. Be ready to avenge every disobedience.
To win the battle, we must wipe out every vestige of disobedience. It gives Satan a foothold and hinders the victory.
Take hold of your weapons today, dear mother, and demolish every stronghold of the enemy in your home.
~ Nancy Campbell
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