Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs

Two quick EARS are listening to all that you say,
They’re listening to you, mother and dad.
Then speak of the things that are lovely true,
For some day you will wish that you had.

Two swift little FEET follow you all of the day,
They step in the footprints you make.
If you follow God’s paths, they’ll walk there too,
Or stray if His ways you forsake.

Two soft little HANDS have been placed into yours,
They’re trustfully clinging to you.
Today, while they’re pliable, train them aright,
They’ll do what you teach them to do.

A warm little HEART beats to music you make,
To your life notes of love or of hate,
It swings to the rhythm of your life all day,
Do not let it hear the love notes too late.

~ Anon.

Egyptian wisdom is an interesting one. Acts 7:22 says that "Moses was learned (educated from a child) in all the wisdom of the Egyptians." Egyptian wisdom is humanistic wisdom. What did God do with Moses' Egyptian education? He took him out to the backside of the desert for 40 years to get rid of it! He couldn't use Moses to be a leader of His people when filled with Egyptian wisdom. And what did God do with the children of Israel when He brought them out of Egypt? He caused them to wander in the wilderness for 40 years to get rid of Egyptian wisdom out of their brains and hearts before He brought them into the Promised Land.

And yet what do many Christians do? They send their children to the public school each day to be educated in Egyptian wisdom (the vain wisdom of this world). Do they want their children to be used mightily by God? Well, God will have to allow their children to go through His dealings at some stage to get all that Egyptian wisdom out of their system before He can use them in His plan!

Why waste their time? Why waste years of our children's lives that will need to be eventually eliminated from their hearts? Make it our daily vision to pour God’s wisdom into their minds and hearts (Psalm 1).

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

~ Sally Simmons, Nebraska.
Printed with permission from LLL News.

God doesn’t intend women to be high-powered, stressed-out women in the work-force. He designed them to have His anointing of peace upon them (Isaiah 66:11-13). Do you realize that the more your nurse your baby, the more prolactin and oxytocyn you produce? Therefore the more motherly and loving you become. Your love spills out on all the rest of the family. The more relaxed you become. Your brain marinates with dopamine and feelings of pleasure. And without having to take a pill, God-induced anti-stress hormones fill your brain and body.

Who wouldn’t want to be a mother? Don’t miss out on all the blessings God has for you. Don’t only nurse your baby for food. Nurse your baby to console, comfort, delight, and satisfy his God-given sucking instinct. Don’t use a pacifier which is a mother substitute. Don’t try to wean your baby too soon. Let your baby wean when he is ready. Bask in the joys of God’s blessing hormones as long as you can. It is your inheritance as a mother.

Sadly, Satan wants to rob us of the fullness of motherhood that God has for us. He comes to rob, kill, and destroy. Don’t let him rob you. Embrace all that God has for you. Live in the glory of your motherhood.

I think you will find the following article very interesting: http://www.thealphaparent.com/…/how-breastfeeding-changes-y…

God bless you in your mothering today,

Nancy Campbell

We ask you, Father, in Jesus' name, to hedge our little baby about with Your mighty protection. Watch over this little one each day as You intricately create him/her in the hidden sanctuary of my womb. Please sustain me in good health and vitality throughout this whole pregnancy.

I ask that You will fill me with Your joy and that everyone will see the glory of God upon me as I nurture this precious life within me. Thank You again for this amazing miracle and for giving my husband and me an eternal soul that will live forever. It is awesome to think that I am part of something eternal. I pray that You will keep this baby growing in the womb until FULL TERM and this baby will come forth in Your perfect timing. In Jesus' name. Amen."

May God pour out His blessing and refreshing on you each new day,

Nancy Campbell

~ Nancy Campbell

No, I won’t sign the lib’s petition
To do away with wife’s submission,
I'd be a fool to boss my spouse,
I want a man and not a mouse!

I do not have to prove my might
For we are equal in God’s sight,
But we’re to function differently,
God made us that way purposely.

He’s my provider, what a gem,
And I’m a helper fit for him.
To live the role God planned for me
This makes me completely free!

~Unknown.

You are not going to be fired. You have a job for ALL THE DAYS OF YOUR LIFE. And it will influence your children for ALL THE DAYS OF THEIR LIVES.

Be encouraged.

Nancy Campbell

We are influenced by the people we keep company with, even as adults. What about our children? They are influenced even more by the company they keep. You can be the greatest parent in the world, but if your children start hanging around with ungodly friends, they influence your children more than you. I raised my children on Proverbs 13:20: “He that walks with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.”

Can I encourage you dear mother that if your children do not have godly friends who fear the Lord in their school environment to take them out of school. Although you also need wisdom regarding “Christian” friends these days.

Now I know I am going to be bombarded with those who say they send their children to school to be a witness. That sounds such a good idea, but it doesn’t always work. When planting a sapling that we want to one day be strong tree, we must protect it from the winds and elements. I have to confess to my shame that I lost many trees I planted because I didn’t protect them adequately.

We don’t send our saplings out to be brainwashed by the enemy with humanist propaganda, ungodly teaching, and to be taught to accept abominable practices as though they were normal. We first of all ground our children in the truth. We make sure they are strong in the Lord and in His Word and able to contend for their faith. We get them ready before we send them out. We are not getting them ready for hibernation, but for the revelation of God to the world. But they better be strong first. And they better not just look like Christians and yet have minds filled with humanism! The current church of God is filled with humanist thinkers.

Teens especially long for friends, but they better be surrounded by godly companions! This is what the Bible says to do so we had better take notice. 1 Corinthians 15:33 (HCSB): “Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company corrupts good morals.’”

Make it a daily prayer with your husband that God will provide godly friends for your children and teens.

Blessings to you today from Nancy Campbell

Check out Psalm 1:1-3; 26:4; Proverbs 14:7; Matthew 18:6; 1 Corinthians 5:6; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; and Ephesians 5:11.

It’s your enemy who wants to rob you from your place of rest. Come on now, don’t let him have the victory. Confess out loud the words of the psalmist: “RETURN UNTO YOUR REST, O my soul” (Psalm 116:7). If you have left this place, RETURN! You may have to say it more than once! And as you confess it, you must let go your burden, your bitterness, or your concern--and trust God with it!

“Dear Lord Jesus Christ, I thank you for the rest I have in You. You are my rest. I let all my concerns go and trust completely in You. I find my rest in no other place but You. Thank You with all my heart. Amen.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

Look up these Scriptures and be encouraged: Proverbs 24:15; Isaiah 32:17, 18; Jeremiah 6:16; 50:5; Matthew 11:28-30; and Hebrews 4:9-11.

When we see the negative in everything, we live a miserable life. And what is the bottom line? We are leaving God out of the equation! For no matter what happens in our lives, in the little annoying things of our daily lives or the big situations that seem like the end of the world, God is in control. He is bigger than our problems and difficulties. We can totally trust Him, and “Whoso trusts in the Lord, HAPPY IS HE” (Proverbs 16:20). Your life can actually be a continual feast!

When we put our trust in the Lord and rejoice in the fact that He is our Strength, our Source, Our Rock, our Help, and our Deliverer, we can keep our hearts joyful in any salutation.

It’s all in how we look at things. I love Paul’s confession in 2 Corinthians 43:8-10: “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken, cast down, but not destroyed.” He goes on to say in verses 16-18: “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a FAR MORE EXCEEDING AND ETERNAL WEIGHT OF GLORY; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

Instead of looking on the dark side today, why not count some blessings?

Love from Nancy Campbell

Up at my breast you slurp and sip,
Nourishing milk is found on your lip,
I haven't always known, but now I see
Your whole entire world depends on me.

I'm a mama bear, called to stand in the fight
Against evil and lies, to pray in the night,
Our home is a place, come storm, wind, and rain
That will forever and ever exalt God's name.

Give me grace through the day to mirror Your light,
Disciplined, Bible reading, and tender goodnight,
Help me honor this man who’s at my side
With submission, appreciation, come any tide

Help me nurture wee tots crowded around,
This is Your army, hear their triumphant sound,
Giggles and yawns, pitter-patter feet,
You see the future, You don't miss a beat.

I'll train them steadily with Your law and order,
Standing firm and leaning on Your shoulder,
With prayer and petition, I'll run this race
So my family and I will one day see Your face .

With every warm meal, diaper change, and kiss,
I'm cherishing moments I would have missed
If I took a job, which sometimes sounds nice,
But I'd be ditching my calling, too heavy a price!

Instead I'll stay here in these homey four walls
With my quilts, fire place, children filling the halls,
This is my sphere, I'll take care of it well,
I'll allow The Lord's blessings, my womb will swell.

Oh mother, stand firm, you're doing holy work,
You get paid in kisses, that's a neat perk,
Your children will rise and call you blessed
And every now and then you'll find some rest.

After babes are in bed, grab your Bible and tea
Sit in bed with your man and read with glee,
These are the words that will shape your heart,
They'll keep surprising you, with every new part.

Set your priorities right, it's costly to fail,
Soon you'll be a legacy, children setting the sail,
A family that’s molded on God's unchanging Word
And went out to witness, out into the world.

Be sweet, kind, and fair, always gentle and giving,
Your children's children will always see you smiling,
And this, oh mother is very hard to do,
But do it with grace, God's covering you!

An older woman you'll be on your death bed
With many gathered around that you have led,
Your children will say (all grown up now),
"Thank you, Mama, for teaching us how.”

You'll smile up at them with a contented white glow,
Knowing they'll go beyond you and continue to grow,
You'll watch from Heaven the countless lives you began
When you chose to trust God in all of His plans.

~ Ashley Lynn O’Brien

This is my life. This is my vision. Please enable me, Oh God, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.”

~ Nancy Campbell

And then in Genesis 19:2 we read how Lot “sat in the gate of Sodom.” He was now involved in the jurisdiction of the city. Sadly, Lot became used to the wicked lifestyle of Sodom. Well, not exactly. 2 Peter 2:6-8 tells us that these people “vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds.” But even though he was tormented by their sin, he didn’t do anything about it. He “sat” down instead of rising up and being a voice. He would not have been accepted in the gate of Sodom if he was speaking against their sin.

We must also decide what we will do as we live in a nation that now accepts homosexuality as lawful. We dare not sit down and accept it. For what happened to Lot? He lost most of his children to God’s judgment. Lot only escaped with his two daughters. His other daughters and sons-in-law and grandchildren became so entrenched in the lifestyle of Sodom that even when he pleaded with them to leave the impending judgment, they took no notice of him.

What we do depends on what happens to our children? If we do not speak up and stand up for righteousness and God’s ways, our children will get used to evil. It doesn’t stop there. When people get used to living in evil, they begin to accept it as many Christians are already doing.

Please do not “sit down,” not only for God’s sake and your own sake, but for the sake of your children and grandchildren. You determine their future lives. Psalm 94:16 states: “Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who still stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?”

Will you stand up and be counted?

~ Nancy Campbell

2. When you meet them, tell them your name clearly and shake their hand. When shaking the hand of an older person it is nice to place both your hands on their hand. This shows further endearment and honor because of their age. In some African countries they bow before elders. They did this in biblical times, too.

3. Address them appropriately. Do not call elders by their first name, but show respect and address them as Mr. or Mrs. unless you are told otherwise.

4. If you are sitting in a room when an elderly person walks in, immediately stand up to greet them. This is mandated in God's Word. Leviticus 19:32: "Thou shalt RISE UP before the hoary head, and honor the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the Lord." The NET translation says: "You must STAND UP in the presence of the aged."

5. Speak clearly, articulately, and slowly when talking to the elderly. Do not mumble. A lot of older people are deaf and cannot understand the mumbling of many young people. They want to understand what you are saying, so make sure they can hear and understand you.

6. Look out for opportunities to assist them by opening doors, helping them to walk steadily, or carry parcels or their bag for them.

7. Listen politely to what they have to say. Look in their face when you speak to them. God wants you to learn from your elders. Stay interested even when they repeat the same story over and over again.

8. Ask questions. When you ask questions about their life and what they have done during their life, you will be surprised what you will learn. Gain all the information you can from them for the time will come when that information will go to the grave and you won't be able to retrieve it. Get all the information you can now.

9. Think of kind things you can do for them. Ask if there is anything you can get for them. Ask if you can make them a cup of tea or coffee. Ask them if they would like you to read to them. Think of special treats for them.

10. If your grandparents do not live close and you cannot visit them regularly, send letters and cards to them regularly. They long to hear from you. Don't deprive them.

~ Nancy Campbell

The painting: A Mother And Her Daughter In The Kitchen
By Viggo Pedersen

Blessings from Nancy Campbell