Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs

"‘Tis better far to let Him choose the way that we should take;
If only we leave our life with Him, He will guide without mistake;
We, in our blindness, would never choose a pathway dark or rough,
And so we should never find in Him the GOD WHO IS ENOUGH!
In disappointment, trouble, or pain, we turn to the Changeless One,
And prove how faithful, loving and true is God’s beloved Son."

As a woman, we long for love and security, but more than anything else, a man longs for RESPECT AND HONOR from his wife. It is a God-given instinct that we as wives need to understand. He will never be truly happy until he has it, but when he does, look out world! He will feel that he can face anything.

I'm sure not preaching to you, because I can fall down on this one too. We can love our husband, and yet not show the respect and honor that he needs.

The Amplified Version of Ephesians 5:33 explains the Greek word very clearly, “Let the wife see that she respects and reverences her husband (that she notices him, regards him, honors him, prefers him, venerates, and esteems him; and that she defers to him, praises him, and loves and admires him exceedingly).”  What a challenge.

Honor him with your words and they way you speak to him. Honor him with the way you look at him. Does your husband sit at the head of the table? Does he have his special chair? We show our honor in little practical things, too.

Love from Nancy

I’m setting the table for my wonderful brood,
I’m furnishing it with love and nourishing food,
I’m making it a place where they all love to be,
A place of enrichment and lasting legacy!

Love from Nancy

When Mother Teresa of Calcutta was asked by a young mother about the best way to proceed with pro-life work, she responded emphatically,

“Have a big family. That is the best way to end abortion!”

The confession of the old kingdom is, “Why pray when I can worry?” The confession in God’s kingdom is, “Why worry when I can pray?” We are to live in a world of prayer for we belong to a kingdom of prayer. Philippians 4:6 NLT says, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.”

Love from Nancy

In our home I find that it is as important for me to think about what we will talk about at the table as it is to think about what we will eat for supper. The meal table can be boring--or lively, interesting, and educational, according to how we prepare for it.

Quite frequently I ask the girls living in our home to bring something to the table to read to us--a poem, a passage from a book they are currently reading, or a powerful quote. Recently I asked each one to share the book that had impacted their life the most, and why. We learned a lot that night and everyone wanted to read the book each one talked about.

The other night I asked them to come prepared to speak about some person who has influenced the world in some way. Some of the people we learned about were Annie Oakley, C. T. Studd, Eliezer Ben Yehuda, and John Newton.

Of course, if you currently only have little children, you can ask simple questions such as, "What was the best thing you did today?" Or, "What was something new you learned today?"

Put on your thinking cap and create wonderful discussions at your table. It not only engages everyone in heart-to-heart conversation, but becomes a place of learning.

Love from Nancy

We talked yesterday about deception. Peace is another area where we can be deceived. People often say that have peace about something, but really it is just a RELIEF from their circumstances.

Women have said to me, "I felt peace about leaving my husband." Now, I do believe a woman should leave her husband if her life and children are in danger from a violent man. However, many leave their husbands for very weak excuses. And I will also concede that they may feel "peace," especially if they have been experiencing tension, trauma, and constant arguing in their marriage. But, the true fact of the matter is that it is a relief from the turbulent situation. It is not an indication of the true peace of God which we can experience in the midst of turbulence.

I have had other women say to me, "Oh I had such peace once I had my tubal ligation." Once again, they were not experiencing the peace God speaks about. They were experiencing RELIEF! "I don't have to worry about using contraception anymore" or "I don't have to be bothered with having any more babies," they think. It's not the peace God talks about when we put a stop to the way God created us. It's relief!

True peace does not go against the will of God, no matter how you feel (John 14:27). Once again we must guard against being deceived.

Love from Nancy

Check out these Scriptures: Isaiah 29:16; 45:9-10; 64:8; Romans 9:20-21 and Romans 12:1-2.

One of the prayers I constantly pray is, "Oh God, please save me from deception. Expose every tiny bit of deception in my heart and mind and lead me into all your truth." I have to continually pray this because deception is so subtle. You can be deceived even when you think you are not deceived.

Satan, who is the professional deceiver, really knows how to do it. He doesn't tempt us with blatant evil as he knows we will immediately resist it. He comes to us with that which looks "good," "desirable," and even "wise" (Genesis 3:6)! Yes, even things that look "wise" according to this world. This is how he tempted Eve and this is how he still tries to deceive us.

God told King Saul to utterly destroy the Amalekites, and all their sheep and cattle as well. Samuel defeated the Amalekites, but he kept Agag the king alive, plus all the "best" sheep and cattle and "all that was good."And he had very good intentions, because he told Samuel the prophet that he saved the best livestock to sacrifice to the Lord. But, he was deceived. He was deceived because he did not fully obey the Lord. He only obeyed half the commandment! Read the whole story in 1 Samuel 15.

Dear precious ladies, let's guard against deception. The words God used about Saul's half obedience were "evil, rebellion, witchcraft, stubbornness, iniquity, and idolatry" (1 Samuel 15:19, 22-23).

And to be saved from deception, we have to do more than pray. We have to LIVE IN GOD'S WORD! God's Word is the only ANTEDOTE TO DECEPTION. If we don't know what God says, we don't have a plumbline to know if we are deceived or not! That's why so many Christians are deceived today. The Word does not fill their hearts. It's not knowing one Scripture about a subject, but what God says from Genesis to Revelation about that subject!

Our children are growing up with deception all around them, too. We must daily fill them with the Word of Truth so they can learn to discern what is truth and what is deception. That's why morning and evening Family Devotions are a very powerful tool in your family life.

Love from Nancy

Check out these Scriptures: Leviticus 10:10-11; 20:24, 26; Jeremiah 15:19; Ezekiel 22:26; 44:23; Joshua 1:8; Matthew 24:4, 24; John 8:31-32; 1 Corinthians 3:18-19; 2 Corinthians 6;17-18; Galatians 6:3; Ephesians 5;6; 1 Timothy 2:14-15; James 4:4 and 1 John 2:15-17.

There are many other lovely "ness" words that should describe our family life and who we are as a wife and mother. Or, they are a CHALLENGE to describe our family life! Read them over and let God speak to you. You may like to print this out and take one word for each day. Meditate on how you can bring the experience of it into your daily family life. Here we go...

Blessedness, cheerfulness, cleanliness, courteousness, faithfulness, fairness, forgiveness, gentleness, godliness, goodness, gracefulness, gratefulness, healthiness, helpfulness, holiness, hopefulness, joyfulness, kindness, loveliness, meekness, maternalness and motherliness, oneness, peacefulness, politeness, prayerfulness, pureness, richness, righteousness, softness, submissiveness, sweetness, teachableness, tenderness, thankfulness, thriftiness, truthfulness, virtuousness, and wholeness.

This sounds like a blessed marriage and family life, doesn't it? I think we've got plenty of work ahead of us, don't you!

And I am sure you could think of other words, too. Share them with me.

Love from Nancy

We've talked about "homeness" and "wombness." We can't leave out "femaleness." God only made two species of humankind--male and female. If we are female, we should seek to embrace our femaleness and live in the fullness of who God created us to be. Anything else is a waste of our life. The more we reveal our "femaleness" the more we give glory to God our Creator.

Embracing our femaleness means that we will seek to speak, act, and dress femininely. We will embrace our motherly instinct which is inherent in being female. To deny our motherliness is to distort our femaleness.

Let's be fully who God created us to be.

Love from Nancy

My last post was about "homeness." I thought I would stretch your vocabulary a little further and introduce "wombness." "Wombness" is not some ethereal imaginative word. It is a reality! It is very much part of who we are as a woman. In fact, we would not be a woman if we did not have a womb! And it also reveals something of what God is like. The womb is more than a place where a baby can be conceived and grow. It is the seat of our compassion.

The Hebrew word "racham" is the word used for a literal womb, but this same Hebrew word is translated "compassion" four times, and "mercy" 30 times. It is the same word that speaks of God's compassion and mercy. When we embrace our "wombness" we also reveal something of the compassion of God.

I was just reading the meaning of "feminine" in the 1828 Webster's Dictionary as follows: "Probably from wemb or womb, by the use of f for w. The last part of the word is probably from man, quasi, femman, womb-man). To be feminine is to be "a womb man."

Don't despise your "wombness." It is a very integral and beautiful part of who you as a woman.

Love from Nancy

It's a rainy day here in Tennessee today, but still beautiful as all the fresh green leaves are filling the trees after the bareness of winter. And it's cozy inside our home. What a blessing it is to have a home. It's our sanctuary. Our place of rest. I recently read the word, "homeness" in one of George McDonald's books. Don't you like that word? I'm going to add it to my vocabulary. It conjures up so many loving and warm thoughts and memories.

God feels like this about our homes too, I was reading in Ezekiel 34 about Israel coming back to their homeland. God says, "I will bring them back to their own country; they shall have pasture on the hill-sides of Israel, by its watercourses, in the RESTING-PLACES OF THEIR HOME... a blessed people in a BLESSED HOME."

God wants our home to be a place where He can rest, and where we as a family can rest. Of course that doesn't mean to say we are not all working hard, but we are doing it in an atmosphere of rest, not tension and strife. Let's deal with anything that disturbs our "resting place" (Proverbs 24:15 and Jeremiah 50:6).

Make "homeness" the atmosphere of your home.

Love from Nancy

How many anxieties are you carrying today, dear mother? Lots of cares? Or just one little worry? Did you know that you don't have to carry even one worry around with you? It's a great waste of time, because your worrying won't help pour situation one tiny bit. You know the quote which says, "Worry is like a rocking chair: it gives you something to do but never gets you anywhere.”

Trust in the Lord instead of dwelling on your anxieties. God is much better at sorting them out than you are! You can throw the whole weight of your cares upon Him. 1 Pater 5:7 says, "Casting ALL your care upon him; for He careth for you."

Did you notice that it doesn't say "some cares," but ALL of them?

Love from Nancy

I am always grateful in my heart, but I am so glad that we make TWO SPECIAL TIMES every day when we take time out from our busy lives to come into the presence of the Lord, to hear His Word, and speak to Him. These times are our morning and evening Family Devotions. It seems to me that it is the VERY VERY LEAST that we can give to God.

When we each have a turn to pray, I am so glad for the opportunity to thank God again, OUT LOUD, for His great salvation and that Jesus was willing to take upon Himself my sin and the sin of the world. I don't think that we will ever, with our finite minds, be able to comprehend the enormity of the great salvation that has been given to us. Even our morning and evening devotions in this life are not enough to thank Him. And it will take all eternity to give honor to the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world.

May our lives be worthy of His dying for us. To have this in our hearts throughout the day will make a difference to us personally and to how we live and act in our home. But, make sure you have your SPECIAL TIMES in your family, too.

Love from Nancy

Like a shepherd of sheep, we as mothers are shepherding the little flock God has given to us. A shepherd must be both BRAVE as he protects his sheep from wild animals and enemies and TENDER as he personally cares for them. We too, must be both brave and tender.

We must be brave and courageous to rescue our children from all attack of the enemy. Think of David who when a bear or a lion would get one of his little lambs, he would strike down the animal and rescue the lamb out of its mouth! And if the lion or bear reared its head against him, he'd grab it by the throat and beat it to death! (1 Samuel 17:34-37). That's bravery! Nothing would get one of his little lambs!

What about us? Today the enemy is seducing and infiltrating the minds of our precious young children with humanism, feminism, socialism, and every other "ism" (and now even the stronger and stronger influence of the homosexual agenda) in our state schools. Are we happy for them to be controlled by the mouths of the lion? Or are we fearless and daring enough to rescue our lambs out of their deceiving and destructive mouth?

Love from Nancy

The prayer of Jabez has become one of the most popular prayers of the Bible, and yes, it is a wonderful prayer to pray for our lives. One of the requests Jabez makes is that God will "ENLARGE HIS COAST" (1 Chronicles 4:10). What do you think he is really asking for? Surely, he doesn't want more land and a larger house just for the sake of it. He knows that God would not give that to him unless there was a purpose for enlarging.

Our God is not a miserly God. He has a huge heart. His heart is always for ENLARGING, INCREASING, AND MULTIPLYING. It's very interesting the this word "enlarge" is exactly the same Hebrew word that God uses when He gave His very first command to mankind, "Be fruitful, MULTIPLY, and replenish the earth"(Genesis 1:28). It is "rabah" and is translated 227 times in the Old Testament by such words as "enlarge, exceedingly, increase, many, multiply, plenteous." This is God's language. It was also the heart of Jabez, and because Jabez had a heart like God's heart, "God granted him that which he requested."

It is the same Hebrew word when God says, "ENLARGE the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations; spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; for thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles" (Isaiah 54:2-3).

Like Jabez, is your heart for increasing, enlarging, and multiplying? Do your prayers line up with God's heart?

Love from Nancy

Yesterday my daughter, Mercy didn't have to go to work so she went over to spend the day with Serene and the children. At the dinner table last night she shared how it was such a FUN day with all the children. "It was a laugh a minute," she said, "with all their funny antics and the things they say. Children are the best entertainment." Isn't it so true? How sad that many miss out on so much joy because they don't want children? They have been robbed of knowing the joys and blessings of children.

Here's just one of the things Mercy shared with us:

Shepherd: "I don't want to be a girl."
Serene: "Why?"
Shepherd: "Because girls lay babies."

I think they must have too many chickens around their house!

Love from Nancy

Recently we talked about sibling fighting. One of our readers wrote to me something that blessed her and I am going to share it with you, too.

"Right now, we've got six children living in a hotel room, and we're crowded to say the least (we're relocating and looking for a new home). Sometimes, the fights break out faster than I can stop them, and the noise and chaos overwhelms me, at which point I lose it.

This morning, my husband prayed over me, and today has been SO much easier! The children's behavior is the same, it's MY heart that's at peace. When I'm calmer, the children are calmer. This morning started out the same old same old, but as we go on, they're calming down now that they see Mommy isn't going to be the she-beast she was yesterday."

Have you thought of asking your husband to pray over you each morning? He is your covering. Ask him to ask God, as your covering, to fill you with His peace, anointing, and power as you spend another day nurturing and teach your children.

Love from Nancy

Some mothers have written in and asked what to do about whining children. They share that they've tried everything and the children still whine!

This is certainly a habit we need to break in their lives while they are young. As mothers we are training our children for their future and for their marriage one day. It sure won't help them to be successful in life if they have a complaining attitude. It can actually destroy their lives, and their future marriage. Who wants to live with a complaining wife? It was whining that destroyed the Israelites and kept the Israelites out of the Promised Land (Read 1 Corinthians 10:9-10).

Here's a few things to think about.

1. Pray over your child or children. Every night when they are asleep, you and your husband go into their room and pray over them. In the power of the name of Jesus break this whining spirit over your child. Pray that God will pour into their heart a grateful and happy attitude. Prayer is powerful. Never use it as a last resort. Always pray first!

2. Choose some Scriptures about being thankful for Memory Verses. Are you teaching your children to memorize the Scriptures? I believe that God's Word has the power to fill up that which is lacking in our children's lives. Whenever my children had a weakness in their life, I would fill it up with God's Word.

When God sent the plagues upon the Egyptians, one of the plagues was "pitch darkness, so thick, they could feel it" For three days no one moved in Egypt! And yet, "the children of Israel had light in their dwellings" (Exodus 10:21-23).

I don't know about you, but I feel the thick darkness of evil encroaching upon us more and more. But, in the midst of evil, God wants our homes to be FILLED WITH LIGHT! Eradicate every tiny bit of darkness from your home and let God come in and fill every room with His light. Speak prophetically God's life-giving, miracle-working words, "Let there be light," into every person and every room in your home. Pray and believe for a LIGHT FILLED HOME!

What a powerful impact against evil when all God-believing homes become LIGHTHOUSES, filled with the light of God, and shining out His truth and love to everyone in their neighborhood.

Love from Nancy