FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 141: WHO ARE WE LISTENING TO? Pt 2

“It is impossible to enslave, mentally or socially, a Bible-reading people.” How do we live? By God's living Words, or by the influence of our society? God has a lot more to say about our faces.

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, From Our Home to Yours, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! Well, we have just enjoyed a most wonderful week of snow. Maybe you enjoyed that too in this last week. It seems so beautiful. We've had quite a lot of snowfalls this year, some only lasting for a day. But this one has lasted all week. There's been quite a few snowfalls throughout the week.

We had staying with us the youngest Allison children, six of them. We've had other visitors as well staying with us, so we had a great big, crowded house. Snow all around us! Some days we couldn't even get out, so we just made do with what we had.

But the children had the most wonderful time sledding. We have a lovely slope outside the home. They got out there sledding. And then, of course, they wanted Nana to come with them. At first, I wasn't too keen about going. Eventually I did it once! But then it was so fun, well, I just wanted to keep going!

So Saturday, oh wow! I went out there, and we did so many wonderful sleds together. You know, having competition to see who could win. I won sometimes, and they won sometimes! It was such great fun!

But now, after a week, our snow is all melting. The temperatures are warming up. We're getting back to normal.

All right. Well, I wonder if you have ever heard of Horace Greeley? Horace Greeley lived in the early 1800's. He founded and edited the New York Tribune. He was actually the man who urged the settlement of the American West. He saw it as the great opportunity for those who had no work. He was the one who popularized the slogan, “Go West, young man!” I'm sure you've heard of that.

Let me read you a few quotes from this guy. One I particularly want to give you (there's a few others that I thought were quite good too). “

“Go West, young man! Go West. There is health in the country, and room away from our crowds of idlers and imbeciles.”

“Common sense is very uncommon.” I think that's a good quote for today, don't you?

“The way we do things is to begin.” I've always believed that. In fact, I think it's one of my quotes as well. I think it's such an important thing to know that sometimes when tasks are looming before you, and I know you often find that you feel overwhelmed, you wonder where to start. Well, you choose one place to start, or you take one job you will start with. And you begin! And it's amazing. You just do that job ‘til it's done. Then you begin another one. So I believe in that quote.

“Ah! if the pulpit would practice what it preaches, then all would be well.” That's a true one, too.

“The darkest hour in any man's life is when he sits down to plan how to get money without earning it.”

And again, he says:  “The darkest day in a man's career is that wherein he fancies there is some easier way of getting a dollar than by squarely earning it.”

Another quote: “Duty and today are ours; results and futurity belong to God.”

 Here's another one that I think is very apt for today: “We are not one people; we are two peoples. We are people for Feedom, and a people for Slavery. Between the two, conflict is inevitable.” Well, that was written way back in the 1800's. I think it could be written for today, don't you?

But here's the quote that I wanted to give you. It's always been a favorite quote of mine by Horace Greeley. It says:

“It is impossible to enslave, mentally or socially, a Bible-reading people. The principles of the Bible are the groundwork of human freedom.”

How true are those words!

I believe, dear wives and mothers, that if we are a people who know God's Word, and His Words are filling our minds and hearts and our beings, we are not going to be a people who are enslaved. Who are the people who are enslaved? People who are deceived. People who are ignorant of the truth. That is the only way you can deceive people.

That's why it is so important to be people of the truth, people of the Book, meaning the Bible, of course. So we, as mothers, need to be filled with truth. We need to be mothers who are filling our children with truth. Every day, little by little, line upon line, here a little, there a little. We are imparting the truth ‘til it becomes part of them, so that they will not be enslaved by propaganda, by fake media, by deception, and by ignorance.

We must be people who know the truth. The Word of God says: “My people are ensnared,” and how true that is! So many of God's people, not just the people of the world, but God's people, are ensnared and enslaved. They've been taken up by fake news, and that which is deception.

And that's why, in these current podcasts, I am talking about, are we people who live according to what God says, or are we those who live according to what society says? We're one or the other.

Last week, did you listen to the podcast, “To mask or not to mask? That is the Question”? Well, we talked about it, not just about the normal answers. We talked about what God says. You see, lovely ladies, there is not one thing we face in this life, or even in our day-to-day lives, or at this current time in our history, that we will not find the answers in God's Word.

If you didn't hear last week's podcast, please go back and listen to it. Because I share what God says, His heart, the Scriptures about this whole scenario of mask-wearing. I was going to go on to another subject today, but do you know, there are still more Scriptures? So I think I'll give you some more today, because we might as well be filled.

I mean, most probably, most Christians, if you said to them, “Have you got any Scriptures about mask wearing,” well, they wouldn't even be able to think of one! I think we should start thinking of some. We talked about it for a whole session last week, and now, let's look at a few more this week, so we really get what God says. OK?

So, last time, I won't go into it, but just recapping a little bit, I took you to 2 Corinthians chapter three, and then verse two talks about how our very lives are a letter that anyone can read, just by looking at us. God says that we're a letter. We're a letter from Him to our husbands. We're a letter from Him to our children. We are a letter from Him to the world, to everyone we are in contact with.

In 2 Corinthians 4:4-6 it says, and this is from the New Living Translation: “If the good news we preach is hidden behind a veil, it is hidden from people who are perishing. Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don't believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News . . . For God, who said, 'Let there be light in the darkness,' has made His Light shine in our hearts, so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.”

The Passion Translation says: “If our gospel message is veiled, it is only veiled to those who are perishing. For their minds have been blinded by the god of this age, leaving them in unbelief. For God who said, “Let His Light shine out of darkness” is the One who has cascaded His Life into us, to bring in dawning light of the glorious knowledge of God, AS WE GAZE INTO THE FACE OF JESUS CHRIST.”

I talked last week about the face of Jesus, and how we, as we look at His face, and not just His face, but the many, many attributes of His face, because His face reveals His character, we grow into His likeness. As we grow into His likeness, it is then revealed in our face. And so we become this letter of Jesus, and the knowledge of Jesus, through our face.

We talked about paniym, which literally means “faces.” Let me give you a few more Scriptures. I didn't give you these ones last time, about how God wants us to live in the Light of His countenance, or the Light of His face.

WALK IN THE LIGHT OF GOD’S FACE

You see, God wants us to be looking up to His face, the face that is unveiled, where God will reveal His glory to us. And He wants to look on our face. He doesn't want a veiled face. He wants an open face so that His glory can be reflected from Him to us, in our face, out to others!

Have you got the message?

This is the message, lovely ladies, of the unveiled face. Of how God created us. He never created us to mask up. No! But to be unveiled, to reveal His glory, and to walk in the Light of His countenance.

Psalm 4:6: “Lord, lift up Thou the light of Thy countenance upon us.”

Psalm 11:7: “For the righteous, Lord, loveth righteousness. His countenance (it just means face) His  face beholds the upright.”

Psalm 21:6: “Thou hast made him exceeding glad with Thy countenance.”

Oh my. As we look to the face of Jesus and we gain knowledge of Him and Who He is, and His glory  reflects on us, we're just living in this reciprocal light of God's glory through our faces. God's face, our face. This brings us into exceeding gladness.

Psalm 42:11: “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted in me?” And then the Psalmist speaks to his soul, and he says: “Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise Him, for the help of His countenance.”

What is that phrase talking about? “The help of His countenance.” The word “help” is actually yeshua! We all know that Yeshua is the Jewish name for Jesus. Jesus, meaning “salvation, help, healing, deliverance.” He is the help. It comes from His face shining upon us. The help of the saving, the salvation, the deliverance, the healing of His countenance.

Dear lovely ladies, to receive this, we receive it from His open face. But we need an open face to Him to receive His salvation, and healing, and deliverance. We find that Scripture in Psalms 42:5 and 43:5.

Now, how did God give the children of Israel their promised land? Psalm 44:3 says: “For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but by Thy right hand, and Thine arm, and the Light of Thy countenance.” Isn't that beautiful?

Psalm 89:15: “Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O Lord, in the Light of Thy countenance.” This is how we're meant to walk our lives in the Light of God's face, shining upon us, and His glory reflecting to our face, and then our revealing it to those who are around us with an unveiled face. We talked about that Scripture last week.

Now here's a bit of a scary one. Psalm 90:8: “Thou hast set our sins,” or iniquities, “before Thee, our secret sins in the Light of Thy countenance.” So we don't get away with anything, do we? Even our secret hidden sins are shown up in the Light of His countenance.

You see, that's what masks do. They hide what is going on inside us. They're a cover-up. That's why before Covid, who wore masks? Gangsters, and bank robbers, and people like that.

Even people who wore masks just to be acting a part or acting out as someone. In fact, Britannica Encyclopedia says about mask-wearing, “To act out as someone.” But it says, “Often the wearer seems to become psychologically one with the character he is helping to create. He seems to become an automaton, without his own will, which has become subservient to that of the personage of the mask.”

Just a little quote, but it's a big, long article, showing how the spirit of the person that they are trying to mask can come upon them. That's truly what happens when we mask up. We are covering up who we are, dear ladies, and who God created us to be. We are covering it up. God never intended us to cover up. No, He wants an unveiled face. It's just not His plan.

ENSLAVEMENT PERSONALITY

In fact, what we do when we cover up, we take on a whole new personality. We take on an enslavement personality. We take on this subjection to tyranny and it becomes part of us. You see that people have become enslaved to tyranny just because someone has mandated this. But it is not a law of the land, and it is not in the Constitution. Constitutionally, we are a free people!

I mean, you can't go round naked, but you are free to wear what kind of style you like. And you are a free person to be who God created you to be! Not to cover up who you are. And so, if you take on this enslavement mentality and I see that in people who have given in.

Now there are sometimes when you just have to wear a mask because there was no other way out of it, but you seek not to when possible. What I seek to do is never wear one. The only one time I have was on an airplane.

But you see, when you give into this, you are giving into enslavement and you take that on. You see people, that spirit comes upon them! God has given us a free spirit! We are a free people. America is a free nation! We only give to these people who are trying to enslave us. We are only giving them the power by just giving into it, by submitting to it, by cowardly submitting to it. So be who you are! Not an enslaved person!

Our daughters have just come back from Mexico. In fact, they were there as couples. The three girls, Evangeline, and Serene, and Pearl, with their husbands, went down for a week to Mexico. Serene was saying before they got on the plane to come back home, that down in Mexico they had to have a Covid test to check that they were completely healthy before they could fly. Now you would think after having a test and they proved negative, that they could just get on the plane.

But no, even though they proved negative, they still had to wear a mask on the plane. There was no necessity for that. Everyone who got on that plane was completely free. So therefore, it is not to do with health. It is just a mandate of slavery.

Of course, the girls are so against masking themselves up, especially for their health. So they actually purchased masks that were breathable. They could breathe through them. You know Serene. She wouldn't wear anything else.

Oh, but did you hear? Those of you on Trim Healthy Mama Facebook, you most probably saw, because Pearl posted it, how on the very last evening they were there, Evangeline had an accident? Well, it wasn't even really an accident, because the whole week they did all these most incredible adventurous things. This time they weren't really doing . . . Well, it was pretty adventurous. They'd all gone over to this island on this boat, on these choppy seas.

They were on this island, and they were walking around on the rocks, and then Evangeline, who was way ahead of all of them, as she usually is, apparently slipped on a rock that was in the water. It wasn't even a big boulder; it was just a rock. But it was so slippery, and her body just went out from under her.

She landed, obviously in just the wrong way. She broke the upper part of her arm, just past the shoulder. Apparently, the bones went into other parts of her body. It was pretty horrific. She was just, her arm was just hanging. Of course, she fell into the water. She'd just been rolled up by the surf, and rolled down again, and rolled up.

Anyway, Sam saw her, and he got to her to rescue her. Serene was coming up next. She realized what was happening, but she was a long way, and screamed back to Howard to run, that Vange was down. He eventually got to her. So then they had to get her back. They had to walk a quarter of a mile across the rocks.

Then they had to get back into this boat in this choppy sea. Apparently, it was the most excruciating painful experience for her to get back onto land. Then they had to call for a taxi. She said that was even worse than the boat ride, to get her to a hospital! They eventually did a two-hour operation on her arm, putting in plates, and all kinds of things. So you can pray for her for great healing for her arm. So that was a little sad end to their wonderful holiday.

All right. Well, let's continue here. I love word studies. That's really what we're doing here today. We're doing a word study. We're going into the Word. Now in my podcast, you're going to get a lot of the Word, and that is so good, because the Word is just going into you.

Whatever you're doing now, if you're washing dishes, folding laundry, you're out walking, you can just embrace this Word. And when I read the Scriptures, don't think, “Oh, that's the Scriptures. Well, I can just turn off and dream.” No! Just ignore that, and “embrace Your Word into my heart!” Let's just get so filled with the Word!

DOES GOD GET ANGRY?

So I have been doing a word study this last week. It just happened, that that's how my word studies happen. I'm reading a Scripture about God's anger, and wow, we don't expect to read about God getting angry, do we? We look upon anger as a sin.

But when it talks about God's anger, it's talking of how He feels about sin. I think sometimes we don't even understand how God feels about evil. I mean, evil is so horrific to Him. That's why He sent His only beloved Son to die, because we've all sinned. The punishment for sin is death. Because that's how revolting evil is to God.

But He sent . . . that’s why He hates sin, but He's such a God of love that He sent His own Son to pay the punishment of our sins. But it's good to understand Who our God is. There are so many Scriptures . . . I haven't even finished this study yet!

I noticed how in many of these Scriptures it says God is speaking, and He says, “My anger,” God actually owns this anger. He's not talking about somebody else's anger but “My anger.” And I have a whole paragraph of Scriptures in the next heading, “The Anger of the  Lord.” Another whole paragraph of Scriptures for “Thine anger,” “His anger,” “the fierceness of His anger,” “the power of His anger,” “the rod of His anger,” “wrathful anger,” “the burning with His anger,” “the vengeance in anger,” “the heat of His great anger,” “the indignation of His anger.” Yes, Let me go over the page. “The fury of His anger.” 

And all the Scriptures! Wow! Oh goodness me! That's pretty unbelievable, isn't it? So we have to, if we really want to know God, yes, how we love to know His love, and compassion, and mercy, and forgiveness, which we need every day, and which we bask in.

But God is God. And He's also angry with sin. And the full meaning of that Hebrew word there is aph. It's mentioned 273 times in the Bible. It means, “rod, anger, rapid breathing in passion.” Wow! When someone's angry, sometimes you can see this is how they act. But it also means, can you believe this? It also means, “the countenance, the face, the nose, the nostrils.”

You see, all our emotions are revealed on our face. So “angry,” let's look at a few things here. So this word that we read, you know about anger, mostly translated “anger and wrath.” Here in Psalm 10:4, it says: “The wicked through the pride of his countenance will not seek after God.” That's the same word.

It's translated, that same word is translated “face” 29 times. In Ezekiel 38:18, it says: “My fury shall come up in My face.” Whoo! Have you ever seen someone get red in the face because they're angry? Well! My! Maybe that's how God feels about sin. When people turn away from Him and, oh . . .

And this same word is translated “nose” 12 times. Here in Isaiah 65:5: “These are a smoke in My nose, a fire that burneth all the day.”

And then it's translated “nostrils” 13 times. In Psalm 18:8: “There went up a smoke out of His nostrils, and fire out of His mouth.” So, there it is, in that word that means “anger,” but also, it's shown in the face.

All right, and then there's that beautiful word, paniym. I talked about it last week, meaning, “the face of God, the face of Jesus.” But here in Genesis 31:2 it says: “And Jacob beheld the face of Laban, and behold, it was not toward him as before.” And how did he know that? Because he looked at his face!

And so this word paniym, it's also translated as an “angry countenance,” and then a “sad countenance,” because all our emotions are revealed on our faces, ladies. Our negative emotions, and our lovely emotions. But they all show on our face.

In 1 Samuel 1:17, Hannah's countenance was no more sad after Eli said to her, “The God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of Him.” That was when she cried out and asked for a baby, because she didn't have a baby! She'd longed and longed and longed, and waited and waited and waited! But when Eli said to her, “May God give you your answer,” it says: “And her countenance was no more sad.” So her countenance changed from sadness to joy.

King Artaxerxes said to Nehemiah, who was his cupbearer, “Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? This is nothing else but sorrow of heart.” So it was showing on his face.

Now this word paniym also means, “a fierce countenance.” In Deuteronomy 28:50, it talks about “A nation of fierce countenance.” Daniel talks about in the end times of “a king of fierce countenance.”

There's a “rebuking countenance.” Psalm 80:16: “They perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.”

Sometimes we have that rebuking countenance, don't we, mothers? Do you get that rebuking countenance on you sometimes? Well, sometimes we have to do that because it's necessary for the training of our children. We don't usually have a lovely face where we have a rebuking moment, do we?

A “troubled countenance.” Ezekiel 27:35: “They shall be sore afraid, they shall be troubled in their countenance,” because they were afraid. And their fear and the troubling of it showed on their face.

A “cheerful countenance.” You know this one, Proverbs 15:13: “ A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance.” So that's a good one to have in your home. That's why we don't put on, well, you would never put a mask on in your home, would you?

And yet, I have a friend comes to our fellowship, and he has to go to homes to fix certain things in the home. He says, he can't believe it, that he has been to the door, and the people in the house are masked! In their homes with their own children! Can you even believe it?

It shows you how people can become so enslaved to a lie. So taken over by a lie that even in their own home, they cannot be who they are! This to me is so sad. I can't even believe it. Wow!

But we're meant to be unveiled, with a merry heart, and a cheerful countenance, showing it to our husband, smiling at him. Do you smile at your husband every day? When you look at him, do you smile at him? Maybe you haven't smiled at him today. Well, make sure you do.

When he comes home, be ready with smiles. Be ready with a good word. Be ready with a hug. Be ready to welcome him with your eyes, and with your smile, and with your whole countenance. You know, we can have a disdaining countenance or a welcoming countenance. Don't let your husband, or your children, miss out on your beautiful, unveiled, cheerful countenance which you are shining on them and smiling on them all day long!

And then Proverbs 27:17 talks about sharpening one another's countenance. “Iron sharpeneth iron. So a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.” You can't have heart-to-heart discussions without looking into someone's face and sharpening one another. You've got to have open faces with one another.

Now, just one more because time is going, like always. We also reveal our character on our face. I've always loved this Scripture, Isaiah 3:9: “The shew of their countenance doth witness against them.” OK, let's give it to you in some other translations.

The Holman Translation: “The look on their faces testifies against them.”

The New Living Translation: “The very look on their faces gives them away.” And it's actually in the context of the passage that they are guilty. Guilt shows on the face, doesn't it?

Have you noticed that with your children? They are trying to maybe tell you a lie and get out of something, but the look on their face, guilt is all over their face. It gives them away, and you usually know what's happening by looking at their face.

So ladies, time is gone. It looks as though I'm going to have to, next week, tell you a little more, because I haven't finished yet! Do you see how the Bible is filled with this understanding of our countenance and how we reveal ourselves and our emotions through our countenance? It's not meant to be hidden! It's meant to be revealed. Of course, especially our positive countenance. We don't want to be putting on a negative one, do we? And so let's pray.

“Dear Father, we thank You, Lord, that Your Word shows us everything. We pray that You will help us to be people who live in truth, who live according to Your Word, who live with unveiled faces. Who will reveal in our homes Your love, Your compassion, Your glory, the glory of Your face, reflected through our face, shining out on our husband, and our children, and all we meet.

Help us, Lord God, to be who You created us to be. We ask it in the precious Name of Jesus. Amen.”

Transcribed by Darlene Norris. If you would like to thank her, her email is: momcat617

P.S. I shared with you on this podcast about the different emotions that show on our face. But there are more! Here is a more extensive list (including the ones I gave you).

THE FACE SHOWS OUR INWARD ATTITUDES

Isaiah 3:9: “The show of their countenance doeth witness against them.”

Angelic face: Acts 6:15.

Angry face: Esther 1:12, 14 and Proverbs 25:23.

Cheerful face: Proverbs 15:15.

Confused face: Ezra 9:7; Jeremiah 7:19; and Daniel 9:7.

Crestfallen face: Genesis 4:5.

Determined face: Isaiah 50:7; Jeremiah 42:17 and 44:12.

Fierce face: Deuteronomy 28:50 and Daniel 8:23.

Guilty face: Isaiah 3;9 (NLT): “The very look on their faces gives them away.”

Hardened face: Proverbs 21:29 and Jeremiah 5:3.

Impudent face: Proverbs 7:13.

Lion-like face: 1 Chronicles 12:8.

Pale face (because of trauma): Isaiah 29:22; Jeremiah 30:6; Joel 2:6; and Nahum 2:10.

Prideful face: Hosea 5:5 and 7:10.

Radiant face: Psalm 34:5 (most translations).

Rebuking face: Palm 80:16.

Sad face: Nehemiah 2:2, 3; Job 8:27 (ESV); and Matthew 6:16.

Shameful face: Psalm 44:15; 69:7; 83:16; 2 Chronicles 32:21; Ezra 9:6; Jeremiah 51;51; Ezekiel 7:18; and 15:7).

Sharpened face: Proverbs 27:17.

Shining face: Exodus 34:35 and Ecclesiastes 8:1.

Smiling face: Job 29:24 (NLT): “When they were discouraged, I smiled at them.”

Strong face (chazaq): Ezekiel 3:8.

Troubled face: Ezekiel 27:35; Daniel 5:9; and 7:28.

Unashamed face: Psalm 34:5.

Blessings from Nancy

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FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 140: ARE WE LISTENING TO THE SHEPHERD OR THE VOICE OF STRANGERS?

Today we check out the Scriptures about masking. It's easy to listen to what everyone in society is saying but have you ever checked out what God says?

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, From Our Home to Yours, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Hello lovely ladies! Well, back together with you again! Can I take you to Isaiah 25:1? “Thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.” Do you notice that it says: “Thy counsels of old”? Do you know that God's counsels, His Word, they are as up to date as tomorrow's news? God's Word is eternal, and it is much alive, and it relates to us as much as when it was the written at the very beginning.

I love Psalm 119:160: “Thy Word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth forever.” In the margin In my Bible, it says: “The beginning of Thy Word is true.” So whichever way you take it, “Thy Word is True from the beginning,” or “The beginning of Thy Word is true.” Whichever way, we can take it as everything that was written at the beginning is written for us today.

That's why every single word of God is alive and living. When you read the Word of God, read it, looking for God to speak to you from every word. He can speak to you. He can enlighten one little word. One little one can change your life.

I love Jeremiah 6:16: “Thus saith the Lord, stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.” The old ways. Some people think, Oh, we don't have to look at the old ways! We don't even have to bother reading the Old Testament! We're in the New now! We're in the New Covenant!

Yes, we are. But, oh, I love those words:

“The New is in the Old concealed.  

The Old is in the New revealed.”

The Old Testament lays the foundation for the New. We have to have the Old to fully understand the new! So we don't discard the old ways, because they're the good ways, they're the ways God has given. His ways are everlasting! They're not just for one generation. They are for every generation! So let's embrace that as we seek the truth.

I notice that at the end of this verse, it says: “But they said, we will not walk therein.” That's pretty sad, isn't it? I know your response is, “Yes Lord, I want to walk in Your Ways, in Your old ways, because Your old ways are the up-to-date ways. They're the everlasting ways. They are the eternal ways.”

I love all the different words in this Scripture. It says it's a good way, and it's the way of rest, where, if we embrace God's ways, we will walk in rest. Many times, we're walking in a state of confusion, and a state of uptightness, and a state of despondency. We can't have rest in our souls. But usually it's because we're walking out of God's will.

Many times mothers are so busy doing things out of their home. They're rushing here and there, and doing this and that, that they're not seeing their homes as their priority. And, therefore, they get into a place of tension and stress. God doesn't want that! No!

When you find you're getting into that, just pull back. Come back to the home. Come back. This is where you're meant to be. Home is not an insignificant place. Home is not a boring place.  Home is where you can change the world! Yes, you're changing the world as you are raising godly, truth-filled,  God-loving, Bible-adhering children.

But you can also do so many amazing things from your home! Without rushing about here, there, going out . . . Oh, I find to go out, I find it such a waste of time. I can do so many more powerful things in my home, because home is what God has given to us as women.

Of course, we will have to go out to do things. But this is our priority. If we see it and understand it from God's plan in His Word, we will find that it's the . . .

most exciting, most fulfilling, most powerful,

and most world-changing place on earth!

All right. I keep saying in every podcast these days that I'm going to talk to you about WHO ARE WE LISTENING TO? We've been doing that, but I want to take up specific points. In one podcast, we did do No. 1, which was talking about this stolen election, and how that we have to know God's truth about that, and how we cannot side with deception and lies. We have to side with truth and integrity. So we'll move onto the next one today.

No. 2. TO  MASK OR NOT TO MASK – THAT IS THE QUESTION!

Number two, and that is, the covering of our faces with masks. Now that has become the norm in our society today. People call it the “new norm.” Well, I'm sorry! I am not adhering to the “new norm” because I'm not listening to the voice of the stranger. I'm not listening to the fake news. I'm listening to what God says.

Now dear ladies, in every little thing we face, and every big thing, and this is a pretty big thing,  because there's something . . . They have tried to completely take over our nation. And we, as people, to me, it's total tyranny, that these people, these whoever they be, that come along and just say, “OK, you have got to wear this mask over your face and cover it up.” I have never heard of such tyranny in all my life!

Now, oh goodness me, I can now hear some people say, “Ooooh, so you don't care about all the people getting sick!” Yes, I do. But dear precious ladies, they have proved that these masks don't stop people getting sick. They don't stop you getting sick.

In fact, this plandemic, or whatever you want . . .  I never call it a pandemic. I call it a plandemic, because it was planned. Or the China virus, or the CCP virus, because this is where it was planned. And it was planned, yes, it was a plan of war against the United States and the whole world. 

It was to bring down the economy and also to hopefully get rid of Trump by bringing down the economy, which it has. It's caused so many people to be out of jobs.

But these masks, they don't . . .  It has been proved scientifically. Well, you've got a few scientists who say that “Yes, it's OK.” But OK, let's get with it. I mean, there are scientists and scientists. It depends which scientists you are listening to! Well, I think that sometimes just listening to common sense . . .

Oh, I was watching just recently, a senator or congressman, one or the other. He was up there in the Capitol, giving his speech. He had his mask on. Well, I couldn't believe it. He was fingering it the whole time! He was touching it, and adjusting it, and fingering it. I thought, “Goodness, me, he's just putting his hands over that thing all the time!” And people are doing that. I mean, it is so ridiculous!

I have refused to come under this tyranny, Well I have had to wear a mask when I boarded a plane. That is the only time I have ever put a mask on. I couldn't get on the plane without it. They refused. So I had to submit to tyranny. So I thought that “Well, I'm not going to submit without being a voice” so I had ordered my mask which says on the front, “This is stupid. Make America Great Again!”

So I wore that when I had to. Took it off as soon as I no longer had to have it on. My  husband, he wore a mask that says, “Resist Tyranny.”

So I would suggest that if you're in a position where you have to, and you know, there are so many places where people think they have to, and they don't. You don't have to. It may say, as you walk into a shop, “You are required to wear a mask,” but I never bother. I've always managed to do my shopping.

But, oh yes, when I was on the plane, and I had to have this mask on . . . You go through security, and they say, “Please lift your mask,” because they have to see your face. They cannot let you through without checking the face they see with the face on your passport, or on your license. So they've got to check that out. You see, the mask hides the face. That's what this mask is doing. It's hiding us from one another. That is not how God intended us to live. It is the opposite.

Well, let's look at some Scriptures. Because this is what I'm seeking to do. I'm not trying to say, “Oh, this is just my idea.” No, I want to have a Scriptural foundation for everything I believe.

We're either going to listen to the voices of the strangers, which are the fake news. All this tyranny, and tyranny does not come from God. We're supposed to be the land of the free. Instead, we have been brought into slavery and bondage in this last year. But what does the Scripture say?

Well, let's go to John 1:14. This is speaking about Jesus: “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (And we beheld His Glory, the Glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” When Jesus came, He came to reveal His Father to the world. Yes, He came to die and shed His blood for our sins, but He also came to reveal what His Father was like.

And John says here: “We beheld His glory.” Where did they behold  His glory? They beheld His glory through His face. Yes, they saw it in His actions. They saw it as He healed the sick and He raised the dead. They saw it in all the beautiful things that He did. But they ultimately saw it in His face because this is where we see one another. It's where we see who we are.

Let's go over to John 17. This is the prayer of Jesus that He prayed for His disciples when He was on earth. He prayed this prayer, not only for them, but He prayed it for us. He prayed it for those who would believe on Him in the generations to come. So this prayer is also for us.

Let's read it. Verse 22. The whole prayer is wonderful. You can read it later. Verse 22: “And the glory which Thou gavest Me, I have given them.” Wow! Isn't that amazing? Now Jesus came and they beheld His Glory, which was the Glory of the Father. And then He says: “And the glory which Thou gavest me, I have given them.”

Wow! Did you know that Scripture was in the Bible? There's so many Scriptures that are . . . you can hardly take them in. Do we really take them in? I don't think I do. Wow! This glory that Jesus revealed, He's given to us. He's now gone back to the heavenly realm, seated at the right hand of the Father, but He also comes and dwells in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. He wants to reveal His glory through us, His redeemed people on the earth!

That's God's plan, to reveal His glory through us! Well, yes, people can see His glory, in a way, by all the things we do. And we serve and we can minister with our hands. We can go places with our feet, but ultimately, they see glory on our faces. They see the likeness of Jesus coming through our expressions on our faces. The face is the revealer of who we are.

When we cover up our face, we cover up our glory. We cover up the revelation of God to the world. So it's not just some outward thing that's happening here. This is something from the enemy. You see, I wrote a little, just a little phrase, but I think it's so true.

“God wants open faces to reveal His Glory.

The devil wants covered faces to hide God's Glory.”

You see, the devil doesn't want the glory of God to be seen in us. We are the revelation of God to the world. We are the light. We are the salt. We show His Glory, and that's God's intention for us.

Every precious new baby we bring into the world is another Image of God in the world. The more of the Image of God we have in the world, the more we reveal of God in the world. And, dear, precious believers, those of you who have Christ in you, “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” we are not meant to be covering and hiding our faces and hiding the glory of God.

When we go out, we are meant to shine! We are meant to go . . . we go into a supermarket and we just shine! We smile at everyone. We shine with the glory of God! You don't cover up.

Now, I know this is opposite to what's happening, because I go into shops, and, whoo, you can't even believe it! All these people all masked up. I can't believe it! I mean, why? They are brainwashed. And they are just cowardly submitting to what someone has said. But we, as believers, we've got to know the Word. We live by the truth, or we live by deception, one or the other!

OK, let's go to 2 Corinthians, chapter three. Paul is writing to the Corinthians, and he says to them, verse two, “Ye are our epistle . . . ” That just means you are a letter! You are a letter, “written in our hearts, known and read of all men.”

Here, there's another picture. You know, the Word of God is painting a picture. We're a letter. And every time we go out, wherever we go, down the street to the supermarket, visiting wherever, we are a letter that is being read. People read us. They read what we're like. And how do they read us? They read us through our countenance.

In Isaiah it says: “The show of thy countenance doth witness against thee.” That's in a negative way. But the show, the revealing of your countenance reveals either the glory of God, or it can reveal a negative thing. If you are not revealing God's glory, then you're in a state of self-pity, and you've got depression all over your face. Wow! Whoo! That's pretty horrible to look at!

But you see, whoever we are, or whatever we are feeling, or whatever is happening, we're going to show it on our face! We're a letter that's read of all men. And God does not intend us to shut the book! To cover up the letter! He wants this letter to be read! How can they read it when we're covered up?

I went to a . . . just before Christmas, I went to a beautiful Christmas morning, and it was such a lovely, beautiful thing. Everybody was there. No one had masks. Everyone was greeting one another. You know, when you greet one another, you see each other's faces, and you smile at one another, and it's so glorious.

Suddenly two ladies appeared with masks on! I said, “Oh, I don't know who you are!” I didn't really mean for it to come out like that, but I'd been so sort of taken up with reuniting with other friends and meeting them. Oh, saying, “Hi!” It was so great. And suddenly there were two masked people! I couldn't see them. I truly thought, “Who are they?” They were hiding! And that's the thing. It's just so opposite.

Anyway, we haven't finished yet! Let's go to the same chapter, 2 Corinthians 3:18: ”But we all, with open face. (or unveiled face. That's the real meaning of that word. Unveiled! That's what it says! Unveiled!) “We all, with open (unveiled) face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

Such a beautiful Scripture! Revealing that when we are in the Presence of the Lord, when we're in His Word, and as we wait on Him, that we're changed little by little, more and more, into His Image. To reveal His Glory.

But not only are we changed by the Word, but also by one another. Because in the same chapter, it says we are a letter, read of all men. We change as we behold the Lord, the glory of the Lord in one another! It's such a beautiful thing. God intends us to be inspired, encouraged, blessed, as we see Him in others.

And we see different aspects of Jesus in one another. Some have that beautiful anointing of kindness on their faces. Some have that beautiful, sweet spirit. Some have different things. There are different anointings and people show different aspects of the character of Jesus.

But we see it on their faces. It inspires us. We are blessed. And we are encouraged. We grow more and more into His Image as we not only behold Him in His Word, but as we behold Him in one another. So what we see here are the Scriptures. And the face, oh the face, the face! It literally means “the presence of God.”

If we go back to the Old Testament, and into the Tabernacle. Oh, it’s so wonderful to go into the Tabernacle! Not that we can go into it literally, because there's no Tabernacle now. But we can go into it by faith as we read the Word of God and understand all the lessons that God has there for us.

As we move on into the Tabernacle, into the Holy Place, there are three pieces of furniture there. I'm sure you know them. We have the candlestick, the candelabra, on the left. On the right, we have the Table of Showbread. And then just before we go into the Holy of Holies, we have the golden table of incense, the table of incense.

But let's go back to the Table of Showbread. On the Table of Showbread was the Showbread. That's why it was called the Table of Showbread! The Hebrew is lechem hapaniym. That means “the bread of faces.” Lechem is “bread,” and paniym means “faces.” Because it has” im” at the end, it's a plural word. “The bread of faces.”

And on that table, the priest had to put 12 loaves of bread every week, one representing each one of the tribes of Israel. That bread was never, ever, ever off the table. In fact, when the priest would come in at the end of the week, or the beginning of the week, I think it's the end. They would, one set of priests would take that bread off the table and the other set of priests would put down the new fresh bread immediately. So there was not even a slight, little bit of a second when the bread was not on the table.

Because it was everlasting bread. It spoke of Christ. It was to be always there. It was lechem hapaniym, “the bread of faces,” ultimately representing Christ, who said: “I am the bread of life. I am your sustenance.”

But as they feasted on the bread, and once a week the priests would feast on the bread, the bread that had been sitting on the table for a week. It was sitting in the Presence of the Lord, so it wasn't stale. And they feasted on that.

It represented not just the one face, but the many faces of Christ, because it spoke of all the glorious aspects of His character. He doesn't only have one attribute, but many attributes. So lechem hapaniym, “the bread of faces,” it's speaking of Christ. Behold His attributes, His faces, because His faces speak of His character, and His attributes, and Who He is. This is what the face is all about. The face is so important. And God doesn't want it covered up.

Also that bread, of course, it did represent the children of Israel too, because God had planned to have the 12 loaves, each one representing the 12 tribes. It was like their faces were before the Lord. They were to behold His faces, but their faces were before Him. As He beheld them, they were close to His heart. Such a beautiful thing!

But let me take you now to Romans 8:19. So are you getting the Scriptures, dear one? Who are we listening to? Are we listening to the Word, or are we listening to the voice of strangers? And I believe no matter what, we need to seek as much as possible to live our lives according to this Word.

Romans 8:19-21, “For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who hath subjected the same in hope. Because the creature itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.”

So this is ultimately speaking of the day when our bodies will be changed, and the full revelation of the  sons of God will come. But there is also the revelation that, yes, there's coming a day of the full manifestation of the sons of God. But God wants to have the sons of God manifested now, on this earth.

THIS IS HIS PLAN!

When he comes to dwell in us, he doesn't come to hide.

No, He comes to reveal and manifest Himself to the world!

We are now His representation on this earth!

And the Lord looks for the manifestation, the revealing of the sons of God.

Now many times, we don't do a very good job of revealing His glory, do we, dear lovely ladies? I know I don't. But this is God's ultimate will for us. He wants us to manifest His glory. And we do it through our faces. We do it, right starting in our homes. Praise the Lord, we don't have to wear masks in our homes!

So we can reveal His glory through our love to our husbands. We reveal His glory to our children, even as we smile at them, and you have an open face before them. We're not going round with depression all over us. Ohhh, help! That just brings such a terrible atmosphere into the home. No, we're bringing the atmosphere of the Presence of God.

And then as we go out, into this world, we are going to bring His Presence, to show His glory, to reveal just maybe, in a little way, Who He is. We're going to smile at someone when we go out shopping. We're going to have a little word for someone.

Yes, you can speak through a mask, but it's not the same. Well, I don't hear anybody speaking through a mask. I have to see people's lips, because I'm pretty deaf. Some of you can do that, but it's not the same. No, God wants a totally open, unveiled face.

Do you think you can listen to His Word? What He says? Now, I know it will be a challenge. You have to have courage, many times, not to wear a mask. Courage, yes. But courage is not only a virtue, it's a muscle. And we've got to exercise it. Sometimes we've got to do something, and we get more courage to do it a little more. And a little more.

Let me close again with that little line I wrote.

“God wants open faces to reveal His Glory.

The devil wants covered faces to hide God's Glory.”

Shall we pray?

“Dear precious Father, we come to You in the Name of Jesus, thanking You for your Word. Lord, Your Word is so opposite to the way of the world. And of course, it's opposite to what's happening, Lord, in our nation, with all this mask wearing, which is totally, completely opposite to the way You planned for Your people to live.

Lord God, help us, Lord, to see, to see through the deception, to see what is really happening, to understand that it's not for our health. It's never been for our health. But Lord, You want us to live in ultimate health! You are for health! Lord, we are for health! But this was not for health. This was tyranny. This was to bring us into bondage.

Lord God, help us to see the truth, and help us, Lord God, to take hold of Your Word, and to be who You created us to be. To be the manifesters, the revealers of Your Glory, showing through our open, unveiled faces the glory of the Lord, wherever we are, in our homes, and as we go out into this world. We ask it in the Precious Name of Jesus. Amen.”

Transcribed by Darlene Norris.

Testimony from this podcast:

“I am sitting here at a dentist office WITHOUT a mask on because of your encouragement to not give in to tyranny! Thank you for helping me be bold in my convictions. And I was reminded as my mask was off that I am to shine the love of Jesus with my whole countenance! A reminder to smile and love people even if they are angry at my non-compliance.”

 

 

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 139: COURTSHIP AND WEDDINGS, Part 2

Allison Hartman joins me again for this session as we talk more about courtship and weddings. When God's blessing is upon the land, there will be many weddings with joy and celebration. When God's curse is upon the land, there will be few weddings!

We talk about how a wedding is the theme of the Bible. Jesus came to this earth to die, and shed His precious blood to redeem us, and make us His bride. It all culminates in a great wedding, the “marriage supper of the Lamb.” Have we truly entered into the glory, and the fullness, and the truth of what marriage is all about?

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, From Our Home to Yours, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! Well, I still have Allison Hartman with me, and we thought we'd like to talk a little bit more about courting and weddings. But before we get on to that, I just want to give you a Scripture. This Scripture came out in our service yesterday.

We had a beautiful service, and of course, there were so many wonderful words that came forth. But someone got up and read this Scripture, and it really arrested me. Actually it was your husband, Daniel. It's Isaiah 1:27. It says, “Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and her converts with righteousness... and they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed.”

I felt that relates so much to what we are facing in our nation, because we are still facing, at this moment, ladies, we are facing an illegitimate, fake, illegal election. We have a president who has usurped the presidency because he did not win. Oh yes, if you listen to fake news, you will think that he did. But the truth, honest reporting, of course, is that President Trump overwhelmingly won this election.

We, as the people of God, cannot side with lies. We cannot side with that which is injustice, and that which is abominable, because anything that is not justice is abominable to God. But here it says, that “Zion will be redeemed with justice.” And the only way, really, our nation can be redeemed from this situation is with justice.

Now how can that happen? I don't know, dear ladies. But I do know that God hears our prayers. He hears the cries of our heart. I would like to think that every God-fearing person is crying out to God for justice, true justice. Because that's the only way we can be redeemed and restored to that which is right.

So keep praying. Can I just encourage you to keep praying? We are keeping on praying, and we will not give up until we see justice in our nation. Because this is the only way we can have the blessing of God. We can't have the blessing of God on injustice and that which is completely false. So don't give up praying, will you?

Well, we just wanted to talk a little bit more about weddings and courting because this is part of life. Maybe you could talk a little bit more, perhaps, about Josiah and McKenna's courtship, Allison.

Allison: Sure, sure. So like we said in the last session, we just had our first daughter get married. Out of 11 children, this is our first go at it. We actually haven't had any, she has not had any relationships. So this was her first ever young man to even come asking permission to get to know her.

Nancy: Don't you love that? That has been the same with all our grandchildren who have gotten married. None of them have had girlfriends or boyfriends. It's not even in their psyche. They just can't even think like that.

Each time they have seen the girl, and God just sort of quickened that person to them, and to know, “That's my wife for life!” And they just pursued and stuck with it. Never ever thought of another girl. I just love that.

I believe that's how it was meant to be, because I believe, I strongly believe, that God brings us together. When you go back to the beginning, what does it say? The very beginning? Everything that's written is for our future.

What was written in Genesis was God's perfect plan for the way he wanted the rest of mankind to live. And it says, “and God brought the woman to the man.” God did this. God did it. You saw how God did it for McKenna. I watched how God did it for our children and our grandchildren. We just want to do it biblically, don't we? Carry on.

Allison: And I think, as far as what we're seeing, culture versus what we got to experience with our daughter, it's the way, I guess, maybe in contrast to the way I was raised, and the way we did it growing up. The phrases, “You date around, you play the field, you see what's out there.” So that's all I really had known.

But deep in me, I realized that that really isn't the best. The best would be to only date your husband, to only date your wife. So when we met, McKenna met her husband now, we were pretty strong on wanting to encourage them to be very, very careful with anything physical. Our reasoning was, until they said I do, they belong, she belongs to her father.

I read a book recently, a man in our church is almost 90, and the title of the book was, To Whom Does She Belong? It was so neat. In there it said, a young lady belongs to her father until the day she says, “I do.”

So anything she's doing physically, spiritually, or emotionally with another man, if she's not going to marry him, then she has to say to her husband, “Wow, I actually have been holding hands with another man. I actually have been kissing on another man. I actually got emotionally . . . ” So then people will say, “What do you do?”

Well, Josiah was 23, McKenna was 21 when they met. So yes, they were adults. However, I think when you're in your parents' home, your parents are still calling the shots. But in saying that, we wanted it to be their idea. So, thankfully, McKenna had decided that she wanted to save her first kiss for her wedding day, which they did.

Josiah didn't have that same conviction. But because it was our daughter, she let him know that that's what they were going to do. We were so grateful that they did do that, because yes, they did end up getting married. But up until the time they said, “I do,” he could have become anyone's husband, hopefully not once they got engaged!

But you've heard of couples calling it off, or they decided it wasn't working out. So for our family, later on, I asked them, “Was it worth it to wait for that first kiss?” And they both said, “Absolutely!”

It was hard. They went a year, almost a year and a half, dating, courting, whatever you want to call it, getting to know each other. But they did save that first kiss. They really didn't even hold hands much, a little bit. We weren't strict on that particular thing, but we were very careful.

He lived at our place for a year. That, I also think, is very important. Couples get to know each other on the phone, or Facetime, or just randomly, here and there. It's kind of hard to get to know someone. We enjoyed the fact that they really got to know each other. We got to see his work ethic. We got to see his moods.

Of course, we were happy with what we saw. But it could have been the other way. So I think they really, like Trae and Chalice, they entered marriage very innocent and pure. I just think it's so neat.

Your friends, the Wallers, did the betrothal. When we went to Israel, we stayed with them. We learned how they do their courting and their betrothal. Not everyone's going do it that way, but I think that concept of fathers and mothers keeping their daughters and their sons as pure as possible before that wedding day is so important.

When you have dating couples, and they're sitting on each other’s laps, and they're loving on each other, and they're looking like an old married couple, I don't think that's very healthy. I don't think it's very wise. Unfortunately, I'm seeing it a lot, even in Christian circles.

It's a very. . . I don't even see married couples doing that in front of people! You don't have . . . So if you're a mother or a father and you don't know really how to handle it, I think you should handle it. I think it is the parents' role, if their daughters and sons are not making good choices, and they're being way too physical, it is the father's responsibility to say, “No. That's not something I'm OK with.”

But it's even better to start it from the beginning instead of backing up and saying, “OK, I know you have been kissing for six months now, but I'd rather you just not.” That's almost impossible.

But I think if you're a mom or a dad, and you're just now starting to have children come of the age of relationships, I think it's so important to make a decision now. What do you want it to look like on their wedding day? I can tell you from personal experience, it was a wonderful pleasure to see them kiss for the first time on their wedding day. There was that total innocence that we all got to witness.

Just the other day, I asked McKenna, “So how's marriage?” They've only been married two months. She said, “Better than I expected.” Unfortunately, if you've already experienced marriage while you're dating, because you're so physically involved, you really are stealing yourself. I can't . . .

Nancy: You've been robbed.

Allison: You've been robbed. I just really want to encourage you mothers and fathers out there to think about that. And not think, “Well, it's really not my responsibility. It's theirs. They're going to have to make up their own minds.” Who are they going to hear that from? You've got to train them, even when they're in their twenties, I think.

Nancy: Amen! But I think it's so wonderful, having weddings, not only for the couple getting married, but for everyone who comes. I believe we need to be reminded that every wedding is a reminder of God's ultimate love. Because the whole of the Bible is a wedding story. It's there from Genesis to Revelation!

In fact, Jesus, He left the glory of heaven, and He came to this earth to die and shed His blood and take upon Him our sins and our sicknesses. We'll never understand that depth and the enormity of what He did for us! I mean, I love to every single day of my life, I make it a commitment to thank the Lord for His great salvation, and taking my place upon the cross, and enabling me to have a down payment for eternity.

But it was all, it was all to get a bride! To get a bride! He sacrificed, He shed His blood, to get a bride. We just come to the end of Revelation and it culminates in Him getting a bride.

We go over to Revelation 19, right at the end of the Bible. It says, in verses 7-9, “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And He said unto me, Write, 'Blessed are those which are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb.'”

And that's the culmination of the whole Bible! The marriage supper of the Lamb! What a feast that will be! What a celebration that will be!

As we know, yet we don't know, don't you feel like that? We know the truth, but yes, marriage is the picture of Christ and the Bride. We read the truth. We know the truth. But do we really know it? I don't think we do.

I don't think I know it. I mean, I think I know it a little more, the more that we are married. I think little by little, my husband and I have come into more and more of the glory of marriage. But even then, I'm still so shallow in the absolute fullness, and the glory, of what God wants us to experience. Because it is meant to be this picture, this experience of the Christ, Who is our Bridegroom, and we, who are His Bride.

As we want to, as we want to love God passionately with all our hearts, well, we show it by loving our husband passionately with all our heart. If we really know, OK, we show to our children, and to the world, how much we really love God by how much we love our husband. Wow! Wooo. And how we honor him and how we relate to him. Boy, that's a challenge, isn't it?

Oh, I love that quote by John Piper. It's one of my favorite quotes about marriage:

“There has never been a generation

whose view of marriage is high enough.”

I pray that God will help me, help us all, to come into more understanding, beyond our finite understanding, of the glory of marriage, and what we can experience that we haven't yet even experienced, and what we are to show to our children and to show to the world.

In fact, our experience as a married couple should be so glorious that our children look forward to also experiencing that! There are many people, young people, growing up today that don't even want to get married, because, help, their parents are divorced, their marriages have just been, oh goodness me, it's been nothing, opposite to glory. And they don't even want to get married.

But our marriage relationship should cause our children to look forward to it, and say, “Oh, I can't wait for the day when I can enter into the glory!” Because that is what it's meant to be, the glory!

It's good to have weddings! Because weddings remind us of the ultimate wedding, the ultimate plan, the ultimate plan of the ages, which is the marriage supper of the Lamb, when we will truly, truly, be united as His Bride. Oh, my, how incredible!

Lord God, please help us, help us to understand. Oh, Lord God, I ask that You will take me from my not understanding into your glorious truth about marriage!

So it's sad when we, there are many couples today who don't even bother about a wedding. They just go and start living together. They don't have a marriage celebration! They don't even have their vows! I mean, it's totally antipathy to what God wants! So it is important to have, I believe, a glorious marriage celebration, because it's a type of the ultimate marriage feast that there will be.

There are some couples who think, “Oh well, let's just get it over quick. Let's just . . . ” In fact, Colin marries many young couples. One of the saddest things he finds is when a couple will say, “Well, we just want a quick service. We just want to get it over quick, so we can get away.”

I beg your pardon? The wedding celebration is to celebrate! It's not to get it over quick. Back in biblical days, they often would have a week's celebration! I believe that when we come to a wedding, that we should come for the whole wedding. We're going to stay to the end!

When we first came to America, oh, goodness me! We could not believe it! Because back Down Under in New Zealand where we lived, weddings were a celebration. When people came to weddings, they came to the service. They stayed for the reception.

At our receptions, they weren't just a quick, “OK, have a bite to eat and run.” No! We had a celebration! We would have speeches, and we would have beautiful items of people singing, and maybe sharing. It was a . . .

I remember our wedding. It was a full day conference! It was just unbelievable! It was like going to a conference! But that's how they're meant to be, not this, “Quick! Get it over with!” No! What do you think about that?

Allison: Yeah, definitely. It shows us where we're at with our times. You're doing a quick this, a quick that. What priority are you putting on that? I loved how Chalice, she had so many different speakers come up, and do some toasts and speakers. They will remember that forever.

With our wedding, we did the same. We had several real special people to us share and be a part of both the ceremony and the reception. It needs to be just an amazing day that you'll never forget. But it'll start the beginning of a lifetime together.

Nancy: Yes, yes. Now, so many people don't understand today, but back in New Zealand, and this was typical of an English wedding, there was a protocol. There are very few who understand the protocol today. But there are specific speeches that are meant to be given.

Now you're meant to have the speech from the best man. It should be obligatory for him to give a speech. That's a wonderful thing. Because he's so close to the bridegroom, he can tell great stories about the bridegroom.

And then there is the speech from the father of the bride, and the speech from the father of the bridegroom. The mothers also can speak too. Then there is the protocol of, this is a beautiful thing I rarely see today. That is, that there will be someone who is asked to give a speech on the behalf of the bride's family.

Because there are two families coming together. So there's someone who's appointed, someone who knows them so well, who will give a speech about the bride's family, and talk about them, about who they are, their good points, and some funny stories about them. So all the people who don't know that side of the family, they get to hear about them.

And then there is appointed someone who gives a speech about the bridegroom's family and talks about this family. And they get to know this family. They hear some funny stories about them. They hear about who they really are, and their good points. So the two families are being brought together in those speeches.

Allison: That's neat.

Nancy: So these are obligatory speeches. Then of course, they open it up to others who would like to speak. And then the culminating speech of the day is the bridegroom's speech. There are today people who don't even get the bridegroom speech! The bridegroom doesn't speak. That's that culminating speech of the day!

So if you are thinking about a wedding that's coming up soon in your family, just keep these things in mind. There are certain things that are so good. Keep that tradition.

Then of course, we love to add, if other people want to speak. Often members of the bridal party love to speak because they know the bridal party so well. So those are good things to do at a reception. People should not leave until the speeches and until the end, and until you say goodbye to the bridal couple.

Now what happened when we came from New Zealand and we went to a wedding? We could not even believe it! Because people came to the reception, and they just had their little cake and a few things to eat, and suddenly, they were all disappearing! “OK, we're done now! Let's go!”

In fact, at Evangeline's and Howard's wedding, because when we came to the States, we came and the first thing we had to do was put on a wedding for them. So we came to a country we did not know. We drove to Minneapolis, where they were living, into a city where we'd never been. We find an apartment, and we put on a wedding in a city we didn't even know. So we put on this great wedding.

And then we had all the plans that we had for the reception like we were used to doing. Oh, we could not believe it! Before we could even get started on the speeches, half the people had gone! We couldn't believe it! There were just a few faithful left!

Allison: Wow!

Nancy: We could not believe it! And so when Serene and Sam were getting married, I thought, “I'm not having this!” So I put on the wedding invitation, “We invite you to the ceremony of Serene and Sam, but we will also be having a reception. We would love you to stay to the end.” And we will be locking the doors... (laughing) No, we didn't!

Allison: (laughing)

Nancy: I felt like saying that, but we didn't say that. I would have liked to have said it! But we also talked to the people who were coming. We said, “Look, this is how we have a wedding. We don't just, OK, have a bit of cake and run. No, we celebrate!”

So it was great. In fact, it was a cold, gray day, and we were inside. We had this big fire in this place where we had it, and it was cozy and lovely, and people didn't want to go out in the rain anyway. So we had a glorious, glorious, glorious reception, which was wonderful! But we think to do that. So these things are important.

In fact, after Serene and Sam's wedding, they went off on their honeymoon, but we had people who had come in from all over this state, even overseas. We just celebrated for the next three days. We had leftover food, and we just celebrated and had a wonderful time!

So weddings are important, and they are meant to be times of rejoicing! What does it say? The marriage supper of the Lamb? Let us be glad and rejoice! One of the things, how we rejoice, is sing. Sing! There are some people who don't even sing at weddings! How can you have a wedding service and not sing? Oh, goodness me! No, I believe we have to sing, don't you? I do! Sing! Worship! Celebrate! Rejoice! Oh, goodness me! Yes, yes, yes!

Let's go over to Jeremiah 33. Here it's talking about how that God is going to bring back the captivity of Judah. Verse 7, “And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them as at the first. And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against Me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against Me. And it shall be to Me a name of joy, a praise, and an honor before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto them: and they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure unto it.”

How is this going to happen? The very first thing He does is, talk about weddings! Here it says, “And thus saith the Lord again; Again there shall be heard in the place...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: for the Lord is good; for His mercy endureth forever!”

Allison: Wow!

Nancy: The first thing God says about bringing back the prosperity and the blessing to His people who had been taken from their land, “I'm bringing them back now.” And the first thing He talks about, there's going to be weddings! There's going to be weddings again! Yes! And there's going to be the voice of joy, and the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride! Hallelujah!

You see, that's God. That's God's heart. That's what God wants. The more weddings there are in the land, the more the blessing of God in the land. People seem to have forgotten that. But then, conversely, we see the opposite, because we go over to some other Scriptures.

Let's see, I think I wrote them down somewhere so I could give them to you, for this is when the people turn away from the Lord. And we go to Jeremiah 7:34. This is when they have sinned and turned away from the Lord: “Then I will cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: for the land shall be desolate.”

That is God's curse. When we don't have weddings, we're not rejoicing with the married couples coming on, that's God's curse. And He doesn't just say it once. We go over to chapter 16, verse 9, and He says it again. Wow, This is strong on God's heart, yes: “For thus saith the Lord of Hosts . . . I will cause to cease out of this place . . .  the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, and the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.”

Let's go to 25:10. And here it is, again. OK, 25:10. Because they have turned away from the Lord, He says: “Moreover, I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, and the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.”

Allison: Wow!

Nancy: Isn't that powerful? God's blessing is the celebration of marriage. His curse is when there are no more weddings. Weddings are not taking place. Isn't that powerful?

Allison: Wow. Wow!

Nancy: You see, this is God. This is the Word of God. We need to start living this lifestyle! Amen?

Allison: Right.

Nancy: Oh, I love it, don't you?

Allison: Yes, and it's so concerning and scary that where we're at in our country, with this whole gender confusion!

Nancy: Oh, please!

Allison: And this garbage about . . .  Can you imagine? That's exactly what's going to happen, is the family will cease to happen.

Nancy:  And we, can you believe it? Well, you know too, and we all know that Joe Biden has already appointed a transgender person to his staff. I mean, and you look at the picture. Oh please, Lord, you cannot . . . It's so terrible! And this is right in the highest places of our land.

Allison: Right. So they're elevating it to make it look so glorious. But if you really get down to it, someone living in a homosexual or transgender lifestyle, they will completely . . . All humanity will end in one generation. They won't . . .

Nancy: I know. Because God just loves weddings. He loves us to rejoice. They're not meant to be morbid, boring things, where people are sort of mumbling along some song, if they do have a hymn at a wedding. No, we're meant to sing with all our hearts! Wasn't it great at Chally and Trae's wedding, singing that blessing?

Allison: Oh, I loved that! The last song of the ceremony. What was that called? I'm trying to remember.

Nancy: “The Lord Bless You and Keep You.” Yes, “and to a thousand generations, your children and your children's children.” And we were all just reaching out our hands, and just singing this blessing!

Allison: In fact, I caught it on video. I videotaped it. It was so neat, because I got a vision of . . . In my video camera, I got you reaching out your hands to them, Granddad reaching out his hands, and then I could see Sam and Serene, and then Trae's hands. It was so neat!

It almost gave me chills to see the bride and groom, and then the grandparents, and the parents, all reaching their hands out. And that visual, and then the song, “We bless you to your generations, and your children's generations.” It was such a neat little moment!

Nancy: And you see, that's the thing, it's not just the wedding. It's to your children and your children's children. That's why God loves weddings! Because out of weddings there's going to come babies and children who are going to bring the Image of God into the earth! It's all God's plan! So glorious!

Anyway, at the end of the wedding, I said a poem, not a poem, it's just a prose. I wrote it a while back for one of my other granddaughters, when she was getting married. I'll read it to you. It's called:

What is Marriage?

~ A formidable force!

One man, one woman,

Fused into one.

God's plan! Is there a better?

There is none.

One body, one flesh—

Indescribable!

One purpose, one vision—

Unconquerable!

One soul, one spirit—

Invincible!

What is the foundation?

Praying together daily—

High priority.

Reading God's Word together daily—

Paramount for success.

What does it take?

Sacrificial love.

Yielding and submissiveness.

No longer “me,” but “you.”

Laying down my life.

Delighting to serve.

Sticking together through thick and thin.

What is the fruit?

A union that cannot be broken.

A union that survives the storms of life.

A union that forges a path for God in this world.

A union that builds a godly generation

   for now and for generations to come.

What is the power?

A God-fearing family that is formidable to the enemy.

Such is the power of marriage!

May God lift us up to a new understanding of the power of marriage. The Word of God says in Ecclesiastes 4:9: “Two are better than one.” That's God's Word, His truth. It's better to be married. “Two are better than one,” God says. So when we get married, we're in the better company. We are in a better place, because we have two who are made one, and we have power as two made one.

We have power in prayer, because Jesus said: “If two of you are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst. And if two of you shall agree on anything, it shall be done for them of My Father, which is in heaven” (Matthew 18:19, 20).

I believe this is one of the greatest deceptions in marriage today that most married couples don't even pray together. And they're missing out on this power! “If two of you shall agree!” Wow! What power we have in marriage!

So hallelujah, ladies! OK, let's pray, shall we?

“Lord, we thank You for showing us more of the joy You have over marriages. Help us to understand it. Help us to make, Lord, our marriages, and our wedding days for our children, glorious occasions, feast days, celebration days, rejoicing days. Because, Lord, that's Your plan, and You want to come into the midst, Lord, and pour out Your blessing, because this is Your plan. And we praise You and thank You. In Jesus' Name, Amen.”

Transcribed by Darlene Norris.

COMING IN APRIL:

ANNUAL ABOVE RUBIES RETREAT IN PANAMA CITY, FLORIDA

For more information and to sign up go to:

https://aboverubiesretreat.com/

 

 

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 138: COURTSHIP AND WEDDINGS, Part 1

Check out the information about the big Above Rubies Family Retreat coming up soon in Florida. Allison Hartman joins me today. The Hartman family are staying with us for the wedding of Trae and Chalice Ruppel. Chalice is Serene's daughter. Join with us as we talk about the joy and glory of courtship and weddings.

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, From Our Home to Yours, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Hello ladies. Always great to be with you. Today I have sitting next to me Allison Hartman. Allison has been with us in quite a number of podcasts. In fact, every time they come to stay with us, we do a podcast together. So, great to have you, Allison!

Allison: So good to be here! So great to be here. We've had such a fun, full weekend.

Nancy: Oh absolutely! And we'll tell you about that in a moment. But before we do, why don't we tell the ladies about the coming retreat?

Allison: Yes, OK, great. So this will be our, goodness, maybe eighth family camp that we've put on. Then of course, we  did several ladies' ones before that. But once we started doing family, we haven't gone back.

So the location is Panama City Beach, Florida, which is right on the Gulf. We stay at a retreat center called Laguna Beach Christian Retreat Center. They are an amazing facility. They are very accommodating to any size family, which is really nice, because a lot of times, hotels limit how many people. But they have been great about letting us kinda pack them in. We're getting very full.

So the dates of the retreat are April 21st through the 28th. That's week-long. Most of the families come for a week-long. However, the conference that we'll be speaking at will only be that Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

But the week-long starts on a Wednesday, ends on a Wednesday. It's just great, because like I said, probably three-fourths of the families stay for the week. They make it their vacation. It's going to be so much fun. We enjoy everyone's company. Everyone enjoys getting to know new families, especially like-minded families that you'll be friends with forever.

Nancy: Oh yes. I think you're expecting about 500 this year, aren't you?

Allison: Yes, yes.

Nancy: Can you accommodate that many?

Allison: We can. We can. We actually grew. The campus has given us one more section, so we can definitely accommodate probably 500 to 700. Last year, in August, we had close to 500.

It seems like, every year we grow, because all these families go back home, and they tell their friends. I was just talking to somebody here, saying they want to invite their friends and rent a bigger place together. So yes, there's plenty of room.

A lot of the bigger cottages are taken, so if there are  people who want to register, you've got to do it quickly, because so many of the larger houses are being taken up.

We will start on the Thursday night as the group. We'll get together, do a lot of fun getting-to-know-you games. Then the conference stuff will start that evening. We've got so much fun stuff planned.

Of course, you and Colin will be the main speakers. You'll be speaking with the ladies, individually and separately. Colin will be speaking with the men and sons. Then we'll have lots of group sessions where we join together with our families. Mr. Colin will speak to us.

In the past several years we've had a guest speaker join us. But what we've decided is, a lot of families really want to get to know the other families, so we're going to use some of that extra time for fellowship and then doing some break-out sessions.

The feedback I've gotten is that families want to dig deeper. They want more hands-on stuff that they can take home and put to use. So we're looking into some . . . it was fun last night at dinner.

Nancy: Yes, we talked about different break-out sessions that we're planning to have. They're all going to be so wonderful and so practical. Oh, we'd just love you to come. Because it's down on the beach, it's such a beautiful drawing thing.

People come from all over the USA. We've even had people come from New Zealand, and from Hawaii, from all over! So it doesn't matter where you live, make plans to come! But you'll have to make them right away to get in.

Allison: Let me just say, this is my heart, as far as my vision for this camp... When we started it was more for me. What can we learn for our family?

But I think we're all, it's very apparent in our country right now, that we are . . . like we were talking at dinner last night with you guys . . . we’re either going to hang together, or we're going to hang separately.

How much more helpful is it for us to hang together? Well, if you're like a lot of people listening right now, you might not have families in your town that are like-minded, that you can sit down and say, “Goodness, I'm having an issue. I don't know what to do with my . . . “ Like we were talking today, your teenager is rebelling, and what should I do? Well, you look around, and there's really not any good, solid people that you can talk with.

This camp has really been a perfect spot for us, for me and my husband, to meet friends that we will have for a lifetime. And then our children, we don't do youth groups at church. We don't do, they don't go to public school, so they don't have that interaction with other youths.

But this camp has turned into be a reunion for these young people. They're great about not leaving out new young people. They're great about joining them in. But they do have, I will warn you, they have a lot of fun. These young people have so much fun, between volleyball, and dance parties, and games.

But then, my heart is for them not to just have fun, but to come together in prayer and worship. We want God to rock their world. It's such a wonderful environment seeing other large families.

I love hanging out with Sam and Serene (Allison) because we parent very similarly. It's so encouraging to my older children that they're seeing Cherish, and Chalice, and Cedar, and Vision. When Mr. Sam says, “Get to work! I need your help!” Well, mine are saying, “Wow, that's what my mom and dad say!” So they feel like, “We're right here! There's other people like us!”

So not only are you going to meet one or two of those type families, but you’re also going to meet a lot. I would say we had 50 to 60 families at the last retreat. So many of them are in a really neat . . . In fact, I was talking to somebody, and they said, “Yeah, we went and visited this family that we met. We stayed with them for a week. They lived near the Ark.”

I was like, “Wow, what a neat connection!” We just came from a wedding, and I looked around the room, and I could think of several weddings, marriages, that have come straight from our retreat.

Nancy: Oh, yes, I love that! That's always been one of my dreams about our Above Rubies Family Camps. We do have ladies' retreats, and we have the family retreats. But I think, what a blessing to come as a family, not with your little ones, and your middling ones, but all your children, your older children.

Bring them all, because what more beautiful place for young people to find a husband or a wife with kindred spirits, and in a family setting. It's so healthy, so wholesome, so wonderful. Colin and I, all those years ago, we met at a family retreat. So I think they're great places to meet your spouse.

Allison: Can I talk really quick about men? So if you're a lady, and you're sitting there and you're saying, “Ooh, this sounds so good! I would love to come. My children would love to come. Oh, but my husband would never ever agree to come to a family camp, to a retreat, to a conference. No way, Jose!”

Our first family camp, I was invited to by my sister-in-law, Daniel, my husband's sister, and his mom. I was so excited about it. I said to my husband who is self-employed, “Let's go to this family retreat.” “There's no way!” he said. “I'm not going! I could be making money. I have stuff to do. No way! We're not doing it!”

I'm a little bit of a strong personality and I basically coaxed him into coming. He went, kicking and screaming the whole way there. It was in Louisiana, and the whole drive, he kept complaining, “This is going to be a waste of time! Why am I going? I could be working!”

So he finally got there. When we got there, the people that were putting it on asked him to take pictures at the retreat. Well, he's a photographer, so that was great because it gave him a job.

Nancy: He always has to have a job!

Allison: He always has to have a job! If he comes to the Campbells', he's refinishing or redoing some room. So he felt needed, and he was needed. Anyways, long story short, we were the last family to leave the retreat. He loved it! And he said to me, “If we're going to do another one, it has to be a family retreat, because I want to put it on with you. We're going to do this together!” 

He wouldn't miss a family camp for any amount of money. He's turned down weddings that he's photographed, he's turned down big jobs. He says, “Put it on our schedule.” It is our yearly family vacation.

I've told you this before, Colin has become such a spiritual father to him because he didn't have a dad at all. And Colin can be that spiritual father to many of your husbands. If you're listening to me right now, I can definitely relate. If you're a mom out there, saying “My husband would never . . . ”

You have to kinda sell them on it. Once they get there . . . In fact, don't you agree, at the testimony time at the end of the retreat, there is father after father, after husband after husband, getting up and saying, “I did NOT think I wanted to come. I did not see a purpose for it, but I'm so glad I did. My world has been rocked. I am a changed man forever.”

You're going to find that he will grow as a husband, as a father. Men typically don't need friends, but I would say Daniel, my husband's closest friends now are ones that he met from the retreat. They're ones that he'll pick up and actually make a call to them. We'll vacation with them. Several of their daughters have been in our daughter’s wedding. I mean, it's just neat. So it's not just a ladies' retreat. It's not just a youth retreat. These men, you've got to get them there.

Nancy: Amen! I think of a family who came two years ago, in just the same way, the wife dragging her husband. There's so many wives drag their husbands there. And I remember this guy, he didn't even come to some of the meetings at the beginning. But eventually he did come, praise the Lord!

He was revolutionized! Revolutionized! When he got back from the retreat (they live in the next state to us), he said, “I've got to share what I have been hearing with everybody!” He brought in his whole community to hear the message. He got us to come down.

Allison: They're coming back this year.

Nancy: They came back last year. They're coming back this year.

Allison: He's part of the basketball tournament. They've already signed up.

Nancy: And now one of their daughters is marrying one of our grandchildren!

Allison: It is amazing! It is amazing. You're right, he was very vocally not wanting to be there. He didn't even, yeah, you're right, he didn't even come to the first meeting!

There was another dad a couple of years ago, and  he stayed in his room most of the time. But there towards the end, I don't think he was a Christian, but he came because his children wanted him to come. You remember, Mr. Colin ended up, him and Zadok baptized a couple of his children. And it really . . . In fact, the next year, he said, “Oh, I definitely want to come back!” It's just amazing how you just never know what will happen.

So yes, we will have a lot of fun, but it will be a life-changing experience. It will be some serious meat that you can take home. That's what we want. We want to give everyone, not just some fun time, and some relaxing time, but some good stuff to take home.

As a mother, if you're feeling depleted right now, and you're feeling like, “Oh, I cannot homeschool anymore! I cannot mother anymore. I cannot think anymore. I'm just exhausted.” Wow, what a perfect opportunity to fill you up!

And not just you, Miss Nancy. Of course, Nancy's going to be pouring herself into all of us. But it's amazing what nuggets of truth you're going to learn from maybe another mother who's going through the same thing. Or they've already come out of it, and they can give you a word that could really change your life.

Nancy: I think that's one of the greatest things of the retreat is the fellowship, the sharing with one another. And it's true, even according to Hebrews 10:25. We think of that in the context of church, how that we are NOT to neglect our meeting together. “And so much the more, as you see the day approaching.”

And we are living in these “so much the more” days of needing one another. In this hour, we need one another so much. Many of you, sadly, you may not even be getting that in your church, because there are some churches who are still doing this crazy social distancing, and all that kind of stuff. We're so opposite to what God's plan is.

But we won't be social distancing at this retreat! We will be togethering! And it's so glorious, the togethering. We need it, and “so much the more”!

Allison: “So much the more” now than ever!

Nancy: It's just such a blessing! Oh yes. So anyway tell them what they have to do. How to . . . “

Allison: Yes, to get to register, you can, a couple of ways. There's a Facebook page called Gulf Coast Above Rubies Family Camp. It's a private page, so you'll have to ask to join.

You could email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. That's my personal email, and I'm Allison Hartman. And then you could just ask me the details, that you're wanting information for the Above Rubies Family Camp in April, in Panama City, Florida, and I'll send you the link so you can go ahead and register. It's $100 to register, and then the balance will be due by April 1^st.

Quickly about meals, we're going to do some together meals. They'll be very inexpensive, they'll be very hearty, and they'll be very healthy. So that's our goal, is to have a very inexpensive, but we are going to be making those meals as families. So we're going to ask every family that comes to help out with something.

We have so much planned! Oh my goodness! We'll have a quiz night. We'll have, hopefully, a movie night. We'll do lots of sports tournaments. We're going to have lots of praise and worship, prayer time. We have an amazing worship leader that comes. It's going to be so much fun.

Nancy: We always have a very fierce volleyball competition!

Allison: It's pretty serious. I didn't want to go on and on about the sports, because, obviously, that's not why we're there. But there is some serious competition. Over the years, certain people have won. I won't say who, maybe me, on the winning team last year.

Nancy: Here was Allison! Ooooh, wow, she just played her heart out!

Allison: That was so much fun. All these young teenage boys invited me to be on their team, and we won first place! That was awesome. I used to play in college. But there's the Hilltop guys. They're getting really good at volleyball. Then the Florida gang, my family, they play volleyball for teams.

But there's a new family coming, and that's all they do, is play volleyball tournaments. They are probably the most amazing volleyball players I've ever seen. The father has offered, he's going to put together the tournament.

So we'll have some tournaments for some who don't know how to play very well. But then we'll have some serious competitive ones. So that will be so much fun.

Again, that's team building. That's building relationships with people that you've never met before, that you think, they could literally be the people that you have in your daughter's wedding. Or they could be the people you visit and stay with on vacation. And I think that's what we're all craving right now, are like-minded friends and families that you can call up and say, “Hey, pray for us, we need you,” or whatever. “Rejoice with us,” about something.

So yes, I highly recommend registering very soon. Like I said, there are several other campuses they're letting us use. However, the main meeting, and the meals, will all be on the main campus. Once those fill up, we can't let anyone else on the main campus. You'll have to go down the street to a different campus.

You can still be part of the conference, but I definitely suggest, don't procrastinate. Don't think about it too long, because you'll miss out on being on that main campus. We would love for you to come.

If you have any questions, my cell phone number is 850-221-1222. I will make time for you. If you want to just give me a call, I'd be glad to share with you what it's going to look like.

But I really encourage you to come. It's very inexpensive. The price includes your lodging and the conference. We don't charge much for the conference. The lodging is very inexpensive. You will never be able to stay on the Gulf of Mexico for this inexpensive.

But you'll never be able to go to a conference this rich, something that's so good for mothers, so good for children, so good for dads. It's the best thing in the world. It really is.

Nancy: Amen! So we'll see you there, hopefully. Now, why are Allison and Daniel and the family staying with us this weekend? Because we have just had a family wedding. They have been part of it.

Of course, it's really true, due to the retreat, you have become so close to Sam and Serene and the family. And all their children are so close to your children. It just makes you become part of one another's lives, doesn't it? It's so incredible.

Well, this has been a time of weddings for both of us, for we have many weddings in our family. Because now so many grandchildren have been married or are getting married. But you had your first wedding just a few months ago. You might like to quickly tell the ladies about that!

Allison: I think of our last podcast. I believe it was maybe in July, right before we . . .

Nancy: July? It was July 4^th. Or was it Thanksgiving?

Allison: I don't think we did one at Thanksgiving.

Nancy: It must have been July 4^th.

Allison: So we had a wedding in October, of our oldest. We have 11 children. Our oldest is 22. She got married in October at our property. We have 100 acres. Sadly, Colin was supposed to marry them, but he was sick, and could not travel.

But other than that, it was the perfect day. It was wonderful. In fact, the Allison’s came down. Many of the Hilltop families came. It was almost like a little mini-retreat. So many of the families. In fact, I would say the majority of the families that came to our wedding, and we had almost 400 people, are people that we have met through the Above Rubies Family Camp. They've either come, or we met them there. It's actually amazing.

But yeah, it was a wonderful, wonderful wedding. It was very special. They met right after we left here. We'd met them in Tennessee, and they were dating, or getting to know each other, for about a year. And then they ended up getting married. It's been great.

I was a little nervous about this transition of now being . . . she’s now married, not in our home. But it's amazing. I was talking to Serene about this. It's amazing how the other children underneath them will literally take that child's place, in a way, as far as responsibilities. I think somebody was saying how Serene has started to try to do without Chalice as much.

Nancy: Which is pretty difficult, because Chalice has been like her right-hand lady!

Allison:  McKenna's the same with me. McKenna is my, we joke, I can't even clean my house without McKenna, who is my oldest. But we've done several vacations without her now, we've done several big events without her. My other girls just completely rise to the occasion, and step right in.

But of course, there's a little bit of, “Oh, I miss . . . “ But we love her new husband. He's just . . . we kinda  joke that we like him more. He is just amazing. My children love him.

Nancy: It is amazing, really, to just see, like, when McKenna and Josiah arrived here for this weekend. Actually, Serene and Sam, although we've known the wedding is coming, and they had to be new, and they had the dress . . . The actual putting together of the wedding was in one week, because Serene and Sam had had to go away unexpectedly. He's had eye problems, and there was only one place in the whole of the nation where he could get this operation. They had waited a year to get in, and they called, and he was able to get in. So whoo, they just had to fly for a whole week! And it was right before the wedding.

So they come home, this one week to get the wedding ready. But somehow, we got it done. But it was amazing to see McKenna, that's Allison's eldest daughter, and her husband Josiah. I mean, this is who McKenna is. Well, she's another Allison, of course! She's just an organizer. But she came in and they seemed to float around, just serving and making things happening, getting things done. They are the most amazing couple. They are both so capable, but they both just serve.

Allison: Well, I think that . . .

Nancy: They're just amazing. And I mean, goodness me, the bouquets weren't even done on Saturday morning, and I don't think they would have been done if McKenna wasn't there! She just moved in, “OK, we'll just . . . ” And she just made all the bouquets! And then Josiah made all the corsages for the men. Instead of doing nothing, they had it all done.

Allison: They had nothing, none of the bouquets or corsages or boutonnieres were done an hour before the wedding! McKenna and Josiah showed up and said, “What can we do to help?” “Well, we didn't have time to do the boutonnieres, or the corsages . . . for the bridesmaids, their bouquets.”

So they said, “OK, well, give me all the stuff you have.” And so they started putting it together. Josiah had to run to the store to get pins to make the boutonnieres. He said, “We made 14 bouquets.” They made Chalice's bouquet, all within an hour, before the wedding!

Nancy: Unbelievable! And they all looked glorious! It was amazing!

Allison: My husband was doing the photography, so they were setting up lighting and helping with that because it was raining and cold. So instead of getting great outdoor pictures, we ended up having to do them in the church.

But I think their motivation, where they were at, they had so many people. We had so many friends that offered their time and talents to make our wedding happen. If you're listening, and you've put on a wedding, you know that whatever help you think you need, go ahead and triple it, because that's the help you really need.

A friend of mine had just put on a wedding and had just said that. Oh, it was so true! So I think Sam and Serene, they didn't quite realize how much help they really needed until the last minute. So we were so happy to be able to help them.

Nancy: Oh yes, but you know, we've had so many weddings, that we sort of think, “Oh well, we know what to do.” In fact, you know, so many people hire a wedding coordinator. Well, we really didn't need to do that. We've just done it so many times. And it really all just flowed.

Although the night before, at the rehearsal,  I looked at the church, a beautiful church, and said, “Oh, Serene, where are the flowers? Did you not order any flowers?” “Oh, goodness, I didn't have time to think about that!” She said, “We can't worry about flowers!”

So I thought, “Oh, that's a bit sad, but we won't most probably notice it.” But then the next morning, when I went in, there were these glorious, absolutely glorious flowers! And I said to Serene, “Where did you get them?” She said, “I don't know! I don't know where they came from.”

Well, I found out from Ellie (my Above Rubies helper) that apparently someone had planned to have a funeral there, but they hadn't double-checked, and it hadn't been confirmed. It was at the same time as the wedding, but they'd sent the flowers!

Allison: Wow!

Nancy: So there they were! All at the front of the church, these beautiful flowers. Red and white, and they were the same color as the bridesmaids!

Allison: Wow!

Nancy: It was as though we'd planned it! God provided the flowers.

Allison: Sam had all of his boys and my boys go out in the woods and cut greenery. I thought, “Is that going to look OK? “And it was beautiful for the reception. They used all the greenery they had gotten from the woods.

Nancy: Yes. So everything was great. But it was a beautiful wedding. My husband was so blessed to marry them, as he's married our children, and our grandchildren who are getting married.

Oh, wasn't it amazing? Did you know that Sam was going to bring her down the aisle in a kilt?

Allison: That was so neat!

Nancy: Wasn't that beautiful? Saturday was the 30^th of January. And just on 24 years ago, on the 30^th of March, Serene was married. And she came down the aisle to the bagpipes. So Chalice also chose to come down the aisle to the bagpipes, which is so . . . there’s something about the bagpipes.

Allison: It was gorgeous.

Nancy: Of course, Sam has a Scottish heritage, and so he also wore a kilt. He was bringing Chalice down the aisle and he just looked so amazing in this kilt, didn't he? And then the bagpiper was following, playing “Amazing Grace.” It was just so amazing, wasn't it?

Allison: A little funny story last night. They told us that Serene had given him a deadline, and said, “You have to order this kilt in a certain amount of time to get it by the wedding.” Well, he didn't do it. He forgot, and kept putting it off, and putting it off. I'm not sure if maybe he was thinking, “If I wait long enough, I won't have to wear a kilt for my daughter's wedding!”

So last night they were telling us that at three days before the wedding, she realized he had not ordered it. You rent it from a place. So he said, “OK, this is my fleece. If they can get it to me in three days, then I'll wear it. I knew there was no way they could get it to me in three days!”

So they called the lady, and she was a Trim Healthy Mama . . .

Nancy: Really?

Allison: So she recognized Serene's voice, the lady who owned the rental company. She said, “I'm going to make it happen, and I'm going to have it to you within three days!”  He said it's about a $2100 outfit. So you rent it and return it. It's kinda funny that he was putting it off, and then finally . . . But he looked great in it!

Nancy: I think he stole the show actually.

Allison: It was amazing.

Nancy: It was just so great! Oh, yes. Of course, we had the beautiful wedding service. It was just so beautiful. Then a wonderful reception, and they asked, Serene and Sam asked Allison to emcee the reception.

Allison: That was fun.

Nancy:  Of course, there's no one like Allison to keep everything rolling and keep things going. It was just a marvelous time, wasn't it? Yes, I think it was Trae's idea about the auction, wasn't it?

Allison: Oh yes, it was.

Nancy: I never heard of that before. They asked Allison if she would do an auction on, OK, you tell them about it.

Allison: His parents had done it for their wedding. So they had said, “Hey, could you be a great auctioneer?” He said, “I just need you to be funny and make us lots of money!” You've got to be kidding!

So what we did is, we auctioned off a dance with the bride. So we started the bids off at $50, and then went to $100, and then $150, and then we added and added and added. They said, “You know, if you could get us to $400 - $500, that would be wonderful.”

Well, we ended up getting . . . $1200 was the winning bid! Actually Sam, her father, won the bid. Then her uncle Charlie matched the bid! So they actually got $2400 off this auctioned dance! So that's pretty neat. If you're doing a wedding any time soon, that's an idea. It was a lot of fun.

Nancy: I think that was lovely for them to go off on their honeymoon, wasn't it? So, tell me, what was something you especially loved about the wedding?

Allison: You know, it's so neat. I joke about the fact that we can take a little bit of credit for matching those two up because they met at a family camp. They really did!

Nancy: Exactly! At the family camp.

Allison: And his dad, one that we had to drag! I mean, you're talking about stubborn!

Nancy: Oh, really? I didn't know that!

Allison: Oh, Will Ruppel is one of the most stubborn men ever! To say, “I'm not going to a family camp!” So we did. We finally got him there. That's how he ended up meeting you guys. He really became . . . his wife really. They ended up with a reversal after meeting you all and learning all about the ministry.

But then that camp, that they met the Allison’s at, was the one year that they were, “Yeah, I just don't think we can make it.” Well, they ended up coming. The first night they ended up bumping into Sam and Serene. They went to their room, to their house, and they sat and talked. They had a lot in common. They both had had adopted children. They had a lot they could talk about.

So at that moment, Sam ended up offering Will a job with Trim Healthy Mama. He ended up moving from Florida to Tennessee. Of course, Trae and Chalice saw each other at that retreat and decided they liked each other. Then a year later, Trae proposed to Chalice at the next retreat. It's pretty neat that they just got engaged, and now they're going to be coming to the next family camp together.

I think just seeing how neither one of them had ever had a boyfriend/girlfriend. That's so rare today. It's just so neat hearing about Chalice, and how absolutely clueless and innocent she was about boys.

Nancy: Yes, she was. She never thought about them. In fact, Chalice was never one, she was not outgoing. Cherish, her sister, Cherish is adopted, but they are so close. They have slept in the same bed their whole lives. They're so different in personality. Cherish is our outgoing one.

Allison: She could have been my child! (laughing)

Nancy: She's just so outgoing! But anyway, Chalice, she didn't really, she wasn't the social one who went and hung out with all the young people. Her best friends, who were they?

Allison: Her mom and dad.

Nancy: Her mum and dad. She's always said, “My best friends are my mum and dad.” Chalice loved nothing better than just to be with her mum and dad.

Allison: It's so true. Every family . . .

Nancy: She just loved to be with her mum and dad. She loved it. And when they, Trae and her, started courting here, it was the most beautiful thing to watch. I've never seen anything so beautiful. And Trae would come over with his two little siblings. Cade and Hadley, and see Serene.  Chalice would be watching her two little siblings, Remmy and Solly. Together they watched their little toddlers.

Allison: They watched four toddlers.

Nancy: And that's how they courted. I remember one day, watching them walking around the front lawn, giving their little siblings rides in the wheelbarrow, and just walking together. That was so beautiful! I mean, just so beautiful! Oh, it's just wonderful. You think of all the ways so many young people romance today and it's not good. You know, they were so pure, and beautiful, and lovely. It was just so gorgeous.

I think we've got to end this session. But I think we need to do another one and talk more about weddings. There's so much to talk about. We really do. Let's close now. Can you do another one?

Allison: Sure.

Nancy: OK! Let's do it while you're here. They're leaving in a moment. The children are packing and taking their things out the door while we're sitting here podcasting!

Allison: Yeah, much better than packing!

Nancy: Yes!

“Oh Father, we thank You that we can talk about the things of life that relate to life, that relate to family, and then weddings, and then babies. This is what life's all about. This is what delights Your heart. This is what You created us for. And so we thank You, Father. We just give You all the honor, and all the glory for the way You have planned for us to live. We pray that You will help us to live more and more in the realm of all that You have planned for us. We ask it in the Name of Jesus. Amen.”

Transcribed by Darlene Norris.

P.S. Serene wrote a song for Chalice which she sang at the wedding reception.

It’s a tear-jerker for mothers who know what it’s like for a daughter to leave home to be married. Serene also sang this song on their Trim Healthy Mama Poddy, #211 if you would like to hear it.

It feels like you’ve always been here,

From the beautiful thought of you growing inside of me

To the jubilee of holding you as a baby,

‘Cause you were finally here,

            But haven’t you always been here?

Running through the house and skipping through my heart,

Making paper flowers, tossing petals all about  . . . HERE.

Talking princesses and pirates and faraway lands,

Authors and books you loved but never boys or bands,

            You’ve always been here, ALWAYS.

CHORUS

Then you packed your bags the other day,

Swept your room, I heard you say,

Just one more week and I’m gonna be

Just down the road, I’ll still pop by,

But I knew then my soul would cry,

            ‘Cause you won’t be here,

             But I’ll catch the tear,’

‘Cause the best reason for leaving is a good man!

Couldn’t imagine the day you wouldn’t be here,

Tousled blonde bedhead good mornings,

Humming whimsical tunes that float on wings,

            You’d always be here,

            ‘Cause you’ve always been here,

Quirky quick quips and eyes that flash bold,

Through a sun danced smile that never grows old . . . HERE.

Steady and calm like a summer stream

And when the wind blows wild it never rustles your leaves,

            You’d be here, ALWAYS.

CHORUS AGAIN

Then you packed your bags the other day . . .

‘Cause the best . . . reason for leaving . . . IS A GOOD MAN!

 

COMING ABOVE RUBIES RETREAT IN PANAMA CITY, FLORIDA

For more information and to sign up for the retreat go to:

https://aboverubiesretreat.com/