FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

Podcast 110: MAKING A HOME OF REST— PART 1

Rocky Barrett: Welcome to the podcast, From our Home to Yours, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies. 

Nancy Campbell: Hello ladies. I hope you got to listen to the last four podcasts where I did a series on the subject of TOGETHERNESS.

It’s a beautiful word in the Scriptures. It’s something that is really God’s plan. When we incorporate all the Scriptures about togetherness it can bring such a blessing to our homes and to our church life.

Togetherness—it’s one of those “ness” words with N-E-S-S on the end.

I love words and I love “ness” words. When “ness” is added to a word it means: “The state or quality of that noun.” For example, “sweetness” is the quality of being sweet.

“In loveness” is the quality of state of being in love.

“Darlingness” is the state of being a darling.

There are loads of “ness” words in the world, but I have found 80 of all these beautiful “ness” words that actually apply to us as wives and mothers in our home. Of course there are many more, but these particularly relate to us.

Now with all of these words I am not going to be able to speak to you particularly on every one because there are so many.

Let me just read you a few of them today. I have A down to Z.

Let me just start with A:

Adorableness, amiableness, availableness, blessedness, braveness, brightness, calmness, chasteness, cheerfulness, cleanliness, courteousness, darlingness, devotedness, dutifulness, faithfulness, femaleness, forgiveness, friendliness, fruitfulness, and so they go on.

I’ll leave some more till next time but today I would like to talk to you about restfulness.

I was thinking about this because I was reading a Scripture of how David wanted to build a house of rest for God. I began to think about it and think how this should also be our vision. We should also want to build a house of rest for God.

Our God is a dwelling God. He loves to dwell.

Right back in the Old Testament we read of how He wanted to dwell with His people, even in the desert. He dwelt in a tabernacle. He went wherever the children of Israel went. In fact, He directed where they went but He went with them. He went before them.

When they stopped, He stayed in their midst, right in the very center of the camp to dwell with them.

He wants to dwell with us now. He wants to dwell in our hearts. He wants to be with us personally. And He wants to dwell in our homes.

God’s favorite place to dwell is in a place of rest. God loves to dwell, but God also loves rest.

He is a God of rest. He wants to bring rest to us when He comes into our hearts, but He also wants our homes to be a home of rest where He can enjoy dwelling.

Shall we look at some Scriptures? In 1 Chronicles 28:2, David is speaking and he’s sharing his vision.

He says: “ . . . As for me, I had in mine heart to build an house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and for the footstool of our God, and had made ready for the building.”

David didn’t actually end up building this house. God said that his son would do it, but he got ready for it. You can read later in 1 Chronicles chapter 28 about all the materials that David got ready for the building of this house for God. Oh my, it is amazing how he gathered gold and silver. And everything that would be needed he gathered and had it ready.

There is another beautiful Scripture in this chapter, verse 11: “Then David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch . . . And the pattern of all that he had by the spirit, of the courts of the house of the Lord, and of all the chambers round about, of the treasuries of the house of God, and of the treasuries of the dedicated things: Also for the courses of the priests and the Levites, and for all the work of the service of the house of the Lord, and for all the vessels of service in the house of the Lord.”

And He goes on. All this had to be absolutely ordered and God gave it to David by the Spirit.

I love that. He didn’t just think it up by himself. The Holy Spirit showed him. I think there is a beautiful thought here because, ladies, every one of us are different. Every one of us is unique. Every one of us is going to build our homes differently because we are different, and God doesn’t cookie cutter. He makes each one of us so unique and so different.

That is why we have to seek the Lord like David did. He sought the Lord so God could show him how He wanted him to build this house for Him.

That’s a wonderful thing to do precious mothers. Get before the Lord and ask Him: “Lord, how do You want me to build this house for You? Please show me.”

God will show you and He will show you all the very practical things. All the things that He showed David were so practical. Every little measurement and how to do this and how to do that, it all was practical.

The running of your home is very practical. God will show you how to do the practical things and how to do them the best way for your household.

Sometimes you read books and you read the idea of this mother and it works so amazingly for her. Her house just runs smoothly, and everything works just great. She writes this book about it and you read it. You try to put it into operation and somehow it doesn’t quite work how it did for her.

That is because you are not her. God has made you differently and so you have got to seek the Lord personally to hear from the Holy Spirit how He wants you to run your home.

Isn’t that wonderful?

We go down to verse 19 and it says: “All this, said David, the Lord made me understand in writing by his hand upon me, even all the works of this pattern.”

Every detail of the pattern God gave him by the Spirit, and He will do that for you, too, dear mothers.

And so you’re going to be seeking to build this house of rest for God.

We go over to Psalm 132. David says here: “Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed; I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids, until I find out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob.”

The Passion Translation says: “ . . . I devote myself to finding a resting place for You! “What a beautiful vision to have: I devote myself to making my home a resting place for God.

My, that’s a big vision, isn’t it, dear ladies? ‘

We know that, just because what life is like, that our homes are not always this beautiful place of rest. Tension comes and things happen and oh my, it seems to be nothing like a place of rest!

That’s why we have to devote ourselves to make our home a place of rest. As we seek the Lord, He will show us by His Spirit.

I’ve written 10 points here. I don’t think I’m going to give them all to you. There will be more than 10. I know you will have lots of wonderful ideas also, but I will share these 10 points with you.

In fact, perhaps before I even get to sharing them, I should also share with you how God also sees our marriages as a place of rest. Did you know that?

Yes, in the Bible, marriage is aligned as a place of rest.

In the story of Ruth in Ruth 1:9, Naomi was leaving Moab because her husband had died, and her sons had died. She was in a state of depression, sadness, and self-pity. She was just going to go back to Judah.

She said to both of her daughters in law: “May the Lord enable each of you to find security in the home of a new husband.” The King James Bible says: “That you may find rest.”

That is the word: Rest.

The Hebrew for rest is menuwchah and it means: “repose, peaceful, consolation, abode; quiet, comfort, refreshment, a resting place; and specifically matrimony.”

In that Hebrew word menuwchah, which talks of rest, refreshment, quietness, and peace, it also means marriage and matrimony.

It’s the same word in Psalm 23:2 where our good Shepherd leads us beside “still waters.” That’s the same word. Our marriage is not meant to be turbulent waters.

Dear ladies, God means it to be still waters. That’s what He desires.

We continue with the story of Ruth and we know that Ruth would not leave her mother-in-law. She went back to Israel with her.

Naomi was very concerned about Ruth finding another husband. She needed to have someone who could provide for her and care for her.

In Ruth chapter 3:1 she says: “ . . . My daughter, shall I not seek rest for thee, that it may be well with thee?”

The Good News Translation explains it a little more clearly: “ . . . I must find a husband for you so that you will have a home of your own.”

That’s what Naomi was talking about. Although she says, “I’m seeking rest for you Ruth so that it will be well with you and you will be looked after” she was concerned about finding a husband for her.

That word, this time, where the word rest was used, it is a similar word that was used, but not the same. It is the word manowach.

It has a very similar meaning. It means: “a settled spot, a home, a place of rest.”

Sometimes marriages are not always a place of rest, are they? But this is what God intends. God has a beautiful vision for marriage.

He wants our marriage to be a place of rest and a place where we find security, stability, and provision, and a resting place to fulfill our God given career of mothering and nurturing.

It’s very hard for single mums. Maybe some of you are listening today and you are trying to provide for your child or for your children. At the same time you are trying to nurture them and make a home for them. I know many single mums find themselves in this position through no fault of their own.

They need so much encouragement and help because it’s not something we were meant to do on our own. God intends there to be a husband and a wife in the home so that as children come along the wife can be secure.

When she has a husband who knows his mandate from God is to provide for his wife, and to protect his wife and children, then the wife can live in quietness and rest.

She can give herself to the work of managing her home and caring for her children because she doesn’t have to do her husband’s career. You see, God gives a career to the husband and a career to the wife. If we both have the same career, then we can’t really function properly because God has given to the husband that mantle to provide.

God says that if a man does not provide for his family, he is worse than an infidel (1 Timothy 5:8). That is his mandate from God: to provide well for his wife, for his family, so that she can be at rest to do her job, to manage the home, to bear children, and to train and nurture children.

That is a huge career and we cannot do it adequately when we’re trying to do a career out in the corporate world. It just is too difficult.

God has planned that marriage and the home become a place of rest when it is functioning correctly, and the husband is doing his mandate, and the wife is embracing her mandate from God.

THEN WE CAN LIVE IN REST!

It is so sad that there are husbands who want to get their wives out to work and help them earn more money for the family. What happens to the children?

I did mention that when we are living in the plan that God has, the wife and the mother has the opportunity to work in the home and give herself to this work of building her family and raising her family.

There we see two opposites: work and rest.

Did you know that they can actually go together? if we are living at rest, it doesn’t mean to say that we are sitting on the sofa looking at soap operas.

No, that is not the rest that we are talking about here. The rest we are talking about is a state of our soul where our soul is at rest. We can be busy. We can be working hard. We can have many projects that are going but we are in a place of rest.

We’re not doing them because we’re fretful about them. We’re doing them in rest. We can have rest in our soul so that we have this state of rest.

I love Matthew 11:28-30 where Jesus said: “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest . . ..”

Jesus loves to give us rest. He is rest. When He comes into our lives, He brings rest because He lives in rest. Nothing takes Him by surprise. Nothing gets Him in a state of nervous tension or depression or overwhelmingness. No, everything is under His control. 

When we come to Christ and we receive the forgiveness of our sins, we have rest from sins forgiven. I believe that is the first rest we experience but then the Scripture goes on.

Jesus continues and says: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

I love that phrase: “rest unto your souls.” I believe this is something even deeper than the rest of forgiveness of sins and the guilt of sin taken away.

Then Jesus says: “Come, come with Me. Come and sit at My feet. Come and learn of Me. Come and spend time in My Word. Learn of My ways and as you do, you’ll find more and more rest in the depths of your soul.”

This is what God wants to give us. He wants us to have rest as mothers in our souls and in our homes. It’s difficult to do this if we are trying to do careers at once. That’s why God calls marriage a rest.

Of course everything that God ordains Satan seeks to destroy everything. He seeks to destroy marriage. He seeks to destroy the plan for marriage and God’s beautiful plan of the career He has given to man to be that ultimate provider.

Of course wives in the home, many times with gifts they have, they are able to do things that can help generate some income into the home without leaving the home, things that they are able to do in the home.

That’s of course also in seasons. When we have little ones, we don’t always have time to do those things. God has ordained for the man to be that ultimate provider. We have to watch, dear ladies, that we don’t let Satan get his foothold into the home and woo us out of the home, getting involved in not maybe even a career but maybe other things.

There are so many things that we can get involved in outside of the home. Often many of them are very, very good but they’re not very good for you if they are hindering you in the home and taking you away from managing your home affectively and nurturing your children, which is your ultimate mandate from God.

We have to watch that. We dare not be like the woman in the Song of Solomon and she said, “They have made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept” (Song of Solomon 1:6).

We have to watch that. If we haven’t got time to keep own vineyard, well don’t let’s go and keep other people’s vineyards. And so we guard that.

We also have to guard other things. We have to guard tension coming into the home. If we notice tension, then we better do something about it. If we notice evil creeping into the home, we better make sure we cast it out.

We resist all rebellious and selfish attitudes and especially bitterness and hardness of heart. We have to watch those things and those attitudes.

Marriage is all to do with our attitude, isn’t it, ladies? We can choose which attitude we will take.

It’s easy to just go to the negative one. That’s easy. But it’s not so easy to take the godly attitude but that’s the one that brings blessing and God will enable us as we trust Him.

We see that God wants our marriage and our home to be a place of rest. He wants to come and dwell with us and enjoy that rest.

Let’s see some ways that we can do this.

Number one:

MAKE A TIME AND PLACE TO MEET WITH GOD EACH DAY

That’s in 2 Chronicles chapter two. I’ve talked about this before so I will briefly mention it.

This is where Solomon is now beginning to build the house. Remember, David had the vision and he passed it on to Solomon.

In chapter two of 2 Chronicles, verse four, Solomon says: “Behold, I build an house to the name of the Lord my God, to dedicate it to him, and to burn before him sweet incense, and for the continual showbread, and for the burnt offerings morning and evening . . .” and so on.

Now Solomon was making a house of rest for God, but it was also a place where he could come before God morning and evening and sacrifice to Him.

We see in verse 6 where Solomon says: “But who is able to build him an house, seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him? who am I then, that I should build him an house, save only to burn sacrifice before him?”

Back in the tabernacle days there was the principle of the morning and evening sacrifice, the morning and evening lighting of the candles, the morning and evening attending to the fire upon the altar, and the morning and evening lighting of the incense, speaking of praise and worship.

These were places where they met with God. God wanted them to do it morning and evening.

It’s a principle we should continue. We no longer need to do sacrifices, lighting menorahs, and lighting incense, but we are just doing it because we want to meet with God.

We don’t have to do all these external things now but we need to find a time and a place each day where we gather our families and we come into the presence of God to meet with Him, to seek Him, to pray to Him, to worship Him, and to listen to His voice from His Word.

As we do this, we are building a house of rest for God. We’re building a place where He can literally come to us and speak to us. It is a place where we can literally make this time to worship Him and spend time in His presence each day.

I don’t mind sharing this with you again because I know that so many of you have it in your heart to do this, but doing it is another thing. But I have found that unless I make this happen in my home it doesn’t happen.

I have to make it happen. My whole day revolves around our morning time with God and our evening time with Him as a family.

I meet with Him personally, but these are our family times. This paves a way, it builds and prepares us as we make a house of rest, a place for our God to dwell.

If there is no meeting time, if there is no time in the day when we bring our families before the Lord, where is God in our homes? Do we make any time for Him?

You see, we have to make these times. We make these times around the mealtime, around breakfast time, and at the suppertime, the chief evening meal of the day.

We do it at the end of these meals. They become meeting places with God.

I encourage you to do this. This is such an important part of our making a home of rest.

Number two:

FILL YOUR HOME WITH GOD’S WORD

In the same passage in 2 Chronicles chapter two, verse four, it’s saying that Solomon wanted to make this house where he could burn sweet incense for the continual showbread.

The showbread was the twelve loaves of bread that were baked every week and put on the Table of Showbread in the Holy Place. They were always to be there, never, never off the table.

In fact, once a week the priests would eat the showbread and fellowship together before the Lord. But before they took those loaves off, they had to put the new loaves on.

How they did it was:  so many priests would come in and as they took the showbread and the other utensils off the table, then another set of priests would immediately put the new, fresh bread on the table so that there was never a second that the bread was not on the table.

It was called the CONTINUAL BREAD as it is here in 2 Chronicles 2:4: “The continual showbread.”

It speaks of Jesus Who was is the Bread. He is our sustenance. He is our Bread. He is our Life.

It speaks of feasting upon Jesus. It speaks of feasting upon the Word for He Himself is the Word.

It speaks of the written Word and Jesus Who is the Word. We’re to feast upon Him continually.

Of course you can’t just sit and read the Word all day long. But once again, I find it so important that we read the Word at these times, morning and evening, as that principle was established in the tabernacle. It was that morning and evening principle that we read in the Word of God.

You can also have the Word of God around your home. You can have one in the bathroom where you do have to go throughout the day. You can have it open at Psalms and maybe pick up a little Scripture there. You can have another Bible open on your windowsill where you are preparing your meals and doing the dishes.

I used to do that when I was a young mum. I always had a Bible on my windowsill. My windowsill, at the moment, won’t fit a Bible, which is very sad. I hope you have got one that does fit a Bible because it so great. You can look up and get a little bit of sustenance to encourage you throughout the day or whenever you’re at the kitchen sink. That’s a place where you need encouragement too!

And so we fill our home with God’s Word. Psalm 119:165 says: “Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.”

Number three:

FILL YOUR HOME WITH WORSHIP AND BEAUTIFUL MUSIC

Psalm 22:3 says: “But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.”

Now our God, Who is a dwelling God, loves to dwell amongst praise and worship. Precious ladies, if you want God to live in your home and fill your home, fill your home with beautiful worship music.

God loves to inhabit praises.

I was thinking about this the other day. If God loves to live and dwell in praises, don’t you think that we who are His creation, would also want to live in an atmosphere of praises? I think so.

So as we seek to make our home a home of rest, let’s make our home a home of praises where we’re not only praising God, but we’re also praising each other.

We’re praising our husbands. Do you praise your husband? How many times a day do you praise him or speak loving things to him? Make your home a place of praises so they’re just coming out of your mouth. When you see your husband, you’re praising him.

Your children: you’re just praising them, encouraging them, affirming them, and uplifting them.

Just get into the habit. Make it a habit. Seek to think about it, to try and make this a habitual thing that comes out of your mouth, praises and encouragement, and these kinds of words are coming out of your mouth.

It is true how in Proverbs 12:25 it says: “ . . . a word of encouragement does wonders.”

It does miracles!

Ladies, is your home a little bit depressing at the moment? Maybe there is tension. Oh goodness me!

Hey, here’s the remedy: make it a home of praises. Praises to God, praises to your husband, praising your children, praising them all day long.

Oh my, you will be absolutely amazed! Yes, wonders will begin to happen. Miracles will begin to happen. Yes, do it! Okay?

I have something a bit more about this, but I have to wait till next week because time is up.

Let me pray.

“Father, I thank You for every precious wife and mother who is listening today. Father, I pray that You will come into their hearts in a wonderful way. I pray You will come into their homes.

“Lord, where there is tension, where there is strife, where there is bitterness, where there is hurt, oh God, I pray that You will help these dear wives and mothers to change the atmosphere by filling it with praises, with encouraging words, affirming words, praising words, uplifting words, positive words, exciting words.

“Oh God, I pray that You will touch their mouths and take them from the negative into the positive, that You will take them, Lord, from the despairing words and grumbling words into thankful words and praising words and encouraging words.

“Lord, You’ve told us that these kinds of words release wonders into our midst. I ask that You will do this in every home, Father, in the precious name of Jesus. Amen and amen.”

Transcribed by Morgan Roth.

 

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

Podcast 109: HOW DO WE RAISE CHILDREN WITH GODLY CONVICTIONS IN THE MIDST OF THIS DECEIVED WORLD?

My daughter, Evangeline pops in for a moment to begin the podcast. Then Allison Hartman and I discuss this powerful subject together of how to raise children who are strongly committed to God's truth. I know you will be inspired and encouraged. We then get on to masking on to unmasking! The podcast ends with a great testimony from 18-year-old Audrey Porter from Georgia.

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

Nancy Campbell: Hi ladies! Here I am again. I have Allison Hartman with me again. But Evangeline, my daughter, has also just walked in the door. So she's going to say hi!

Evangeline: Hi, I just ran up the stairs, and she said, say, “Hi!” So I'm saying hi! Hahaha! Hey, I love all you ladies! Keep on doing the most amazing job in the universe. You know what that is? It's raising the next generation to be the leaders, not to be the “yes people.” Not to be a “give me” generation, but sons and daughters who know their God, who'll be strong and do exploits, instead of just being lukewarm.”

Mum, I haven't even told you of my revelation, but it's here, about the John the Baptist. Jesus is like, He's proclaiming how wonderful he is. We're all raising John the Baptists. We are. He says: “Who did you go out to see?”

You know, so many of us mothers, we take (it's good to keep the children clean and lovely and look nice), but He's like: “Who did you go out to see? Someone decked out in the splendid fashion of the day? Those are the ones who live in the lap of luxury.”

I want to tell you, women, I've been thinking about it in the last couple of days. Do you have a home? Do you have clothes that are nice and respectable today? You're living in the lap of luxury. We're living in the lap of luxury. We have no agenda to feel sorry for ourselves, to think, “Who am I? Look what I'm doing.”

Do you know who God called great? John the Baptist. And he didn't . . . He wore skins of camel's hair and ate locusts.

It's not like we're training our children to do that, but we're training our children with a mindset of God that's above the fashion of today. We've got to rise above the fashion of what you think you have to be as a mother, and what you're training your children to be.

I don't care what mothers really think of me, but it's what God's told me and what He thinks of me. And I tell you today, what God thinks of you is none other than, more than all the words of this world. It's amazing what you're doing. It really is.

I just was down there at the Basic Survival Course (BSC) that my sons put on: Basic Survival and Combat. And all these mothers were there with their children. I was just like . . .  these mothers are doing an incredible job. You're doing an incredible job, ladies. Hey, been good, Mum, I gotta fly.

NC: Thanks, I can't believe it, because Allison and I were talking and thinking, we want to talk about raising children to be leaders, and here you just spouted off with that same vision! Thank you!

Evangeline, Go for it!

Allison Hartman: Go for it! (laughter) OK, that's right.

NC: See ya later, Vange! Oh, that is so good. That is so true, isn't it?

AH: Who wants to be raising status quo children? No, no, we want to be . . . that's so boring, right, Vange?

Evangeline: Yes! (She’s now gone down the stairs).

AH: Nobody wants a status quo child, somebody who just takes whatever they're told. I think like with this latest thing going on with the second wave of COVID, where our government is stepping in and telling us what we can and can't do. you know, whether or not you're a masker or a non-masker, I don't think that's what we want to debate. It's really, I think it should be a personal issue. Like you were saying, you hate wearing masks because you can't even breathe. Whereas Colin said he doesn't mind wearing them. He wears them when he mows the yard.

NC: Only when he mows the yard!

AH: But you know, you see, you read on Facebook people fighting, family members fighting, friends fighting. Division, division, division over “You're a masker!” “You're a non-masker!” I've never seen such a divisive topic. I never thought it would happen. But I think what's on my heart is—our children are watching us. Our children are watching.

My 16-year-old Hallie, she's the quietest one in our family. She's the only quiet one in our family. But she is watching and she's paying attention. Every now and then she'll speak up. The other day she said, “You know, we are in, we should be a country of unity. But yet we're creating this country of division. It's divisiveness all over the place.”

I think this mask thing is the next. You know, the COVID started, and then it went into this civil tension war going on with the Black Lives Matter and now it's moving right on into the second wave of it with the masks. So I just feel like with my children, what I want to do is raise leaders, raise thinkers.

Are you doing what you're told because you were just told to do it? Because if that's why you're wearing a mask, because your state, your city, your governor, your mayor, said you must do it, and you're just blindly doing it, you really have to question your motives. Because I'll share this quote with you. I'm going to read it, and then I'm going to actually tell you who said it.

So the quote that I read, it says: “The best way to take control, the best way to take control over a people, and control them utterly, is to take a little bit of their freedom at a time, to erode rights by a thousand tiny and almost imperceptible reductions. In this way, people will not see the things, those rights and freedoms, being removed, until past the point at which these changes cannot be reversed.”

Who in your mind right now would say that? It was Adolph Hitler. (Although some people say it wasn’t his quote).

So we would be, it would be not wise of us to not remember history, remember what happened in Nazi Germany. Adolph Hitler didn't go in there and just take away everyone's rights, guns, and everything, in one fell swoop. He did it slowly and methodically. He did it so that he eventually could say, “You have no freedom. You have no rights.” So yes, I know you want to say something about that. I don't want to take too much . . .

NC: No, that's fine, but I think you know you're training your children to be able to think, and to know what is right. Of course, our most important thing we're going to do, is going to make them to be children who are filled with the Word of God, and with His principles, because that is our underlying foundation of anything in life.

No matter what it is, I will go to the Word, and I find that God has a word to say about everything we face. We have got to teach our children to do that, and take them to the Word, and talk with them about these things. Also, they're going to see what we're doing.

AH: Sure.

NC: Now, you know, we've got onto masks here. But you know it is preparing us. They are just wearing masks, and many are getting their children to do it. I can't even believe that! How do you get children to wear a mask? I can't believe it.

I mean, I think it is dangerous for little children to have masks on. I think they're dangerous. You know, you can go to the supermarket, and you see a family, and the mother is wearing a mask, and the children, those poor little children. Then I watch her, and she's putting into her trolly, what do you call them here?

AH: Shopping carts.

NC: I still use the old words we used back in New Zealand! And she's putting into her shopping cart all these packaged foods that are refined and filled with sugar. And she's putting in Coke, and she's putting all these junk foods into her shopping cart to take home to feed her children! Goodness me! If she would instead fill her shopping cart with fruits and vegetables and healthy foods, and take off their masks, and let them run around in the fresh air, they'd all be so much healthier.

But our children are going to watch us and to see, well, what are mom and dad doing? What are their convictions? Are they just listening to what everybody says? Or are they really seeking out the truth? What is going on here? And so I think we have do that.

But I believe that this is an hour for raising children to be strong in their convictions. It is so sad that we have a generation of young people who have been educated in our schools, our public schools, our public colleges, and universities. They have been trained and infiltrated with socialism and pro-transgender.

In fact, there are many, many schools where teachers are being commanded to lift up those are who are going into this transgender lifestyle. At a couple of our Above Rubies retreats  last year and the year before, we had a family who came, and this guy's a teacher in New Jersey. He's a high school teacher. He is a godly man.

But he's in that system for his work, and he said, it is just heartbreaking. In one of his classes, he has two children who are in the transgender process. He is commanded to make them heroes in his classroom.

So we are in this generation. Our children are in an environment of absolute deception. If we, as parents, don't give them the truth, and talk out these things with them, and speak about them, and take them into the Word, they are going to be, little by little, just taken in by these things, and accept the lifestyle around them.

We have to raise children who will not accept the status quo lifestyle that is current at this moment, which is pro-abortion and pro-homosexuality and pro-transgender. And now becoming victims to whatever mayors or worldly liberal governors say. This is not the world of USA.

AH: And the irony of this liberal agenda is the same people that will say, “My body, my baby, you can't tell me what to do with it.” These are the same people that are saying they're going to force you to wear a mask! Crazy.

NC: That's, wow. You know, Allison, that is unbelievable. I mean, that is so true. These are the people who are demanding their rights to be pro-choice, to murder precious babies in the womb.

I just received this morning, a message from a dear friend of mine. She lost her precious baby at 10 weeks. She said, “Nancy, could I send you a picture?” I said, “Do.” I couldn't believe it. This beautiful picture of this little baby. You could see this precious baby in the womb. And yet so many are murdering them! Murdering them in cold blood in the womb!

AH: They're celebrating it! Celebrating it!

NC: And these same people who demand their rights to murder are going crazy if we don't submit to wearing a mask, wearing a little mask. What's that got to do with life? Oh, goodness me. We have to watch out for this total hypocrisy! We've got to seek true things. I believe it's . . . I was reading in the Word. Actually I was reading this morning in Deuteronomy. I'm reading through Deuteronomy at the moment. I was reading here, let's see, what was the one I wanted to . . .

Yes, it's chapter three, verse 28. And Moses is speaking. He's talking to Joshua, because Joshua is now going to take the children of Israel into possess the Promised Land. What does it say here? Verse 28: “And God told Moses to say, 'Charge Joshua and encourage him and strengthen him, for he shall go over before this people and take them into the Land.'”

You know, it's amazing, how, throughout the Word of God, and I may give you some more Scriptures, how God always wants people who are going to be leaders to be encouraged and strengthened and charged. He doesn't just say, “OK, this is your job.” No, “I charge you. And encourage you and strengthen you.”

Mother! You must continually charge, encourage, and strengthen your children to stand true and uncompromising in this deceived generation!

OK, if we are raising children who are going to be leaders in this nation, and who are going to stand strong in God's truth, we have to be mothers who are constantly charging them, and encouraging them, and strengthening them. You see, it doesn't just happen. It takes that putting into them, that strengthening them, that encouraging them. Joshua couldn't do that job without that being put into him.

AH: Right, right.

NC: I was so amazed by that. I began to look at some other Scriptures. Maybe I'll give a few, because as we talk about things, it's so good to have the Word. I always want the Word as my underlying foundation of truth. If I haven't got the Word for it, well, I haven't really got anything on which to base my convictions.

But over again, we go to the end of Deuteronomy, 31:7-8 It says: “And Moses called unto Joshua,” and he did it again. “And he said to Joshua, 'Be strong and of a good courage, for you must go with this people into the land. And the Lord,'” here is it, “goes before thee, he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee. Fear not, neither be dismayed.”

And then we go down a few verses to verse 23, and it says: “And Moses gave Joshua the son of Nun a charge.” And again, He doesn't even just do it once. “And said, 'Be strong and of a good courage; for you shall bring the children of Israel into the land.'”

That word, “to be strong and of good courage . . . ” Actually, it's interesting ladies, “be strong” is the Hebrew word chazaq. I think you pronounce it that way. Could be something else. But that's the Hebrew word. “Of good courage,” same word again. The same word is used two times. Be strong! Chazaq! And of good courage! Chazaq!

And what does it mean? “To strengthen, to support, to be strong, to be courageous, to be valiant, to conquer, to seize, to hold fast.” It's a word that's used mostly in battle scenes. And that's how Moses encouraged Joshua because he was going to lead the people.

Now if we have a vision to raise our children to have strong convictions, to be leaders, that would be leaders of maybe just half a dozen, maybe a dozen. Some will be leaders of hundreds. Some will be leaders of thousands. But in whatever capacity, we have to be constantly encouraging, strengthening them into the battle that they're going to face.

I believe that our children, because we are facing it now ourselves, aren't we? A battle. We're in a battle in this nation at the moment. Our children who are growing up, and our young people, they are going to face it. They're the ones who are going to have to have the strong convictions. But we are the ones who are going to put it into them. Amen?

AH: Yeah. And I was just thinking, we all have children of all different types of personalities.

NC: Yes!

AH: So when you say be a leader, or be strong or courageous, it doesn't necessarily look the same in every person.

NC: No! It does not.

AH: You can have a timid, shy child that you can encourage to be a leader, to be . . . My oldest is very much the oldest type, very typical oldest child. But my next two are not so much.

NC: Goodness me, you might say that they're quiet, the most beautiful girls, but I have listened to Eden sit around our table, even when you haven't been here. They were up two weeks ago, and oh, speak out  with such strong convictions!

And then you look at Hallie, only 16, so quiet and beautiful, but my, she is a strong, strong person. You see her going into marriage, being a mother who will just impart strong convictions into her children. You don't have to be people like you and I who are crazy radicals! (laughter) But you can be soft and quiet, but strong, unmoved in your godly convictions.

AH: Something that's so been passionate in my life, because I think we all have to choose our (of course choose the Gospel of Jesus Christ to be our main message that we want to always share), but then I think we all have our own personal gospel.

So for me it has been, since I was a high schooler, has been speaking out for the unborn. A year and a half ago, I was in the shower, and I had this thought that I wanted to put together a shirt that as people looked at it, and they saw my family in this church, they would immediately think, “Protect life.” Protect life, protect life.

So the front of the shirt says, “Choose life,” and the back of the shirt says, “A person's a person no matter how small.” So we've taken that shirt, and we've ended up selling almost 2000 of them. We've given all the money to our local pregnancy centers and Above Rubies.

It's so neat, because my girls will wear those proudly. I don't even tell them to put them on. They'll wear them to volleyball practice. They're not ashamed of them. They're proud of them!

Something my husband was recently listening to . . . it was a group of politicians. They were discussing this whole Black Lives Matter movement, which (but not necessarily getting into that). One thing these politicians were faced with, they were definitely pro-Black Lives Matter.

The guy said, “Yes, ALL Black lives matter! Even the lives of the black unborn.” And the people that were so powerfully for the BLM movement, they completely were silent. The reason I'm saying that is I think it's very important for us to realize that it's OK to be bold and courageous and strong and convicted about certain things.

Let's definitely remember that those unborn, they can't protest for themselves. They can't hang signs up or go downtown to protest. They are, it's a silent scream in there. 

It's just neat to see my children, the ones that aren't necessarily... God made them super-vocal. They still are taking this in, whether it's just wearing a t-shirt, or just sitting down and sharing with somebody, “Hey, I do believe that black lives matter, but I believe ALL black lives matter, even those in the womb, especially those in the womb, because they can't defend themselves.”

Definitely something that struck me pretty powerfully when he said that, that those people were speechless. They didn't have anything else to say. So anyway . . .

NC: Yes, that is so powerful! Yes, let me just give you one or two more Scriptures. I have a few here, a few of so many. We go to Joshua. This time, ladies, it says, “And the Lord spoke unto Joshua.” This is amazing, because Moses has now passed away. Before, it was Moses putting into him, but now God speaks, and He says the same words again, “Be strong and of a good courage.” And then he goes, “Only be thou strong, and VERY courageous” (Joshua 16, 7).

I think that this is an hour for no longer being status quo. We, as believers, we can't be those who say, “Oh well, you know, I'm not sure . . . ” No! We have to, we've got to know what God says! And we've got to be prepared to speak it out. To do that, you have to be not only courageous, but VERY courageous! That's what the Word says here. Very courageous!

When you get a chance later, go to Joshua chapter one. Look at it in your Bible, and underline that “very courageous.” Yes! And then it goes on to say: “Turn not from His Word to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper. This book of the law . . . ” I love this. I memorized this verse when I was just a young teenager. And it's been part of my life all throughout my life.

“This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein. For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee, be strong?” Here is it again!

Oh, God keeps saying this to Joshua, and He told Moses to keep saying it to him. “Be strong and of good courage. Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee, whithersoever thou goest.”

In 2 Chronicles 35:2, Josiah set the priests in their charges, and encouraged them in the service of the house of the Lord. That's that word chazaq again, meaning “to strengthen, to be valiant and courageous.”

So that's what we as mothers are doing to our children. We're just spurring them on to be valiant and courageous and strong in the things of God; and who will not waver, who, when they go out into this world, they will stand. Isn't that your greatest prayer?

Oh, you know, that's why so many are homeschooling, because they know their children are not yet ready to face the lions. Because there are lions out there. Lions devour little lambs. That's what they want to do. So we don't send our little lambs out amongst the lions. But we're getting them ready. We're strengthening them, We are pouring into them to be strong and valiant and courageous, and to conquer so that when they go out, they will not waver.

As it says in Ephesians 6:13 that they” will stand and having done all, stand.” They'll still be standing, even after the lions have been after them! Because they will get the lions.

God speaking through Haggai the prophet, says in Haggai 2:4: “Be strong, O Zerubbabel. Be strong, O Joshua the high priest. And be strong, all ye people of the land, says the Lord. For I am with thee, says the Lord of Hosts.”

Joab, when he was fighting the Syrians, he said to his army: “Be of good courage, and let us behave ourselves valiantly” (1 Chronicles 19:13) Isn't that good? They're all using that same Hebrew word.

2 Samuel 10:12. It's really the same story, but in Samuel it says here: “Be of good courage,” chazaq, “and let us play the man.” I love that. Have you heard that phrase, “play the man?”

AH: Hmm, no.

NC: Yes, it's there in the King James Bible, but when I was reading through the Knox translation of the Bible, every time that it talks about “be strong and courageous,” it was always translated, “play the man.” Now that is a phrase that means, OK, when it says, “play the man,” I love it. Because it means “act like a man”! Men are meant to be strong, valiant, courageous. So act like men!

AH: OK!

NC: Good phrase for today, isn't it?

AH: Sure.

NC: Sadly, we have . . .

AH: And that doesn't mean that women need to act manly in normal life.

NC: No!

AH: But we can act manly in our convictions.

NC: Isn't that right?

AH: Be warriors and fight for what we believe in.

NC: That's right. There he's speaking to men to be valiant in battle. But we, as women, have to be valiant in the battle . . . for this battle between evil and righteousness, and good and evil, and the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light. We're in this battle.

AH: One thing I was going to encourage. Something I find that I have a, sometimes challenging thing, to engage in conversation with my teenagers. I have found with the latest things going on in this society today, that a couple of mine have been really interested in what's going on. So I encourage dads and moms to really sit down with your teenagers (I don't really like that word) your young people.

NC: Your young people, yes.

AH: And ask them, “What do you think?”

NC: Exactly!

AH: “What do you think about these protests? How do you feel about this burning down of statues and knocking things down?” It has been, I've had some of the best conversations with a couple of mine. And they have gotten really . . .  Letting them hear what's going on, obviously in a protected way. You're not going to just hand them a phone and say, “You go research it yourself,” because they can really see some stuff you don't want them to see.

But don't be scared of letting them hear what's going on in social events and current events, and then letting them make those judgments for themselves. Bringing them back to Scripture, and then letting them process this, helping them process this.

“What should we do as Christians?” Again, that is how we're preparing them, so from Mom sitting there saying, “OK, this sounds great, but how does that look like in everyday life?” It's sitting down with your 16-year-old, taking their phones from them and saying, “Let's talk. Did you hear that this happened? Now what do you think about that? And how would you have reacted?”

NC: Yes!

AH: Or “Hey, we're about to go into this store. They're going to require masks. What are we going to do as a family? What do you think you should do?” And not just letting them follow you and do whatever you think. But question authority, Is your authority . . .

NC: Yes. So what have your older girls said when you asked them, “OK, you're not wearing a mask.” And what has been their attitude?

AH: Yeah, I think instead of just saying, “Well, whatever Mom and Dad say,” they have been researching it for themselves. We have found that there's definitely some health risks to wearing masks.

NC: Absolutely!

AH: And so because they've been able to view that research on their own, they have an opinion of their own. So when they have gone into a store, and they don't feel like they want to wear masks. They're not sick. They don't feel like it's necessary. Then they've been able to handle that themselves, instead of me telling them, “This is what you're going to say.” It's not just going to be masks; it's going to be everything.

NC: Oh! Everything!

AH: Because everything is going to come up. Because this is just the beginning.

NC: It is, and I think, you know, we're just using masks as an illustration. But it is something to talk about, because first of all, of course, we know that they are not healthy for you. I am surprised that so many people are willing to become victims. Why are people willing to become victims? I do not know.

But you know they are not healthy. Because when we have a mask on, we are breathing out and exhaling our carbon dioxide, which gets trapped when we have a mask. So we keep breathing back the waste that we're meant to breathe out into the fresh air. We're meant to breathe it out, so we can breathe in fresh air. But instead they're breathing in that stale exhaled waste air. And that is ridiculous!

Oh goodness me, I refuse to do that! I just simply refuse. Actually, there are things that you know within yourself that they're just not right. Even if you didn't know the science, and you didn't understand it. OK, they are unhealthy because of what you're doing. You're breathing in your carbon dioxide again. But even if you didn't know that, somehow you know it's not healthy.

It's like back in the years when we started raising our family. And even before God revealed to us His truth about being open to embrace children, we were still, back in those days . . . we started to use some form of birth control. But I would never, I couldn't never, never, never bring myself to use the pill because I knew it was harmful to my body.

Now it's the same thing with the masks. I know it is harmful to my body. I'm not going to wear it. Apart from that, I believe it's more than that. Because I believe it's a symbol of dumbing us down, of silencing our mouths, of tyranny over the population.

OK, I am happy for anyone who wants to wear a mask. But we live in America, the land of the free, and the home of the brave, where we should have the freedom to do what we feel is right. So therefore, we who are healthy, should be able to go without masks because we want to breathe in the fresh air. Also, we're not going to be intimidated by this leftist social fake media, and fake mayors and governors who are trying to rule their constituents.

AH: Right, they're just overstepping there.

NC: It is tyranny, tyranny in the land of the free! And why are people being victims? If everybody said No to this, well, there would be no trouble at all.

AH: Right. And I'm so encouraged by your story in college, because you're . . .

NC: Oh yes! Now we have right here beside us, Audrey, who is my new Above Rubies helper. They are recording our session today. Audrey was just sharing a little incident that she faced. Why don't you share it, Audrey?

Audrey: Of course. So I go to school at Athens Tech when I'm not here at Above Rubies. Athens Tech

had sent out an email to all of the students saying how they would really love it if we would all wear masks, but it is not required to go to school.

So I showed up at my school and walked into my classroom without a mask on. I had two teachers there that day. One of my teachers looked at me kinda funny and pulled the other teacher into the office and started talking to her. They both walked back out. She said, “Where's your mask?”

I said, 'I feel comfortable without one. I don't mind if anyone else wears one, but I'm not going to have one today.” She looked at me very strange, and she said, “I would really like it if you would put a mask on. I would really appreciate that.”

I was like, “Well, it's not an Athens Tech law that we have to have it on. It's not a policy written out.”

She said, “Yes I understand that, but I'm the teacher here, and I'm requiring you to put one on to be in my classroom.” She wasn't even the main teacher. She was an assistant teacher.

So I said “I have to respectfully disagree with you. It's not an Athens Tech policy, so I don't have to put one on.” So she said, “Well, I'm going to require you to leave and go get one.” At the time, the college had a policy that once we showed up for class, we couldn't leave until we were ready to be done for the day. I said, “I'm not done for the day yet, so I'm not going to leave. Do you have a mask I can put on? I'll help you out today, and I'll put one on if you have one for me.” I knew she didn't have one.

She said, “No, I don't have one.” I said, “Well, I'm not going to leave.” She got very frustrated and said that she would have to go work in a separate building because she didn't feel comfortable being there.

It was kinda scary. I went to the bathroom, and I called my mom. I was like, “Oh my goodness, this is happening, what should I do?” And she said, “Well, do what you know is right, because that's what we've taught you to do.”

So I walked back in there with a new courage that I knew what I had to do, and she really encouraged me to act on it. It was definitely scary, but it gave me a lot of encouragement. I feel like we're being tricked into thinking we don't have power. Especially young people, that we follow the guidelines that  we've been taught, and we don't waver from them. It gave me so much encouragement to think that I have authority to stand up for what I believe in and to stand up for what's right.

NC: Oh, I love that.

AH: You were probably the only student in the class that didn't have a mask.

Audrey: Actually I was not. The other students, after that, started taking their masks off. Only one of them kept the mask on the whole day, because I believe she had someone in her family that had an autoimmune disorder. I do as well, but she was not scared of it either. My sister has an autoimmune disorder. And she said, “I eat healthy, I haven't had any problems, so I'm not scared.” After that, a lot of the other students started taking their masks off, and weren't scared any more, which was such empowerment! That when you stand up for what's right, you change the world. You really do!

NC: That is amazing! Because it only took one person to take a stand. That is the most powerful thing of this whole session. That  is so wonderful! Thank you!

AH: I think in our city, everybody who's listening, probably most of you had your mayors come down and say you must wear masks. Again, I don't think we or you are trying to tell everyone that they should or shouldn't wear a mask. That's not the point. 

NC: No! It's the freedom!

AH: The point is, it's the freedom. Don't just feel like, don't force your . . . If you have young people who are on their own, don't encourage them to, “Hey, be submissive. Make sure you do whatever you told.”

Because it's not going to just be masks next time. It's going to be something else. It's not just . . . they

are going to be asked to do things that maybe you wouldn't even want them to do, even if you're a pro-masker out there.

But if you're raising your children to be “Yes, ma'am!” type people, then what happens when someone comes along and says, “Hey, don't you think that it's OK to question your sexuality?” “Well, my mom never really taught me to question things, so I guess you're right.”

We just get into this rut, kind of, of constantly taking what we're told, and not questioning authority. Not that we want to raise rebellious children, but we definitely want to raise children like Audrey, that will think for themselves, that are not scared to stand up for things like . . . Stand up for the unborn, and do it boldly, and do it unapologetically.

NC: Yes, and I think we have to also know what is the truth. Now each state, you need to find out, is it a statutory law in your state? If it is not an actually written statutory law, you do not have to obey it at all. In fact, they are in the wrong in putting it on you.

So we have to watch these things, because I think this mask thing is really just indicative of a trial run. Because, OK now, you're not allowed to go into the shop if you don't have a mask. You're not allowed to do this, (gasp) you're not allowed to do that (gasp)!

Now, what happens when we know, according to the Bible, there is going to come a time when we will face the mark of the beast? OK, it's all these believers who are already giving in to just wearing a little mask. They can't even be prepared to stand up for freedom in this! How are they going to stand up against the mark of the beast when they will not be allowed to buy or sell unless they take it?

Now that's going to take strength, and that's going to take martyrdom. Well, we'd better learn to have convictions now, and practice standing up. I believe with all my heart. Oh, what do you say?

AH: It's so true. I'm almost saddened to see a lot of the fighting that's going on on social media. I was sharing with you earlier, just how, like as a business owner, is this going to affect our business? Are people going to start, “Well, I'm not doing business with a local bakery in our town.”

They've been around for 50 years. They made a post on Facebook that they were not going to allow people to come into their store without a mask on. Just simply, they didn't say whether they agreed or disagreed. But the comments that they got! One lady said, “I'm canceling my cake orders! From now on, I will never walk into your store again!”

And then you've got others saying, “Oh, thank you for supporting people that have immunity issues!” I thought, my goodness, over masks, you've got such fighting and division! Families basically writing off their children because they don't agree with masks. Goodness! And you're right. It's just going to be . . . the next time will be something more important than masks.

NC: Yes, it comes back to, you know, this freedom that we have in this nation. We are the land of the free, and I believe we should keep our freedoms. We should stand for our freedoms, and not let them go. But anyway, we could talk for hours about a thousand things, and we must end now. We're over time.

Oh, Father, we've got a little bit controversial for some people, maybe, on this podcast, but we're so used to talking about things like this, and controversial things. We just think it's normal. But Lord, we pray, that You will help us all, Lord God, to seek You, and Lord, not to be victims of, Lord, a media which is a fake media, Lord, which is dishing out lies, and which is pro-murder in the womb, and pro-transgender, and hateful of God, and against the church.

“Lord, why, why do believers listen to these words that are coming from these people? Help us to be discerners, Lord, to discern who is speaking.

“Lord, most of all, we want to hear You. We want to dig into Your Word. We want to hear Your Voice speaking into our hearts. Give us courage, Lord, courage. Help us to be strong and valiant and courageous. Very courageous to stand in this hour, and to stand according to Your Word, and to stand for our freedoms according to the Constitution. We ask it in the precious Name of Jesus. Amen.”

 

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 108:- THE JOYS AND CHALLENGES OF MOTHERING

Rocky Barrett: Welcome to the podcast, From our Home to Yours, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies. 

Nancy Campbell: Hello ladies, I am so pleased to welcome today to our podcast Allison Hartman from Florida. Allison has shared with me on a number of occasions on the podcast and here she is again today. The family all arrived up yesterday from Florida because they come up every year for the July 4^th weekend. We’re looking forward to that together. It’s great to have you again, Allison.

Allison Hartman: Yes, we’re so happy to be here! We’ve been counting down the days. We look forward to this every year.

NC: This time she came with another precious baby. Tell us about this little girl. Last time you were here you were pregnant.

AH: Last time we were here was in January. We were just a few months away. March 17^th, I delivered Selah Ra’el. That’s her name and we call her Selah Rae.

She was born March 17^th, basically the day after our state shut down public schools, which shut down our business since we do pictures for public schools. She definitely lived up to her name. Selah means: “to take a rest.” She has been quite the needed rest that I’ve needed, and our family has needed even though it’s been in negative circumstances, I would say, with the COVID.

It’s been such an amazing blessing to have her. She’s wonderful.

NC: And she is the prettiest baby you could ever see in your life. If you want to see pictures, go to Allison’s Facebook.

AH: Yes, it’s just Allison Frost Hartman. Go see my little sweet baby doll!

NC: She is beautiful and the eleventh baby for the Hartman’s.

Sometimes young mothers think, “Oh goodness, how could I have enough love to have another baby” or “How could I be able to give another baby enough attention because I want to really be faithful as a mother and give to every child that God gives me.”

Oh precious young moms, if you could only understand! In fact, I don’t think you can understand unless you experience it. But I see little Selah as the eleventh baby of this family and if Allison can get hold of her baby to feed her, well that is miraculous.

She has these ten other siblings just holding her, gooing at her, doting over her, watching her, smiling at her, touching her, and holding her all day long.

AH: It’s so true! The day she was born all the children came to see her at the hospital. We had to set a timer for every five minutes. We had to switch children because they fought over her, I mean fought over her!

Our little six-year-old, Anna Lee, I would say she probably changes the majority of the diapers and she’s six! We have this little Wild Bird Sling and she puts her in it, and she totes her around. We’ve been to Wal-Mart with it and she totes her around like she’s her own.

I always say we’re raising mommies and daddies.

NC: That’s so true! All your children are so capable. They’re all like mothers.

I mean, your older ones and they’re just incredible, but even these little young ones, they are just so amazing!

AH: Yes! Selah’s just a live baby doll.

NC: I mean, I watched little Anna Lee— she had the baby on the table changing the diaper. I looked over and I had to think for a moment, because I thought she had a doll because she is so much like a doll. But yes, she was just changing her diaper and it was just like playing.

AH: She’s just been such a blessing. I don’t even know how much I explained to you but after this baby was born it was just so much all at once with shutting our business down. We were the last birth in the hospital that our midwife allowed visitors. I was the last birth that they allowed anyone to be in my room.

The very next birth that my midwife delivered, they only allowed one other person. Well I had twelve people at my birth.

NC: Oh well, how would you have survived without your family?

AH: It would not have been fun because I had all five of my girls there, my mom there, a friend who did photography for us, several friends. I like a big party for my births. I’m kind of weird in that way.

Right after she was born it was just silence. We had hardly any visitors, no meals brought, which it wasn’t that we needed the food, but we wanted the fellowship.

NC: I know, it is a terrible let down, because when you’ve given birth, especially if you have had a natural birth, you have your oxytocin high. That oxytocin high is one of the most amazing things you can experience in the world.

You’re on a high after you have given birth and you want to tell the world. You want everyone to see your baby.

AH: We didn’t get to show her off at church for three months.

NC: You can just imagine all of these mothers, maybe some of you have birthed in this time and you have been deprived of that blessing in this celebration of birth.

AH: I don’t want to speak this over me or anyone else, but it was very easy to slip into, if I had to label it, it would be postpartum depression, which I actually have never dealt with and never really understood.

There was just so much at once. Literally it was having our business taken away from us because the government shut it down, it was no visitors, no fellowship, not being able to share her with other people.

But God knew I needed, being 45 and having a baby later in life, she was such a nice bonus to have in kind of a depressing time.

NC: When you think of how mothers have missed out on the celebrating with other mothers. This reminds me again of so many older people who have been totally shut away in nursing homes, not allowed to have visitors.

Collin and I just received news last week of a dear, precious friend who passed away down in Australia. We had been together from the beginning of our marriage, 57 years ago. We were in full time work with this couple. Oh, such a precious couple. She is French and he is Irish, and they were just a delight.

We got the news that he had passed away. His dear wife was telling us that he had had a stroke a while back and had to go into a nursing home. But they were a couple who were never separated. They were always together. They were a “together couple.”

Even when he went into the nursing home, she went every day. She would take him out in the car. They spent the whole day together. They were a “together couple.”

Then this crazy COVID happened and they only allowed her half an hour a day. They had never been separated.

They expected him to live for quite a long time because he was doing well. She was just this little wee thing and she wasn’t able to cope with all the things you have to do with a stroke. But he just died because I’m sure it was that loneliness and just being deprived of his wife. It’s not even right.

I think everybody is realizing now that the numbers of these deaths have not been accurate. They have been coined. We have been made to believe through the fake media so much of what is wrong.

But now we are seeing the tragedies of so many people dying of loneliness, people committing suicide, getting depression, and all of these things happen because this is not the way we were meant to live.

We were meant to live as families and then as extended families with people. We are made for interaction, aren’t we? We’re made to share our lives with one another.

AH: Our church, thankfully, didn’t miss many Sundays. But there are a lot of people . . . I was just recently reading yesterday, a friend of mine was writing how this is really, really just taking a toll on her to just not have physical fellowship.

Everything is going virtual and you’re just like, “Why?” I was just reading today, “VBS virtual.” What is that? How can you do a VBS affectively virtually?

I’m not necessarily a VBS fan but that physical touch and that fellowship just are important. Thankfully in our home we really never got bored. There’s nothing boring. Even staying isolated home for three months, there was never, “Oh my goodness, what am I going to do with my day?”

Life pretty much was very hopping. But I did read about several suicides in our town and you wonder if they were COVID related just because of depression.

Some men find their worth in their career. I am a woman and our family business went from doing very well to zero income and it took a toll on me emotionally. Does that make sense? I felt a little bit depressed over the fact that we have no income and I’m not even the breadwinner.

But it affected me, so how much more so did it affect the fathers and the Breadwinners of the mothers and families?

NC: Well, it goes against the Bible, which says that if a man does not provide for his family, he is worse than an infidel (1 Timothy 5:8).

Here they are being mandated not to provide. That is going against who God created them to be. It takes away their worth and their manhood.

AH: I just read that they expect 80%, and Lord willing this won’t happen, but 80% of the restaurants could be shut down because of this second wave of scare that they’re trying to do.

NC: That is only a scare. They put out all these numbers at the beginning and they did not happen. In fact they had to try and make them happen by saying this person died of COVID when they already had other symptoms, which really was the underlying factor.

Talk about that friend of yours who went to do a test and then cancelled. She was going to get a test but cancelled and then two weeks later she got a phone call saying that her test came back positive and she didn’t even have the test. How crazy can you be?

AH: Right, right it’s crazy. How is this possible? Well, we all heard about where the Connecticut governor was exposed by Candace Owens by claiming that a newborn had died of COVID. But they came to find out that this little baby had possibly accidentally smothered the baby in bed. So it wasn’t a COVID death, but the baby was tested somewhat positive.

Any way, you just hear story after story.

NC: Yes, well any way we’re kind of getting on a bandwagon! We’d better get off!

You must tell what you have gone through since this birth. With coming back from Israel you caught a disease.

AH: Yes, so our last podcast we were quite excited. We got back from Israel. I had apparently gotten into contaminated water in Israel and didn’t even realize it until four or five weeks later until my midwife called and said, “You are positive for giardia.”

That is very much a third world country, not something you would normally get in the United States.

NC: Nor usually in Israel, which is a very clean country.

AH: Right and she said, “You could have gotten it from a salad, eating it with contaminated water.” For most healthy people you would just get it, take a round of antibiotics, and you’d be fine. Because I was pregnant, I think it took a toll on me. So now I am six months later and still struggling with giardia.

I have tried everything from natural stuff to taking things that the doctors’ prescribed. Unfortunately I haven’t gotten any relief. So that’s been kind of an added stress to dealing with postpartum. After you have a baby can always be a bit of an emotional rollercoaster.

Added to that was the giardia, the COVID, and our business, but anyway it’s definitely been a little bit tough for me the past few months.

NC: But you’re always still on the top, aren’t you?

AH: Yes, you just have to think of the positives. Even with COVID, it was funny because I was thinking, “I wonder if Nancy Campbell had something to do with this COVID because when you think about it, you had families eating together every night. A lot of families that normally weren’t eating dinner together were sitting around the table. Parents and children were spending time together. There were some positives, I’m sure, that came out of it.

I was just talking to somebody in your living room today and she said that her son was on the bandwagon of college. Because of COVID, he really had time to sit back and think, “Is this something I really want to do or do I want to go into business for myself.” It really changed him for the better.

I’m sure there are some positives and that’s what I kept trying to remind myself: You have an amazing, sweet little baby. You have a family that’s all together. We’re debt free.

That’s another thing. When our business shut down, had we not been debt free I don’t know what we would have done. But I didn’t have to worry that we wouldn’t be able to have food for our children. Thankfully our business was going to be able to ride the storm and hopefully it can continue to.

NC: Tell us now, you’re tandem nursing, aren’t you?

AH: I am, I am. When we had gotten back from Israel, I had not nursed my two-year-old for two weeks while we went out of town. We came home, because he stayed here with you and one of my older girls. The day I came home he just started nursing again.

Yes, so I am nursing a newborn and a two-year-old. Sometimes he thinks he’s a newborn.

NC: He nurses the most, doesn’t he?

AH: Oh it’s ridiculous. Last night he nursed three times in the middle of the night. He definitely loves this milk supply. It’s wonderful. I have tandem nursed six times, with six different sets of babies.

NC: So you can do it, ladies!

AH: Oh, I could write a book on the advantages and the benefits of tandem nursing. I get mastitis a lot and one of the advantages for me is if I did not have him nursing, I would have all that extra milk and I would have to be stuck to a pump.

So for me it’s like I’m not wasting this milk. It’s going to one of my other children.

Also that mother bond with your toddler. A lot of times you have a baby and you tend to feel like you’re pushing him away a lot and saying, “Mama’s got the baby.” That’s Ezra’s special time and mine together.

NC: Oh what does he say about it? He’s got these little things that he says.

AH: Yeah, well when I was pregnant, I didn’t have any milk so he would say, “Just a little nurse? Just a little nurse?” Now he’ll say, “I want big nurse!”

He also will say, “Selah Rae need nurse, too?” and I’ll say, “Yeah, she needs to be first.”

Sometimes he will get impatient and say, “Selah Rae’s turn over. Me turn, me turn, me want to nurse!”

NC: Aw, how beautiful.

AH: He knows exactly, and you know, he’s so sweet and innocent. There’s no shame on his face when he’s asking. He doesn’t think he’s asking anything that he shouldn’t and he’s not doing anything wrong.

I just have to make sure I eat enough, and I eat well, and I’m drinking enough to provide for two little ones.

NC: And you know, you’re prone to mastitis. Some mothers are but you have found something that has been helpful.

AH: Yeah. When I had my first baby, Makenna, 21 years ago, I lost count, but I think I got mastitis over 20 times. I got it so much because I would just have so much milk.

A couple years ago I was telling a nurse friend of mine about my constant clogged duct issue, how I would just get clogged ducts all the time.

I had tried from nursing on all fours to even drinking a non-alcoholic beer and I don’t even like beer. I had tried everything that I had heard, and she mentioned lecithin. Obviously, there’s soy lecithin and there’s sunflower lecithin.

Trim Healthy Mama makes a sunflower lecithin, which is non-GMO and a lot better for you.

She said, “You have to be taking lecithin. It thins your milk” because what happens with mastitis is you get a clogged duct.

In fact, Vange (Evangeline Johnson, my daughter) called me the other day because Rashida was getting mastitis. She had the clogged duct and she was already starting to get a fever.

She called me and said, “Serene told me to call Mrs. Hartman because she will know what to do” and it’s honestly because I have had it so much.

But if you have clogged duct issues take lecithin. I take it now daily.

NC: And how do you take it?

AH: You can take a powder, which Trim Healthy Mama sells. I’m not advertising for them necessarily. It’s a great product and its awesome families you’re supporting. You can put a scoop in a smoothie or coffee. It’s not the best tasting stuff.

NC: No, it’s not. I find I can put only a little wee bit in.

AH: If I put a scoop in a smoothie, I find I normally can’t taste it. Now coffee, because it’s hard to stir up, it might be a little bit more challenging. You might just want to throw it into a blender and it’s fine.

I have also ordered some gel capsules of lecithin so that I can take them daily with prenatal vitamins so that I don’t forget. I tend to be a creature of habit and if it’s there on my nightstand I will take it every day.

If you ever have an issue with mastitis or clogged ducts do not hesitate to call me (850 221 1222) because I could most probably write a book on it.

There are ways to not have to do antibiotics, which is something I don’t do. You don’t want to get addicted to that.

NC: Yes. Now you have mentioned that Makenna, your oldest, is now 21 and she is engaged.

AH: Yes, yes, so it’s so neat! A year ago today we were at your house and, I probably even told you this, but I remember being at the volleyball court and I looked at my husband and I said, “Are any of our girls ever going to be pursued?”

You all have gorgeous guys and girls up here at the hilltop. It seemed like everyone had someone who they were interested in, but my girls were interested in none of them.

NC: And your girls are all so beautiful!

AH: I know, I know, I thought, “What’s wrong with our girls? Maybe there’s something we can’t see!”

He laughed at me and said, “Allison, it is going to happen one day and when it does it’s going to be like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom” because we have a 21 year old, an 18, and a 16 year old girls and obviously, in my opinion, they’re gorgeous.

NC: Yes, they’re beautiful.

AH: Maybe the guys are scared of me. That’s what I’m thinking because I’m pretty tough. We’re not an easy mom and dad to deal with because we do have pretty tough rules. We’re not into the way most people view dating. I’m not interested in that.

But that very weekend that we left your house we went and met a family, the Crevier’s, who are from South Dakota. One of their sons was with them and it was love at first sight when they saw each other.

That was a year ago July 8^th. They are now engaged and they’re going to be married October 24^th. That’s going to be super special.

He proposed to her on February 17^th on our new property and I was doing my maternity pictures that day.

He snuck in behind, got on his knee, and proposed to her during my maternity shoot. I thought that was so amazing! Most people would look at it as a negative like, “Oh my goodness, you’re in a million different stages of life!”

But how fun that I have this new precious baby and then I have this newlywed couple to be. They love baby Selah Rae.

Josiah is the name of Makenna’s fiancé. My two-year-old, Ezra, is his best friend and he absolutely loves him.

I mean what’s not to love. He is a wonderful young man. To me, it’s a neat thing to see that they can start marriage and see that this isn’t new to them. They know exactly what to do.

NC: He comes from a family of twelve children?

AH: Yes, he’s number five of twelve. His family is amazing. In fact, their family is going to be at the upcoming Above Rubies family camp.

NC: Yes, so let’s talk about that because last time you were here, we were telling everybody to come to the wonderful annual Panama Above Rubies family retreat. And then it was cancelled.

AH: So I was in the hospital having the baby and I get a phone call from Laguna, which is the retreat center we were having the retreat at, and the young guy said, “I’m so sorry to tell you but we’re going to have to cancel out on y ’all.”

I knew it was inevitable, but I was thinking positive. I was thinking, “This COVID thing is not going to continue on.”

Well as we all know, it has taken over our world and so it did cancel just about everything I was looking forward to this spring.

But that’s okay because he said, “Look I’m going to have to cancel you, but we would love for you to reschedule.”

Several families were like, “Maybe we should just cancel all together.”

I said, “Nope, we’re not going to do it” because these families, especially mine, we look forward to this every year. This is our family vacation. This is our family reunion. There’s already about 40 or 50 families signed up to come.

So many of them, we are looking forward to seeing them because we see them year after year.

There are a lot of new families coming, which is always so much fun.

But what it is. It started out as a Ladies’ Retreat, which I would put on with you years ago and then it got to where my husband said, “Hey if you’re going to keep doing these, I want to be a part of them.”

So it went from a Ladies’ Retreat and then it went to a Family C amp and then the youth got really on fire. Zadok came a couple times and it has turned into this, I don’t even know what to say.

NC: A family celebration!

AH: Yeah, a week-long family celebration. We’re right on the Gulf.

NC: It’s just so amazing. You have to come from anywhere in America because where we are, we’re right opposite the ocean.

The whole thing is August 18^th to the 25^th. The main part is still the weekend.

AH: August 20^th is starting the actual conference, so the 20^th, 21^st, 22^nd and 23^rd.

But the retreat center will give us a little discount, a break, on the weeklong fee. So I would say that 90% of the families that come go ahead and book for the whole week, so they have some family time.

They’re not thinking like, “Man, we just came all this way and all we did was go to meetings” even though that’s the best part.

But after the retreat is over on Sunday you still have Monday and Tuesday to visit with other families that you’ve met. It’s a fun time.

We do have a bigger campus this year. We’re at the same property but they’re giving us the bigger campus because we rescheduled. So we do have a larger facility. However, we have already booked up the majority of it. The last time I checked with one of my friends whose helping me put it on, she said, “We’re almost out of housing.”

If you’re even kind of interested I would get on registering right away. I just talked to the Ruby girls  and told them about it.

NC: Yes, so anyway, go to my website, aboverubies.org and you’ll find out all about the information there and you can book.

Although Colin and I speak to the folks over the weekend, we always bring in someone special and different each time. This time it’s, how do you say their last name?

AH: It’s the family that I was just talking about, the Crevier’s.

NC: Crevier! Of course, now Makenna is engaged to Josiah, who is one of the Crevier’s. And tell the people what they do! This is going to be so interesting.

AH: It’s going to be so fun too. We met them about a year and a half ago at the Volleyball Nationals where they were hired to do a show.

You can go on YouTube and type in Crevier family. They were on America’s Got Talent. They go around the country sharing the Gospel while doing the most amazing, exciting, entertaining show. They use basketballs, spin basketballs, they unicycle, they juggle.

NC: They’re on high unicycles. Are they 14 feet high or how high?

AH: Yeah, I think they are 12 feet high and because they have 12 children, they use every single one of their family members, even their little twin babies. They’re ten years old and even they are up on unicycles.

They were the best part of this tournament that we went to. That’s how we met their family. But they’re on NBA halftime shows. They’re in schools and churches. They have a prison ministry. They do their shows overseas. They’re just incredible.

When I met him, I said, “I need to know, how do you get 12 children and your wife all to be on the same page.” Because really, that’s all we want in our families, we want to be a team.

We may not be able to unicycle and we may not be able to spin a basketball but we all, everyone whose listening, you want your family to be a team. You don’t want to be a bunch of individual sports.

I was amazed at how watching their show, he would have to allow zero disobedience. He would have to expect when he says, “Go” they go immediately because if not, you’ll mess up the whole show.

But anyway, I’m not going to give away anything. You’re going to love them. You’re going to love their message and you’re going to love their show. They’re also going to do little break-out sessions and they’re going to teach children how to unicycle and spin basketballs.

It’s going to be so much fun. They’re excited about coming. Sadly for them, their business has gotten shut down because of this COVID thing because there are no large assemblies anymore.

So I’m excited that they’re going to come to our town in Pensacola after the retreat and we’re booking them at a big church to do an event there and try to book them up as many shows as we can.

NC: It sounds so good. By the way, I want one of your figs. Hey, when they arrived yesterday, they came with all these baskets of figs right off of their trees in Florida.

I’ve always been a lover of dried figs. They’re actually one of my favorite foods. But fresh figs are even greater than dried figs!

AH: That was the only reason why we didn’t want to come up here because they were in full bloom. I would send my four-year-old and six-year-old and they picked, just in ten minutes, they would come back with a huge basket full of figs. They were just falling off the trees.

We have about ten fig trees about the size of this room. They are huge fig trees. My husband’s hard gardening work is finally starting to pay off. The harvest is here. It’s nice. So we wanted to share yummy figs with y ‘all.

NC: Thank you! Well ladies, we’ve got more to share so I think we’ll end this session and, can you do another session?

AH: Yeah, definitely, let’s do it!

NC: Of course little Selah is asleep. The older girls have taken all the other little ones over to the Allison’s.

So we’ve got all the little Allison’s and the little Hartman’s and all the middling Allison’s and the middling Hartman’s. We have them all in these various stages.

AH: They all have friends of their ages. It’s so neat.

NC: We have a little bit of quietness here in our lounge at the moment so we’ll make the most of it and actually, although you’ll get the next session the next week, we’re going to do it now. Okay?

Let’s pray.

“Dear Father, We thank You that we can talk about the things of life that we face each day, what we face as mothers and wives. I pray that You would bless every wife and every mother today. Encourage them, Father.

“I pray that You will lead us and I pray that You will lead each one listening into all of Your truth, Lord God, that we will not be women who are tossed around to and fro by what is said and what is going on in this world all around. But I pray that we would be women who are settled and rooted in Your Word and who live by it and who train our children by it. We ask this in the precious and lovely name of Jesus. Amen.”

 

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 107: TOGETHERNESS, Part 4

God has given us 31 different things that He wants us to do to one another, in our homes, and in our extended church family. One for every day of the month! These “one another” principles will bring “heaven on earth” to your family life, and revival to your church life.

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

Nancy Campbell: Today, ladies, we continue again to share about our “mutual faith.” In Romans 1, verse 12, the Bible calls our faith not a singular faith, but a “mutual faith,” both of you and me. Most other places where that word is translated in the New Testament, it says:

“one another,”

“one to another,”

“one toward another,”

“one with another,”

“one of another,”

“one for another,” and

“members one of another”

and so on. I found 31 “one anothers” that God wants us to have towards one another in our lives, in our family lives, and in our church lives.

So today, we're up to “one another”. . .

No. 10.  EDIFY ONE ANOTHER ( (Romans 14:19; 15:1-3; 2 Corinthians 12:19; and 1 Thessalonians 5:11. ).

That means to build one another up. I have a number of Scriptures, and as I mentioned last time, I won't give you them all, because I know you're most probably cleaning, working, cooking something, or doing something. But you can get the transcript, and then you'll be able to get the Scriptures from there (you’ll notice I am giving them all to you now. Look them up when you get a chance.)

Edify means “to build up.” We need to build up our husbands. Build up our children. And then we continue that in the body of Christ, when we come together. We're always seeking to build up. Each person we talk to, or we meet. Just imagine, if every person is building up one another, what that would do in the Body of Christ?

No. 11. ESTEEM AND DELIGHT IN ONE ANOTHER (Psalm 16:2-3 and Philippians 2:3).

No. 12. FELLOWSHIP WITH ONE ANOTHER (Malachi 3:16 and 1 John 1:7).

This is very much part of church life. In Acts, Chapter 2, we read about the way they lived in the beginning of the church, when the church was first born. They fellowshipped together daily, not just once a week. But daily they got together and met with one another in each others' homes. They met in the Temple, and they met in their homes.

Yes, we could read again, verse 42: “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and the breaking of bread,  and in prayers.” Do you notice that it wasn't just, “we come together, we sing, and we hear the Bible preached to us.” No, they came together in fellowship. They broke bread together. They prayed together.

Down in verse 46: “They, continuing daily . . . breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat together with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God . . . ” You see, it was more than going to church. It was a lifestyle, wasn't it?

Fellowship, true fellowship, as we were talking in our last podcast, it is “face to face.” Fellowship, you can't have fellowship unless you're face-to-face.

I know many of you have been having Zoom church. That has been a blessing to you over this time, but it was only temporary. And it's time to be back full force, meeting with one another, fellowshipping with one another, dear ladies. This is what the Bible tells us to do.

I remember when we first came to Nashville. That was, goodness, how many years ago? I think it was about 1992 we came to Nashville. Our sons were already living here, because they were in the music industry (the NEWSBOYS) and going to a church in town. We went along with them for a few weeks, until we began to be established in the church we began to pastor here.

It was interesting, the Bible teacher at church was just amazing. Oh, people flocked to hear his word. I loved his teaching. It was so great! So we enjoyed that little time there, but oh, it was hard to fellowship. When church was over, everybody scrammed. They were gone! Nobody hung around and talked with one another. We tried to talk to people, because that's what we were used to, but nobody seemed to be interested. They were too much in a hurry.

But one Sunday, just as it was time for everybody to leave, down came a great downpour of rain. It was just pelting down! Nobody could even run for their cars, so they were all huddled in the foyer. I thought, “Whoo-hoo, now's a good time! I'll be able to fellowship! Wow!”

So I turned to someone next to me and said, “Hi, I'm  Nancy Campbell. We've just recently come from New Zealand, (No, Australia, that's right, because we lived . . .  were born in New Zealand, and then we lived ten years in Australia before coming here).” And they said, “Ah, yes,” and never kind of continued the conversation.

 So, “Oh well, I'll try to talk to somebody else.” But they weren't interested in having a conversation. All they were interested in was watching . . . as soon as there was a little break, they were going to run for it! And they come to church, praise the Lord, they got a good Word, praise the Lord, but they had no interest in fellowshipping, which is really the heart and soul of church life.

Oh, precious ladies, don't be one who runs off as soon as church is over. Fellowship for a while. Better still, ask someone home to your place for a meal, so you can continue that fellowship.

Colin and I, we have always had people in our home, either a fellowship meal, or just asking people. When our church didn't have a fellowship meal at that season, we would always ask folks home. I remember when our children were younger, Colin and I would ask folks home for a meal.

Then our children, who saw what we were doing, they would begin to ask people home. When they got to teens, they'd be asking their friends. We'd get home and sometimes find 30 or 40 people!

“Wow! How am I going to feed them?!” Well, I learned to do that. I would always put on a big huge pot of something, a meat dish or something, before I left for church. Then we'd have other things ready to put out on the table.

Back in Australia, they used to have hot . . . (Now of course, I'm someone who makes my own bread. I don't even make normal whole grain bread. I make sourdough bread, and I make it with spelt and rye. I just can't even eat other bread. When my bread runs out, I starve on bread until I get my next load made.)

But back in those days, we would give our children a day off of homemade bread. On Sundays they were allowed to have hot white bread. So the shops used to make it hot on Sundays. You could go after church, and you could buy this hot bread, right out of the oven! Oh, they so loved it! It wasn't really very good for you. But anyway, we'd buy that, and take a load of it home. Everybody loved this hot white bread, fresh out of the oven.

All the other dishes I'd previously made. Sometimes people would bring something too, which was so lovely. I had always taught our children, when you are asked to a home for a meal, never go without taking something. That's something I drummed into them all their lives: “When you go to someone's place for a meal, always take something with you, something to add to the meal.”

If you've been asked previously, and you say, “Well, is there anything I can bring?” And they say, “No, we've got it all under control, you don't need to bring anything,” well, buy a little gift. Buy some flowers. Buy something. Always take something. That's etiquette. That's protocol.

Not everybody knows true etiquette, unfortunately. But some did, and some would bring something extra to add.

But we would fellowship. Oh, goodness me! It was so wonderful! I mean, it's the most terrible thing, to go to church and come home and just, “Well, what are we going to do?” You know, it's the Lord's day. It's the day for the people of God, to bless them and minister to them.

I remember one time, I think it was when I had quite a lot of young children. I said to my husband, “Darling, let's not ask anybody home this Sunday. I'm just worn out. I just want to rest.” So, “OK,” he said, “we won't ask anybody.” So, we didn't.

We came home from church and nobody came with us! We looked at each other and we were bored out of our brains! It just wasn't the same. We were used to the fellowship of the people of God. That was the last time we did that! It was so boring. After that, we always made sure we asked someone to come home with us. Or more than one, of course!

OK, what are we up to here? Yes, here's . . .

No. 13. FORBEAR WITH ONE ANOTHER (Ephesians 4:2 and Colossians 3:13).

Putting up with all kinds of different people. They're not all going to be lovely.

They’re not all going to be just your type, but you don't just keep to your type. You embrace all those who are in the body because everyone is important.

You may think they're a misfit, but no, in God's eyes, they're a fit. Because He wants to join every believer, “fitly joined together.” He's going to put every one into the body, into the building. Every one is important, even if we think they really are a bit of a misfit, and were better not in it. No, not in God's eyes, and He hasn't finished with them yet. Nor is He finished with us. So, forbearing with one another.

No. 14. FORGIVE ONE ANOTHER (Matthew 6:14, 15; 18:21-35; Ephesians 4:32; and Colossians 3:13). The Amplified Version states: “Willingly forgiving each other.”

You dare not hold unforgiveness. It will destroy you. It will destroy your family. Always forgive, no matter what people have done. It's often hard. It's difficult. You don't feel like it. But we don't live this life by our feelings. We live it according to the Word of God.

Matthew 4:4: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” We don't live by how we feel. We live by every word that God has given to us. It's always for our blessing. So He reminds us, forgive one another.

No. 15. LIVE IN HARMONY WITH ONE ANOTHER (Romans 15:5 TLB and RSV).

No. 16. HELP ONE ANOTHER WITH YOUR GIFTS AND YOUR ABILITIES (1 Peter 4:10 (GNB) and Hebrews 10:24).Use your gifts to help and bless others. 

No. 17. HONOR AND PREFER ONE ANOTHER above yourself  (Romans 12:10 and Philippians 2:3, 4).

No. 18. SHOW HUMILITY TO ONE ANOTHER (Ephesians 4:2; Philippians 2:3; and 1 Peter 3:8 (all GNB).

No. 19. PRACTICE HOSPITALITY TO ONE ANOTHER (Acts 2:41-47; Romans 12:13; and 1 Peter 4:9).

Let's go, shall we, to 1 Peter, chapter 4. I'll read you this Scripture. 1 Peter 4: 7: “The end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer. And above all things, have fervent love among yourselves . . . Use hospitality one to another, without grudging.”

Now let's look at this word in the context. Isn't it interesting, ladies, that Peter is writing, and he says, “Folks, the end of all things is at hand!” Now when you hear a message like that, if your preacher, your  pastor was to get up and say to you on Sunday, “People, the end of all things is at hand!” we would expect the next words to come out of his mouth, “It's time to get right with God! If you've got something, if you've got sin in your life, you'd better repent! If you've got unforgiveness in your heart, you'd better forgive! You've got to get ready, because the end is coming!”

Well, we would expect that, wouldn't we? But that's not what the Bible says.

“The end of all things is at hand.”

“Be sober.” That means to get your thinking straight. It's not just meaning well, don't get drunk. It's to have a proper understanding of what is right.

“Watch and pray” and

“Love one another.”

“Use hospitality to one another without grudging.”

Hospitality, dear ladies, is the lifestyle of the Kingdom of God. Our God is an hospitable God. Oh, He wants His House filled! He wants eternity filled! In the parable where Jesus said: “Go out into the highways and the byways, and compel them to come in, that My house may be filled” (Luke 14;23). That's God's heart for His eternal home, that it will be filled. God is the God of the full house.

Now I believe if we are wanting to get God's house filled, we need to fill our houses along the way. Do you like to fill your house with the people of God? Can I ask you a personal question? Well, I think I can, because you can't answer me personally. So you can answer it in your heart, so you won't be embarrassed.

But when was the last time you invited some people to your home? To sit around your table for a meal? When was the last time? Was it a week ago? Or a month ago? Maybe a year ago? Oh, in the early church, in the lifestyle of the Kingdom of God, it was every day!

Now I have to confess, I don't have extra people in our home every day, well, they do, every day people are coming in and out. But around my meal table, I do try to have people at least a couple of times a week, more if possible.

But even if you can start out once a week, taking someone home for a meal on Sunday. Think about it. During the week, think of a family in your fellowship, just a young family maybe, who needs encouragement. Call them up and say, “Hey, how would you like to come home and have a meal with us after Sunday church? We'd love you to come!”

Now we are living in such inhospitable days that some people don't even know how to accept hospitality. Sometimes you've got to really work on them. “Yes, we'd love you to come! Please do!” Be excited about them coming. Then you can be preparing and thinking towards it as you get ready for Sunday.

You can prepare the day before, food that you can have ready, so you're not trying to fuss around and get it all ready when they come. Just stuff you can heat up  or bring out to the table. You don't have to make it all so amazing and perfect, and some new dish you've never cooked before. In fact, that's the worst thing to do! Never try out a new dish on visitors! That's the worst thing, because it just might be a flop.

Always do your good old favorites, because then you know they’ll be a success. You can have it ready just to heat up. You can add salad and extra bread and so on to the table. People are not there to see how good a meal it is. They are there to feel loved.

Oh, there are so many families who have never been invited for a meal! How can we live in the Body of Christ and never be invited to another home for a meal? That's not the lifestyle of the Kingdom of God. We're living a false lifestyle, ladies! Come one, that's got to change! The end of all things is getting closer. So let's do what the Bible says! That is to show hospitality to one another.

Well, maybe you grew up, and you were never used to hospitality in your home. And I will admit I'm sure it must be much harder to do when you haven't been used to it. Praise the Lord, I was used to it. I lived in a hospitable home. Anybody who knocked at my door, my father would be there. He'd open the door.

“Hello! Welcome! Come on in! Come and sit at our table! Oh, we'll get some food out!”

My parents loved to feed people. We fed hundreds of people at our table as I grew up. So to me, as I got married, it was just normal to feed hundreds of people at my table. In fact, Colin and I started hospitality, guess when we started? Did we wait ‘til we got everything together, and got our home just right, and all this will be nice to bring people to?

No, we started on our honeymoon! We went away up north of New Zealand. We didn't think we'd see anybody we knew. But there, we went out on a boat for a day, and there were some people from our church! Wow!

“Oh, hi! How great to see you! Hey, come home and have a meal with us!” So we just didn't know how to say anything different. That was our lifestyle! So we had people for our house at a meal. We made a meal for them on our honeymoon.

I remember, because when we were first married, Colin and I went to the Philippines as missionaries. I remember when we came back. We came back and we got this house. We were living out of suitcases. We had three little babies. We just lived out of our suitcases. We didn't have enough chairs, but we still invited people.

“Come home with us!” So we'd get boxes out of our garage for them to sit on. We would borrow utensils and cutlery. No, you call it the silverware here. Back Down Under, we call it the cutlery. We would borrow them from the church to bring home.

But it was all so simple! You see, it's simplicity. What does the Bible say? “He that giveth, let him do it with simplicity” (Romans 12:8).When you're showing hospitality, you are giving. You are giving of your life. You're giving of your time. You're giving of your home.

Now you do it with simplicity. It doesn't matter if your home's not perfect. It doesn't matter if your table's an old rickety one. Oh, it doesn't matter if you haven't got enough chairs. Find boxes to sit on! We've done that so many times. So do it with simplicity. Just cook a simple meal. The main thing is to cook plenty of it!

Yes, hospitality is the lifestyle of the Kingdom of God. Hospitality is a biblical doctrine that begins in Genesis and weaves through the pages of the Bible, right up until Revelation. Hospitality is an extension of your mothering and homemaking ministry. You see, you cook for your family. Part of what you do every day is serve them at your table.

So hospitality is just an extension of that. You just cook a bit more. Just put a bit more in the pot. When you're having people, you just cook what you cook for your family. Just make more. It's simple.

But it does take some extra work. It does take serving. And it does take cleaning up. When they're all gone, and you've had children too, well, there's a mess to clean up. There are dishes to do. But, darling ladies, this is the lifestyle God loves! And when you're cleaning up the mess, and when you're finding broken things, and when you're doing the dishes, rejoice! You are in the perfect will of God. You are in the very heart of serving God. You're doing as much as some preacher preaching from a pulpit. In fact, most probably more. I'm sure it touches God's heart even more.

Romans 12:13 says that we are to be “given to hospitality.” That means that we, it's our lifestyle. We just, oh, we can't help ourselves! We can't help ourselves saying “Come!” The Living Bible of that Scripture says, “Get into the habit of inviting guests home for dinner. Or if they need lodging for the night.”

1 Corinthians 16:15 says: “You know the house of Stephanas,” says Paul, “they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints.” This home of Stephanas and his wife and family, they were addicted to hospitality. Addicted to having people in their home! Addicted to ministering to the saints! It was their life!

That's what it's meant to be. It's not just going to church. Church is so important. But we go to church to meet the people, to come together. From that we are going to minister to them, and bless them, and show hospitality to them. How can you show hospitality to people when you don't even meet them?

Hebrews 13:2 says: “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” Amen.

If you haven't asked anybody to your home for a long time, talk to the Lord about it. Just say, “Lord, who would You want me to invite?” The Lord will show you. In fact, I usually have so many on my heart, I have a list. I write them down as God puts them on my heart. Then I have to just, OK, I can look at my little list. Oh, who will I have this time? Because I have so many on my heart! I can never get through my list of all the people I want to have in my home.

But maybe if you're not used to it, you don't even feel you could maybe cope with a big family, or even a little family. You can always cope with one person. Even to reach out and invite one lonely person. A widow. Someone living on their own. A student maybe, away from home. A single mom and their child. An older person.

You can embrace one person, even as Jesus sat the well and spoke to that woman. And out of that, a whole town came to know Jesus. Sometimes Jesus ministered to the crowds. Sometimes just to one. Start with one. You'll build up your confidence to be able to invite more.

All right. Number 20:

No. 20. BE KIND TO ONE ANOTHER (Romans 12:10; Ephesians 4:32; and Colossians 3:12).

No 21. LOOK OUT FOR ONE ANOTHER’S INTERESTS, not just your own (Philippians 2:4 (GNB) and 1 Corinthians 10:24.

That's a good thing to do, isn't it? So easy to get caught up in what we're doing. Get caught up in just what we're involved in. I can do that. I mean, I find that I am so busy in the ministry of Above Rubies. It takes every day of my life. I pour out my life to encourage the mothers of the world.

But I have to watch that I'm not just taken up with my ministry, although I don't like to think of it as my ministry. I like to think of it as God's ministry, because He wants so much to encourage and build up mothers and wives. But there are times when I have to stop and think, OK what are other things that others are doing, that I know? I need to encourage them. I need to take time and bless them in what they are doing.

I remember way back, even back in New Zealand days, where I started Above Rubies, back in New Zealand. When I started it, of course, I was very much taken up with doing it all. God really spoke to me. He said, “Nancy, what about what others are doing?”

And I thought of a lovely family in our church who were fostering children. I said, “Wow, what a great ministry!” So I took time out and went to visit her, to just take some food to her, and just sit down with her, and bless her, and tell her “Oh, what a great work you are doing! God is so pleased with you.” And encouraged her. So we need to take time to think of others.

No. 22. LOVE ONE ANOTHER (John 13:34; 15:12; 17:26; 1 Thessalonians 3:12; 4:9; 1 Peter 1:22; 3:8; 4:8; 1 John 3:11, 23; 4:7, 11, 12; and 2 John 1:5.

No. 23. Have PEACE WITH ONE ANOTHER (Mark 9:50).

No. 24. PRAY FOR ONE ANOTHER (1 Samuel 12:23; Romans 1:9; 2 Timothy 1:3; and James 5:16).

No. 25. SERVE ONE ANOTHER (Matthew 20:26-28; Galatians 5:13; and 1 Peter 4:10). Wash one another’s feet which is symbolic of serving one another, no matter how servile the task (John 13:14-17).

Did you notice that word? Serve? S-E-R-V-E? Serve? Well, that starts in the family too, doesn't it? Serving our husbands. Serving our family. Serving them meals. All serving. Motherhood is a serving ministry! That's what it's all about.

But God loves serving. Even Jesus did not come to be served, but He came to serve and to give His life (Mark 10:45). And so serving is a very beautiful part of our one anothering. As we learn to serve in our family (we don't grudge it in our families), well then, it will just overflow to others, to reach out to others, invite them into our homes and serve them. It will be our delight to serve.

No. 26. SING TO ONE ANOTHER (Ephesians 5:19).

No. 27. STIR UP ONE ANOTHER TO LOVE AND GOOD WORKS (Hebrews 10:24 AMPC, ESV, Moffat, RSV).

That's Hebrews 24. I want to look at that, to remind us again that that Scripture comes immediately before Hebrews 25. So let's read it. Well, of course it does, 24, then 25. But you'll see when I read, why I'm saying this.

Chapter 10, verse 23, King James; “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering.” That's 23, sorry. Verse 24: “And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:”

It's not a full stop, ladies! No, it's mid-sentence. Mid-sentence! “Provoke one another unto love and to good works: not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but encouraging and exhorting one another: and so much the more as ye see the day approaching.”

Now God's Word is very plain and strong that we are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. The word “assembling” and the word “together” are the same Greek word. They both mean “coming together, assembling together.” Not in isolation, not in our homes on our own.

Yes, you can have home churches. Home churches are wonderful. Home churches are biblical. But they're not a home church with just one family. No, you're not isolating yourself as one family if you're having a home church. You fill your home with other families and bring them into your home.

So the reason for our “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together” is that, when we get together, we will be able to stir up one another to love and good works! You see, we can't fulfill all these “one anothers” unless we meet together. You get it?

Verse 24: “To provoke and stir one another up to love and good works” comes before 25. And it's in mid-sentence, “not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together” so you can do it! You can't do it unless you get together. Amen? Yes.

The New Living Translation says: “Motivate one another to outbursts of love and good works.”

Other translations say: “Stimulate one another to love and good deeds” . You've got to be together to do this!

Oh, and I love the Living Bible: “Let us outdo each other in being helpful and kind to each other.” Isn't that great? Outdoing one another.

Going back to hospitality, back in our church in Palmerston, New Zealand, where we were pastoring before we went to Australia, and then before we came to the States, this was just such a wonderful church. This church, it multiplied on hospitality.

Colin and I had a lifestyle of hospitality, and so did many of the other elders in this church. We encouraged the church in hospitality. The whole church was filled with people showing hospitality in one another's homes. On Sunday, we encouraged people to take someone home with them, to enjoy a meal together when they went home.

By the way, you never really truly get to know someone until they put their feet under your table. Oh, you can even take them out for a meal, and that's lovely. We enjoy that too. But there's nothing more incredible than bringing people into your home. That's where they really know who you are. Oh yes, they really find out the “tin tacks” (New Zealand saying) there. They find out you're not perfect, of course. But that's all part of life. We're not perfect people. We're imperfect people, showing love to one another.

I remember how we got to the stage where you couldn't find someone to take home for a meal! Because everybody, someone else had asked them. Oh, you go to someone else. And unless you called up during the week, you wouldn't get anyone to take home, because everybody was asking everyone else! See, isn't it exciting? They were outdoing one another!

The New English Translation says: “Spur one another on to love and good works.”

No. 28. SUBMIT TO ONE ANOTHER (Ephesians 5:21 and 1 Peter 5:5).

No. 29: TEACH AND ADMONISH ONE ANOTHER (Ephesians 5:21 and 1 Peter 5:5).

No. 30. BE TENDERHEARTED TO ONE ANOTHER (Ephesians 4:32).

No. 31. THINK MORE HIGHLY OF ONE ANOTHER THAN YOU DO YOURSELF (Philippians 2:3 AMP).

Ladies, there are the 31 “one anothers” that God wants us to do to one another. We have to come together to do these “one anothers.

As I close this podcast, can I read a little quote? It's from an old theologian, John Gill. He lived back in the 16^th and 17^th centuries. But he was a great expositor of the Word of God. In fact, he was the first man to write a verse-by-verse commentary of the whole of the Word of God. Someone wrote of him that he had “a heaven-instructed pen.” I love to go to the old theologians. I love to read Ellicott and Alexander Maclaren. I enjoy reading John Gill.

Here's just a little comment of Hebrews 10:25 from John Gill. Talking about our assembling together, he says:

“It is the duty of saints to assemble together for public worship.

“One, on the account of God, Who has appointed it, Who approved of it, and Whose glory is concerned in it.

“And two, on the account of the saints themselves, that they may be delighted, refreshed, comforted, instructed, edified, and perfected.

“And three, on the account of others, that they may be convinced, converted, and brought to the knowledge and faith of Christ.

“And fourth, in an imitation of the primitive saints. And an assembling together ought not to be forsaken; for it is a forsaking God, and their own mercies, and such are like to be forsaken of God; nor is it known what is lost hereby; and it is the first outward visible step to apostasy.”

Well, pretty strong words from someone back in the 17^th century, where they preached a little more powerfully than perhaps we do today. Someone wrote of John Gill, “Pastors are not preparing children to go to the playground, but rather, they are sending out soldiers of Christ to head off to war.” I thought that was a very powerful quote.

May the Lord bless you, lovely ladies, as you seek to put these 31 “one anothers” operating in your lifestyle, in your home. Also, then in the extended fellowship of the people of God. Shall we pray?

“Dear Father, we love You. We praise You. We thank You that You are our God. You are our Savior. You are our Deliverer. You are our Healer. We thank You for Your Word, which is our light to our path, and our lamp to our feet. It shows us the way. Thank You for showing us, Lord, the lifestyle You want us to live.

“Oh, God, many of us, Lord, are far from living this kind of lifestyle. But we pray that You will help us, little by little, to come into the fullness of how You want us to live, Lord, as family, and as the extended family of the people of God, in our church life, in the body of Christ life.

“We ask that, Lord, You will help us. We know that as we seek to live this kind of life, that we will see the great and mighty things that happened in the early church. This was their lifestyle, and they saw miracles. They saw mighty things happen. They saw persecution. But they saw great things happen.

Lord, we pray that we will also come into this lifestyle and begin to see miracles and mighty things taking place. We ask it in the precious Name of Jesus. Amen.”