Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs

Through the weekly and daily devotionals you can be constantly encouraged in your great role of parenting, the highest career in the nation. You can also stay updated on what's happening with the Above Rubies ministry.

Strengthening Families Across the World through the encouragement of women in their high calling from God as wives, mothers and homemakers.

GOD SENDS BABIES TO DO HIS WORK

GosSendsBabies“Out of the mouth of babes and suckling hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger” (Psalm 8:2).
 
This Scripture causes me to think of the writing of Frank Boreham. The last paragraph is one of my favorite quotes:
 
"A century ago, men were following, with bated breath, the march of Napoleon, and waiting with feverish impatience for the latest news of the wars. And all the while, in their own homes, babies were being born. But who could think about babies? Everybody was thinking about battles.
 
"In one year, lying midway between Trafalgar and Waterloo, there stole into the world a host of heroes! During that one year, 1809, Gladstone was born at Liverpool; Alfred Tennyson was born at the Somersby rectory, and Oliver Wendell Holmes made his first appearance at Massachusetts. On the very self-same day of that self same year Abraham Lincoln drew his first breath at Old Kentucky. Music was enriched by the advent of Frederic Chopin at Warsaw, and of Felix Mendelssohn at Hamburg . . . Samuel Morley, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Francis Kemple. But nobody thought of babies. Everybody was thinking of battles.
 
Yet viewing that age in the truer perspective which the distance of a hundred years enables us to command, we may well ask ourselves, ‘Which of the battles of 1809 mattered more than the babies of 1809?’
 
We fancy that God can only manage His world by big battalions abroad, when all the while He is doing it by beautiful babies. When a wrong wants righting, or a work wants doing, or a truth wants preaching, or a continent wants opening, God sends a baby into the world to do it. That is why, long, long ago, a babe was born at Bethlehem.”
 
Frank W. Boreham (Mountains in the Mist - published 1914)
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WHERE ARE THE OLDER WOMEN?

WhereOlderWomanGod has given a specific mandate to older women to teach and encourage the younger women in the ways of motherhood and the home. But where are the older women who are doing this?
 
I am always amazed when a new Above Rubies magazine goes out and I begin to get feedback from our readers. Often, I get emails from older women thanking me for how Above Rubies has encouraged them all through their child-bearing years of raising their families. But now their children have grown, and they say they no longer need the magazine!
 
I don’t quite get it! I am a great-grandmother and I still need it! Yes, I am inspired as I put the magazine together and gather all the wonderful testimonies from wives and mothers. It keeps me on the right track of where God wants me to be as a woman.
 
You see, because my children have grown (most of our children are now grandparents themselves) I haven’t stopped being a mother. We are mothers until the day we meet Jesus. This is who God created us to be. Our children leave the nest, but we keep mothering—grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, and all the needy and hurting people around us. This world is crying out for the nurturing heart of mothers.
 
But more than that. We are commanded to teach the young mothers. I think of these older mothers who say they no longer need the magazines. What about their daughters and daughters-in-law? Are they not passing the message of encouragement on to them? What about all the young women in their church and in their lives? Are they not passing in the magazine to them and encouraging them in their divine calling of motherhood and homemaking?
 
What are they doing? Are they moving into a different lifestyle? How can we teach the young women if we are doing something different ourselves. We teach mainly by example! The older women must be held responsible for what the younger women are doing. It is a devastating fact (and I say “devastating” because it is totally unbiblical) that most of the young mothers in the church today are out at work and leaving their children in daycare. This is the opposite of God’s word. It is the opposite of what God tells the older women to teach the younger women.
 
In fact (now don’t throw stones because I am not the author of these words but God Himself), if the older women are not teaching this truth they are blaspheming the Word of God (Titus 2:5). Why does God use such powerful words? Because if we as older women are living a different lifestyle or we are not teaching the lifestyle of mothers being the “keepers of the home” it is showing a completely different way than what God’s word teaches, and therefore it blasphemes His word!
 
Dear older mothers, where are this young generation of mothers? Mostly out in the work force. They hardly know anything of the glory of motherhood. They have been brainwashed throughout their lives, in the public school, and through the media, that they are wasting their lives if they stay home with their children. They have been programmed with lies! And the fruit is the breakdown of marriage and family life and the continual weakening of the nation.
 
It's time for an army of older women to arise into the calling God has for them and call the young mothers back to the home. It is strong marriages and strong families that will save this nation.
 
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
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THEY DEFY GOD

TheyDefyGodTruly our God is a God of patience, longsuffering, tender mercy, and great compassion. He has all power to zap all evil people and yet He waits with patience. He suffers the defiance and rebellion of the very creatures He created.
 
I was reading the words of David again this morning, the words he shouted to Goliath, the Philistine. This Philistine had been taunting the people of God for weeks but there was not one person what was brave enough to stand up against this giant until David turned up on the scene. Can I remind you of his words?
 
1 Samuel 17:45-47: “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in THE NAME OF THE LORD OF HOSTS, THE GOD OF THE ARMIES OF ISRAEL, WHOM YOU HAVE DEFIED. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.”
 
These were spoken by a young 17-year-old boy, a young man who knew His God.
 
We are facing a similar war today. Do we realize that we are living in a nation that defies God? They have made same-sex marriage a law! That is absolute DEFIANCE against God who created marriage between one male and one female. We know that it is inspired by Satan who hates everything that God has designed and seeks to oppose it.
 
Now we have blatant rejection of male and female and an all-out-front to urge people to change to the opposite gender, to become the opposite of who God created them to be. They are DEFYING God just as Goliath was defying God.
 
It’s time for those with the spirit of David, men and women, young and old, to rise up and challenge those who defy God and His absolute truth. I read the other day that 99 percent of Americans should not have to adjust their morals to accommodate one percent of the population! Many public schools are now using two books, HEATHER HAS TWO MOMMIES and MY PRINCESS BOY for five and six-year-olds to encourage them to change their gender. This is again defiance against God.
 
Dear mother, make sure you are on the side of truth. The latest statistics published by the Christian Post state that “Just 2 percent of parents with children under 13 years were found to have a biblical worldview.” How will the next generation have a biblical worldview if their parents don’t?
 
It's time to rise up and speak out boldly. We must know the truth, speak the truth, and stand for the truth. We must never compromise. God is truth and anything that counteracts His word is false! We must challenge everything that defies God’s truth.
 
Romans 3:4: “Let God be true, but every man a liar.”
 
Let’s wave our banners for the truth,
 
Nancy Campbell
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HE WILL BLESS...

HeWillLoveTheeWe all want to be blessed by the Lord, don’t we? Did you know that God’s first and greatest blessing to you as a mother is to bless you with the fruit of your womb? There is no greater blessing that can come to you (apart from your salvation). Never despise or hold back from receiving this incredible and eternal blessing.

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CAST OUT SELF-PITY!

SelfPity

It keeps you depressed and your whole family with you!

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TIME TO SHINE YOUR LIGHT

TimeToRiseYes, it’s time to shine your light. Teaching God’s truth to your children at home and shining His light wherever you go. When you go shopping with your children, put a smile on your face and let the world see your joy in motherhood. Never be ashamed to show that you are a full time mother! You are showing to a deceived world God’s truth in living form.

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THE ANSWER TO REST

AnswerToRest

Do you enjoy a restful home?

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WHAT ARE FAMILY DEVOTIONS?

FamDevosGathering your family together daily to read God’s Word, Pray and worship God.
 
Why Is it important? Because…
 
1. It brings the presence of God into your home (Exodus 20:24).
 
2. It strengthens your marriage and family ties (Joshua 1:8 and Isaiah 59:21).
 
3. It is the greatest way to make sure your children are daily filled with God’s Word (Colossians 3:6). It is only the truth of God’s Word that fortifies them and saves them from the deceptions of our humanistic society.
 
4. It gives opportunity to discuss the Scriptures and divine truth together. It is an opportunity for the children to ask questions and for we as parents to ask the children questions.
 
5. It is the best way to make sure we pray together as a family—for one another, for our nation, for Israel, for the nations of the world, and for all those in need (2 Chronicles 7:14 and 1 Timothy 2:1-3).
 
6. It is imperative for beginning each new day by honoring and worshipping God as a family and to sit and listen to Him speak to us. We should gather as a family morning and evening (92:1-2).
 
7. It is essential for the blessing of the nation! When families no longer take time to pray and read God’s Word together, the family weakens. And when the family weakens, the nation weakens (Psalm 1:1-3 and Jeremiah 10:25).
 
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
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FEED THE FIVE SENSES

FEED5SENSESSitting down to a meal is far more than eating food. Eating not only feeds a hungry tummy but includes all of the five senses—sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. Can I encourage you to think about this as you prepare meals for your family? It will bring such blessing to your children.
 
SIGHT
 
To dish up a meal on an unset table is, I think, a sacrilege. I don’t even like to eat at a naked table (without a tablecloth). It is even worse to prepare a meal and let everyone eat it at different times and wherever they want or in front of the TV.
 
You can spend time preparing a lovely meal but if it doesn't minister to the sight, it doesn't have a great appeal. On the other hand, you can sit down to a humble meal, placed on a table that is prepared with dignity and love and it can be a spiritual experience. Proverbs 9:1-2 tells us that the wise woman PREPARES her table.
 
Even young children are aware of the atmosphere when they sit up to a delightfully prepared table. Perhaps you are a mother of young children, and you can't imagine one more task during the busy supper time. It takes all your effort to cook a meal without the extra work of setting a table!
 
But obstacles are only in our mind. It doesn't take long, and you can teach young children how to set a table properly. It is a basic task for them to learn and they will love to do it. You can make it a competition, as they each have their turn to see who can set it the most attractively.
 
It adds a touch of class and delight to use a tablecloth. If you haven't time for washing tablecloths, purchase some clear plastic which you can place over a pretty tablecloth, or purchase some attractive plastic cloths that you can wipe down after the meal. Add a candle, some flowers (even if they are wild flowers or weeds that your children find around), or a centerpiece to your table.
 
Encourage your children to set the table beautifully, not haphazardly. It will make all the difference to your meal.
 
Did you know that we taste with the eyes as well as the mouth? Make your food look attractive, too. Arrange it appealingly on the table in serving dishes or on individual plates if you do it this way.
 
HEARING
 
If you do happen to have TV in your home, make sure you turn it off during mealtime. Put on lovely peaceful music which you can have quietly playing in the background. Create a soothing atmosphere.
 
TOUCH
 
Hold hands together as you give thanks to God at the beginning of the meal. Create an atmosphere of togetherness and love.
 
SMELL
 
This is a very important part of each meal. Use herbs and spices to enhance your food. It will not only taste better but will fill your home with tantalizing aromas. There is nothing like smelling the food that is cooking for supper. It really makes home feel like "home, sweet home."
 
Did you know that God loves aromas? The meat that burned upon the altar was a "sweet smelling savour" to God (e.g. Genesis 8:21; Exodus 29:18, 25, 41; Leviticus 8:21; and 2 Chronicles 13:11).
 
TASTE
 
We wouldn't want to eat food if we couldn't delight in the flavor, would we? Make your food palatable and tasty. Be creative and make different kinds of tastes. Delight in the flavors of the foods God has created. We like to ooh and aah over the tastes of food in our family. I think God is happy about that. He likes us to appreciate what He has created.
 
You can also train your children's taste buds from a young age. Don't give them sweet junk foods when they are young, and they won't clamor for them when they are older. Feed them healthy food rather than junk food and that's the kind of food they'll enjoy. Don't even bring junk food into your home and you won't have trouble trying to stop your children eating it.
 
As you prepare your meal each evening, think about how you can impact the five senses of your husband and children. They will take these memories with them for life.
 
Blessings from NANCY CAMPBELL
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ARE YOU A LIFE-LONG LEARNER?

RULearningEducation is for life. Not only should our children learn something new each day but we as parents should also. A good question to ask at your family meal table is “What is something new you have learned today?”

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DO YOU EAT TOGETHER?

DoUEatTogetherIn a day when many families eat on the run, around the TV, or at different times, why is it important to come together as a family and SIT AT THE TABLE FOR FAMILY MEALTIMES? Because...
 
1. The table is a GATHERING PLACE. There is nothing like food to gather the family together. And when we come together, we relate to each other. And when we relate together, it binds us closer together.
 
2. The table is a COMMUNICATING SPOT. It's where we interact with our children and talk heart to heart and soul to soul. Food and fellowship go together. They are twins. It’s “face-to-face table fellowship.” God didn't intend us to eat on the run. When Jesus fed the 5,000 plus, He made them first sit down in groups before He fed them.
 
3. The table is an ENQUIRING PLACE. It's where we have more time for the children to ask us questions and we can ask them questions. We become part of one another's lives.
 
4. The table is a DISCUSSION ASSEMBLY. I believe it is as important to prepare what you are going to talk about at the table as what you are going to eat. Think about topics you can discuss when you sit down for your evening meal—biblical, spiritual, geographical, or political, etc. Ask fun questions and get everyone involved.
 
Or you can ask each person to come to the table prepared to share about a book they have been reading recently. Or share about a person who has impacted this world. Sometimes, we have a general knowledge quiz at the table. Use your imagination to make your family table fun and exciting.
 
5. The table is a RELAXING OASIS. Ooops. I know that it's not often like that when you are still training little ones. However, be diligent to keep training for you will eventually reap wonderful blessings. Food releases oxytocin which is a calming hormone. Therefore as you gather together as a family to eat and share together, you relax. Isn't that great?
 
6. The table is a SPIRIT-FEEDING PLACE. We must change our mindset. The table is not only a place to feed our children's hungry tummies, but a place to feed the whole man—body, soul, and spirit. If we let our children leave the table before we feed their spirit, they leave half fed.
 
The physical food fills us up, relaxes us, and prepares us for the most important feeding, the feeding of the spirit—the reading of God’s Word which feeds the inner man. It is even more important than the outer man. We call it Family Devotions in our home, but you may use a different name. Christian families in The Netherlands call it "Finishing up the Meal." They don’t leave the table only half fed, but finish up their meal by feeding their spirit, the most important part of our being.
Don't starve the inner man of your children.
 
7. The table is an ALTAR, A PLACE FOR PRAYER. After the reading of God’s Word we love to pray and worship with a hymn or worship song. It is a great time to pray as the whole family is gathered together. You can understand why the enemy tries his hardest to stop us from gathering together at the table. He knows we’ll most probably miss praying together and he doesn’t want prayer! It’s prayer that destroys his works and enhances God’s kingdom.
 
Don’t let the devil win in your home.
 
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
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BOYS MUST BE BOYS

BoysBoysCurrently my sister and her husband are living with us as they wait for their new home to be built. Because we are together, often memories of our childhood come up and we talk and laugh about them.
 
The other day we were reminiscing about how all the children on our street would converge on to our front lawn and play together. After a big conflab about their next venture, they’d soar into action.
 
My father possessed a large box of boxing gloves, and the neighborhood boys loved to have boxing matches (or wrestling matches). This often culminated with boys going home with black eyes and bleeding noses! Did anyone worry about it? No. Did concerned parents call up and complain? No. The boys were back the next day for another round!
 
Now we live in a different world. Many parents today would be calling the CPS to complain about these parents allowing their boys to be so rough, coming home with torn clothes and bleeding faces! But these boys loved every minute of it. They were boys! And the parents thought nothing of it! They wanted their boys to be boys. To grow up to be men who could face the struggles of life and know how to take a blow!
 
What a life these children had. On our back paddock they’d set up racing tracks. They wrecked every bicycle in the neighborhood. Each time my parents bought me a bicycle it would be in pieces in two weeks by the time my brother had finished with it.
 
They built underground tunnels that went for hundreds and hundreds of yards. It must have been good practice for when my brother later owned his own plumbing business.
 
Psalm 144:12 speaks of our “sons as plants, becoming great in their youth.” We don’t keep them like little boys. We train them to become mature and grow into manhood even in their youth.
 
Of course, they won’t be playing all the time. They are also learning how to work hard, how to finish a job, and take responsibility.
 
Make opportunities for your boys to be boys.
 
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
 
 
 
Painting: Susan Blackwood
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SERVE OTHERS WHEN YOU'RE DOWN

wheneverBlueWhen you are facing sickness or troubles, minister to someone else who is sick or in trouble and you’ll be amazed how healing will come to you.

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A FRESH ACT OF GOD

FreshAct“The newborn babe is a fresh act of God. He is the latest revelation of God’s creative handiwork.”
- S. D. Gordon
 
I love this quote.
 
Drawing by my current Above Rubies helper, Greta Adams.
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REPORTING FOR DUTY

ReportDutyKeep your eyes upon the Lord rather than your difficulties and obstacles. God is bigger than any challenge you are facing today.

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THE LOVELIEST MASTERPIECE

LovliestMasterpeice

So true.

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HOW HIGH IS YOUR VISION?

HowHighVisionWhat is your ultimate vision for your children? To get them into the best college? Push them to get a degree and make a name for themselves? Or to see Christ formed in them? To see them walking in the truth? To see them passionate for Jesus Christ and His kingdom?
 
We encourage and spur on our children according to the vision we have for them. I am sure, along with me, your vision is higher for your children than the temporal things of this world. You long for them to grow into the likeness of Christ and to walk in the fear of the Lord.
 
To do this takes more intensive mothering. You not only care for your children physically, but you watch over their souls and their spirits. You not only encourage your children, but sometimes you must warn them. It’s much harder to warn and admonish. But we do it out of our intense love for them and our desire to see them walking in holiness.
 
Colossians 3:16 tells us that God’s Word should “dwell in you RICHLY in all wisdom.” That means we must also get it RICHLY into our children’s hearts. This Scripture then goes on to say: “Teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.” ADMONISHING one another. What does that mean? The word is “noutheteo” and means “to put into the mind, to reprove gently, to warn.” In other Scriptures this same word is translated as “warn.”
 
I love the words Paul wrote to the new Corinthians believers. He wrote from the heart of a father, but it also speaks to us as mothers too. 1 Corinthians 4:14: “I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn (noutheteo) you. For though you have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have you not many fathers.” Paul wrote to warn them, but do you see his heart? He wrote to them as “BELOVED SONS.” He warned them because of his great love for them and his longing to see them grow in Christ.
 
Acts 20:31 shows us again how Paul warned his children in the faith. For three years Paul “ceased not to warn (noutheteo) every one night and day with tears.” How did he warn and admonish? With tears. Tears in their presence and tears before the throne of God.
 
Dear mothers, let’s not lack in our mothering. We are nurturing the spirit of our children as well as the physical. We cannot let sin and waywardness go unattended. We must admonish and warn, but we do it with tears. We do it because they are our BELOVED sons and daughters. We will not let them be taken over by the deceptions of the devil.
 
Be encouraged today,
 
Nancy Campbell
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DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR CHILDREN ARE BEING TAUGHT?

EducateChildrenDo they have a biblical world view? Are God’s truths penetrated into their hearts and minds more than the ideologies of this world? Can they contend for their faith? This is your responsibility as a parent.

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THE HEART OF THE MATTER

HeartofMatterGod is Father. He loves to father. He is the source of all parenting.
 
Talking about Jesus Christ, God says in Hebrews 1:5: “For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?” As we read this Scripture, see God’s heart as a Father. Jesus Christ is His “beloved Son.”
 
When we have a desire to bring forth children, we reveal the heart of our God. To desire to be a father and a mother is God-like. God gives to every man unique and differing gifts. However, no matter what gifts or career a man has, his greatest calling is fatherhood. He is made in the image of God who is a Father. Everything else in life serves this highest purpose.
 
It is the same for us as women. Each one of us has different gifts and abilities which we use for the blessing of others in this life. But we are essentially mothers. Or I should say quintessentially, for we were created for this purpose. When we embrace mothering and our nurturing anointing, we reveal God’s heart. The core of His heart.
 
Embrace your beautiful calling, mother. You are in God’s perfect will. You are revealing His likeness to the world.
 
To reject mothering is to reject the likeness of God. (And precious mothers who are unable to have children of your own, please don’t despair. You are also great mothers as you release your nurturing anointing to those God brings into your life).
 
We see such a hatred today to God’s ultimate plan for families. It comes from the pit of hell. When it comes to our attitude toward family, we are either on God’s side or the devil’s side. There is no in-between.
 
Be blessed,
 
Nancy Campbell
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ARE YOU BUILDING A FIRM FOUNDATION?

BibleAsFam

Are you making this a priority in your home each day?

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Above Rubies Address

AboveRubies
Email Nancy

PO Box 681687
Franklin, TN 37068-1687

Phone : 931-729-9861
Office Hrs 9am - 5pm, M - F, CTZ