Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs

Every morning my husband and I pray that God will pour out His Spirit upon our children, our children's children, and future generations. We all seek to be diligent parents, but ultimately it is only the moving of the Holy Spirit upon our children's lives and in their lives that draws them into a life of living close to God and fulfilling their destiny.

I also like to claim the promise of Isaiah 44:3 (ESV): "I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants."

Do you sometimes feel despised by the world around you for choosing to stay home with your precious children? Often family members cause you to feel inferior and that you should be doing something greater with your life. Dear mother, please be encouraged. You are right where God wants you to be. You have the highest career in the nation as you train the next generation; as you make a stable, loving, peaceful home for your children; as you daily fill them with God's powerful words which are the greatest wisdom in the world; and as you prepare them for the destiny for which God has brought them into the world.

It's hard to believe that 36 states of USA have now legalized homosexual marriage. Alabama is fighting hard to stand against it. If it goes down, there will be only 13 states left!

How does this affect you? Are we desensitized? Or are we crying out to God for His intervention? Do you realize that our children and grandchildren will live in world where this lifestyle is considered normal? We must inform them that it's not normal. It is abnormal and against nature. It defies the sacred institution of marriage between a man and a woman which God ordained. It is an abomination in the eyes of God. Because it cannot bring children to birth, it ultimately destroys civilization.

What a joy and utmost blessing to be "saved" by the blood of Jesus Christ. The word is "sozo" and means "to save, deliver, protect, heal, preserve, and make whole." What a wonderful word. We have all these blessings through Christ who saved us.

It is the same word that Jesus used when he healed the sick. Some examples: "she shall be made whole" (Luke 8:50), "Thy faith hath made thee whole" (Mark 5:34), and "as many as touched him were made whole" (Mark 6:56).

Revelation 1:3 tells us: "Blessed is the one who READS ALOUD the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near." We know this is talking about the book of Revelation, but I believe it applies to every word in the Bible. It is more powerful to read God's Word aloud than silently. It seems to penetrate our hearts and minds far more intently.

It is also powerful to listen to God's Word. God's anointing is upon the father as he reads out loud God's Words to his family each day. Isaiah 39:19 says: "The father to the children shall make known thy truth." How can the father make known God's truths to his family without speaking them OUT LOUD? "Make known" is "yada" in the Hebrew and means "to make them known intimately." We get the message again in Deuteronomy 4:9 (ESV): "Make them known (yada) to your children and your children's children."

I was reading in Revelation 1:20 this morning how each golden lampstand represented a church, a body of believers who God wants to shine for Him in this dark world. We as families are also meant to be lampstands to our neighbors around about us and to all who come into our home.

How does a lampstand keep shining its light? God showed the way when He instigated the original lampstand in the tabernacle (Exodus 25:31-40; 27:2, 21; and 22-33). He commanded the priests to trim the wicks and pour in the oil for the light every morning and every evening. The light would go out if they didn't attend to it twice a day. If we want to be a family that is a lampstand for God in this world we have to attend to our lamps twice a day also.

The following Scriptures are known as the Roman Road to Salvation. They are Scriptures from the book of Romans which show God's wondrous way of salvation. It is important that we know these Scriptures. It is most important that our children know these Scriptures. It shows them the way to experience salvation through Jesus Christ. It shows them how to lead another person to Christ.

"Be strong . . . and work: for I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts" (Haggai 2:4).

"To whom did God say these words?" my husband asked as he read this Scripture in Family Devotions this morning. God was encouraging Zerubbabel and all the people who were rebuilding the broken down temple after coming back from Babylon. They had many adversaries as they tried to build. They had one setback after another. But God encouraged them to be strong and work because He was with them to help them.

You too are in a great building program--the biggest building project of the nation! The building and strengthening of your family. Building takes work. It doesn't just happen. You constantly face new challenges and difficulties. But, dear mother, please be encouraged. God is with you! In fact, the Lord of hosts is with you--the God of the armies of heaven who fights on your behalf.

He encourages you today. "Rise up, be strong, and work!" "Ouch! Do I have to work?" Yes, God doesn't give you His strength to sit on the couch and look at the mess around you. He doesn't give you His strength to sit and watch TV. He gives you His divine strength to enable you to do this great task of mothering and managing your home that He has given you. When your strength runs out, He gives you His strength.

You can do it with His strength, because He is with you.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

Jesus said, "Don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today" (Matthew 6:34 NLT).

What a beautiful thing to be a "blessing soul." Proverbs 11:25 says, "The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself." The margin in my Bible says the "liberal soul" is a "soul of blessing." Don't you love that?. It's talking about someone who can't stop blessing people. It's talking about a GENEROUS blesser. And it comes from out of their soul, not only their mouth.

The "blessing soul" reveals what God is like. He is a Blesser. The first thing God did when He created the man and woman was to BLESS them.

How do we pour out blessing to our husband, children, and those around us?

Bless them with smiles--not just when we feel like it, but smiling to bless them.
Bless them with kind and encouraging words.
Bless them with a listening ear.
Bless them by serving them.
Bless them by doing surprises for them.
Bless them with love and hugs.
Bless them with writing encouraging notes and poems.
Bless them with positivity which uplifts them. A downcast, sour face is a wet blanket in the home.

May God help us to be generous blessing souls.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

Strength and dignity are traits of the Proverbs 31 woman.

One of the BLESSED women in the Bible was called Jael. God said that she was to be blessed above all women who lived in tents (that's how Jael, who was a Kenite, lived in those days). Why was she given such honor? Because she destroyed the enemy who came into her home. You can read the whole story in Judges 4:17-23 and 5:24-31.

God gave the Israelites victory over the Canaanites who had held them in slavery for 20 years. Captain Sisera was running for his life and came to the home of Jael. She took him in, gave him milk, and a bed to sleep. But once he was asleep she took a tent peg, silently crept up to him and nailed it through his head, crushing his head with a shattering blow. Why would Jael be honored for such a gruesome deed?

This story reveals a spiritual principle. Jael did not give the enemy a foothold in her home. She dealt him a death blow. This is the same spirit God wants us to have. The enemy of our souls and the souls of our children is always lurking around to gain a foothold in our home. We must be on the watch. And when he makes an appearance we do not sit idly by. We must not be tolerant. We must take action. Pray. Intercede. Speak out the Scriptures. Lift up the name of Jesus. Plead the blood of Jesus. Deal him a death blow.

Jael didn't even have to go out to war. She won the final victory for the nation right in her home. As a mother, you are also a warrior for God in your home. Don't give the devil who comes "to steal, kill, and destroy" one inch of comfort in your home. In the powerful name of Jesus Christ, throw him out.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

It's difficult to accomplish anything very powerful when you are apathetic about it, isn't it? Many things can only be accomplished by the "zeal of the Lord." Isaiah 9:7 tells us that "Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end." How is this going to be accomplished? The rest of the Scripture says, "The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." It is the passion and zeal of God that will perform this wonderful promise.

When Jesus behold what was happening in the temple which was called "The House of Prayer" he didn't stand by indifferently. He rose up in righteous indignation and drove the sheep, oxen, and money changers from the temple, kicking over all their tables. When the disciples saw it they remembered the Scripture, "The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up" (John 2:17 and Psalm 69:9).

I believe we also need the zeal of the Lord as we tackle the greatest career in the nation, that of mothering and training the next generation who will detriment the course of the nation. WE CAN'T DO IT HAPHAZARDLY. WE CAN'T DO IT APATHETICALLY. WE CAN'T DO IT HALF-HEARTEDLY. WE CAN'T DO IT PART TIME!

We must rise up in the zeal of the Lord, knowing the power and destiny of our calling and the urgency of this hour. Titus 2:14 exhorts us to be "zealous of good works" and the greatest work you are doing is raising your family. Do it with zeal.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

Our God is a God of increase. Therefore, He wants us to be people of increase, too. Colossians 1:10 says, "That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and INCREASING in the knowledge of God." The word "increasing" is "epignosis" and means more than just knowledge. It is knowledge that powerfully influences our lives.

It's so easy to become stagnant and stay the same from day to day, isn't it? This is not God's plan for us. He wants us to daily increase in our understanding and knowledge of Him and working it out in our daily lives. It's good to ask the question, "Have I learned more of God today?" Well, if I haven't made time to read His Word, how can I understand more of Him?

"How do I get time to read the Bible when I have a new baby and little ones all around me?" you ask. In this season of your life you may not have time to set aside specific times, but it's amazing what you can fit in as you make it your aim. Keep a Bible in the bathroom to read a verse or two throughout the day. Keep a Bible at your windowsill where you prepare the meals and do dishes. Open it at Psalms or Proverbs. You can look up every now and then and read words that will strengthen and calm your soul.

What about your children? Are they increasing in the knowledge of God each day? This won't happen either without your imparting it into their lives. Like you, my life is filled from morning 'til night. That's why I am so grateful for our morning and evening Devotions where we all sit together as a family to listen to my husband read God's Word. If we didn't make time for these times, we would miss out on so much of what God wants to speak to us. It's how we grow and increase in the Lord--little by little, and day by day.

Proverbs 4:18: "But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth MORE AND MORE unto the perfect day."

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

I was saddened as I read God's lament about the children of Israel in Jeremiah 7:23-28. He said: "They hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck . . . This is a nation that obeys not the voice of the Lord their God, nor receives correction: truth is perished and is cut off from their mouth."

Why were they so disobedient? Where did this trait begin? Did it begin in their homes? It is a fact that obedient children will usually be obedient to God. Disobedient children will be disobedient to God.

This is why God is so emphatic about training our children to obey. It is not only for their benefit; they will live a happier lives and ultimately a longer life. It is not only for our benefit; we will also live happier and more restful lives. But it is for God; He wants children who will obey Him. We train our children to obey us so obedience becomes a habit of their lives. They will be trained and ready to obey God when they hear His voice speaking to them.

I have always been challenged by the words from Surveying the Evidence, where the authors state: “If atheism is not normal, why do certain people become unbelievers? First of all, it is well known that the seeds of atheism can be planted early in life. One of the most dangerous contributions a parent can make toward the spiritual delinquency of his child is a failure to instill within him a wholesome respect for authority. If the parent neglects to set the proper example as an authority figure, or refuses to exercise discipline with love, he might well be rejected as an authority-figure by his child, and thus, by transference, the child ultimately may come to disdain all authority, including the Supreme Authority, God.”

The greatest aim of parenting is preparing our children to have the right attitude to God--to love Him with their whole heart, soul, mind, and strength; but also to fear Him, honor Him, and obey Him. If they do not have the right attitude to their parents, they won't know how to relate to God.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

Through all the little trials we face each day, motherhood is still the greatest. It is what we were born for!

It has always grieved me when I hear people say they are angry with God. Really? Who do we think we are to be mad at Him? He is the God of the universe, the Creator of the world and we ourselves, the God who judges righteously and perfectly, the God who loves us with an everlasting love, the God who is working everything out for our good even when we can't see it, and the God who sent His only Beloved Son to die and save us from our sins,

Romans 9:20 (NLT) asks the question: "Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God?"

Give up your contest with God. It takes too much energy. It is much easier to yield to His will and trust Him in whatever you are going through. Surrender. Lay on His breast and let Him quiet your spirit just as a babe is quietened at his mother's breast.

Although you cannot see it, God is working everything out for good. And no matter what you have suffered, God is able to heal your broken heart. He is the great healer and restorer. But He waits for you to come, give up all resistance, and rest in His love.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

Have you miscarried or know someone who has? You will be blessed and comforted by this beautiful poem from Ashley Plourd
IN HIS ARMS

My dearest little baby, my dearest little flower,
The time of your departing, was my darkest hour.

I longed to see and touch you, I longed to hold you close,
I dreamed of counting fingers, and all your little toes.

I dreamed of what we'd name you, and the joy that you would bring
To your brother and your sister, oh how they'd laugh and sing!

For there is nothing quite as precious as a brand new little life,
And nothing quite as empty, when it's takes eternal flight.

Others think I'm mourning over such a little thing,
"We'll have plenty more and our lives are still the same."

But what is greater than life? And what is deeper than its loss?
Is it not what Jesus gave us when He died upon the cross?

Life is the greatest of all gifts, life is the greatest of all joys,
Life is ever so much more than just another girl or boy.

And so our lives are NOT the same, they never will be again,
Because we'll never know or see, all that might have been.

If you had come into the world and lived life to the full,
Perhaps you would have stopped another shooting at a school,

Or maybe you would have been the one to find a cure for cancer,
Maybe you would have found that long and sought for answer.

Of course the Lord can still choose to use another way,
But maybe it would have been you, who on earth can say?

But no, they never stop to think of what you might have been,
As life is not highly regarded by our modern man.

They move on and they forget. The unborn never gets a thought,
They say things without thinking and crush a mother's heart.

It's amazing how you've changed me, and for that I have to smile,
I'll not soon forget the lessons I've learned through this great trial.

I'll use it for God's glory and to bring others comfort too,
It wouldn't be this way at all, if it hadn't been for you.

I'm so glad God gave me a glimpse, as painful as it's been,
For I see His unseen hand, and I trust His master plan.

I'm so glad you're in His arms, though I'd rather have you here,
But it won't be long until I'm there, holding you my little dear.

© Ashley Plourd