Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs

Not even eternity will reveal the greatness and the tremendous cost of our salvation. To think God loved us so much that He was willing to give His only Beloved Son to die and shed His blood for our sons. To redeem us from the hand of the enemy. To free us from the kingdom of darkness. To give us eternal salvation.

We dare not ever taken our salvation for granted. When it is time to pray every morning and evening at our Family Devotions, I cannot refrain from thanking God again for His glorious redemption. It is a twice daily habit of my life.

Being saved does not exempt us from the trials and hardships of this life as we walk through as strangers and pilgrims on our way to the eternal realm. But no matter what we face, we can still be happy. We are blessed because we have a glorious future. An eternal salvation. This life is only a vapor ad we rejoice in our life to come.

Don’t you love the promise in 2 Corinthians 4:17, 18: “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory: While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

Do you notice that the afflictions we endure in this life will reap for us a FAR MORE EXCEEDING AND ETERNAL WEIGHT of glory? God uses FIVE adjectives to describe the glory that awaits us!

No need for complaining, despondency, and self-pity. We are saved by the Lord. We are blessed. Rejoice with your family today.

Be blessed,

Nancy Campbell

Job 5;17 says: “Behold, happy (happy happy) is the man whom God correcteth: therefore, despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty.” The NLT says: “Consider the joy of those corrected by God!”

Do you mean to say we are to be happy when God corrects and chastens us? I think the happiness is not while we are being corrected, but what happens to us through the correction.

We need to be reminded of God’s words to us in Hebrews 12:11 (NLT): “No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.”

Let’s read the TPT translation: ‘Now all discipline seems to be more pain than pleasure at the time, yet later it will produce a TRANSFORMATION OF CHARACTER, bringing a harvest of righteousness and peace TO THOSE WHO YIELD TO IT.”

Why can we be happy when we are corrected? Because as we YIELD to the correction, we grow and mature and our character is transformed. But do you notice the secret? We must yield to the correction. Get out of the habit of resisting and into the habit of yielding.

God doesn’t want us to stay the same. His purposes us to be “conformed to the image of his Son” (Romans 8:29). He wants to change us into the image of Jesus “from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

One of the most important things in our lives is to cultivate a soft heart, a heart that is open to receive correction. The hardest part is that God usually uses people to correct us. We’d feel good if it was God doing it. But He uses His agents. Yes, He does it, but through people. He uses our husband, family members, or other people in our lives.

It doesn’t matter how old we are. There’s still more correction to come because God does not want to stop taking us from one glory to another.

Do you want to stay in the same place you are now? I hope not. I certainly don’t. I know God has so much more to do in me. But the way it happens is through correction. Through exposing the things in our lives that displease the Holy Spirit who dwells within us.

And here’s a good point to remember. As we keep soft hearts toward God and His correction in our lives, it is an example to our children. How can we expect them to receive our discipline when we reject discipline in our own lives?

What joy when each family understands this basic truth. When husband and wife and children are all open to the correction of the Lord! This is a growing and maturing family.

Love from Nancy Campbell

Painting: Ain Vares Art

What word do you use to describe your pregnancy? I guess the most common word today is “I’m pregnant.” Some say, “I’m expecting.” You sometimes hear, “I’m in the family way” which is a phrase dating back to the 17th century. Polish words for pregnant can mean “with hope” or “blessed state.”

I remember reading about a mother who was asked to get involved in a church project, but she answered, “Sorry, I am full-time gestating.” Now, there’s a good excuse for you. It is true. You couldn’t be doing anything more important than growing a child in your womb, an eternal soul that will live forever.

There are other words, some negative and some slang. We don’t want to use them. I think we should use the most beautiful words we can to describe the awesome wonder of God creating a child in the womb.

The Bible tells it plainly and truthfully. It states that the woman is “with child.” Ecclesiastes 11:5 talks about “how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is WITH CHILD.” The Hebrew for “with child” in this passage is male and means “full, filling, fullness.” It is the picture of the womb filled with child. If this phrase was more popular, society would become aware of the truth that the baby is not a blob of tissue, but an actual human being growing and filling the womb—a human being that has the same DNA it will have when he or she is even 70 years of age.

The Hebrew word “hareh” is also translated “with child.” This word is used for conception as well as the child growing in the womb. It’s the language of angels. When the angel of the Lord came to Hagar he said, “Behold thou art WITH CHILD and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael” (Genesis 16:11).

In Genesis 21:2 the same word is used when it says: “Sarah CONCEIVED, and bare Abraham a son in his old age.” The Bible makes it clear that life begins at conception. This word is used for the moment of conception, the child growing in the womb, when the baby is “great” and ready to be born, and then coming into the world. A similar word, “harah” is also used for both conception and being “with child.”

Here’s another thought-provoking point. Exodus 21:22 says: “If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her . . .” “With child” is “hareh.” But what is the word for fruit? It is the Hebrew word “yeled” which means, “something born, a child, a young man.” That’s talking about a person who is alive and walking around. But God uses that word for the baby in the womb, confirming that the babe in the womb is just as much the person they will be when they are a child or even older.

Let’s go to the New Testament. Jesus speaks of Mary being “with child” when Jesus, the Son of God grew in her womb (Matthew 1:18, 23 and Luke 1:31) and it is used five other times. The Greek word “brephos” is also used of a babe in the womb as well as a child.

Don’t you think it is time we understood God’s truth rather than listening to human reasoning?

Blessings to you today from NANCY CAMPBELL

Other “hareh” (“with child”) references: Genesis 38:24, 25; Exodus 21;22; Judges 13:5, 7; 1 Samuel 4;19; 2 Samuel 11:5; Isaiah 7:14; 26:7; Jeremiah 20:17; 31:8; Amos 1;13; and 2 Kings 8:12.

The Word of God is likened to water as it washes and cleanses us (John 15:5 and Ephesians 5:26). We must sow the Word of truth into our lives. We must sow God’s precious word into our children’s lives. If we do not diligently sow God’s Word into them, we reap nothingness.

It is sad to see this in many young people today. They are brought up in a “Christian” home, but they don’t know the Word. Therefore, as they go out into the world they are easily deceived and swayed by the lies and deceptions that lie in wait for them. They begin to think like the humanists and leftists rather than being filled with the convictions of God’s eternal truths.

The Holy Spirit is also likened to water as He rains His refreshing anointing upon us and washes us. I love the promise in Isaiah 44:3, 4: “For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my Spirit upon they seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring: And they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses.”

If we want our children to grow up like beautiful willow trees—luxuriant and providing shade and rest to many hurting along the way, we must sow the anointing of the Holy Spirit into their lives. Every morning and evening we should gather our families to read God’s Word, pray and ask again for the renewing of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

When the prophet Balaam described the children of Israel, he saw them as “gardens by the river’s side . . . and as cedar trees beside the waters” (Numbers 24:6). We’ve got to be people who live by the water and sow by the water.

Please read John 4;14 and 7:37-39.

Sow by the waters, lovely ladies, and you will reap a beautiful harvest. That is sure to make you happy. But it doesn’t just happen. You have to sow first.

Love from Nancy Campbell

Do you want to fill your home and family life with happiness? Establish these foundational blessings in your home.

THOSE WHOSE SINS ARE FORGIVEN ARE EXTRA HAPPY

Psalm 32:1, 2: “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.”

THOSE WHO FEAR THE LORD WILL BE EXTRA HAPPY

Psalm 112:1 and 128:1: “Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD.” The TPT says those who fear the Lord will be “blessed beyond expectation.” Read also Proverbs 21:14.

THOSE WHO OBEY GOD’S WORD WILL BE EXTRA HAPPY

Psalm 119:1, 2: “Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD. Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.”

Proverbs 8:32: “Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they that keep my ways.”

Proverbs 29:18: “He that keepeth the law, happy is he.”

Luke 11:28: “Blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.”

THOSE WHO LISTEN FOR GOD’S VOICE WILL BE EXTRA HAPPY

Isaiah 30:18: “Blessed are all those that wait for him.”

Proverbs 8:34, 34: “Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favor of the LORD.”

THOSE WHO GREATLY DELIGHT IN GOD’S COMMANDMENTS WILL BE EXTRA HAPPY

Psalm 112:1: “Blessed is the man . . . that delighteth GREATLY in his commandments.”

THOSE WHO GET WISDOM AND UNDERSTANDING WILL BE EXTRA HAPPY

Proverbs 3;13: “Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.”

I know you want to be blessed. I know you want your children to be blessed. Make these pointers daily habits in your family life.

Be blessed today,

Nancy Campbell

Alexis de Tocqueville scrutinized America’s religion and government, its society and industry. He wanted to know what caused the United States to surpass Europe as the world’s political and economic superpower.

His conclusion? WOMEN.

The women Tocqueville saw were not CEOs or celebrities, politicians, or professional athletes. They were largely confined to the home: cleaning, cooking, taking care of children. But to the young political historian, no position seemed more important. “There have never been free societies without morals, and . . . it is the woman that molds the morals,” he wrote. Tocqueville saw American women as the keystone of the family, the ones who held everyone else together.

By taking primary responsibility for the home, American women allowed their husbands to fulfill their roles as providers and protectors, and they both worked toward a common goal: STRENGTHENING THE FAMILY. These traditional roles of men and women, maligned today as harmful “gender stereotypes,” are precisely what helped to make America exceptional in Tocqueville’s eyes.

Here’s what Alexis de Tocqueville wrote about women:
“Thus the Americans do not think that man and woman have either the duty or the right to perform the same offices, but they show an equal regard for both their respective parts; and though their lot is different, they consider both of them as beings of equal value.

“They do not give to the courage of woman the same form or the same direction as to that of man; but they never doubt her courage: and if they hold that man and his partner ought not always to exercise their intellect and understanding in the same manner, they at least believe the understanding of the one to be as sound as that of the other, and her intellect to be as clear. Thus, then, whilst they have allowed the social inferiority of woman to subsist, they have done all they could to raise her morally and intellectually to the level of man; and in this respect they appear to me to have excellently understood the true principle of democratic improvement.

“As for myself, I do not hesitate to avow that, although the women of the United States are confined within the narrow circle of domestic life, and their situation is in some respects one of extreme dependence, I have nowhere seen woman occupying a loftier position; and if I were asked, now that I am drawing to the close of this work, in which I have spoken of so many important things done by the Americans, to what the singular prosperity and growing strength of that people ought mainly to be attributed, I should reply— to the superiority of their women.”

Picture taken by Victorian photographer, Emma Johnston.

Can you believe it is only four days to Thanksgiving? Help! So much to do as I prepare a sit-down dinner for about 80 of us. What a great time it will be. There is nothing more wonderful than gathering together as a family to fellowship and feast together. Did you know that God loves feasts and celebrations? Yes, they are very biblical.

Psalm 89:15 states: “Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance.” Once again, we notice that these “blessed” people are the “happy happy” people. Some translations say: “Oh the happiness!” Others say, “Oh the joy!”

This happiness comes to those who know the joyful sound. What is this joyful sound? The Hebrew word means “the trumpeting of trumpets and shouts of joy.” Most Bible commentators state that it speaks of the trumpet calls to the annual feasts of Israel. It’s a call to feasting and celebration.

Let’s read Numbers 10:10 (NLT): “Blow the trumpets in times of gladness, too, sounding them at your annual festivals and at the beginning of each month. And blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and peace offerings. The trumpets will remind the LORD your God of his covenant with you. I am the LORD your God.”

It is obvious that the early children of Israel were a trumpet-blowing, joyful shouting people. Not only did they rejoice and blow the trumpets on their feast days but over their daily burnt offerings!

Psalm 27:6 (NLT): “At his sanctuary I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy, singing and praising the LORD with music.” This speaks of the daily morning and evening sacrifices, encouraging us to also come before the Lord with our families each morning and evening. We don’t do it out of religiosity, but with joy, and even shouts of joy. As the people of God, we are not meant to be a boring people, but filled with joy and praise o God. Oh, the happiness of those who know the joyful sound.

Here’s something else God says about our feasting times. In Deuteronomy 14;26 we read: “And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink (help, can’t believe this in the Bible, yes, the King James Version), or for whatsoever thy soul desireth: and thou shalt eat there before the LORD thy God (in the presence of the LORD), and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household.”

The conclusion of our Scripture today says: “they shall walk O LORD, in the light of thy countenance.” God wants us to really celebrate and rejoice when we feast together. And it’s not separate from God. We do it IN HIS PRESENCE. God wants to join us. He loves to celebrate and feast with us. This is the heart of God. Many people have a totally wrong concept of God.

Prepare to feast in God’s presence this Thanksgiving and may you know the joyful sound.

Love from Nancy Campbell

The Thanksgiving Picture by Normal Rockwell. Rockwell's wife, Mary is in this painting, and the family cook, Mrs. Thaddeus Wheaton, is serving the turkey, which the Rockwell family ate that day. The painting was created in November 1942.

This passage goes on to say in verses 6 and 7: “As they go through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; the early ran also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion.”

What is the “valley of Baca”? “Baca” comes from a root word “bakhah” meaning “to weep.” It can be translated “the valley of weeping” or “the valley of affliction.” The New Living Translation and Young’s Literal Translation translate it this way.

Are you going through a valley? A valley that is so dark and treacherous that it is literally a valley of weeping? Dear precious wife and mother, even in this dark valley, God is still your strength. When you trust God to be your strength, this valley will become a fountain, a spring of fresh water!

And you will go “FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH.” From one degree of strength to a stronger degree of strength.

Did you know that we become stronger in the battle? Hebrews 11:34 reminds us of the great heroes of the faith who “out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in the fight.” They began in weakness but became stronger in the battle.

There’s another valley we often go through, “the valley of the shadow of death” (Psalm 23:4). This Scripture is often used at funerals, speaking of death. Yes, it is a comfort to those sorrowing, but it’s not about death. It’s about what we go through in life.

Do you notice that it says that we “WALK through” this valley? It tells the story of the shepherd who takes his sheep from one pasture to another. He is not able to take them over the mountain and therefore must go through the valley. Some of these valleys in Israel were dark and gloomy, filled with danger of wild animals and robbers, and eerie shadows. The sheep would never survive a few steps without their shepherd watching over them.

Remember, when you walk through your dark and scary valleys, that your Shepherd never forsakes you. He is with you all the way. He is your Strength, no matter how difficult the way. He will bring you through and you will be stronger when you get to the other side.

Notice again that you “walk THOUGH.” You come through to the other side. He doesn’t leave you in the dark and dangerous valley. His purpose is to bring you THROUGH to the other side. Into a large place. A blessed place.

Put your strength in God’s strength today.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

What do you think it means to abide in Christ? I’d love you to share. I think it means to acknowledge His presence in everything we do—each responsibility we have in the home, cleaning, cooking, teaching, and caring for the children, etc. When we try to do it in our own strength we fail miserably. But when we thank Him that He is with us in every situation it changes everything. It changes our attitude and consequently changes the atmosphere of our home. And that even changes our children’s behavior.

It means to look to Him for His wisdom and strength in every situation. Instead of getting into a state of depression or self-pity because of the difficult trial we are experiencing, we live in His truth and anointing. We don’t confess what we see. We don’t fall into the sloth of despair because we know that when we dwell in God, we no longer live in our own strength but in His strength. In His anointing. In His wisdom. In His rest. In His patience. And we bask in it. We can trust instead of fainting.

It means to let His Word abide in us (John 15:7). When His words abide in us, we live in truth instead of deception. And truth sets us free. And of course, its reciprocal. We not only abide in Him, but he wants to abide in us. Dwell in us. Walk in us. Be part of everything we are doing. Yes, every little mundane thing we do in our home.

Don’t you love thinking about this? God walks with me and in me. He walks in you. We read 2 Corinthians 6:16 in our Family Devotions this morning at breakfast: “Ye are the temple (literally the Holy of Holies) of the living God; as God hath said, I will DWELL in them, and WALK in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” God dwells and walks in us, and we dwell land walk in Him.

And God gives us more promises. He promises that if we abide in Him . . .
We will bring forth much fruit in our lives (John 15:5, 8) because “Without me ye can do nothing.”

He promises that if we aide in Him . . .
We can ask what we will, and “it shall be done unto you” (John 15:7).

He promises that if we abide in Him . . .
That His joy will remain in us and that our JOY WILL BE FULL (John 15:11).

May you have such a happy day as you live in His presence.

Blessings to you,

Nancy Campbell

Painting: Lee Lufkin Kaula (1865-1957).

You will be HAPPY HAPPY when you put your trust in God.

Proverbs 16:20: “Whoso trusteth in the LORD, HAPPY is he.”

It’s not always easy to trust God when you can see no light at the end of the tunnel, when everything seems hopeless, and you don’t know where to turn. But if you dwell on your troubles, you’ll be miserable. If you trust God, you’ll be happy, even during your trial! That’s the difference.

Peter encouraged the believers were going through “fiery trials” to rejoice and pronounced happiness on those who were being reproached for the name of Christ (1 Peter 4:13, 14).

I have always been encouraged by the lines:
Trust Him when dark days assail thee,
Trust Him when they faith is small,
Trust Him when to simply trust Him
Is the hardest thing of all.

Psalm 34:8: “O taste and see that the LORD I good: blessed (happy happy) is the man that trusteth in him.”

Psalm 40:4: “Blessed (happy happy) is the man that maketh the LORD his trust.” And read Psalm 2:12 and 84:12.

Do you want some happiness? Trust in the Lord today, no matter what your trail or difficulty. The God of the Bible can be trusted!

In His love,

Nancy Campbell

God says that having children makes us happy. Psalm 127:4, 5 says: “As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. HAPPY is the man that hath his quiver full of them . . .” The Hebrew word is “esher” and means “how happy”! It’s not just happy, but “how happy” or “happy, happy.” It is a plural word.

The Young’s Literal translation says: “O THE HAPPINESS of the man Who hath filled his quiver with them. They are not ashamed, For they speak with enemies in the gate!”

This Scripture is talking about men, but the God gives the same message to us mothers. He calls us “JOYFUL” mothers in Psalm 113:9.

Therefore, lovely mothers, you may not feel very happy as you face all the challenges of your children today. But forget your feelings. Embrace the truth. God intends that His gift of children to us will fill us with happiness. When we get our thinking straight and get it in line with God’s truth, that’s what we will experience.

It’s easy to feel negative about motherhood because the devil who hates motherhood makes sure we are filled with lies and deception every day. It comes through our education, the media, in-laws and out-laws, and society in general. And it’s all false. God’s Word is true! “Let God be true, but every man a liar” (Romans 3:4).

We see God’s heart of love for us as we read Deuteronomy 7:12, 13: “The LORD thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers; And he will LOVE thee, and BLESS thee.” And how does God show His love and blessing to us? The next words in this Scriptures say: “And MULTIPLY thee: he will also bless the fruit of thy womb.” And then God goes on to say that He will bless the “fruit of thy land” etc. in order to provide for the children that He gives.

Believe the truth. Relax and enjoy your children today. Rejoice in them. Sing over them like God sings and rejoices over us. And just be HAPPY! As you do, you’ll become even happier and your children will be happy too!

When you are happy, they are happy! And that makes for happy living.

Love from Nancy Campbell

P.S. Tomorrow we’ll look at more things God says will make us happy.

Few things we can do in this world are so well worth doing as the making of a beautiful and happy home! He who does this builds a sanctuary for God and opens a fountain of blessing for men.

Far more than we know do the strength and beauty of our lives depend upon the home in which we dwell. He who goes forth in the morning from a happy, loving, prayerful home into the world's strife, temptation, struggle, and duty is strongly inspired for noble and victorious living.

The children who are brought up in a true home go out trained and equipped for life's battles and tasks carrying a secret of strength in their hearts, which will make them brave and loyal to God, and will keep them pure in the world's severest temptations!

James Russell Miller (1840 – 1912).

“The Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him’” (Genesis 2:18).

Woman's mission is to be the suitable help-mate of that man, to whom she has given herself as the companion of his pilgrimage upon earth.

She is, in wedded life, to be his constant companion, in whose companionship he is to find one, who meets him ... hand to hand,
eye to eye,
lip to lip,
and heart to heart.

To whom he can unburden the secrets of a heart pressed down with care, or wrung with anguish;
whose presence shall be to him above all other friendship;
whose voice shall be his sweetest music;
whose smiles his brightest sunshine;
from whom he shall go forth with regret;
and to whose company he shall return with willing feet, when the toilsof the day are over;
who shall walk near his loving heart, and feel the throbbing of affection as her arm leans on his, and presses on his side.

In his hours of private companionship, he shall tell her all the secrets of his heart; find in her all the capabilities, and all the promptings, of the most tender and endeared fellowship; and in her gentle smiles, and unrestrained speech, enjoy all to be expected in one who was given by God to be his companion and friend.

That companionship which woman was designed to afford to man, must of course be included the sympathetic offices of the comforter.

It is hers, in their hours of retirement, to console and cheer him;
when he is injured or insulted, to heal the wounds of his troubled spirit;
when burdened by care, to lighten his load by sharing it;
when groaning with anguish, to calm by her peace-speaking words the tumult of his heart;
and act, in all his sorrows, the part of a ministering angel.

* * *

Could you say Amen?