Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs

What is the preeminent theme of your home? In some homes it is sport, or education, or perhaps being realistic today, social media! We reveal what is preeminent by the time and number of hours we spend on it each day.

However, if we are a Christian family, a God-fearing family, shouldn’t the central theme of our home be the cross of Jesus Christ? The cross of Jesus Christ and His precious blood that He poured out for us is the central theme of the Bible. Shouldn’t it be our central theme also? Or do we rarely think about it or talk about it?

Paul said in Galatians 6:14: “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” He also confessed: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain . . . That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings . . . “ (Philippians 1:21 and 3:10).

How can we make His cross more predominant in our homes? We draw closer to His cross as we spend time in His presence and in His Word. Not only individually but gathering our families into His presence each morning and evening. This is surely the least amount of time we can give as a family each day to honor Him. As we open God’s Word and read it to our families, we are brought back to what is truly important. We are drawn to the most important theme in the world—our great redemption through the cross and the blood of Jesus.

We also do this as we pray. Each day at our Family Devotions each one around our table prays. When it comes to my turn to pray, I pray about different needs, especially as I take two different cards from our Prayer Boxes each day. But there is one thing I do before I intercede for the needs of the world and that is to thank Jesus Christ for the cross and for my redemption. I cannot let a day go by with thanking Him.

The whole of the Old Testament led up to Jesus shedding His blood upon the cross. Every morning and every evening the priests sacrificed the lamb to atone for their sins, pointing to THE LAMB OF GOD, Jesus Christ, the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. No longer do we need sacrifices, because Jesus died ONCE and for all for our redemption.

Now we look back to Calvary. I love to look back in gratitude, thankfulness, and worship for my great redemption. I am brought back to the cross as I thank Him every morning and evening. If they could spend all that time with sacrifices each day, surely the least I can do is look back in gratefulness and praise.

We also bring our families back to the cross as we sing worship songs and hymns about the cross of Jesus. We love to sing at our Family Devotions, but you can play these songs in your home all day long. Some families love to sing the current worship songs. Some like to sing the hymns. There are so many wonderful songs to remind us of the cross. If you don’t know them, look them up on the Internet and play the tunes so you can sing along with them. We have hymn books and song sheets which we choose every morning and evening as we sing praises to the Lord. I will list a few choices below.

What are some other ways you keep the cross of Jesus central in your home. I’d love to hear from you.

Blessings to you today,

Nancy Campbell

A few samples of current worship songs about the cross:
The cross has the final word (Cody Carnes)
Lead me to the cross (Brooke Ligertwood
At the cross (Chris Tomlin)
The power of the cross (Keith and Kristyn Getty
Nailed to the cross (Rend Collective)
Your royal blood (Rend Collective)

A few samples of hymns about the cross.
Are you washed in the blood?
Jesus keep me near the cross
When I survey the wondrous cross
The way of the cross leads home
And can it be that I should gain?
There is a fountain filled with blood
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
Alas! And did my Savior bleed
Blessed be the fountain of blood (Whiter than the snow)
I will sing of my Redeemer
There was One who was willing
Redeemed
Lead me to Calvary

Dear mothers, don’t think of getting by with the minimum you have to do. Embrace motherhood with all your heart. Give it all you’ve got. Hone your art because mothering is an art. Just as breastfeeding is an art. Birthing is an art. Homemaking is an art. We can be average, or we can excel.

What is the testimony of the Proverbs 31 woman? Proverbs 31:29 says: “Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou EXCELLEST them all.”

The Hebrew word for “excellest” is “alah.” It is often translated “arise up,” “let us go up,” ascended,” “climbed up,” “exalted.” As you can see, it’s not below average or average, but over the top.

1 Corinthians 15:58 exhorts to “ABOUND in the work of the Lord.” The “work” (notice that it is “work,” not play) that God has given us to do is mothering and training the next generation to be godly young men and women who will fill this earth with God’s glory. How do we do this work?

The word is “abound.” The Greek word is “perisseuo” and it means “to EXCEL more than, to exceed, to superabound, to be over the top, over and above, overflowing, abundance.”

Don’t stand for the status quo. Go beyond the necessary as you become the greatest wife your husband could ever dream about. As you mother and train your children. As you stand watch over your home and guard it from the sneaky entrances of the enemy. As you manage your home efficiently. As you prepare meals for your family.

Be the best!

Blessings to you today,

Nancy Campbell

The Passion translation says: “For he blesses us with rain from heaven and seasons of fruitful harvests, and he nourishes us with food to meet our needs. He satisfies our lives, and EUPHORIA fills our hearts.” Is this translation getting a little carried away? No. The Greek word for “gladness” in the KJV is “euphrosune.”

Euphoria is associated with the hormone oxytocin and it is well known that we release oxytocin (joy, happiness, and love) when we sit at a table to eat and fellowship with others.

Therefore, dear mother, as you think about what you will prepare for your family this evening, don’t only think about their bodies. Think about their hearts. Think about how to make your table a place that will draw your family to the table. Think about things you could talk about at the table that will release joy, laughter, and happiness. Think about how you could enjoy a little euphoria. Maybe you could ask each one to share the funniest thing that has happened to them this last week.

As persons made of body, soul, and spirit we hunger for more than physical food. We hunger for nourishment for our soul. David confesses in Psalm 63:5: “My SOUL shall be satisfied with marrow and fatness.”

He’s talking about his inner man. He wants to satisfy it with marrow. Do you know what marrow is? Have you ever sucked marrow out of a bone? Most people haven’t today, but we grew up doing this. There’s nothing like marrow. We all competed to get the bone with the marrow. It is so rich and satisfying. But we need marrow for our souls as well as our bodies. Psalm 107:9 says: He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.”

And our spirits hunger too. Does your spirit cry out to be fed? I long for spiritual food. Don’t let the spirits of your children starve each day. Make sure you give them a nourishing portion of God’s Word at your table this evening.

Much love,

Nancy Campbell

Painting: The Dining Room (oil on canvas), Ryder, Susan (b.1944) / Private Collection / Courtesy of Manya Igel Fine Arts, London / Bridgeman Images

Although I am sure you’ll have more around your table than this table shows.

Blessed and wise are those parents who understand the goodness of time; for they make not a sword that kills growth, but a shield to protect.

Blessed and mature are they who without anger can say no; for comforting to the child is the security of firm decisions.

Blessed is the gift of consistency; for it is heartsease in childhood.

Blessed are they who accept the awkwardness of growth; for they are aware of the constant perilous choice between marred furnishings and damaged personalities.

Blessed are the teachable; for knowledge brings understanding and understanding brings love.

Blessed are the men and women who, in the midst of the unpromising mundane, give love; for they bestow the greatest of all gifts to each other, to their children, and— in an ever-widening circle— to their fellowmen.

— Marion Kinneman

Painting: "WHEN WINTER COMES" BY JOHN WALTER, 1967

I think this is a good affirmation to add to our vocabulary, don’t you? We often give up too soon. Or despair. But God is not always in a hurry. The Scripture says: “Better is the end of a thing; than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit” (Ecclesiastes 7:8).

Zechariah 4:10 SAYS: “For who hath despised the day of small things?”

The beginning or the foundation of something is the most important of all. It often takes time. If we get it right, the rest will fall into place.

You haven’t seen the answers to your earnest prayers? Don’t give up. It’s too soon to tell. God doesn’t work according to our time factors. He knows what He is doing, and He sees everything from the beginning to the end.

Joseph must have thought that God had forgotten him. He was just a teenager, only 17 years, when his brothers old him into slavery. He was about 30 years when he became overseer of Egypt and many of those waiting years were in prison. But God had the perfect timing. He was working out great things for Joseph as well as his whole family, and a nation!

Joseph saw the hand of God and was able to say to his brothers: “God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you that sent me hither, BUT GOD” (Genesis 45:7, 8 and 50:20, 21). God was working behind the scenes in all his suffering, in all his long imprisonment, and in all his loneliness.

Be encouraged today. Remember, IT'S TOO SOON TO TELL!

Love from Nancy Campbell

Let’s look at some Scriptures that remind us that God is working in your right now.

1 Timothy 4:8: “For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the LIFE THAT NOW IS, and of that which is to come.” Most modern versions say: “this present life.” Godliness is not just for eternity, but for right NOW! Yes, right now—in your kitchen and with your children all needing you at once.

Are you feeling upset and you really want to let everyone know? Instead of giving into the flesh and hurting everyone around you, allow the life of Jesus to work through you. He is filled with patience and longsuffering and HE LIVES IN YOU! That means you are patient and longsuffering too! God puts His strength into you to give you “all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness" (Colossians 1:11).

Romans 5:17: “For if by one man’s offense death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall REIGN IN LIFE by one Christ Jesus.” We will not only reign in eternity. This Scripture tells us that we can REIGN IN LIFE RIGHT NOW. We can reign over the power of the flesh through the life of Christ who dwells in us. We can reign over our self-life.

Are you down in the dumps and depressed? You don’t have to stay there. You can reign over your depression in the power of the name of Jesus. He lives within you and He is Joy. Joy that is not dependent upon circumstances, but on who He is!

Appropriate by faith the loving, joyful, longsuffering, victorious, and overcoming life of Jesus Christ, who lives within us.

I love 2 Peter 1:3: “According as his divine power hath given unto us ALL THINGS that pertain unto LIFE and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue.” Dear precious mother, you have EVERYTHING YOU NEED IN CHRIST to live a reigning and godly life in your home. No matter what the chaos. No matter the disappointment. No matter the challenge. Christ, the hope of glory, lives in you (Colossian 1:27). And He is with you right now.

2 Corinthians 6:2: “Behold, NOW is the accepted time, behold NOW is the day of salvation.” The Greek word for salvation is “soteria” and means “safety, deliverance, health, salvation.” Jesus Christ is health and salvation for you NOW!

Be blessed today,

Nancy Campbell

He asks that we will claim the words that Jesus Himself spoke in Mark 10:9: “What God has joined together, let no one separate.”

Will you pray for a miracle for this marriage and beautiful family?

Thank you, Amen.
Nancy

Do you notice that Joab encouraged his men to be strong and courageous, not just for themselves, but “FOR OUR PEOPLE, AND FOR THE CITIES OF OUR GOD”?

God is with you, dear mother. Even when you feel week in yourself, you can call on God’s strength in the battle. He is with you. He is the One who gives you courage. And He gives you courage to be strong for your family.

I believe we are in a time when we not only have to be strong for our families, but for our cities, and our nation! We must stand strong for righteousness. We must stand strong for the life of the unborn. We must be courageous to oppose all evil, wherever we face it—in the home and out of the home.

Let’s be courageous in this hour, not just for ourselves, but for your children, our children’s children, and the destiny of this nation.

Nehemiah 4:14: “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”

Fight on your knees. Fight in prayer. Fight against all evil.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

Why is that suddenly when your child gets to the age to read and learn from books you think are no longer good enough to teach them? That’s a lie. You are the best teacher. You were born to teach.

I love the words of G. K. Chesterton: ““How could it be a grand thing to tell someone else’s child about one thing and a small thing to tell one's own child about the universe?

Proverbs 1:8 (RSV) says: “Reject not your mother’s teaching.” Do you notice it doesn’t say the school teacher’s teaching? It doesn’t even say the Sunday school teacher’s teaching. It says the MOTHER’S teaching.

Again, in Proverbs 6:20 (RSV) it states: “My son, keep your father’s commandment, and forsake not your MOTHER’S TEACHING. Bind them upon your heart always; tie them about your neck. When you walk, they will lead you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; and when you awake, they will talk with you. For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching is a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life.”

Your teaching is the most important of all. They may forget the school teacher’s teaching, but they must never forget or forsake your teaching. It is your teaching that keeps them through life. It is your teaching that watches over them. It is your teaching that keeps them on the path of righteousness.

Never underestimate the power of your teaching, mother. Of course, your greatest teaching is by example. You prepare them to face life as they see how you face your problems and challenges. They observe how you stand fast and trust God rather than falling into a pit of despair.

You prepare your children to enjoy a good marriage by the way they behold your loving relationship with your husband. They notice your submissive heart. They see how you delight in him. They watch how you talk sweetly to him.

You prepare them for motherhood as they see your love for babies and family life. You teach them how to manage a home. In fact, you can’t help teaching them all your life (although when they become older they start teaching you!).

Embrace your teaching role. It is who you are as a mother. And forget the lies of the enemy. You are the best.

Love from Nancy Campbell

Painting by JESSIE WILCOX SMITH

We long for the new earth. But in the meantime, we are in this world to overcome. We dare not succumb to the evil around us. We cannot be apathetic, mediocre, ordinary, or middle of the road. We dare not be tolerant of evil as so much of the church is today. If we accept the status quo we will become victims.

Instead, we are to be overcomers. We must fight the good fight of faith. Fight against the darkness and deception. Constantly fight against evil. Hate it. Abhor it. Never be tolerant of it.

What did Jesus say? “The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force” (Matthew 11:12).

Jesus came to “destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). He now dwells in us to continue to destroy his works.

Dear mothers, it begins in our homes. As mothers we must walk in the beautiful anointing of the gentle nurturer and nourisher. But there is another side to motherhood. It is the mother who fights like a “mother bear” to protect her children from the enemy. She does not sit idly by and let her children be taken captives by the devil. She is a watch dog. She is on the war path. She stands up against all unrighteousness. She pushes back the darkness and deception from her home. She is “awesome as an army with banners” (Song 6:10).

We cannot give up this fight until we meet Jesus and enter the world where there is no unrighteousness. But we prepare for this world by overcoming evil now. The promises and the crowns are for the overcomers.

Be encouraged, dear mother. Don’t give up. You are gentle, yet strong. You are a nurturer, yet a warrior. You are the heart of your home, but a devil destroyer.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

Her husband Ricardo wrote (8/1917):
“I know this is your friends’ time to heap spiritual accolades upon you, but as your husband I wanted to also say a few words. We have taken on a big assignment — soon we will be blessed with our seventh child. It is amazing to think about!

“When I look back to September 4th, 2004 when we began this journey in Westlake, Ohio I never dreamt life would have taken us to this point. Proverbs 16:9 (NLT) states: “We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.” So true. God put in our hearts a great love for children that wasn’t there when we were first married.

“You have taken on the mantle of motherhood and you wear it well! The hard work and sacrifice you display everyday has not gone unnoticed. Each day you are imparting eternal nuggets of truth to our children that will be played back to them over and over again during their whole life time.

“I go about my current job as a Youth Advocate and work with so many dysfunctional families, and mothers who have checked out on their motherhood. Then I come home in the evenings to a home of order and a nurturing mother and realize how truly blessed I am! What an honor it is to have you as my wife raising our soon-to-be seven children.

“You are the right woman, serving the right God, at the right time, raising the right children, for the right future. As your husband, I bless you in Jesus name! And look forward with anticipation to what the future holds! You are a mighty woman of God. “

~ Your Husband, Ricardo
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Photo: Ricardo and Sharon Johnson with their children: Ezra (12), Nissi (10), Tasimba (8), Titus (6), Elliot (4), Malachi (2) and Catherine (8 months).

No, you are leaving the superior and most powerful career for a lesser one. One that will pass away. You are involved in an eternal mission. You are mothering eternal souls who will live forever!

Jesus shows us the difference in the parable He told about the shepherd and the sheep in John 10:1-18. Read it over again when you get a chance. Here’s a little excerpt from the New Living Translation (vs. 10-15): “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep. A hired hand will run when he sees a wolf coming. He will abandon the sheep because they don’t belong to him and he isn’t their shepherd. And so the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock. The hired hand runs away because he’s working only for the money and doesn’t really care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep, and they know me . . . So I sacrifice my life for she sheep.”

What’s the difference? The wage earner does a job for money. The true shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. Shepherding is picture of mothering. Like a shepherd, the true mother does not leave her little flock. Instead, she sacrifices her life for her flock. Her children are her passion and her life. She does not try to get away from them. She does not try to save her own life, but lay down her life.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

Hang on a minute. Dear precious mothers, be careful of your confession. When you confess negative things about your home, you are complaining about yourself. Home is not the problem; it’s the mother’s attitude. You see, it is we mothers who determine the life in our home. Nobody else but us!

You determine what your home life will be like. If you want an exciting, stimulating, fulfilling, productive, loving, peaceful, and fruitful life, you can make it happen in your home. Forget all the negatives. Forget your miserable thought life. Forget your self-pity.

Come on now. Start thinking of how you can make your home the most exciting place on earth. Start thinking of how you can make your marriage more exciting and fulfilling. There are so many things you can say and do. Think of something lovely to do with your husband this evening. That doesn’t you have to go out somewhere. Think of something amazing to do together in your home!

Think of how you can make life more happy and joyful for your children. There are a hundred and one things you can do to make this happen. You just need to change gears from the negative to the positive. There is a world of stimulating ideas waiting for you to enter as you start thinking about it and ask your creative God to give you new ideas.

You home is meant to be the most delightful place on earth. The first home, which is the prototype for all homes, was called the Garden of Eden. Eden is the word for DELIGHT in the Hebrew.

Your world is your home. Make it delightful and pleasing to yourself, your husband, and your children.

Don’t become a victim. Instead, make your home, marriage, and family life what you want it to be!

Love from Nancy Campbell

For we’re not just growing gardens, we’re growing children,
We’re not just building houses, we’re building men,
We’re not just making music, we’re making memories
And glorifying God with our family and friends

We’re not merely making meals, we’re making mamas,
We’re not merely making a living, we’re making a life,
Our goal is not comfort and security,
In the end it will all be worth any struggle or strife (Refrain)

For God doesn’t just value the product, He values the process,
We who are made in His image should do the same,
More than just obedience, He wants a relationship
With those He created to glorify His name

We’re not just prepping for tomorrow, we’re preparing for eternity,
We’re not just changing behavior, we’re transforming minds,
Lord keep us from love of the world or pursuit of vanity,
For we’re trusting Holy Spirit to prepare Christ’s bride. (Refrain)

~ Paula Smith (July 2017)
Pleasantville, Tennessee
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Picture: Todd and Paula with their five T’s: Tevya (11), Tiveria (10), Tikvah (10), Teshuvah (8), Thor (6), and Tirzah (4).

William Barclay’s translation of James 1:22 says: “You must not only listen to the word, you must act on it. Otherwise, you indulge in self-deception.” This is very challenging to me. To daily read God’s Word and yet not put it into action is self-deception. The more I do this, the more I deceive myself. I pray that the power of the Holy Spirit working within me will keep me from this deception.

But mothers, we face another challenge. This challenge is not only for ourselves, but for our children. God has given us the responsibility to train our children to obey when we speak to them. This trains our children into the habit of obeying God when He speaks to them through His Word. If we are lazy about training our children to obey, we set them up for the habit of continually disobeying God’s Word.

One of the secrets of teaching your children to obey is to first of all teach them to listen.
If we do not teach our children how to listen, they will not learn to obey. Make sure your children hear what you tell them to do. Make eye contact with them. You may need to get them to repeat it back to you. Then expect them to do it! True hearing results in actions.

When your children learn to listen, they will learn to obey.
When they learn to obey you, they will learn to obey God.

Get them into the “obeying habit” now so that when they hear God speak through His Living Word, they will automatically respond and obey.

What kind of ears do you train your children to have? Lazy ears? Dull ears? Defiant ears? Resistant ears? Gullible ears?

Or are you training them to have diligent ears that are quick to hear and obey you, and ultimately God’s words?

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

How easy it is to do this in life. We subconsciously follow people around us. We assimilate into the ways of our humanistic society. Unless we diligently keep our eyes on Jesus and follow Him, we follow the crowd around us without realizing it.

Where are your eyes today? Are you looking to Jesus? Or are you influenced more by the pressure of family, friends, and society?

Let’s be Jesus followers, not crowd followers.

Romans 12:2 says: “LOOKING UNTO JESUS the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the hem, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Keep your eyes in the right place today,

Nancy Campbell

We face this principle every day as wives and mothers. Constantly we choose whether we will demand our own way, do what pleases us, or lay down our life for our husband, our children, and sacrifice our own selfish desires.

Sometimes this is a battle. We need to be constantly reminded of Psalm 118:27: “Bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.” We willingly lay our life upon the altar as we feel the moving of the Holy Spirit in our lives. But then we get back to the challenges of daily life and mothering and off the altar we jump!

We need His cords to bind us. What are the cords? God says in Hosea 11:4: “I drew them with cords of compassion, with bands of love.” He says again in Jeremiah 31:3 “Yes, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.”

Because Christ now dwells in our hearts (if we have been born again), we no longer live to ourselves, “but unto him which died and rose again” (2 Corinthians 5:14). This lifestyle of dying daily to our own selfish desires does not ruin our lives. Instead, it releases us into the joyful life of serving and sacrifice that is the life of Christ (Mark 8:35).

I read about a mission board that had an ox for its seal. On one side of the ox was an altar, on the other side a plough. Their motto was “Ready for either.” There are millions of Christians being martyred for their faith today (more than at any other time). They are literally dying upon the altar. Others (like you and me) become a living sacrifice as we take up the plough of the daily grind of life. Not doing it grudgingly, but with joy and exhilaration.

May God save us from being jumping jacks--jumping off the altar as soon as anything becomes too difficult, looms bigger than we can imagine, or does not work out the way we planned. Instead may it become our lifestyle to be bound with joy to the altar. This is the least we can do in response to the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ for us.

Love from Nancy Campbell