Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs

You will never go wrong following God’s way. God’s word is true from the beginning and from the beginning His word is true. God hasn’t changed His plan for mothers to nurture and raise their children in the home (Titus 2). It is still the greatest career God has given to women.

We could not believe our eyes. Everywhere we went in Scotland we saw this sign, DOGS WELCOME, in cafes, restaurants, and shops! In fact we saw very few children and babies but people walking their dogs everywhere. It seems that so many have rejected their own babies in preference for dogs. This picture was in a cafe where went for coffee. Dogs were allowed in every place. The number of births per family in Scotland is only 1.5, well below the bare replacement number of 2.1. In fact, in the last few years there has been more deaths than births each year in this beautiful land of Scotland. How sad.

I have a vision!

The most powerful thing you can do for your children is to pray for them. Who will pray for them if you don’t?

When you build each day into your marriage, your home, your family, and your children God calls you wise. When you leave your home and children to build into someone else’s business, corporation, or organization the Bible calls you foolish. Are we listening to God’s Word?

It is a powerful place to influence your children and to bind your family together. Food and fellowship are twins. They go together. Think about how you can make every meal special.

Can you believe it? When I studied the Greek words for food, mealtimes, and tables in the New Testament, I found 31 different words! God certainly loves the subject of eating. Many of these words give the picture of eating together with others. Jesus loved to eat with others.

Our first ministry is to our family of course. But do you also like to invite “others” to your table who are not part of your family? Hospitality is not an optional ministry but the lifestyle of the kingdom of God. It is an extension of our mothering anointing. We have big hearts. We want to invite people. We want to feed people. We can’t stop saying, “Come.”

We read about the lifestyle of the early believers in Acts 2:45: “So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people.”

Breaking bread was not specifically speaking about communion but sharing meals with one another. They didn’t cook elaborate meals. How could they do that if they were sharing meals with others every day? They ate simple meals and shared them. Hospitality is not trying to cook a three-course meal to impress visitors. It’s sharing our homes, hearts, lives, food, thoughts, and revelations with others.

Do you notice that they ate with “simplicity” of heart? They kept it simple. When you keep it simple you can do it? You cook what you prepare for your own family, except add more to the pot!

I remember one day some folks arrived at our home at lunchtime. All we had in the house was potatoes! I was most embarrassed to invite them in for potatoes only, so nearly refused to offer hospitality. However, I managed to subdue my pride and invited them in. What great fellowship we enjoyed together. This couple always remember our lunchtime of potatoes. In fact, I don’t think they remember the times when I prepared a beautiful menu for them.

And do you notice something else? They ate their food with glad hearts. Food always makes us cheerful, especially if we fellowship together at the same time. Do you have a small family? Do you get bored at mealtimes? Invite another family to join you. At least once a week. It adds spice to your life. And gladness. And joy.

And one more thing. As the early believers ate together DAILY, the Lord added to the church DAILY those who should be saved. I wonder if we would see more people coming to Jesus if we lived this biblical lifestyle.

Love and blessings,

Nancy Campbell

Painting by Harold Anderson

Here, in my humble kitchen,
Christ dwells.
And oh, what joy and peace
That spells.

For He, the King of Kings,
Brings hope
As bread brings bodily strength
To cope
With ev'ry daily task.

He makes
Just baking common pies
And cakes
Seem sort of special, an art
Which excels.
For where Christ is,
There, too, love dwells.

~ Phyllis Michael

God promises us that He will strengthen us with “His glorious power.” We couldn’t want for a better promise. We need God’s strength moment by moment, don’t we? We need it physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

However, when we read this, we often think of being strengthened to do mighty works and miracles. Let’s look closer and find out How God wants to strengthen us. It’s something very personal for us as mothers in our homes as we raise our children.

Colossians 1:10, 11 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: strengthened with all mighty, according o his glorious power, UNTO ALL PATIENCE AND LONGSUFFERING with joyfulness.”

Did you get it? He strengthens you with all His glorious power to be patient! And longsuffering!  You don’t have patience in your own flesh, but when you yield to His life in you, His patience, and longsuffering pours from you.

Thank Him for His glorious power filling you with His patience. Thank Him for His longsuffering that fills your heart and consequently pours into our kitchen and your home. One translation calls it “unlimited patience”! Our patience runs out quickly, but God’s patience and longsuffering is unlimited. No matter what is going on in your home, no matter how frustrated you feel. God’s unlimited patience is greater than your fleshly impatience.

And did you notice that we don’t live in God’s patience with resignation and desperation, but with JOYFULNESS?

The works of God are beautiful in us as we yield to Him. James 1:3-4 says: “Let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” The strange thing is, most of the time we are not patient enough to let patience have its full work! We give up before God has finished working out in our lives what He wants to accomplish.    

I love how The Living Bible puts it: “When the way is rough, your patience has a chance to grow. So let it grow, and don’t try to squirm out of your problems. For when your patience is finally in full bloom, then you will be ready for anything, strong in character, full and complete”.   

Dear mother, don’t despair when everything is going wrong. Rejoice! Let God work out His patience in you. This is how He will make you strong in character. God doesn’t want to do a half-work in you, but a full-grown work!

Love from Nancy Campbell

Don’t miss the most important family appointment of the week—taking your children to be with the people of God (Hebrews 10:25).

Keep shining in your home, mother

1. Finish the Meal

I guess I am from old school, but I hate waste. I hate to see good wholesome food left on plates. It seems to be a current fad for people to take what they feel like, eat a little, and throw the rest out! Help! Such waste.

I think it is a good idea to give children a small amount of each food on their plate. They should eat this first and come back for more if they are still hungry. I’m always happy to dish out seconds. I love to be generous with food, but I certainly don’t like waste.

But there is more! The table is not only a place to feed the body, but the soul and the spirit. Therefore, we never want to leave the table before we feed the most important part of our children—their spirits. They need feeding as much as their bodies. The spirits of some children must be literally starving! Famished. Dying.

Before we leave the table, my husband opens the Bible and reads a portion to the family and then we pray together. We call it Family Devotions in our home. You may have a different name. I love what they used to call it in Holland—Finishing up the Meal! Isn’t that great? These parents would not allow their children to leave the table until they truly finished their meal by feeding and nourishing their spirits from God’s living Word.

The following are a couple of tips for this part of the meal.

2. Bring out the Bible!

Because most men have a one-track mind, they often forget about having devotions with their family. They have their mind on other things, and they don’t get around to it. My husband is entrenched in this habit now, but when the children were growing up and we came to the end of the meal, I would bring the Bible or The Daily Light on the Daily Path (which we mostly use) and place it by his plate. I didn’t have to say anything. Just placing it there jogged his memory and he would pick it up and begin to read.

3. Don’t Clear the Table too Soon!

This is a necessary tip. I have found that if we begin to scrape the dishes, clear the table, and take them to the counter before we have our Family Devotions, that it’s nearly impossible to get everyone back to the table! Once they are up, they’re gone! So, I don’t let them get up!

“Do you mean to say you have Bible reading with all the dirty dishes still on the table?” Yes, we do, and we hardly notice it. It keeps everyone at the table and doesn’t break the atmosphere.

I trust these practical tips will encourage you as you establish the habit of gathering your family to eat around the table.

Many blessings, Nancy Campbell

DAILY LIGHT ON THE DAILY PATH

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1. No iPhones

The purpose of the table is not only to eat, but to communicate together. We gather for “face to face table fellowship,” to dialogue, and converse with one another. From the moment of birth, feeding is face to face. God orchestrated His creation so beautifully that when a mother puts her baby to the breast, they are face to face. The babe not only draws milk from the mother’s breasts but looks and communicates with the mother.

We don’t need the competition of iPhones when we gather at the table. They inhibit family communication. They interrupt—and are very rude.

This is another thing you must make happen. Nor do you give in to whining about the matter. Perhaps you could have a basket where each one drops their iPhones before coming to sit at the table. Place the basket far enough away that no one can hear any “dings.”

You will need to watch carefully. At times I have noticed teens and even adults looking down past their meal plate and I realize they are looking at an iPhone hiding under the table! I beg your pardon! Are they so addicted they cannot put it away even for a meal?

2. Direct the Conversation

Have you noticed that family conversation can be shallow or even turn to nothingness? I believe we as parents should direct the conversation. When I prepare a meal, I not only think of what I will cook, but what we will talk about at the table. I like to bring a subject or a question to the table for discussion so we can enjoy stimulating conversation. It’s a time to learn new things from one another, to hone our ideas, and cement convictions. And this saves the conversation from spiraling down into negativity and complaining. Table time should be positive, enjoyable, and fun. You make it happen, dear mother.

Make wonderful things happen at your meal table,

Nancy Campbell