Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs

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?

These are the graces we want to pour into our home. These are the fruit we want to exhibit in our lives. And isn’t it wonderful? There is nothing stopping us, except our yielding to the flesh.

We don’t have these things in our own selfish nature. But they are in Christ. They are the picture of who Christ is, and He dwells in us. When we are born again, and He dwells in our hearts and He wants to fill our lives with these attributes.

Are you feeling lousy and upset? Your joy has left. What’s happening? You are giving into your feelings and fleshly nature. Remember, Christ dwells in you and His nature is joy. Begin to acknowledge and confess the joy of the Lord. It is a greater truth than your feelings.

Do you want to scream at your children? That’s your flesh. But Christ dwells in you. Acknowledge His presence. Confess out loud: Thank you, Jesus that You live in me and You are filled with patience and longsuffering. Thank You for Your patience that fills my life. I’m walking in Your patience right now. Amen.”

Remember, no one is stopping you. Only your own will. We either yield to the flesh or yield to the Holy Spirit. You are free to do it and live in the fulness of the life of Christ which is His abundant life.

Don’t let the devil win in your home today. Don’t let anger, temper, unforgiveness, worry, fretting, or misery rob you.

Much love from Nancy Campbell

You can check out other statistics on this site. Go to:
http://www.numberofabortions.com/

~ Nancy Campbell

We wanted to extend the opportunity for families to learn and benefit from the Parenting Summit free content, so we decided to open up the entire free event for two more days! While it’s still only available for a limited time (the event closes down on Tuesday night at midnight CST), we hope the additional time will give you the chance to sign up for free at https://zb362.infusionsoft.com/…/e…/6006866/9e1d94c4866cab5c and catch a few of the great sessions AND share about the event with your friends so they can be equipped and encouraged, too.

To register and get started go to this link: https://zb362.infusionsoft.com/…/6…/6006866/9e1d94c4866cab5c
After you sign up, you’ll be given an opportunity to share about the event with friends using your own personalized link and earn rewards (like session transcripts, audios, and more).

We hope it’s an encouragement to you and many families!
Sincerely,

Daniel & Megan Craig
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
homeschoolsummits.com

I voted to save our beloved country and future generations!

We didn’t think we would get to see this movie. It is only showing in selected movie theaters. It played in the AMC theaters in our area but was soon stopped. We were glad to find that it was still playing at the Regal Hollywood at 100 Oaks Mall in Nashville and made the effort to go. It may not be playing for much longer.

It was tragic. Not only was the subject of the movie tragic. But there were only four of us in the theater. Where are God’s people who will be a voice? I know it can be a sacrifice to go. It costs money. Money we often don’t have. But we are not spending money for pleasure, but to stand up for life.

You may have to travel. Even if you must travel an hour and a half, it’s worth it. You are standing on God’s side. You are not hiding in your silent cave. God says in His Word: “OPEN THY MOUTH for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction. OPEN THY MOUTH, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy” (Proverbs 31:8, 9).

Go to http://www.gosnellmovie.com/theaters/ to find the nearest theater to you. If it is still playing within an hour or two of where you live, go. If it’s not on, call your theater and ask why. Most AMC theaters have pulled it. You can call their head office at 913 213 2000 and complain. The liberals do not want people to see this movie.

A pro-choicer said these words: “If Christians really thought abortion was murder, it wouldn’t be legal any more.” We are complicit with evil when we do nothing.

Albert Einstein said: “The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

I printed this story two times in Above Rubies. However, I would love to share it with you again today. It is still one of the most powerful marriage restoration testimonies I have read. Read how Connie waited 12 agonizing years for her wild, in-and-out-of prison husband to return to her!
~ Nancy

Jim and I met in 1966. He was 25, I was 18. He was wild and so was I. When we met he had already been in and out of prison for about seven years and was going back again for two years. We married in the prison six months later. Soon after I had our son. A few months later I miraculously came to Christ. Because of the prison term I didn’t live with my husband for another two and a half years. After being home a year he began a crime spree.

He deserted us over and over again. I had nowhere to turn except to God. No one knew where my mate was. Some of the time my heart would rage like a forest fire out of control. I would run and scream like a woman out of her mind searching for her mate in the raging fire. I’d scream curses at God only to faint from exhaustion and weep bitter tears of repentance. I’d get back up, begin running again and fall again and again until finally I’d surrender my will to Christ’s will. And then I’d wait, maybe for another six months, knowing God was in control.

In the beginning I thought about divorce. Well, wasn’t that what a woman does if her husband leaves her repeatedly? And yet Jim kept coming back and repenting. He would mysteriously end up at my back door after being missing for four or five months, looking like a mad man. But beneath the dirt and sun-parched face he was still mine.

I’d bring him in the house, give him dinner, and speak peace and rest to him. I’d run the bath water for him to wash and feel like a man again. Compassion would rise in my heart. I had the Lord, and my Jim didn’t. I would reverence and praise him. I would shut the door on the world and be alone with my mate. No matter what he had done to me, we were still one flesh. He was my first and only husband--a terrible, ungodly, unfaithful husband, but he was still my husband. His healing came repeatedly as I forgave him and opened my love to him. I held nothing back.

There would be times when putting dinner on the table I’d notice he was awfully late. I’d listen for the car and begin running back and forwards to the window. The old familiar fear would rage, knowing that he had deserted me again. This happened about 30 times in the first twelve years of marriage. He would suddenly disappear without warning. The children would run in from play crying, “Where is daddy, where is my daddy?” I’d tell my little baby, Jimmy, “Daddy is sick, but Jesus is going to heal him.” I taught my little ones to pray, “Thank you, Jesus, for bringing my daddy home.”

His mother died, and no one could find him. My prayers went out to God day and night, seemingly to no avail. The years went on and the crimes continued as if I had no God. I felt like a motherless and fatherless child. I was completely exhausted, and my mate committed still another crime and went to prison for almost four years.

I loved him. I felt he was demon possessed, yet he was my husband. And, at times I hated him. Your arms and legs belong to you even when they hurt, you can’t cut them off. I was like this about my husband. I hated it when he deserted me, but I was married to him no matter what. Adultery to me was the worst of all sins. At night before I entered my marriage bed alone I’d cry out to God to keep me pure, even in my dreams, and that I would never dream of another man.

Many mornings I’d wake up and think, “Lord, why did you give me another day to live?” Often the world seemed so black to me, but sweet Jesus would come to me and speak life and joy into my tired and depressed soul. One day God supernaturally took all my burdens away. I forgot Jim had left me. It was so hilarious. I even wrote myself a note to remember to pray for him.
The day-to-day message from the Lord was, “Now Connie, you just get up out of that bed. You straighten your shoulders and you believe God. This problem isn’t bigger than God. Don’t you prepare your day as though Jim won’t be home. You get up and prepare your home for a miracle.” Each evening when my husband was gone I’d fix supper for him and put his plate at the head of the table. No one was allowed to sit in his chair and no one was allowed to bad-mouth him. I ran the house as if he were home.

I survived and lived on the Word of God. I whispered His name all day long. He walked with me in the valley of death and guided me to a straight path.

All our phone conversations at the prison were censored. I’d speak faith into the phone and say, “I’ll see you in a few days, honey. The guards thought we were planning an escape because Jim had been given a 10-year sentence!

People laughed and said he would always leave me and be in and out of prison. The prison guards told me that Jim was institutionalized and was hopeless. Hopeless or not, he was my husband. I knew I could never forsake the Lord by not forgiving my own husband. Also, as a young wife I wanted to be a teacher of women when I got older and I knew I couldn’t be divorced. I’d sing, “Keep me Jesus as the apple of thine eye.”

The Lord would tell me to speak to the mountains in my life and not doubt in my heart. I would speak to the mountain, which was Jim. I would woo him and call him home with my prayers. Every muscle in my body cried out to God to save him. I fasted and prayed continuously.

Jim was healed in 1979. After he had been in prison for the last four years and home for about three months, he asked me to have another baby, our fourth. I was so fearful. I said No, I was not going to have another baby. I walked away from him and the Lord spoke to me. “Connie," He said, “You have come this far by faith. Don’t give up now.” After much heartache I obeyed the Lord.

“Yes,” I told Jim, "I’ll have another baby for you.” I placed my future in his hands. When Jim saw that I still believed in his life as a human being something released within him. The fear left his eyes and He was delivered. He lifted up his hands to His Father and received the anointing of a sound and unfettered mind. He began to slowly give more and more of his life to Christ. He took over the bills and began to work steadily.

The Lord did exceedingly and abundantly more than I could ask or think. He gave me joy unspeakable. Satan had come in like a flood, but the Lord raised such a standard against him. All Satan did was build me a grand testimony.

God gave me a new batch of fruit. I had David in 1980, Dan in 1982, and Mary in 1985. We now have six children. I was queen in my palace. I raised the children for Christ and to honor their daddy. I taught them to jump when Daddy walked into the room. I taught them to get Daddy a cup of coffee or honor him in some way.

The guys at work say to my husband, “You don’t go out and drink and party.” Jim says, “I have a wife to go home to. I spend my time with my family.”

One guy said, “Boy, when work is over you run home.” The guy thought something was wrong with him!

I sit here thinking of Jim and the man he is now. He has been home sitting at the head of our table for 20 years! Who is this Jesus we serve? Surely, He is the Son of the living God, a God who saw me crying and feeling so forsaken, a God who knew the very moment Jim would be healed. Jim is my walking miracle to always remind me that nothing is impossible with God. He showed me that if we don’t give up we will see the glory of God.

Proverbs 31:11 says, “The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her.” A woman must gain the trust of a man such as this. His healing comes as he feels safe enough to give Christ his heart and his wife his heart. When Jim was healed he went from not seeing me to taking care of me. He turned from Satan and took dominion over his Eve. He came into his responsibilities as a man. I come under my husband and I don’t desire to do anything else. I don’t always agree with him and I tell him I don’t. But in the end his word is final. I want to be as Esther and not as Queen Vashti.

Dear wives and mothers, don’t give up on your husband. God sees your heartache. He won’t leave you or forsake you if you trust in Him. I know. I’ve been to the other side.

Updated December 2012
In April 2006 my dear husband, Jim, died of a heart attack. As my six children and I gathered around Jim’s hospital bed the Hospital Chaplain told me, "I have never seen a family so full of love." As the nurse told us Jim had passed, I whispered to each of the children to comfort and love each other. As we left the hospital room I left a chapter in my life.

I wish I could say that all went well after that, but grief is hard to understand, and unpredictable. Jim and I were married for almost 40 years, my first and only husband. I still live in our family home, garden, bake bread, cook from scratch, and try to practice what I preach.

Jim would often say, "Connie and the children are what I live for, but I try to put God first. My family is my life." When we would give our testimony to a church group Jim would look up from the pulpit and say, "If it wasn't for that little girl right over there I wouldn't be alive today. She was my guardian angel."

I now have nine grandchildren and they are a wonderful blessing. Had I given up on my husband I would have never known the joy of all these grandchildren. Praise the Lord.

Jim and I lived from one miracle to the next. To me, Jim and I were just two good forgivers as we all have feet of clay. Our love and life together was the most gut-wrenching experience I ever had, but it was a one of a kind marriage. Would I do it all again? Yes, I would. Oh yes, it was worth it all. My marriage was tried in the fire many times, but I came out with a testimony of love and truth. My marriage has a message, "If you don't give up you will see the glory of God."

CONNIE HULTQUIST
Marian, Iowa, USA

At ten minutes, a three-year old boy stopped, but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The child stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard, and the child continued to walk, turning his head the whole time. This action was repeated by several other children, but every parent - without exception - forced their children to move on quickly.

At forty-five minutes, the musician played continuously. Only six people stopped and listened for a short while. About twenty gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.

After one hour, he finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed, and no one applauded. There was no recognition at all.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before, Joshua Bell sold-out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100 each to sit and listen to him play the same music.

This is a true story. Joshua Bell, playing incognito in the D.C. Metro Station, was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste, and people’s priorities.

This experiment raised several questions: In a common-place environment, at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? If so, do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this: if we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made . . . how many other things are we missing as we rush through life?

Leonid Afremov, Violinist, Oil Painting