Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs

We have now lived in USA for 22 years and are USA citizens. However, when I fly back to New Zealand (the land of my birth) and touch down on the tarmac, I exclaim, "I'm home." When I fly back to Australia where we lived for 10 years and still have family there, I exclaim, "I'm home." But, when I fly back to USA, I also exclaim, "I'm home!" And yet, none are my real home. My real and lasting home is the eternal realm.

David confessed in Psalm 119:54, "Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage." Whether you have lived in the same home all your life, or in many different homes, you are still a sojourner.

Since being married, we have lived in 11 different homes in four different countries (apart from lots of temporary residences along the way). You may have lived in more. But, don't worry if you don't have a permanent home, for you have God's permanent Word.

In whatever home you live, large or small, humble or mansion, make God's Word the delight and song of your home. It is your durability in the homes of your pilgrimage. Sing hymns or Scripture songs at your Family Devotions morning and evening. Sing with your children throughout the day. Play worshipful music and fill your home with the songs of the Lord. No matter what we are facing in your earthly temporary homes, God's eternal Word will see you through. It is always your strength, home, and comfort.

Matthew 24:35, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away."

Love from Nancy Campbell

We constantly need reminders don't we? It is so easy to forget.

Psalm 119:164 says, "Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments." How can we remember to praise God seven times a day? I think a kitchen timer is a great idea, which reminds me that I must purchase two or three more. In my house they disappear or break.

To respond to this Scripture I have worked out a plan (although I'll need my kitchen timer or I'll forget)! We start the day with Family Devotions after breakfast as so I'll wait until 10.00 am to set my first timer. Then 11.00 am and 12.00 pm. After lunch I'll set it again 2.00 pm, 3.00 pm, 4.00 pm and 5.00 pm. That's seven times throughout the day. And then we'll have Family Devotions after supper in the evening.

You may have to work it differently in your home as everyone has a different schedule. But, unless you work out your times, it won't happen! I love the way The Message paraphrases this verse, "Seven times each day I STOP and SHOUT PRAISES." We have to stop what we are doing to do it! But, remember, you are not stopping for more than a minute. Just enough time to praise the Lord for His goodness, and on with what you are doing. Include your children in this wonderful plan.

Psalm 107:8 says, "Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children o men!" Repeated three more times in this Psalm.

Love from Nancy Campbell

Above Rubies is now on Pinterest with beautiful pictures of mothers, babies, and family life. I know you will be encouraged.

There are currently 46 boards, so you won't be able to look at them all at once. Treasure a board in the evening when you have a moment to relax. As you get through them, I'd love to hear which is your favorite board.

Love from Nancy

Go to: http://www.pinterest.com/aboverubiesmag/

My grand-daughter, Chalice, loves to read George McDonald books. Today she asked me to read a quote from him: "No man ever did the best work who copied another. Let every man work out the thing that is in him! Who, according to the means he has, great or small, does the work given him to do, stands by the side of the Savior, is a fellow-worker with Him. Be a brother (or a sister) after thy own fashion, only see it be a brother (or sister) thou art."

What true words. God is an amazing Creator and He doesn't make clones. Every individual He has created since the beginning of time is a new and fresh revelation from the hand of God.

YOU also are new creation, never before or never again to be created. God has given you a personality and differing gifts to use. You will never be like someone else. You don't have to mother like someone else. You have to mother your children according to who you are. My three daughters who are married, Evangeline, Pearl, and Serene are all wonderful mothers, but each one mothers differently. The homeschool differently. They discipline differently. And neither is influenced by the other. They embrace who God created them to be.

Everyone of your children are unique individuals. They have different gifts. They will learn differently. They are not meant to be put in a box!

The government wants all the children in the state system to be put in a box. They want to brainwash with their humanist and progressive agenda so they will think like them.

But, God wants your children to think like Him. And He has a special purpose for each one of your children. Give them freedom to be who God created them to be. Let them fulfill their giftings. You may find that as they begin to do this that will start home businesses in their young years that could eventually be their life's work.

We glorify God when we embrace who He created us to be.

Love from Nancy Campbell

What a great privilege God has given to us to bring forth children in His image and to fill the world with His glory.

Do you sometimes feel foolish? Or, at least people around think you are foolish for staying at home with your children, homeschooling, and embracing beautiful babies into your family. I know you sometimes feel week, tired, and depleted of strength. You may feel unimportant and worthless when you see others making money and out in their careers. Yes, you even feel despised.

Dear mother, please don't despair. Shout HALLELUJAH instead. You are in the very category for God to pick you up and use you mightily! Others may seem to be doing great things, but you are right where God wants you to be. You are in His perfect will as you mother and train His children, for they are firstly His children and He doesn't want you giving them to anyone else.

Read 1 Corinthians 1:26-29 NLT, "Few of you were wise in the world's eyes, or powerful, or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God deliberately chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose those who are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important, so that no one can ever boast in the presence of God."

Love from Nancy Campbell

Have you started praying as a family? Check the post, THE POWER OF PRAYING FAMILIES.

Leviticus 26:8 says, "Five of you shall chase an hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight; and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword." What is the greatest way to destroy our enemies? By prayer, of course. Do you have three children in your family? Three children and mom and dad makes five! God says that five of you can put 100 enemies to flight. Twenty families of five can cause 10,000 enemies to bite the dust.

What about families with six, seven, eight, nine and more children? Think about all these prayer warriors. Don't let the devil get you so busy and so involved in other things (yes, even GOOD things), that you don't have time to pray and cry out to God for our nation as a family. Don't let all your prayer warriors be wasted. Even little children can learn to intercede.

Praying together is the most powerful thing you can do together as a family.

Love from Nancy Campbell

It's hard to believe what is happening in our nation at the moment, isn't it? It's hard to believe that this nation that was founded on godly principles and FREEDOM is now being enslaved before our eyes. We cannot carry on as usual. We must go to prayer.

This means starting in our family. It's not much use talking about a church prayer meeting if we are not first praying at home. Can you just imagine what could happen if every God-fearing, Bible believing family began to gather their family together morning and evening and cry out to God for this nation. We can quote 2 Chronicles 7:14 by heart, but do we believe it or do anything about it?

Luke 18:7-8 says, "Shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry DAY AND NIGHT unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily."

Can I encourage you, even if it means rearranging your daily schedule and all your plans, to get serious and pray together as a family daily?

Love from Nancy Campbell

I love to look at food, but I like to taste it more. I love to try different flavors and different tasting dishes. But, even more than tasting, I love to eat!

Psalm 34:8 says, "O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusts in him." We love to taste food, but do we love to taste of the Lord and His Words? We can't experience the flavor of something until we taste it. And when it's good we want to eat it, and feast on it! Years ago my husband wrote a worship song. The first stanza began, "I taste of You." The second stanza began, "I feed on You". But, the third stanza went on to say, "I FEAST on You, You are my Living Bread..."

We couldn't go through a day without eating. Let's not go through a day without tasting of the Lord and feeding on His Word. Make it a priority to gather your family morning and evening to taste and feed on Him. You will find His words GOOD to your soul. Assemble your children together to this bottomless well that never runs dry. Teach them daily of His ways. Give them such a taste of the power of God's Living Word that they will want to spit out all the vain allurements of this world.

Love from Nancy Campbell

I am so amazed when I read the wonder of the truth of God's Word and yet so ashamed how we rarely live in the experience of it. Colossians 2:9 says, "For in him (Christ Jesus) dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in him." Colossians 1:19 says that "It pleased the Father than in him all the fullness should dwell." We acknowledge this truth, but do we acknowledge that Christ lives in us (Colossians 1:27)? That means that every moment we can tap into all the fullness of God, for Christ DWELLS IN US!

This foundation, and yet revolutionary truth, changes our lives as mothers as we cook in our kitchen, tend to our little flock, and fulfill all the household tasks we have to accomplish each day. We don't do any of this on our own. We do it with the FULLNESS OF GOD DWELLINGIN US! Can you get a hold of this truth? Of course, we will only experience it as we acknowledge and confess it.

When you feel miserable, acknowledge the joy of the Lord that dwells in you for He is filled with the "oil of gladness above thy fellows" (Hebrews 1:9). When you are frustrated and losing your patience, acknowledge His patience for He is filled with longsuffering and lives within you! When you are in a state of tension, acknowledge His rest for He lives in rest and He lives in you!

Let's not live in the flesh and below par, when Christ died and rose again to live His life in us. Let's walk in our home in the revelation of this truth.

Love from Nancy Campbell

There is always far more going on behind the scenes than we ever dream about, isn't there? Here's another thing we need to be aware of.

Did you know that public schools now have a new textbook called, World History, which promotes Islam and dumbs down Christianity? This book has a 36-page chapter devoted to teaching Islam as a peaceful religion and Muslim conquests as benign "occupations," but Christian conquests as "massacres." The book practically ignores Christianity, except to teach that Christians are the ones who kill, maim, and slaughter.

Can you believe this is happening in our country that was founded on Christian principles? And your tax dollars are paying for this brainwashing.

Informative Christian parents can no longer keep their children in public schools.

Let's wake up before it is too late.

Love from Nancy

God wants you to have REST and PEACE in your home.

Here's a lovely quote by Marianne Neifert, which an Above Rubies reader sent to me. She read it in the Reader's Digest. I'm sure you will identify with these same feelings......

"If I hadn't had children, I probably would have had more money and material things. I probably would have gone more places, gotten more sleep, pampered myself more. My life would have been much more boring and predictable. As a result of being a parent, I have laughed harder, cried more often. I have worried more and hurried more. I've had less sleep, but somehow I've had more fun. I've learned more, grown more. My heart has ached harder, and I've loved to a capacity beyond my imagination. I've given more of myself, but I've derived more meaning from life."

Isn't it true? We experience the delirious joys of motherhood and also the aches and pains of motherhood, but our lives are richer for them all. Oh how much we would have missed out on, if we hadn't had each child that God has given us.

Dear young mothers, forget sighing and grumbling about all your frustrations. These precious days with your little ones will go too quickly. My oldest son will soon be 50 years, and it still seems like one blink of my eye since the day he was born. As I look back on raising our children, do I regret that I didn't get involved in more activities outside the home or further my career? Oh no. I regret every moment I didn't spend with them. I never felt I had enough time to pour into them all I wanted to before they were gone and flown the nest.

Treasure every moment with the children God has given you, today.

Love from Nancy Campbell .

All the principles that God gives us in His Word are liberating principles. They set us free from bondage, depression, self-pity, bitterness, and destruction. And yet, God's ways are usually opposite of how we would naturally react. One of these kingdom principles is forgiveness. When someone hurts us wrongly or speaks false words against us, it is not easy to forgive. But, unless we do, we only end up hurting ourselves. God shows us in His Word how to do it.

1. We must be eager and ready to forgive.
God Himself is always "READY to forgive" (Psalm 86:5) and He wants us to have the same attitude. We don't hold out for months or years in bitterness, but forgive immediately.

2. We must forgive all, not only some things.
God never holds back His forgiveness. He forgives ALL our sins. There is nothing He won't forgive when we seek the cleansing of the blood of Jesus. Read Psalm 103:3 and Colossians 2:13.

3. We must forgive seventy time seven.
Yes, Matthew 18:21-22 tells us 490 times, but the inference is UNENDING forgiveness. How can you forgive over and over again, even for the same thing? Only by God's grace and forgiveness which we inherit when Christ comes to dwell in us (Romans 5:5 and Colossians 1:27).

4. We must forgive from the heart.
Matthew 18:35 NASB says, "My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother FROM YOUR HEART."

5. We must forgive others the same way Christ has forgiven us. This kind of attitude doesn't let us off the hook, does it? Ephesians 4:32 reads, "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, EVEN AS GOD for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." Read also Luke 23:34 and Colossians 3:13.

There will always be someone we have to forgive. It may be every day, or more than once a day. Allow Christ to work His spirit of forgiveness in you, today.

Love from Nancy Campbell

As my husband listened to Sean Hannity yesterday, he heard that according to two major sources, that USA used to be the least corrupt country in the west. Sadly, it has now become the most corrupt. In the midst of this corruption we have the responsibility and privilege to train children of integrity, children who will be courageous to stand for truth and purity in the midst of distortion.

This won't happen easily. This will take courageous and purposeful mothers. This will take parents who will take their children out of the state school system where they are indoctrinated in humanism, feminism, socialism, and now more and more with the gay agenda. It is impossible to raise a pure and unadulterated generation who are filled with God's truth if we send them to be educated by the enemy's camp every day. We cannot turn this nation around when children from Christian families are being educated in everything that is against God and family.

Let's raise shining lights in the midst of the darkness. And please don't tell me that you send your child to school to be a shining light. Young children are not yet ready to stand against the deception. Instead, they are subtly brainwashed with humanism which is the opposite to God's Word. But, we should get them ready to be strong, courageous, and filled with truth so that when they are older and ready they will come forth from our homes (not deceived and corrupted), but filled with light to disperse the darkness and deception.

Philippians 2:15 says, "That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a CROOKED AND PERFVERSE NATION, among whom ye SHINE AS LIGHTS IN THE WORLD."

May God fill you with His anointing and wisdom today as you raise shining lights for God.

Love from Nancy Campbell

Are you feeling frazzled? Is your stomach tied up in knots? Overwhelmed by motherhood? Dear mother, I think that often we feel weighed down and snowed under because we get involved in too many other things outside the home. It's so easy to get in the rat-race of running here and there and having our children involved in too many activities, isn't it?

Many years ago I read a bumper sticker that said, "If a woman's place is in the home, why am I always in the car?" It isn't God's plan for us to mother our children running around in the car, but in the home.

Can I encourage you that when life gets frantic, to take stock and look at what you are doing. I love the Knox translation of Hosea 11:11 which says, "In their OWN HOME, says the Lord, I WILL GIVE THEM REST."

I know that all your running around is for good things. But, dear mother, don't let seemingly good things rob you of the perfect will of God. Even Eve, who walked personally with God every day, was not tempted by something that looked evil, but by what looked "good" and "wise" (Genesis 3:6).

Watch out for deception and find your REST IN YOUR HOME.

Love from Nancy Campbell

think you'll enjoy this poem (or is it a song, Val?) written by Val Halloran, one of our regular Above Rubies Facebook readers.

GROWN TOO FAST
I think back to the day you came
to bless me long ago;
All I knew about you was your name
and that I loved you so.

A tiny bundle, soft and sweet,
God's special gift to me.
Uniquely made to be like Him,
to live eternally!

The days and months flew quickly by;
I was told the time would pass;
but with lots of babes and work to do,
I didn't know then just how fast.

I wanted more than anything
to lead you in God's ways,
to teach you that to live for Him
was the reason you were made.

Now that you're grown and on your own,
and time to train has passed,
though you say that you saw faith in me,
I still wish I could go back,

to cherish more those fleeting times
to show you of His love.
Though I tried to point you all to Him,
I'll never feel I did enough.

But I'll say to you what was said to me,
that as you love and train your own,
slow down, enjoy these precious ones,
in a blink, they'll all be grown.
@2013, Val Halloran
www.valhalloran.com

You are most probably aware that written in the 2,517 pages of Obama Care, that hardly a soul has read, that they will be giving a minimum of $500,000,000.00 to Planned Parenthood each year. Our government does not promote life, but death. Obama Care is not for our blessing but to take control of our lives.

It makes me think of Nehemiah 9:37, "Also they have dominion over our bodies, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress."

Last week a dear friend called me to say that she received a knock on the door. A lady stood there from a local government agency to state that her perfectly beautiful and HEALTHY 10 year old daughter had not had a medical checkup in the last year! She didn't need a checkup. She is totally healthy! Can you believe such an invasion into family life? And this just happened last week.

If we don't stand up now for truth, we will lose all our freedoms.

Love from Nancy Campbell

Most Above Rubies readers in USA should have received their magazine by now. Don't despair if you haven't. Give it another week or so before you start screaming that your copy hasn't arrived! Sometimes some folks have to wait about three weeks. You can never tell with the Post Office.

You will notice on page 15 that there is A SPECIAL GIFT FOR YOU. Our son, Wes Campbell, Manager of the Newsboys has released a FREE download to all Above Rubies readers--a song from the latest Newsboys CD, Restart, which recently hit the market.

Michael Tate, four times Grammy Award Winner, sings "That Home" about the power of a mother in the home. You will love it! We play it over and over again here, in the home and in the car. The youngest of nine children, Michael sings about his mother, of the love in his home, and also of the hundreds of children who were nurtured there. Sadly, as this CD hit the market, Michael's mother of 86 years passed away.

Here is the FREE download for you. It will be easier for you to click on it here than check in the magazine. And if your magazine hasn't arrived yet, you can get it NOW.

 http://tinyurl.com/ThatHomeMp3

Here's the first stanza... you can listen to the rest when you download.
There was a home in town
Where broken kids the lost and found
Would come for miles around
Just to see what love was all about
‘Cause momma had a way
Of making things okay

She’d cook us our favorite meal
Sit and listen to how we feel
Oh, how the pain was real
How many families would the devil steal
Momma had a way of making things okay

CHORUS:
In that home we knew we were safe
To be young enough to dream
To find the faith to believe
And in that home love it had no end
That’s where we learned to forgive
In that home

Happy listening. Nancy