Gathering your family together for family meals is a wonderful way to strengthen family life.
270 Hits
Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs
Through the weekly and daily devotionals you can be constantly encouraged in your great role of parenting, the highest career in the nation. You can also stay updated on what's happening with the Above Rubies ministry.
We need great discernment to truly know what is good and what not just “looks good,” don’t we? Many times, things that are good rob us of the best! We can be involved I so many “good things” in our parenting and in Christian work and yet they are not God’s best. They are what we think is good. Or even what the enemy tricks us to think is good.This is how Satan tempted Eve in the beginning. He didn’t tempt her with anything evil, but what looked good and wise (Genesis 3:6). If Eve could be so easily tempted who walked with God each day in the garden, how much more are we be susceptible to Satan who is “an angel of light.”
The greatest antidote to deception is God’s Word. It is our plumbline for everything we believe and do. It is also a great lie detector. Many times, we don’t know things are lies until we line them up with God’s Word.
One of the ways the enemy robs families of what is best is many of our extracurricular activities. None of them are bad. They are all good. And yet often they rob us of what is the most important.
The tricky thing is that most of them are always about the time we should be in the home preparing the meal for the family so we can enjoy family togetherness around the table each evening. And of course, to have family devotions and worship together. And pray together.
The devil hates families praying, and he will use good things to stop us. He’ll get us doing all these great things for our children, which are good, but which stop us from coming together as a family to pray. And the devil laughs. He wins the victory.
It’s praying families who are world-changing families. And as you know, this doesn’t easily happen. It takes a complete life change in our families to make it happen. But world-changing families are also sacrificing families. They’re families who know what is the BEST, not only what is good.
Blessings,
Nancy Campbell
365 Hits
THE TONE OF VOICEIt’s not so much what you say
As the manner in which you say it,
It’s not so much the language you use
As the tone in which you convey it.
“Come here” I said,
And the child cowered and wept.
“Come here,” I said—
He looked and smiled,
And straight to my lap he crept.
Words may be mild and fair,
And the tone may pierce like a dart,
Words may be soft as the summer air,
But the tone may break my heart.
For words come from my mind
Grow by study and art—
But tone leaps from the inner self
Revealing the state of the heart.
Whether you know it or not,
Whether you mean or care,
Gentleness, kindness, love, and hate,
Envy, anger, are there.
Then, would you quarrels avoid
And peace and love rejoice?
Keep anger not only out of your words—
Keep it out of your voice.
~ Unknown
Painting: Arthur John Elsley
301 Hits
TEARING DOWN OR BUILDING UP?I saw them tearing a building down,
A team of men in my hometown,
With a heave and a ho and yes, yes, yell!
They swung a beam and a sidewall fell.
And I said to the foreman, “Are these men skilled
Like the ones you’d use if you had to build?”
And he laughed and said, “Oh no, indeed,
The most common laborer is all I need,
For I can destroy in a day or two
What it takes a builder ten years to do.”
So I thought to myself as I went my way,
Which one of these roles am I willing to play?
Am I one who is tearing down,
As I carelessly make my way around?
Or am I one who builds with care
To make the world better because I was there?
~ Author Unknown.
Dear mother, I believe these words apply also apply to us as we build our homes and families. Proverbs 14:1 says: “Every wise woman builds her house: but the foolish plucks it down with her hands.”
One of the names God gives to us as mothers is “builder.” Because He names us builders, He wants us to be professional builders. A common laborer can tear down a house, but it takes a professional to build a good home.
Let’s be those who build into our marriages and families each day.
Don’t let a day go by without building a little more into your marriage. Think of something lovely and kind to say to your husband today and each new day. Your greatest building weapons are the words that come out of your mouth.
Seek to do something each day to make your family life stronger. Remember, you are building into your children’s lives until the day you present your children “in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming” (1 Thessalonians 2:19).
Have a beautiful day with your family,
Nancy Campbell
303 Hits
In Bible times God had a tabernacle and later a temple where He deigned to dwell in the midst of His people. Today, we have no temple, but God is a dwelling God and He still loves to dwell in our homes.One of the most beautiful things we can do as a mother and homemaker is to make our homes a dwelling place for the living God. I love the Scripture in Hebrews 9:1 (JBP) where it tells us about God’s sanctuary “a holy place in this world for the eternal God.”
This morning I read Psalm 84:1-3 (NLT): “How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of Heavens Armies . . . Even the sparrow fins a home, and the swallow builds her nest and raises her young at a place near your altar, O LORD of Heaven’s Armies, my King and my God!”
This is such a beautiful word to us mothers. How often we feel overwhelmed and wish we had more time to read God’s word and spend time in His presence. But how do we do this with little babies and toddlers and even older ones all vying for our attention. It seems impossible.
But dear mothers, we need to think of our homes as God’s sanctuary and each room as an altar of the Lord. Instead of thinking we have no time to spend with God to realize that we are living in His presence. As you dedicate your home to Him to be His sanctuary, you are living in His presence. Even in the midst of bedlam and all the needs of your little children, remember that you are making a nest for your children in the presence of the Lord.
Just as the sallow built her nest in the temple of God, you are making nest where you can lay your young ones in His presence. As you nurse your baby on your rocking chair, think of it as an altar as you pray for this child and dedicate him or her to God.
When you sit at your table with your children realize it is an altar where you feed your children body, soul, and spirit. As your husband reads God’s word at the end of the meal you too will find sustenance as the Scriptures are read.
You can make every room in your home an altar. I remember one time when my children were little and I longed, like the psalmist, to be in the courts of the Lord. How could I get away alone? Of course, it’s impossible when you have little children.
I remember taking my four under four into the bedroom and closing the door. I kneeled by my bed and began to pour out my soul to the Lord. As I entered into His courts, I began to feel His presence with me.
Suddenly there was a knock on my door. A guy who was boarding at our place was home and began shouting, “Please calm down those children, I can’t sleep!” I was so enjoying the Lord’s presence I wasn’t even aware of all the noise the children were making!
This psalm continues: Vs 4 – 6: “What joy for those who can live I your house, always singing your praises. What joy for those whose strength comes from the LORD . . . When they walk through the Valley of Weeping, it will become a place of refreshing springs.”
Make your home a dwelling place for God where your children can grow up near the altars of the Lord.
Blessings to you today,
Nancy Campbell
Painting: Polina Luchanova, Russia
308 Hits
I have been thinking of the blessedness of motherhood. Yes, along with the blessedness is hard work and heartache. However, I believe that the devil robs mothers of the joys and glory of motherhood. Because God ordained motherhood and created us for this high purpose, the devil hates it. He hates what God mandates. He feeds us with lies to think we are wasting our lives when in fact, we are fulfilling the very perfect will of God. When we embrace motherhood, we are on God’s side.No other woman can compare with the highest favor that was ever given to a woman, a young teenager named Mary who was privileged to carry the Son of God in her womb. The angel called her “highly favored” in Luke 1:28 and 30. This privilege was given to only one woman in the whole of history.
However, each time a new baby is conceived in a womb, it is also a God moment. It is God who gives the conception. It is God who creates this new, precious life in the womb—a life that has never lived before and there will never be anyone like this one again. And because God gives life and loves life, His favor is also upon every pregnant woman.
In the original Greek, the word for “highly favored” is “charitoo.” This word was never used before the New Testament! It means “to be accepted, to give grace to.” It was God’s grace to Mary to receive the privilege to carry Jesus in her womb. It is also God’s grace to us to carry a life in our womb.
Dear mother, don’t be deceived by the lies of the world and society around you. There is no higher mission you can do in your life than to carry a new human being, and more truthfully, an eternal soul in your womb.
Embrace the blessedness. Embrace the truth. Live in the joy of it. Live in the glory of it. Lift up your head for you are doing something eternal. Everything else you do in life will be left behind, but you will take this precious child into the eternal realm with you if you are faithful to lead him/her to salvation.
What an amazing assignment. You are giving a child the opportunity and privilege to experience the glory of eternity with Christ forever. It’s only in the “forever glory” that you will truly understand the enormity and power of carrying a child in your womb.
Be blessed,
Nancy Campbell
297 Hits
I wonder if we really understand the power of God’s words that He releases into the universe. He spoke, and the worlds came into being. All it took was for God to open His mouth and speak.And then we read the first words He spoke to the man and woman He created: “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion . . .” These are not idle words. They are a divine mandate. They are an eternal law which progresses to a conclusion. The people who obey this law and are fruitful are the people who will take dominion.
Satan knows God’s plans and seeks to thwart them. God wants His people to be fruitful and take dominion for Him in the earth. He wants His image to be revealed in the earth. He wants the revelation of His name, His salvation, truth, love, compassion, and righteousness to fill the earth.
The easiest way for the devil to stop the image of God filling the earth is to subtly brainwash God’s people to stop having children. He has been very successful. Most Christians today think God’s first mandate are idle words. They have been deceived to think they don’t have to take any notice of them at all. They think they have a better way than God.
How can we be true believers in God’s infallible Word if we don’t think His words are important? Eternal? Jesus said: “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Matthew 24:35).
Most people in the church have the same small families as the world. Most believers are so entrenched in this world system that they continue sending their children to public schools and colleges where they are propagandized in liberal doctrine, alternative lifestyles, transgenderism, and antagonism to God and His Word.
When will God’s people begin to stand on God’s side instead of the devil’s side?
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
349 Hits
Only two: male or female; feminine or masculine. Completely embrace who God created you to be. You bring glory to God when you live to the full who God created you to be. There’s no need to be confused.
255 Hits
Keep your eyes on Jesus! He is bigger than the problems that are facing you.
317 Hits
Motherhood is the most powerful, far-reaching, influential career in the nation! Babies and children cannot survive without mothers. Families cannot survive without mothers. Nations will fail without mothers. It’s time for mothers to come back to the home.
331 Hits
Mother, God has chosen you and you are the BEST mom for your children.
339 Hits
Make sure that everything you believe and teach your children lines up with God’s word.
315 Hits
The devil loves to break up marriages and he begins by putting negative and deceiving thoughts in your mind. You don’t have to listen to them. Resist them in the name of Jesus. Think of the good things about your husband. Thank the Lord for them. Tell your husband the good things you are thinking about him. When you focus on the positive, everything will become positive. When you focus on the negative everything becomes destructive.
387 Hits
“Godliness with contentment is great gain.” A contented spirit brings a peaceful and happy atmosphere to the home.
367 Hits
Don’t let the negative things friends or family may say about you homeschooling or having another baby keep you from your God-anointed task. Motherhood is the greatest career God has given to women. Don’t come down from the great work you are doing.
345 Hits
There is a better way to live than on this lower plane of grumbling and self pity which only hurts you and everyone else around you.My heart has no desire to stay
Where doubts arise and fears dismay,
Though some may dwell where these abound,
My prayer, my aim, is higher ground.
300 Hits
He is bigger than all your problems and frustrations. When you focus on your situation, you will stay bogged in it. When you fix your eyes upon the Lord, He will show you the answer!
310 Hits
God has blessed you to be a mother. It was His plan for you. Embrace it with all your heart. Enjoy motherhood. Live it to the full.
326 Hits
Dear mother, you have the most important and influential career in the nation as you determine the destiny of this next generation—and generations to come. Embrace your calling and do it well.
299 Hits