LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 346: FOOD TWINS, Part 4

Our food twins today are FOOD AND HEALING. Candace Dickenson from Johnson City joins me today to share her healing journey. Candace was an Above Rubies helper 19 years ago!

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies, and everyone who is listening. Always great to be with you. Today we are still talking about food twins. We’ve got quite a few to go yet. We’re up to . . .

No. 6. FOOD AND HEALTH

Well, I have to concede that a lot of food we eat today does not make us healthy. In fact, a lot of it makes us sick. But God’s intention, His plan, is that food will make us healthy! He created food for the nourishment of our bodies. He created food for our health.

I did share with you a few podcasts ago a couple of words from the New Testament, the main two words that are used for food. The first one is trophe, used 16 times in the New Testament. It means “nourishment, both literally and figuratively.” And then, the other word is similar, trepho, and it means “to fatten, to nourish, to cherish with food.” We see that both these words mean “to nourish.” God intends that the food we eat will nourish our bodies.

Today, I have a visitor with me who is going to share with me on this podcast. It worked out really well, because I have my dear friend, Candace Dickenson, staying with me. She has a wonderful testimony of her own health journey. We’ll talk about that today. Welcome, Candace!

Candace: Thank you! Hello, everybody. It’s good to be here.

Nancy: So good to have Candace staying with me for a couple of days. I have to tell you the origin of our getting together with Candace. Candace came to me as an Above Rubies helper 19 years ago! Isn’t that amazing? Oh, wow! Actually, I think you came for four summers in a row, didn’t you?

Candace: Yes, yes.

Nancy: Yes, that was wonderful. She was an Above Rubies girl four times. And then, I think you’ve visited every year since then, to visit, to say hello, keep in touch. We have always prayed for Candace. Even back then, she was waiting for the man of her dreams to come and off course, her longing and desire to have children.

But Candace had a long wait, waiting for that right one. It was only two to three years, now, isn’t it? Three years ago, the Lord brought Justin to Candace, and they were married. Praise the Lord! My husband was so blessed to be the one who married them. It was such a glorious and beautiful wedding. Now, we’re still waiting for that great answer to our prayers, that Candace will be blessed with a little baby. I hope you will join me in praying for her that God will give her this miracle.

Tell us, Candace about your coming here. I think it was a little different from your own home, which was such a beautiful home life too.

Candace: Yes, yes. There are so many wonderful things about my coming here and meeting you and Granddad, also known as Mr. Colin Campbell. But talking on the subject of food, I will say that I was so excited to come.

I looked at it as a mission trip. I had discovered Above Rubies online all those years ago and signed up to receive the magazine to prepare to be a good wife and mother. Then I shared it with all my friends who were married already. Some of them had children; a lot of my friends who were married already.

So then, when I saw there was an opportunity to come and serve, I got so excited. I emailed you, and when I heard back from you that you could use some help in the summer, because that was the time that I had available to come (I worked with the school system the rest of the year), I was thrilled that I would get to come. To do a mission trip in Tennessee and serve a ministry that I so believed in.

Nancy: That’s what I think of as our Above Rubies girls come, is that it is a mission trip. You may not be going out to Africa or some South American country. You’re coming to Tennessee, although I think back in those days, it was rather like a mission trip, because I think you were in the days when the grandchildren were little. Our grandsons, their favorite thing was to tease the Above Rubies helpers. They would come into the office with snakes and spiders and frighten them all! It was like being in Africa!

Candace: Yes! The grandchildren were all very young. Some of them were not even born yet when I was here. I remember having little sleepovers with the granddaughters. We would do little pedicures and eat healthy snacks on a Friday or Saturday night.

Nancy: They still do that today.

Candace: Oh, it’s so great. But just a bit about my background. I was raised in the south. My mom always cooked the meals from scratch. They were homemade, wonderful meals, but they were very southern, so there were a lot of white potatoes, corn on the cob, pasta, and white bread, rolls, and biscuits. That was all that I knew.

But when I was around 18 or 19, I found out that I had hypothyroidism, low-functioning thyroid, and that I wouldn’t be able to continue eating that way and feel well and be slender. I was gaining weight, even though I was trying not to eat much. That’s what put me on a path to looking into healthier ways of eating. Even though in the south, so many people were eating processed things, and I really wasn’t. My mom made everything, like I said, homemade, but it wasn’t the healthiest for me. That was the backstory.

When I came here, I was excited to try different foods, knowing that you all had come from New Zealand, and wondering what exciting things I might get to try. But I really thought that you couldn’t eat healthy food, and it still taste good. I thought if you're going to eat healthy, and be slim, it would be something like raw celery sticks and water. [laughter] And really no flavor.

But you were the person who showed me that is absolutely not true. I remember the amazing feasts that you would spread all over the large table every night for us. I felt like a queen! Trying all these new things, so full of flavor, so wonderful! One of my favorite things to this day is your sourdough rye bread. But all these amazing foods were so delightful, and I couldn’t believe it. In two weeks of being here, I had lost ten pounds, eating all I wanted of this wonderful, healthy food that was so tasty.

Nancy: Oh, yes, that was so great. I think I remember you telling me that when you went home, you would continue to make the sourdough bread, and you made it with, what did you make it with?

Candace: I was so excited about all these new foods, so I wrote down everything I could in my notebook and went home and prepared as many things as I could, as similarly to you. I would enjoy that. I love the Thai vegetable soup that you made.

I caught my own wild yeast for the rye sourdough. Then I started making sourdough bread. I remember the first time I tried it; it was so sour! But I remember you saying, “I love it sour!” So very sour, and you all loved it! So sour, and I did too. That became one of my favorite things. I never had bread so sour when I first tried it, but the more I ate it, I loved it! And I thought, my body must be really needing it. It’s so amazing.

Nancy: Do you make it with spelt and rye? Or what grains?

Candace: I made it with whole rye.

Nancy: All rye. Oh, that was amazing.

Candace: All rye at first, and then I think I may have added some of the ancient grains like spelt, a little bit. But I mostly did whole rye, and I would feed my starter, and I ended up with all this bread. Even when I froze it, it was too much for me to eat. My southern friends thought, “What is that?” They wouldn’t even hardly try it!

I had all this bread, which was so wonderful, but there was another Ruby helper here one of the times I was here, who loved your bread especially. It was a joy to wrap up a loaf of it every time I made it, and I would ship it off to her in Pennsylvania. She would call and say, “I got your bread today! It makes me think of our time at Nana and Granddad’s.” It was a really special thing.

Nancy: Oh, that’s so wonderful. What were some of the other things that you’d never tried before?

Candace: Oh well, I’d never heard of red palm oil, for one thing. And I’d never heard of kefir. I remember trying it and it was so strange to me! [laughter] But I loved it in the smoothies you would make. I remember you would take us to a blueberry farm nearby, we’d pick tons and tons of blueberries, just loads of fresh organic blueberries.

You would have those and put them in all kinds of things, in smoothies, and muffins, and pancakes, in these beautiful, healthy recipes. I loved the kefir and the blueberry smoothies. Probably my most favorite dish that you made the summer that the Liberian children were here, I think that was shortly after they came, was the sweet potato leaves, oh, a wonderful, spicy dish.

Nancy: Yes! Well, of course, I learned to make that from our Liberian children who we had adopted from Liberia. I had never heard of eating sweet potato leaves. I grew sweet potatoes every year to get our sweet potatoes. But when they came, they looked at these leaves, and said, “Oh, mom, we’ve got to eat them! This is what we eat back home. We love potato leaves!”

They showed me how to make it their way. So, that’s the way I still do it. We began to use the leaves. Ladies, if you grow sweet potatoes in your garden, realize that, yes, you can eat the leaves. You don’t have to wait until you harvest the sweet potatoes at the end of the season. You can go out and pick the leaves throughout the summer and make sweet potato leaves.

This is the way I make them, according to the way our Liberian children showed me. I would sauté onions and peppers and tomatoes, and of course, hot peppers. Oh, and garlic too. They always had to have hot peppers because everything they ate had to be hot. I grew jalapenos, and I grew habaneros, and any hot peppers I could find. At the end of the season when we harvested, I would dry the peppers, the hot peppers. When they were dried, I would then whiz them up in the blender, so it was dried hot pepper. They could also add that to their food.

Oh yes, and our son, John, goodness me! Did he love things hot! So, I would make things hot. I’ve always loved spicy food, and we always eat spicy food here. But when the Liberian children came, we had to up it a few notches. We got hotter and hotter. It’s interesting, even the Above Rubies girls, sometimes it would be so hard for them to take. But as they stayed, they got to love it and enjoy it.

I’d make this base with all that, and the hot peppers and so on. And then the red palm oil. Ooh. And we learned that from our Liberian children too. We learned so many things from them, and they were used to the red palm oil, which we have to go to an African shop to buy in the city in Nashville. It is so good for you and it’s rich red. Oh, it’s so wonderful!

So, I’d make this base with the red palm oil, and then we’d put in the sweet potato leaves. When the children were with us, of course they’ve grown now, they were so amazing at cutting the leaves. They would get all these leaves bound together and they would get a sharp knife. Whoo, whoo, whoo, cut! Oh, they cut it so finely. I just couldn’t do it. But I still had to do it, as they weren’t always there.

I’d be laboriously cutting these leaves so finely because you have to cut a lot. They disintegrate. Someone was watching me one day, and she said, “Why don’t you throw them in the food processor?” I thought, “For goodness’ sake! Why didn’t I think of that before?” I was just copying our Liberian children. So now, I just throw them in the food processor, and they’re whizzed up in a minute. I put them in the dish, and they simmer. As you know, they’re so delectable!

Candace: Oh, yes! So wonderful.

Nancy: Oh yes, so wonderful. So, your thyroid, you really overcome that, didn’t you? Or do you have to watch it today?

Candace: Yes, my numbers have actually been normal for years.

Nancy: Praise the Lord! Just by changing your diet.

Candace: Changing my diet and also taking supplements to help stimulate the thyroid.

Nancy: What do you take for that? Because a load of people need help with their thyroids.

Candace: Kelp is a wonderful, wonderful source for the thyroid. And then you can get, there is a supplement called parathyroid. Again, it helps nourish the thyroid. I was told that, when it was discovered by doctors, the thyroid doesn’t correct itself. It doesn’t heal, so you’ll always need a large dose of medicine to supplement. But mine actually has shown signs of healing.

One of the things God used to heal my thyroid is coconut oil. I know that it tends to be, from what I read, it’s very nourishing to the thyroid. I like cooking with it and baking with it.

Nancy: That’s wonderful. And then, you had another issue. You had a lung issue. Tell us about that.

Candace: About nine years ago, I was diagnosed with, it was really something discovered in my lungs. I was struggling with what I thought was bronchitis or pneumonia, and I was having some pretty bad symptoms. I went to the ER, and it was discovered that I had a growth in the middle of one of my lungs. Thankfully, the growth was benign. It is benign, but the doctors didn’t really know what to do with it. It’s a rare thing that only shows up in younger people who never smoked, ironically.

They generally only go in and cut those things out. They take a portion of your lung with. That’s what they had planned to do for me. When I was talking to them, and asking about the risks, one of the risks was there’s a good chance it could knock your heart out of rhythm for life. They said, “No worries, we can just give you medicine for that.”

I really don’t want to hand over part of my lung if I don’t have to. I prayed about it, and I did not have the surgery. God is so faithful. He had gone before me and connected me with a naturopath/herbalist from another state who would come in once a month near my town. I was seeing her for about a year prior to discovering the lung issue. She was already treating me for general things using herbs and natural supplements.

I reached out to her, and God used her to help me discover some more herbal supplements as well as cleanses, changing my diet quite drastically, even more. I’d already cut out sugar, except for special occasions. But she challenged me to cut out dairy, and even meat for a while, to allow my body to heal. I went through that process, and God blessed it. About a year after the growth was discovered, the scan showed it had shrunk in half.

Nancy: That’s wonderful!

Candace: And no one could explain it. It was a type of thing that I was told by doctors, it will not shrink. They do not shrink. They only slowly grow. I was told, “You will keep chronic pneumonia. You will keep a terrible cough until we take it out.” I said “No, I don’t receive that report, in Jesus’ Name.” I believe sometimes certainly God may use surgery and medical science to help us, and to heal us. But in my individual situation, I did not have peace about going that route, and I’m so thankful God showed me a different way.

Nancy: Yes! And today you don’t suffer from pneumonia and cough every year. God supports healing, by getting onto the right foods, and the right herbs that He has created for our healing. They’re created for our healing and for our health, aren’t they? It is so wonderful. What are some of the herbs that you have used for your lungs, you use mullein, don’t you?

Candace: Yes. Mullein is a wonderful herb to strengthen lungs. A lot of people don’t know that it often grows in your backyard.

Nancy: Really?

Candace: Yes, yes. Depending on how close to the mountains you are, close to the forest, it at least grows on the banks in a lot of areas.

Nancy: Have you found it?

Candace: Oh, yes.

Nancy: Really?

Candace: It’s a fuzzy little leaf. It almost looks like wild lamb’s ears to me. But you can actually harvest it and make tea. You can dry the leaves and crush it and put them into your own capsules if you like.

I transplanted a wild one at one point into my herb garden, and it did well throughout that year. It just didn’t return the next year. You could always, if you find it in the woods, you can pull it up by the roots and put it in your herb garden. It should take off, at least for that season.

Nancy: Well, that is so interesting. It just shows again, when you think of that Scripture in Revelation about “the leaves of the trees are for the healing of the nations.” The herbs and the leaves, and the trees, with their leaves and their fruit, and the vegetables, everything God has given for our healing, aren’t they? That’s so wonderful.

I’ve always believed in mullein for your lungs. But as I was saying to you, I still have a tendency to get a cough. You were sharing how your naturopath said that you need something for your kidneys as well. Tell us about that.

Candace: I don’t fully understand, and I would love one day to learn under her, because she learned from some of the best. But she did tell me that one of the ways to keep your lungs strong is to make sure your kidneys are kept strong as well. I have taken a supplement that supports kidneys for about nine years as well. It naturally regulates blood pressure, and it naturally relieves any kind of fluid retention, if you have that issue, while strengthening your kidneys, bladder, and lungs.

Nancy: Wonderful. Well, that’s really good to know. Oh, and another thing, of course. I think about, oh, I don’t know, maybe the second or third time you came as a Ruby girl, which was when Trim Healthy Mama began. Although you had begun the journey of health, you really got onto the bandwagon, and you've been a real true purist Trim Healthy Mama ever since, I think, haven’t you?

Candace: Yes, well, it’s so neat that I had the honor of, when I first came, that first year, in 2006, I believe, the sisters were actually still writing. They were nursing babies, and they would pop over to visit. They were taking notes for the book, and it was so exciting to get to see that part of it.

I was doing more of very little to no carbs. At that time, I was in my twenties, and I had thrown out all potatoes, and all bread, except occasional rye bread. That was a real treat. So, I had gone almost too radical with it, but it’s what was helping my body get aligned at the time.

Nancy: Yes. Some things you can only do for a season. They are for a season, but then God’s plan is for all the five groups of food that He has given to us.

Candace: Absolutely. When I discovered Trim Healthy Mama, and I read that plan, I got so excited, because I thought, “Oh, I can have rice again, brown rice. I can eat healthy breads again, and mix it up, and not just have greens, eggs, and chicken. But I can have berries again, and I can mix it up and still be healthy and slender.” That was a really exciting time, when that was launched.

Nancy: Yes. So, it’s really your whole way of life, isn’t it?

Candace: Yes, I definitely had to look at changing my eating habits as a way of life, because I’d seen so many people, I don’t know if it’s more so in the south or not, but just from where I come from, many people would go on really extreme diets. They would lose tons of weight, but then they would be done with being deprived, or feeling deprived. They would go on a great big binge and gain it all back.

Nancy: That’s usually more weight than before. Diets never ever, ever work. You can get slim as you say, for a while, but once you get back to your old ways, it all comes back with a vengeance. So, it has to be a way of life. That’s the wonderful thing about Trim Healthy Mama.

As our girls, my girls, Serene and Pearl, they had to learn by experience and trials themselves, because they had gone on many fads themselves previously. And then God showed them, and woke them up, and really got ahold of them, and said, “Hey! You’re not in line with Me! In My Word, I talk about all the five food groups, so if you're not using them all, you're not on My plan!”

I remember Serene having to throw out all her health books. Serene had been quite unusual, really. She’d been a health nut from a child. Serene, of her own volition, has never put into her mouth, her whole life, a grain of sugar, or anything unhealthy. It was just in her, from, I don’t know, from a tiny child.

As soon as she was of an age where she could go to a shop, and maybe I could leave her on her own, her favorite thing, and that would be back in Australia at that time, she’d say, “Mom, could we go to town? Just drop me at the health shop.” She would just sit there and read books.

She gathered so many health books, but in the end, she had to throw them all away and get back to the Bible, which is all the beautiful, glorious, healing, natural, nourishing foods that God has provided for us and to eat them in their natural state. That’s how they had to seek the Lord. “Oh, God, OK, if we’re to eat all this stuff, how do we stay slim?” And the Lord showed them a way of doing that, and that’s the Trim Healthy Mama plan.

Candace: Yes. And it’s so interesting how God designs each one of us so uniquely. Some of us are born for that desire to eat healthy. I was always kind of the strange one in my family. Even in the south, from a really young age, I would be drawn to healthier things. Even though I was eating southern food, I was still wanting carrot juice, things like that.

I remember extended family watching me, because I’d pack my carrot juice and bring it to restaurants, where there were all kinds of fried chicken, and deep-fried everything. I would sip on my carrot juice. They were like, “You’re so weird!” [laughter] I just thought, “Oh, well.” It’s neat that some of it comes by learning, and sometimes we are born wanting to eat healthier things.

Nancy: But it is so sad, as I said at the beginning, that today this generation, on the whole, is eating food but they’re not eating food for their health. You’ve been teaching for many years. Tell me, what did you notice about the children?

Candace: I was amazed. In the short amount of time between my graduating school and going back into the schools to work, I was amazed at the difference in the foods I saw in lunch boxes. Children were bringing hardly any sandwiches. If there were, they would be on white bread, piled high with peanut butter, and tons of jelly, tons of sugar-laden jelly.

But mostly it was processed food. It was pre-packaged. Pop Tarts, little cakes, candy bars, these kinds of cheese things, cheese curls, or whatever they had. All this fake orange dye. I couldn’t believe that that much had changed in a short amount of time, because when I went to school, my mom would always pack a sandwich but there would be a piece of fruit. And there would be, sometimes figs, but it wasn’t like that. I thought, “Wow! What is going to happen if this is all the children are eating?”

Nancy: I know. And what is that really saying? Where are the mothers at home? They’re obviously out at work, in their career. They don’t even have time to prepare a healthy lunch for their children. Just a packet of some packaged foods. This generation is growing up on them. The sad part is, they get used to it, and then they don’t really want the healthy food, because you do get used to what you're given.

Of course, I know that I’m speaking today . . . I know most of you wonderful moms who are in the home, and you have such a heart to raise your children healthily. You are cooking your food from scratch, from the original, and I encourage you to keep doing that. I’m always amazed that actually that in homeschooling, home-mothering homes, there are still a lot of families who just eat packaged cereals for breakfast.

Now, that is not food and health, because they are nothing like the original. If the food looks so foreign from the original, it’s not a healing food. Most of these cereals, wow! Goodness me! The colors, and they’re made into shapes, and they’re all funny things. They’re nothing like the original oats, or the original barley, or the original grain! We’ve got to get back to that.

Of course, it does take a little more time to prepare that nutritious breakfast for your family. But mothers, can I encourage you? Don’t just get up bleary-eyed, and let your children go to the cupboard and get their cereal package out and have it with a bit of milk. No. They deserve more than that. Cook up good oats, rolled oats, or what is the other one?

Candace: The oat groats?

Nancy: The oat groats, yes. Oh, the oat groats, that’s really original. That’s what I love the best. Often, I will soak oat groats for about three days and change the water each day. I will often use whey to soak it. And then by the third day, I can then pour off the water, and put new water in, and just simmer it until it’s soft. It is so glorious!

Then you can do that with barley too. I love it with barley. That’s the best. Beautiful. Then, of course, you've got your quinoa, and you've got millet. It is also a wonder grain. So many wonderful grains, which is how God gave them to us! These are healing foods.

So, dear lovely ladies, one of the things that God associates with food is health. Let’s get it right. Let’s get it straight, and make sure that every food we are giving to our children and our family, and our husbands, is a healing food.

Now, husbands. Oh, goodness me! They don’t always like what you’d call healing foods. They love a dinner of good old anything. As my father used to say, “I can eat anything that goes down a human’s throat!” [laughter] And they don’t seem to care.

Even my own husband, oh, he’ll eat all the good things I make for him. But when I’m not around, I just can’t believe it! He has no idea! He’ll bring things home. He loves to have jam. I said, “Well, just get it without sugar.” But he'll come home, and I’ll read the label. It’s got corn syrup in it, or something like that! I said, “Oh, didn’t you read the label?” “Oh, no!” He’s not interested in reading labels.

But I think you noticed that too, when you married Justin. Oh, goodness me! It was not only that was he not used to all your lovely healthy food. He wasn’t even used to sitting at a table, was he?

Candace: Well, I found it quite shocking, how blessed I was to be able to have a meal at the table with my family, growing up. My mother would always, every day, when I came home from school, dinner would be ready, or almost ready. My mom, dad, and I would all sit at the table and eat. I took that for granted. I thought, “Oh, everyone must do this!”

I think maybe more people did it back then, but today, it’s very, very rare. This is the whole special thing. You’ve written an entire Bible study devotional, “The Family Meal Table,” about the importance of sitting around the table when you eat your meals. It’s such a beautiful thing, but, yes, my dear husband has a sweet tooth, and he does tend to like the fluffier bread.

I will share this. There is one recipe that I make from time to time, because my family loves them. It’s a very southern thing. My grandmother taught me how to make biscuits when I was really little. That is one of the things that I still make from time to time for my family.

I usually don’t eat them. I usually make a low-carb version, gluten-free version for myself. They are white biscuits, but I use all organic ingredients. There are only three ingredients to the biscuits, so I’ve managed to make a healthier version of my grandmother’s very southern biscuits. They’re really fluffy and high. My mother loves them, my husband loves them. They’re wonderful served with homemade strawberry jam. I like to serve that from time to time.

Nancy: Oh, wonderful. As we’re closing this podcast, I would like to ask you to pray for Candace, that she will be blessed with the desire of her heart, this little baby. Candace is 44 years now, but she’s still believing. She’s still waiting for this baby. Actually, you are a great miracle yourself, to be here. Just as we close, tell the little miracle of how God brought you into the world. Yes, and your mother was 40 at that time, wasn’t she?

Candace: God is so faithful, and His timing is perfect, even when we don’t understand all that’s involved. My parents had a son long before I was born. He died, sadly, in an accident, at age 16. My mother didn’t think she could have any children. She had been told for years that her womb had turned around backwards, and it was very unlikely that she would ever conceive. But she did ask God for another child if He would give them another child.

About two years after my brother passed, I was born. I was a surprise. In those days, 40 seemed kind of old to have a child. Today, you're hearing people 50 or more, they’re having children. Praise God!  So, the doctor also told my mom to prepare for a hard labor, a long labor. It would probably be like having her first child again. But she gathered the warriors to pray, and the whole pregnancy was covered in prayer.

I was born very quickly. She hardly had time to get to the hospital. The doctor was amazed. Hopefully all of you wonderful ladies will be encouraged today, if you are past your 30’s, or if you're even in your 40’s, that despite what doctors may say, God has the last word. He loves giving children, and he loves watching over them, and giving you wonderful labors and deliveries, despite what science and the doctors will say.

Nancy: Amen!

“Oh, Father, we thank You again for Your wonderful goodness to us. Thank You for giving us all these glorious foods! Every country has different foods that You give for that country, and those people. And Lord, we have such a vast array to choose from. It’s all healing.

“Lord, help us always to be those who prepare healing foods, and realize food and health go together. Bless these precious families listening today, Lord. Pour out your blessing and your provision, and your protection, and your anointing, all over them. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

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Transcribed by Darlene Norris

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LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 345: FOOD TWINS, Part 3

We are still talking about more ideas for Feasts and celebrations in your home.

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! And to everyone who is listening, moms, wives, young people, little ones, and even husbands, I know there are husbands who are listening too.

Well, we have just watched the inauguration. It was so wonderful. President Trump gave a great inauguration speech, so very, very inspiring. It was really wonderful. If you didn’t get to see it, well, pull it up and listen to it. He was calling today “Liberation Day,” and the “revolution of common sense.”

Of course, he is ready to completely wipe out so many things that have been destroying our nation. It all sounds so wonderful, but I do believe we’re going to face some challenges, face some storms. It’s not going to be easy, because this shadow government that we have had that’s been controlling this nation and the world, is so wealthy. They actually have 87% of the wealth of this nation and they’re very powerful. I don’t think they’re going to let everything happen so easily.

So, we, as God’s people, wanting God’s blessing on our nation, wanting evil to be eradicated, wanting righteousness to come forth, praying for a mighty revival which we so need, we need to pray. Nothing will happen without our prayers. In fact, we called emergency prayer for these last three nights, Friday night, Saturday night, and Sunday night, because of the threats that were about for this inauguration. There were many threats. It’s not known to everybody, but we knew that it would only be God’s people praying that would keep this inauguration very safe.

God has answered our prayers, and we thank Him, we thank Him for all the answering of our prayers. But I believe in the days to come, we’re going to have to continue to pray. Pray as families every day, morning and evening. If you are not part of a prayer meeting, praying for this nation, well, start one in your own home. Even if you're bringing one other family each week to pray with you, and pray for this nation, and pray through all that God wants to do.

We are still on our subject of FOOD TWINS. There are 25 different things in the Bible that God associates with food. We’re still talking about food and celebrations. Last time I was talking about what we love to do with our birthday parties.

In fact, one of our birthday parties has become a great tradition. I think I’ve told you before about Breezy’s Ball. That started when Breezy was only four years of age. At that age, she loved to dress in princess clothes and dance around the house like a princess and dream of marrying a prince one day. So, Serene thought, “Well, let’s have a princess ball!”

Of course, it was only a family ball. All the moms and dads and children, that’s what our birthday parties were, usually, everyone got on board. They came, and the girls, the little girls, and the mothers, all dressed as princesses. And the boys dressed like princes and knights. It was such an amazing night that somehow it just became a tradition.

This last year, we had Breezy’s 15^th birthday. Once again, it was Breezy’s Ball. This time, it was a very big occasion. We had it at the Wedding Barn. There were quite a few hundred people there. It was an amazing night. Of course, we had a feast. We had a celebration. That’s what we’re talking about, celebrations.

One of our fun celebrations we have in our family, and I think I’ve talked to you about these before too, is our book parties that we have once a year, around Christmas time, with our older children, and then we have one with the young couples. This is where we have a beautiful meal together. Then we will play the white elephant game with books where we really fight over them and have a great fun time. They’re great celebrations in our family.

There are a number of celebrations that are mentioned in the Bible. I think of the dedication of a NEW HOUSE CELEBRATION. I think that’s a very important one, actually.

We read in Deuteronomy 20:5, “What man is there that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it.”

Because it was a tradition to dedicate a home when a couple moves into a new home. I think that’s a beautiful celebration. I was used to that, back in New Zealand. Whenever a new couple got married, and when they went into their new home, we would always have a celebration. Everybody would bring something for their home, and we’d have food together. Then we would pray over the house. I think that’s a beautiful thing, not only when someone goes into a new house, or builds a house, or even if they buy a house. It may not be a new house, but they’re going into it as a new family. It’s a great idea.

If you know someone in your family, or very close to you, who’s going into a new house, or buying a new home, why not think about a special celebration for them? Gather friends around, take food, take a gift for their home, and pray over their home, especially when it’s not a new home, and people have lived there before.

You never know who lived in a home before you. It’s very important to pray over that home, to pray God’s blessing and pray against any evil or uncleanness that was in that home, and cleanse that home. I think it is such an important thing that I trust, and I hope, that Donald Trump and Melania would have brought people into pray over the White House before they went back in. I couldn’t imagine going and living in that White House without it being cleansed and prayed over. I think that’s important for any house.

Then there are SEND OFF CELEBRATIONS. When somebody is leaving, someone in the family, or someone close to you, someone in your church fellowship, and they’re leaving to go to another town, well, it’s a beautiful thing to have a send-off feast for them. You may have it in their home, or you may have it somewhere else. But get everybody involved. All bring something to eat, a dish. Organize a wonderful evening.

Whatever you decide to do, have a feast and have a celebration. Of course, have speeches, and let them know what a blessing they’ve been to you. Give them words of wisdom as they go to their next place.

That’s a great thing to do, too, although I must tell you a funny story. My father, who passed away, used to tell this story of this family in this church fellowship. They were a thorn in the flesh to everybody in the church. They just put up with them and tried to show them love. But they were a real thorn in the flesh. One day they announced that they were leaving and going to another city.

Well, everybody was secretly very happy about that. They thought, “Wow, we’ll give them a send-off!” They had this send-off for them. People got up to give their speeches. They were saying what a nice family they were, and so on. I don’t think they were truly being very genuine. That’s the important thing. We have to always be genuine in what we say.

Anyway, at the end of this, the father got up and said, “Well, I didn’t know that we were so loved. I think now we have decided we will stay!” That didn’t end too well, did it? But that, of course, doesn’t usually happen. You’re sending off dear, precious friends, and you’ll be missing them. You’ll want to give a special feast for them.

The Bible also talks about WEANING FEASTS. Well, we don’t really do that today, do we? Genesis 21:8 was about Isaac: “And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned.” Well, in Dake’s Annotated Reference Bible, he says that Isaac would have been about five years of age when he was weaned. Other commentators say he would have been at least three years of age. Many babies today are weaned before that, so their weaning is rather insignificant.

But if a baby gets to five years, well, it’s quite a big thing, isn’t it? This is what they did back there. In fact, Matthew Henry, in his commentary about that, says, “Abraham made a feast on the same day that he was weaned, because of God’s blessing upon the nursing of children, and the preservation of them through the perils of the infant age, are signal instances of the care and tenderness of the Divine Providence.” So, we see here, he not only made a feast, but he actually made a great feast! I don’t know whether you want to do that one or not.

WEDDINGS. We read a lot about wedding celebrations in the Bible. Wedding celebrations were more than they are today. They were often lasting for three days, sometimes up to a week. They really celebrated a new couple getting married. Even if we are going to just have a day, I do believe that we should really celebrate with the couple on that day. I think a wedding celebration is very important. God loves them.

Now, let’s see. Jeremiah 33:10. I love this Scripture. It says here: “Thus saith the LORD; Again, there shall be heard in this place, which ye say shall be desolate without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah,” and so on. It was desolate, but there was coming verse 11: “The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the LORD of hosts.” This is talking about a great celebration. There is mirth, and gladness, and joy, and feasting, and the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride. It’s a celebration of a wedding.

God is using that illustration to show His blessing upon the land. When the children of Israel were walking in His ways, obeying his commandments, He says, “This will be My blessing. There will be the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, and the voice of gladness and joy.”

And yet, there are other Scriptures. There are about three other Scriptures where it tells the same thing, but in the negative, because when they disobeyed the Lord, and turned away from Him, he said, “There will be no more the voice of mirth, and the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.” That was a judgement upon them.

But God’s blessing was the joy of weddings! God rejoices in weddings, and we should too. Sometimes you can go to a wedding, and they have the service. Then they have the reception, and it’s just a little cup of coffee or tea, and a cake, and not very much more. Everybody begins to disappear! That’s sad! At many American weddings, they don’t hang around. It’s just a token thing. “Come, yes, watch them getting married.” There are no speeches.

Oh, remember how we love speeches! In fact, wedding speeches, I think, are very important. When I grew up in New Zealand, this was a tradition. Shall I tell you the tradition? We have carried this tradition on. There were traditional speeches. There was always the speech of the father of the bride, and the speech of the father of the bridegroom. Then they would appoint someone to give a speech about the bride’s family.

Someone else was appointed to give a speech about the bridegroom’s family. someone who knew them well. They were always amazing speeches, because the one family would find out all the funny stories, and all the things about the other side of the family. Then there was the speech of the best man, and, of course, the speech of the day, the bridegroom.

That was always the speech of the day. He had to prepare for that speech. It was a speech where he thanked everyone who had taken part in preparing the wedding. He thanked his parents, and he thanked his bride’s parents for giving his bride to him. Then he spoke about their lives. Of course, if they were a couple walking with the Lord, they would give glory to God and speak about Him.

I remember back to my wedding. We had all these speeches. I think when my husband got up to speak, his speech was about a half-hour speech. The best man, his brother, just about all the speeches were about half-hour speeches. It was a tradition of speech-making. We have loved to continue that, and not only that, we then open it up to anyone. Well, first of all, those in the bridal party who know them so well. And then to anyone who was invited. They were also welcome to get up, and speak about the couple, speak blessing into their lives and vision into their lives. It is always so powerful, and so meaningful!

I remember when we first came to the States. When we first arrived, we settled in Atlanta. Well, no, we were there just for a little while. Then we traveled. We were travelling around Canada ministering. Then we came to Minneapolis, because this is where we were going to be marrying Evangeline and Howard. He lived in Minneapolis, and they had both come back from Israel. We went to a city that we didn’t even know, rented an apartment, and put on a wedding.

So, we prepared everything for the wedding feast. We had arranged all the speakers, those who were giving speeches, just like we were used to. But I couldn’t believe what was happening! After the feast, everybody gradually started disappearing! Well, they’d had a nice feast, and all the food. They weren’t used to staying for speeches, so they just gradually all left until it was really just the basic two families, the extended families left.

We had speeches with them, but I was so sad. I thought, “Why are these people leaving?” And I realized it was just typical. That’s what they were used to doing! They weren’t used to having speeches. In fact, we used to have more than speeches. We would have, like I was telling you last podcast, we’d have what we called “items.” We would have someone who would sing a solo, or sing a duet, or something special. We would always have “specials” as well. It was wonderful, not only a feast, but entertainment as well.

Then came the time of Serene’s wedding. I thought, “What will I do?” Because I didn’t want a repeat of that. I wanted people to stay to the end! Of course, I talked to people around who we’d invited. “Oh, you've got to stay until the end! We’d just love to have a real reception, with speeches, and with entertainment, just a wonderful time of blessing the couple.” In fact, I did write on the invitation that, “We will be having a program, and we would love you to stay to the end.” I was very tempted to put on it, “And we will be locking the doors until the end!” But I didn’t, of course.

Serene’s wedding was so amazing. We did have the speeches, and everybody stayed. Actually, it was a cold, freezing, rainy day. The place where we had the reception had a big fire going and it was so cozy and glorious. The speeches were amazing and everything was great. They did stay to the end. That was great.

Well, of course, we are now a new generation, and we’re now marrying off all our grandchildren. We still have all the speeches. It’s part of our family traditions. Although it does sadden me when I go to other weddings and they may have a few speeches, but often the bridegroom himself doesn’t speak. And yet, that should be the most important speech of the day.

If you have a young man preparing for marriage in your family, prime him up. Get him prepared. Let him know that that’s a responsibility he has, at the very beginning of their getting married, to give a speech, to take that authority as a young man. He has a responsibility too, to thank everybody, and thank those who have come to celebrate with him, and to thank all those who helped. So many people are involved, to give thanks to both sides, both parents. That is so important. And to think of what he will speak about, the vision for their life together. I think that’s very important.

Another thing that I think is very important, and I will just share it while we’re talking about weddings. That is that when you go to a wedding, of course, I encourage you, stay to the end. I think it’s great to stay to the end, and wave them goodbye as they’re going. Actually, we were at a wedding just this last weekend. Sadly, I couldn’t keep to my very own principle. I’ve been fighting this flu, and I just couldn’t stay until the very end. But we stayed for the most part of it.

So, you stay until the end, but then (we certainly did this part). you never leave the wedding, or that is, any other function that you go to, without going to thank the host and the hostess. At a wedding, it’s usually the bride’s parents. At this wedding, it wasn’t, because the bride’s parents live in another country, so we had to go to those who were preparing and putting the wedding on for them. Just thank them. Thank them so much for inviting us. Thank them for the feast that they put on. Just thank them for the joy of being there.

So, when Colin and I realized that I needed to get home, we said, “OK, we’ll just go and do our ‘thank-yous’ first,” because we always do that. Often it takes time to find them, but we will always do that. I want to encourage you moms; can you please teach your young people that this is etiquette? To go to a function, a wedding, a party, or any function that someone is invited to, and to not thank the people as you're leaving is very rude. You’re gone. You haven’t said you're going, and you haven’t said goodbye. You haven’t thanked. What is it in this generation? What has happened?

Recently, I was talking to a friend who had just had the wedding of one of their daughters. It was a big wedding, by the way. I said to her, “Tell me, how many people came and thanked you at the end?” She said, “Well, let me think. I think there were about three. And one was you.” Isn’t that sad? It’s really not because people are unthankful. It is because they are ignorant. They don’t realize this is what you do. Or actually, you’d think that they would think that was what you should do, wouldn’t you? But do teach your young people.

I have so many functions. We are an hospitable home. Over the years, I’ve had so many parties, functions, things happening in our home. So many times people, not only young people, but even adults also come in. They don’t say hello or greet you. And then, at the end of the evening, “Oh, where’s so-and-so?” Well, they’re gone. They never said good-bye, and they never said thank you. They just came when they wanted and left when they wanted. It’s time we got back to courteousness and etiquette which is really just being kind and loving to one another.

OK, what follows?  Feasts, what can we talk about? Oh, yes, RECONCILIATION FEASTS. We read about quite a few of them in the Bible. One of them is in Genesis 31. You can read the whole chapter there. That’s when Jacob left Laban. He had been serving Laban, his father-in-law, for 20 years. Can you believe that? He served him for Leah, He served him for Rachel. He served him for all his cattle and sheep. Twenty years. I guess he thought it was time he moved on.

But he was afraid that Laban would not let him go so he secretly moved out by night. But then, when Laban realized that he had gone, he came after him, and he was angry that he had taken his daughters and grandchildren away from him without even saying good-bye. They both had to say their piece and what they thought. Jacob was saying, “I served you for 20 years,” and so on. But in the end, they reconciled, and Jacob put on a big feast. They ate all night. But you can read all about that.

Another one was in Genesis 26. We read about (I always used to call him Abimelech, but I think the correct pronunciation in the Hebrew is “Abby-melech.”) Isaac was becoming more and more rich with his cattle and his herds. Abimelech said, “You’ve got to leave us! You’ve got to go! Go far away! There’s no room for you.” And they sent them away.

But then later he came back to Isaac, and he said, “I want us to be friends.” So, they reconciled. Once again, Isaac put on a great feast. They feasted together. Isn’t that a beautiful thing? When someone has reconciled with someone, and then, well, have a meal together, break bread together. There’s nothing like a meal to clinch reconciliation and friendship.

Another celebration that I did as Serene was growing up . . . I wanted to do something special as she was entering that age of 12, 13 years of age. Many people today like to do that. Many of them will have a special something for their son who’s coming to that age of 13 years of age. We take that age, of course, from the Jewish people, who have a bar-mitzvah for their sons at 13, and a bat-mitzvah for their daughters at 12, although a lot of them do the daughters at 13 as well.

They see their sons and their daughters coming of age, coming into maturity at that age. That’s interesting, isn’t it, because often we still think our children are so young at 13. We think, “Oh, well, they’ve just got to get through these teenage years.” No! At 13, they are moving into adulthood, into maturity.

There is no time for teenage years. Why people have teenage years I don’t know, but they are interim years, usually of wasting their time. No, from 13 on, they are meant to be moving into adult life. Traditionally in Israel, when they have their bar-mitzvah, they are able to be part of all adult activities because they’re moving into adulthood, into maturity.

So, I decided that I would do a bat-mitzvah for Serene. I did it in our own particular way. I’ll tell you what I did, but of course, you can think of all kinds of things that you would like to do with your sons, or with your daughters, when they come to that age. But I think it’s great to do something.

I know some fathers have taken their son out hunting and had a special time with him out in the woods. Others will put on a special meal for their sons and invite other men of God around who will speak into their lives. Mothers will do similar things with their daughters. I think that’s a wonderful thing.

This is what I did with Serene. I took it from the Jewish bar-mitzvah but made it completely our own style.

We had a seven-branched menorah, and we lit the first candle. When we did that, Serene had to give a speech about Colin and myself and her upbringing.

After that, she had to light the second candle. Then Colin gave a speech to her about her life. Then, of course, her vision for her life. Of course, she had been such a special, beautiful child growing up in our home. I don’t think there was a day that she wouldn’t say, “I love you, Mom. I love you, Dad.” We were all very close. Our speeches were so special.

A third candle. I gave a speech about Serene, and an encouraging message to her.

Fourth candle, she had to recite. We gave her a passage of Scripture which she had to memorize. Then she had to recite it there.

The fifth candle, Serene then had to give a speech, really, a testimony of her walk with the Lord, and how she found Jesus and her current walk with the Lord and her vision for continuing to walk with the Lord.

Then the sixth candle, we asked Serene to pray a dedication of her life to God’s will and His purpose.

Then the seventh candle, Colin prayed over her and the others around prayed over her too. That was her special thing, and then, of course, we had a great big feast to celebrate her moving on into adulthood.

OK, well, I think our time is gone. We’ve most probably spoken enough about celebrations. We could think of so many more, but I hope it gives you a vision to be a celebrating family. It seems we make excuses for celebrations because they make wonderful memories. Yes, food and celebrations. They go together. They are twins.

Let’s pray.

“Dear Father, we thank You so much again for all Your goodness to us. Thank You, Lord, for answering our prayers, and for a safe inauguration for President Trump. Lord, we know that there were sinister plans behind the scenes. But we thank You, Lord God, that You protected him, and everyone who was attending. We thank You, Lord God, for what You’re doing, and what is ahead.

“We also thank You for our families. Lord God, I pray that You’ll give all those listening today ideas of things they can celebrate in their families. Each one has different ideas, and different things happening, and different visions. Lord God, just give them the ideas of how they can celebrate and what they can celebrate, to make precious memories and traditions in their families, because You are a celebrating God, and You gave us food with which to celebrate and thank You.

“We thank You that You talk about so many celebrations in Your Word, and all the seven feasts that You gave to Your people. They are all to be celebrated with food and feasting. We thank You, Lord God, for all Your wonderful blessings. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

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Transcribed by Darlene Norris

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LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 344: FOOD TWINS, Part 2

Did you know that God loves feasts and celebrations? He mandates many feasts for our blessing and enjoyment. How many parties and feasts do you have in your home? Life should be filled with celebrations.

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! Always wonderful to be with you! I have just returned from our annual winter retreat down in Panama Beach, Florida, at the Laguna Christian Retreat Center. Each year, we have a week-long retreat there. Once again, it was the most glorious, wonderful time. I don’t know how it happens but somehow every retreat gets better and better.

We have the next one coming up in April. For those who would like to come to that, that’s our biggest retreat. We started the January retreat so we would give an opportunity for some to come that one because we were getting so many in April. But it still doesn’t seem to be getting smaller, because we expect a thousand or more to come to the April retreat.

I think you’d love to be there. It is the most amazing time. The dates for April are the 16^th to the 23^rd. You can get all the information off the webpage, aboverubies.org if you're thinking of coming. Families come from all over the States, from every state just about, so you will need to book in early because they’re going to go very, very quickly. We also have another retreat in August.

This year, we have a special one in June. This is only for married couples. It’s going to be down in Cancun, Mexico. The dates are the 6^th to the 13^th of June. But you don’t have to come for a week. You can choose to come for the weekend, three days, or five days, or the whole week. It’s going to be a special time of blessing couples and a wonderful time to enrich your marriage. For more details go to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

It’s wonderful to have all these opportunities to get together. We now have the date for the winter retreat next year. It will be January 5^th to the 12^th, Monday to Monday. These are now a week long. We started off with just a weekend retreat in April. Now it’s ended to three week-long retreats throughout the year, and even that doesn’t seem to be enough for some people. It’s just the highlight of their year.

I am also now catching up. Life has been so busy since Thanksgiving, when we had about a hundred folks here for Thanksgiving. Then we were off to New Zealand immediately after that. Came back, and it was time for Christmas/Hanukkah and we had so many family functions over the Christmas season. Then to the retreat!

So, here I am, and realized that I am behind with all the transcripts. Now I am so blessed, and I know you are so blessed in that this wonderful lady, Darlene, transcribes all my podcasts. She faithfully does it every week. She does it unto the Lord, to bless you, and I know many of you love to go and search out the transcript when you have time.

Often, you're busy doing something as you're listening to the podcast. You can’t get all the Scriptures. So, when Darlene sends me the transcript, I then need to read through it, add any Scriptures that I didn’t have time to give you, and get it all finally edited to put on the webpage. So, I’ve had to do eight transcripts and get them finished, so they’ll all be on the webpage today. You’ll be able to see them if you would like to do that. I know they’ll be a blessing to you.

At the moment, we are in this series of what I began in Podcast 337, THE THEOLOGY OF MOTHERHOOD. We’re taking it this time (because really, all my podcasts are about the theology of motherhood), we’re taking it from the passage in Jeremiah 29, where God spoke to His people when they were in Babylon, in a place of captivity. He told them the things He wanted them to do there. They were the same things He had told them from the very beginning of time. So, we are going through them. So practical.

Number one: to build houses and dwell in them, and to plant gardens, and to eat the fruit of them. We are up to eating. Eating is a good subject, isn’t it? Currently, I am telling you about 25 food twins that I have found in the Bible. Food does not stand alone. It needs other things to go with it. I found 25 other things that God associates with food. So, let’s continue then, today, shall we?

No. 4: FOOD AND COMFORT

Isn’t that nice? Yes, the Bible speaks about food and comfort. Food is comforting. It’s not only something that fills up our hungry tummies when we are hungry. But many times, when we’re feeling low, feeling sad, feeling downhearted, there’s nothing like a hot drink and something to eat that will comfort our hearts.

We see this right back in Genesis. That’s the first time we read about food and comfort. It’s in Genesis 18, when God came to visit Abraham. He came, well, God is Spirit. We cannot see Him, but God represented Himself in three persons. Who were they? Were they angels sent from God? Or were they God Himself, coming as God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit? I do not know. But we do know it was God in some form that came to speak to Abraham and Sarah.

Now Abraham didn’t know it was God when these visitors came. But we see how he welcomed them. In Genesis 18:5, he’s saying to them: “I will fetch you a morsel of bread, and comfort you your heart.” He wanted them to be comforted and rested. He knew that bringing some food to them would comfort them.

In fact, I think it would be a good idea to have a look at what Abraham really did when these visitors came because it is a beautiful example of hospitality. As I often say to you, ladies, God doesn’t leave anything out in His Word. He shows us how to show hospitality. He gives us examples in His Word. Abraham here is the most wonderful example. Let’s see the things that he did, shall we?

1. 1.     He made them feel welcome by running to meet them.

The very first thing we notice that he did was, OK, verse 2: “And he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door.” That’s the first thing he did. He ran to meet them. He didn’t just sit there and say, “Oh, I wonder who’s that? We’ll just wait and see.” No, he ran to them,

This is the number one point in hospitality. When you invite guests to your home, you give them a big welcome. Now, people today, they’re not going to be walking to your home. They’re going to be rolling up in a car, so you don’t really have very far to walk to them. But you take the spirit of that example and when they arrive, you say, “How wonderful to see you! We are so glad that you came! Come on in!” And you escort them into your home, and you show them a seat, show them where to sit, and make them feel welcome.

1. 2.     He made them feel welcome by bowing to them.

The next thing he did was: “And he bowed himself towards them.” In fact, it says he bowed towards the ground. Yes, that’s actually what they used to do back in Bible days. They showed honor to visitors and to people who came to their home. Now, it’s not in our culture to bow to people, but once again, we should have the same spirit, of showing honor to them.

In fact, back in Bible times, when a person bowed down before guests, this is what they were really saying. They would also put their hands to their heart, then their mouth, and then their forehead. They were saying symbolically, “My heart, my voice, and my brain are all at your service.”

The middle eastern people are very hospitable people. Bible people were hospitable people. Our God is a hospitable God and He wants to show His hospitality through us. So, we should have that same spirit, as I was saying. Show honor.

When people come, don’t just let them sit anywhere, because people often feel a little . . . they don’t quite know what to do. They’re coming into your home, and unless they’re familiar friends, they don’t really know where to sit. So, do tell them where to sit. I remember going to someone’s home, and I said, “Where will I sit?” The lady of the home said, “Well, sit anywhere.” But that doesn’t make you feel special. Show them where to sit and make them feel comfortable.

1. 3.     He made them feel welcome by making them comfortable.

All right, what happened next? Oh, yes, in verses three to five, we find that Abraham made his guests welcome. As I said before, by making them comfortable: “Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree: And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts.” Do you see how he is ministering to them, and honoring them, and blessing them?

1. 4.     He made them feel welcome by the prospect of tantalizing food.

He made them feel welcome by the prospect of tantalizing food. Oh, let’s read how all that happened. I love this. Genesis 18:6: “And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth.” Now, if I’m reading slowly, it’s because this light is very poor in this room. My glasses aren’t good enough. I’m trying to see what the words say.

“And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetched a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hasted to dress it.”

Do you notice how Abraham was not dawdling around? Goodness me, he ran into the tent! He told Sarah to make these cakes quickly! Then he ran into the herd to get this really good calf. Then he told his servant to hurry and make it. So, they were really getting on the job, getting this meal ready.

Genesis 18:8: “And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.” Can you imagine how long they were waiting? That meal didn’t come immediately. It would take time. Goodness me, they had a lot more time than we do today, don’t they? Sarah would have had to knead those cakes and then cook them. That would have taken time. They had to dress that tender calf and prepare it to cook. Then it would have taken much time to cook that meat.

But can you imagine the wonderful aromas coming out from the beautiful cakes cooking? Nothing like cakes cooking in an oven, and even more, meat cooking in the oven, and the beautiful aroma of meat cooking. So, those lovely aromas would have been tantalizing their taste buds as they waited for the food.

Of course, when we have guests, we will be making tantalizing food for them. That doesn’t mean, precious ladies, that you're having to make some special, amazing recipe that you've never made before! And you're trying to do something so out of this world!

No, you don’t have to do that with hospitality. In fact, I suggest to you that you don’t make something you haven’t made before. Try that out on your family. Make something you're good at making. Make something that you're comfortable with. Make something that you know you're good at making and it will always be great.

The main thing in showing hospitality is not making something so special, unless, of course, you're doing a very special meal. There’s a difference between just opening your home in hospitality, and having a very, very special meal. Those are things that you would have on special occasions, and you would put more time into making special things.

But normal hospitality is to make what you make for your family. But the secret is, make plenty of it, so that there’s always plenty for your guests, so they’re not having a little skimpy plate. But there is plenty. That is true hospitality.

1. 5.     He made them feel welcome by serving them.

OK, then we see that he served them. He stood by them. Anything they wanted, he would get. He made sure that they were being totally cared for. Then, when it came to the end of the meal, and of course, we’re not going into the story today where God spoke specifically to Abraham and specifically about Sarah in the tent (even though she was in the tent, that’s another wonderful, wonderful story), but we haven’t got time for that.

1. 6.     He made them feel welcome by escorting their departure.

After all that, it was time for them to go. So, what did Abraham do? “Oh, bye! See ya later!” No, the Bible says that he walked with them. In verse 16, “Abraham went with them” part of the way. It was tradition in those Bible times to aways walk with your guests, to walk even up to half an hour, or an hour with them, along the way, once again, showing them how you have been blessed to have them with you and showing honor to them.

Now, once again, we’re not going to do that today, because nobody’s walking miles from their home, from your home to wherever they live. They’re going to be rolling off in their car. But once again, we have that same spirit. We will go with our guests out to their car, and wait for them to go.

Colin and I live upstairs here in our home. On the bottom is our Above Rubies office, and our Above Rubies packaging room, which is a great big room. Of course we use that for church, and we use it for all our family gatherings, although as you know, our family gatherings are getting so big now that Sam, Serene’s husband, has built the Wedding Barn. Some of our family gatherings are now over there where we can pack hundreds in. Then we have our storage rooms.

We live upstairs, so when it’s time for guests to go, what do we do? Do we just say, “Bye,” and let them go down the stairs on their own? No, we always walk with them. So, we walk with them down the stairs. We walk with them out to their car.

If it’s wintertime, I have to make sure I put a coat on before I go out, because sometime it takes a little while for everybody to get in the car, especially if it’s a big family, by the time they put the baby in the car seat, and strap up all the other children, and everybody gets settled. But Colin and I wait until everyone is in and they drive off. We wave good-bye to our guests. That is all part of hospitality. From the very beginning of showing them that great welcome and then blessing them by waiting until their final moment of driving off from our property.

All right. There are other Scriptures about food and comfort. You’ll find them in Judges 19:8 and also in Psalm 104:15where it talks about “bread which strengtheneth man's heart.” That word “strengthen” is the same word as “comfort” in Genesis 18, which we’ve been talking about. Food does that. Food will strengthen you. If you eat healthy food, it will keep your heart healthy physically. But food also will do something to your heart emotionally. It comforts your heart, and it strengthens your heart.

No. 5. FOOD AND CELEBRATIONS

I love to celebrate with food. In fact, I think that’s how God wants us to celebrate. We see so many celebrations and feasts in the Word of God. Some people think that the Bible is just about things that don’t really relate to us. No, ladies! The Bible is full of life, and the nitty-gritty of life, and eating, and feasts, and parties, and gathering together for food.

In fact, God ordained feasts. We have the feast of Passover, the feast of Pentecost, the feast of Tabernacles. The three main feasts that God gave His people with extra feasts that go with them, which add up to seven feasts of the year. God gave those to His people, to remember, to remember the works that He had done. And all those feasts were all to do with food. Yes, every feast was about food.

God gave them. Many times, we think of them as the Jewish feasts. No, what does the Bible call them? The feasts of the Lord (Leviticus 23:1-4). Yes, they belong to God. They’re His feasts. Many, many Christians are beginning to also keep these feasts of the Lord, which are so wonderful, and also give such revelation. We can keep them, but we can keep many feasts. We can make so many feasts part of our traditions, and our family.

Everyone is going to have different traditions. We find in our family that we keep adding more and more traditions along the way. Right from when I started raising our children, I’ve always loved to celebrate anything I could think of with food, and with a party, with a celebration. Of course, we always celebrate birthdays. We didn’t always have a huge birthday. Sometimes we did but we would always have at least a family celebration, with maybe some close friends of the person whose birthday it was.

But one of the most wonderful blessings of our birthdays is that we started the tradition of speeches. We are a speech-making family. But the speeches are so wonderful. Of course, we’re going to celebrate with food, and often I would make the meal of whoever’s birthday it was, what their favorite meal was. They would say, “Oh, Mum, could you make this? This is my favorite meal.” So, that’s what I would cook for that night.

We would not only have the meal together, but then we would have speeches. Everyone in the family, and those who were invited, would have to go round. No one was left out. Everybody had to give a speech about the birthday person and think of every good thing they could think of about that person.

By the time everybody had finished saying all the good things they could think about that person, they are so filled up, they are so lifted up, goodness me! They’ve got enough to go on for the next year! In fact, if they had a hat on (which they mustn’t inside) they wouldn’t even be able to keep it on, because their heads would be too full! But it’s such a wonderful way to encourage someone.

We’ve shared that with many people. Often, when we’re doing a birthday party, and I go to a lot of functions. A lot of people don’t have a lot of purpose with their functions. Oh, yes, a bit of food, and people chatting, and then they go. I always think that we should think of something special to do. I always like to do that. Not only the food, but we think of something else special. A game we can play, or speeches, or something different for different occasions.

Often, we will say, “Hey! Why don’t we go round, and everybody give a speech to this person?” It may be something they’ve never done before, but it ends up being the very best part of the whole night.

Speeches have carried on to the next generation and now it’s part of all the grandchildren. Oh, it was so funny, because our grandchildren have mostly grown up now. They are all getting married, and we’re starting a third generation. But I remember when the grandchildren were little. Then, of course, their little cousins, they were so little, and they hadn’t really learned yet to say very much. Of course, now they can say a lot of things. But they would start off and they would say just one little thing about that person.

I remember once, someone said, “And you are my best cousin!” Well, somehow that little phrase took off and all these little children would end up their little speech, “And you are my best cousin!” They all had so many best cousins! But as they grew older, they learned to say more and more things. That was always a wonderful thing about our birthdays.

This Sunday I was talking to one of our families at our fellowship meal, which we have after church, because church is not really just going to church, listening to a message, and going home. It is fellowship. We see that in Acts 2 where the early church, the disciples did four things They continued steadfastly in, number one, the apostles’ doctrine; number two, fellowship; number three, breaking of bread, which wasn’t only communion. They broke break from house to house, fellowshipped with one another, and showed hospitality to one another. The fourth one was prayer.

But fellowship is part of the gathering of God’s people. So, we do that every Sunday. Everybody brings a dish and we all fellowship together. I said to one of the families, oh yes, because we all sang “Happy Birthday.” This young man was 18 years of age. I said to my friend, “Oh, what are you going to do? Are you going to have a special celebration for his 18^th birthday?” She said, “Oh, no, we’re just going to do a special family meal tonight.”

I said, “Well, do you know what we like to do? Well, back down in New Zealand and Australia, you came of age when you were 21 years of age. When you were 21, you had a very big special party, and you got the key to the door.” Well, really, you most probably had the key to the door before that. But this was the official time.

I remember back to my 21^st birthday. There were about 300 people present. It was a very big celebration. Actually, when it was Colin’s 21^st birthday, this was really the weekend where we began to cement our courtship. We had met at a family retreat. I think both of us knew that, yes, there was some connection there, but nothing was really happening.

Then he asked if I would be able to come to his 21^st birthday. First, I had to say no, because I wasn’t available. Then he contacted me again, and said, “Well, sorry, the day just had to be changed. Would you be free on this date?” I was. So, I traveled down to his city, to his 21^st birthday. It was that weekend that we began our courtship.

So, I said, “Of course,” talking to my friend, “Here in America, you're coming of age when you're 18 years of age. Are you going to do a big party?” She said, “I don’t think that we do that here.” I don’t know whether you do, or you don’t.

When we were here in the States, Pearl’s 21^st was when we were here, so we celebrated that, but then we got to realize here in the States, it’s 18 years of age. When Serene was 18, and we were living here, we put on a big 18^th birthday celebration for her. It was a very beautiful night, a wonderful celebration of food, people, friends coming, and of course speeches.

Yes, people getting up (because it was not just a family thing) it was an extended party. The microphone was open to whoever would like to give a speech. Once again, it was one of the most wonderful parts of the night. People sharing about her life and all the beautiful things that they thought about her.

Another thing that we did at celebrations was what we call Down Under “items.” Here, I don’t know what you really call them. But when someone would get up, recite a poem, sing a song, or sing a duo, or do something special. We have always loved that. We always invite someone to sing, or someone to recite, someone to do something special.

We have some dear friends from New Zealand who were living here in the States at the time. They sing together. At every function we had, we always asked them to sing. We never had a function without them doing that. In fact, now the years have gone on, and they’ll come out to have a meal with us and I’ll say, “OK, before you go, you’ve got to sing to us.”

That’s what we used to do. Then, of course, the 18^th birthday, then we didn’t have another special one, except celebrating (but not like this big thing), until when our children got to 50 years of age. I thought, “Wow! I think it’s time, when they get to that, that I’ll put on a party for them.” Because once they were married, I never put on any birthday parties for them because then it was the responsibility of their spouse to do that.

But when they got to 50, I would say, “OK, this is my turn! I want to put on something.” So, for each of our children, when they turned 50, we put on a special family gathering and a very special birthday party. Now, I only have one left, apart from our adopted children, who are younger.

But Serene has just turned 48, so in two more years, it will be her 50^th. The others have already had their 50^th birthdays. Oh, goodness me! The time has gone on, and I still haven’t told you about all our celebrations and even more biblical ones. So, we’ll talk more about them next time, shall we?

“Dear Father, thank You so much again. We are full of thanks to You, dear Father. We thank You for Your living Word that is so full and pulsating with life. You’re showing us the way to live and we see how You love feasts and celebrations.

“Lord God, I pray that You will bless every family listening and give them vision and ideas in celebrating things in their lives with their families. Lord, I pray that You will make their family a celebrating family, because You love us to celebrate with food. We thank You, Lord God, in the precious Name of Jesus”.

BECOME A CELEBRATING FAMILY!

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

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Transcribed by Darlene Norris

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LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 343: FOOD TWINS

God is the originator of food. He loves food. He wants us to enjoy it too. There are 25 different things in God’s Word that are associated with food. We begin to discover them in this podcast.

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! Today we’re continuing a few thoughts about eating which we began last week. Now I remember I was telling you how we must watch the ingredients in our food, and when we’re at the supermarket to always read the ingredients before we buy, because often we get them home, and find, “Oh, goodness me! I can’t eat this!”

The thing I was trying to remember that we must not have in our food is high-fructose syrup. That is in so many foods today. If you see that in the ingredients, don’t buy it. Don’t bring it back into your home, because instead of being a healing food, it’s a poisonous food. Sugar, any kind of sugar really, unless it’s a natural kind, is a poison.

Of course, sugar in the sugar cane is not poison. It’s a wonderful thing that God has created. If you go to other countries, you can buy sugar cane on the side of the road. You can suck it and it’s totally healthy. But when they manufacture it and refine it, they lose about sixty or more of the qualities that are in the sugar. Instead, it becomes a poison to our bodies, so we want to watch that sugar intake.

Another interesting thing about eating is how we eat. Today, in our very busy lifestyle, many of us are eating on the run. Many who are out in careers, even men at work are busy, and they eat on the run. Even at home, mothers are so busy looking after their children, and doing everything, that they will eat their food on the run, as they’re walking around, as they’re doing other things.

But it’s interesting that in the Word of God, we see that God wants us to sit down when we eat. It’s so interesting. There’s not a thing that He left out of God’s Word; even the littlest practical things that He knows are so beneficial for us, He talks about in His Word.

I’m not going to give you all the Scriptures today, but even the example of Jesus feeding the 5,000. The record of that story is in all the four gospels and all the four gospels talk about this very important thing--It’s sitting down.

Let’s go to Luke 9:14-15: Jesus said: “Make them sit down by fifties in a company. And they did so, and [the disciples] made them all sit down.”

Do you notice there, a word, “make”? Jesus didn’t say, “Well, get them all to sit down,” No, He said, “Make them sit down.” I think we really understand what He’s saying, don’t we, mothers? Because we know how we have to actually make our children sit down. It’s not unusual to say, “OK, children, come and sit at the table.”

Well, we get them there, and then we’ve got to keep them seated there, and teach them how to stay seated until the end of the meal. That takes training. Little by little, but we need to train them in this way, because this is how God wants us to eat.

Scientifically, they have proof that when you eat on the run, you really don’t get the same value from your food. Food is actually only truly assimilated and benefits our body when we are sitting down. The food is really meant to be eaten with others, sitting down, talking to others, fellowshipping and eating at the same time. Not talking with your mouth full but talking when your mouth is not full.

But fellowship is very much part of sitting at the table. The word in the Greek is anaklino, meaning “to recline, to take your place at the table, to make to sit down at a meal.”

We read it again in Matthew 15:35: “And He commanded them to sit down.”

Mark 6:39: “And He commanded the disciples to make them all sit down.”

Again, in John 6:10-11: “And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves; and when He had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down.” Do you notice that Jesus did not even break the bread or give thanks to God until everyone was seated? Then it explicitly states that the disciples distributed it to those who were sitting down, Isn’t that interesting?

I know, dear mothers, it’s not always easy to make your children sit down, but this is an important training that we must do in our homes. Children always want to get up and down like yoyos. But unless they desperately need to go to the toilet, and they do ask, “Please, may I be excused?” Then you may allow them to go, and they must come straight back. But we are training them.

I am so amazed. We often have families sitting round our table and I notice that many of the children will want to get up and down. They are not used to sitting at the table. They haven’t been trained. Then some will need to go to the bathroom, and they just get up and go! They don’t ask, “Please, may I be excused?”

Somehow, etiquette and manners have gone out the door with this generation. It’s all because we, as mothers, are not passing on important etiquette and manners for our children, so they know how to behave in the home, when they go to someone else’s home, and when they go out into society.

READING THE BIBLE IS PART OF YOUR MEAL

Don’t be upset if you're always training your children on this matter. Keep at it, because it is important, and they need to learn to sit at the table until the end of our meal, and the end of devotions. Because having our family devotions, or Bible time, or whatever you call it, that is part of the meal. It’s not a separate part. It is part of the meal. In fact, it’s more important than the first part, because feeding our bodies is important, but feeding our spirits and souls is more important. We teach them to sit until we have finished reading and praying together.

If you’ve got little toddlers, when it comes to the time to read the Word, well, Daddy can hold a toddler on his knee. Mommy will be holding the baby, and if you've got teens, maybe another teen will hold another little one. If they’re getting tired, they’ve not having to sit up there on a stiff chair, but they can be held as it comes to the reading of the Word. But they’re still at the table.

As they get older, they’ll learn to sit in their chairs. So, we are training them, little by little. This is not only in the natural but in the spiritual as well. You remember how Luke 10:39 says: “Mary sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard His words.”

We can’t get our feeding from the Bible on the run, either, or just a quick sit-down. Many people say, “Oh, I have my Bible reading. Get a couple of verses, and on we go.” To really hear from Jesus, to really hear from God, we’ve got to sit down. We’ve got to take time. We’ve got to sit at His feet.

It’s only when we’re sitting at His feet that we will hear His Word or hear Him speak into our heart through His Word. We don’t hear it when we’re just doing it quick, quick, quick. “It’s done. I’ve got to get onto more important things!” No, this is THE most important. Let’s remember this very important principle.

Psalm 128:3: “Your wife will be like a fruitful vine, flourishing within your home. Look at all those children. There they sit around your table, as vigorous and healthy as young olive trees. This is the Lord’s reward for those who fear Him.”

Where are your children? Sitting around the table! They’re not popping up and down, not running here and there. In many homes, children eat their food wherever they want. Just here, there, and everywhere! No, the picture God gives of a blessed family is the family sitting—sitting around the meal table. That’s God’s plan.

Now, I’d like to share with you just how much God thinks about food. He’s the One who provided it and He’s the One who created it. He’s the One who designed it and all the glorious flavors. A different taste for every fruit and vegetable and healing leaves from the trees. Everything is God’s design and it’s for our nourishment.

But I found in the Word, 25, what I call “FOOD TWINS.” A twin is when something is together. When God couples something with something else, it’s a twin. Like we have love and faith, peace and joy, and so on. They’re twins.

So, here we go, for 25 food twins. There are lots of Scriptures. I won’t give them to you all. I will put the Scriptures in the transcript for you, for those of you who are Bereans. Do you know what a Berean is? They were those in the Bible who searched the Word of God to see if those things were so. When Paul spoke to the Berean people, that’s what he said. “You were those who didn’t just take it at what I said. You searched the Word to see if it was so.” Read Acts 17:11.

I love to be a Berean. Even when I hear a preacher or I hear someone say something, I’m always taking notes. I never, ever, ever go to a meeting without my notebook. Many times, I’ll hear something. “Oh, wow! I’ve got to check that out! I haven’t heard that before. My, I must see if it really is true!” Or I want to study that more. So, I’m making notes to do that.

On this podcast, I know many times you are maybe washing dishes, going for a walk, ironing, doing something else. You don’t have time to look up the words, but if you’re a Berean, and you have extra time, you can go to the transcripts and find all the Scriptures.

All right . . .

No. 1: FOOD AND THE TABLE

Food is associated with the table because God wants us sitting down at the table. Now, the 5,000 that Jesus’ fed, they didn’t have a table, but they sat around in groups, because that would be a fellowship group. You see, when we sit at the table, we’re sitting around, and we look at one another. We can see one another. We’re eye-to-eye, face-to-face. It’s fellowship and food at the table.

One of the words for “table” in the Old Testament is a “mat upon the ground.” Sometimes they would sit around a mat. But the food was there in the middle, and they were sitting around, because the food was the focus. They sat around to have fellowship.

I wonder if you can remember where tables originated. OK, I have my two lovely Above Rubies helpers here. They are recording this podcast. Girls, have you got any idea where tables originated?

No? You have no idea. Well, don’t worry, because I often ask this question. Usually nobody knows. But let me tell you. It’s a wonderful answer. Tables originated in heaven. God had a table in His kingdom before we ever had them on earth.

TABLES ARE HEAVENLY

In fact, the first mention of table in the Bible is called” the table of showbread,” which was in the tabernacle. Everything in the tabernacle was made according to the plan in the heavenly realm. It was all a heavenly plan. In Revelation, we read of John looking into the heavenly realm, and we see so many of the pieces of furniture that were in the tabernacle back there in the Old Testament. And there they are, in heaven! Because they were in heaven first! Isn’t that amazing? So, the table of showbread was just a copy of God’s table in heaven.

Let me give you a few Scriptures in the New Testament.

Matthew 8:11: And Jesus said: “And I say unto you that many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.” Here it’s speaking about how Jesus was saying that one day many will come from all over the world, from the four corners of the world, and they’re going to sit down with the patriarchs, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They’re going to sit down at the table and feast with them. Isn’t that amazing? Jesus is talking about His table in His kingdom.

Let’s go to Luke 13:29: Jesus is speaking again, and He says: “And they shall come from the east” (that’s very similar to the Matthew one, isn’t it?) “They shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God.”

The New American Standard Bible says: “They shall recline at the table in the kingdom of God.”

Let’s go over the page. Luke 14:15: “When one of them that sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said unto Him, blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God,”

Let’s go over to Luke 22:29: Jesus speaking again: “And I appoint unto you a kingdom as My Father hath appointed unto Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom.” Isn’t that amazing?

Jesus is talking to His disciples, and He says, “You’re going to eat with Me at My table in My kingdom.” And He was talking about His table (many, many, many tables that were there), even before we had them on earth. So, tables, dear ladies, are heavenly. They come from heaven. If you want to have a bit of heavenly atmosphere in your home, make a big thing of the table.

I think the table is really one of the most paramount pieces of furniture in our home. I think it’s the most important! Oh well, we like our beds to sleep in, don’t we? But the table, the table is a replica of the heavenly table, where we will fellowship with Christ and with God in the heavenly realm. When Jesus spoke, I think He was homesick for His table. He says, “One day you're going to be with Me at that table.”

But we can bring Jesus to our table now. Even when you give grace, ask the Lord to come and sit with you at your table. He wants to be with you. He wants to be there. He wants His presence to be with you as you as a family fellowship together, and have beautiful dialog together as you then, at the end of your meal, open the Word of God to listen to Him speak His Words to you. What a wonderful thing!

The table is a twin with food. Food and tables go together. We were talking about how God wants us to sit at the table, not sit in front of the TV, not sit somewhere off on a sofa with your iPhone. No, sit at the table.

Of course, you will make sure that everyone in the family leaves their iPhones somewhere else but not bring them to the table. And hopefully your husband won’t bring his to the table either. Maybe if he does, of course, you're not going to tell your husband what to do. Because you know if you do, well, he’ll do the opposite.

But if you can just talk to him privately, in a very sweet and loving way, and say, “Darling, about these iPhones, we really don’t want the children to have them at the table, because then we can’t have fellowship. What do you think? Don’t you think it would be good if we don’t have ours at the table either, so we can all get rid of them? Then we can be focused together at the table.” I’m sure if you speak to your husband like that, he will be happy to see that that’s such a good idea.

And we should even spread a tablecloth at the table. The Bible talks about that too. And have order. Set the table. Many people just kind of throw the food on the table. “Come and get it!” No, if we are realizing that our table is a type of heavenly, we’ll want to make it heavenly. We’ll want to make it special. We’ll want to put the tablecloth on.

I always say to people . . . sometimes people say, “Oh, can I set the table for you?”

“Thank you.”

And they’ll go to put out the silverware on the table. I say, “Hey! Just a minute! We don’t eat at the naked table.” I’ll say, “We love to put a tablecloth on the table.” Because it adds something special.

And let me tell you, dear mothers. Your children will rise to the value you put on your table. If you just throw some food on the table, with no tablecloth, not set very nicely, and everybody just comes, they’re all going to be casual about it. Nobody’s going to think very much about it.

THE MORE HONOR YOU PUT ON THE TABLE, THE BETTER BEHAVED YOUR CHILDREN WILL BE

But if you put a tablecloth, maybe you put a candle, and you set everything in order, wow! This is special. You’ll find the children will be more well-behaved. The more honor you put on the table, the more your children will behave. They will rise to how you value the table.

Now, let’s have a look at some Scriptures here. Back in Exodus 40:4, this is talking about the table of showbread, the first table mentioned, that was in the likeness of the heavenly table: “And thou shalt bring in the table, and set in order the things that are to be set in order upon it. And he set the bread in order before the Lord.” That word, arak in the Hebrew, means “to set in a row, to put in order, to set in array.”

Do you notice the things God wanted on that table of showbread? He didn’t say, “Oh, just plonk them on there. OK!” No, “set them in order according to the order I have shown you.”

Dear mothers, we are meant to set our tables, to set them in order. You will notice a great big difference to the meal. Of course, you're not going to be having to do all this yourself. You’re teaching your children how to put a tablecloth on, how to set the table nicely, how to maybe put an arrangement on the table to make it special. So, you're teaching your children.

Let’s read some other Scriptures.

Psalm 23:5: “Thou preparest a table before me.” That word is arak, “to set in order.”

Psalm 78:19: “Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?” Same word, arak, “to set the table.”

Proverbs 9:2: “Wisdom hath built her house. She hath also furnished her table.” It’s the word arak. “She hath set the table.” A wise woman will set her table. God wants a table to be prepared and set in order.

Also, we should eat our food at set times. I believe that it doesn’t have to be on the very dot. “OK, we must have our supper at six o’clock every night!” Well, I like to think we have our supper at about six o’clock. But for some families, it would only be five o’clock. Some, it may be seven, because the husband comes home later. You find a time for your family. And, of course, it will vary with things that are happening, within a half hour or so. But you have it about that same time.

Do you remember the Scripture of the healing home? That was a little parable about the healing household and how the wise steward gives a portion of food to the family “in due season.” That’s King James. But other translations say that he served the food “at the proper time.” So, here we find another little principle about the table. It’s amazing! God’s Word is so amazing. There’s every little principle there for us to know how to do it, even in the most practical things of life.

And so, breakfast time, we have at a certain time, roundabout that certain time. But any old time? I know families who have children getting up at all different times. Getting up whenever they like! How do they have breakfast together? They don’t! Everybody gets up when they feel like it, and they get a little bit of cereal out of the cupboard, and that’s that.

No, you're meant to have it at a set time, the proper time. So, everybody has to get up at the set time. That’s how we order a household. You cannot have an ordered household when everybody gets up whenever they like, at any old time. That is not an ordered household.

I think your mother was telling me, Auden, that she was getting you all up at six o’clock to have your time with the Lord, together as a family, because everybody was going their various ways. You all get up.

Yes, but you see, not every household is going to get up at six. Some may get up later, or whatever time suits your household. But you find that time for your household, and you keep it. So, you have your set times for breakfast, and for lunch, and for supper. Amen?

No. 2: FOOD AD ABUNDANCE

Oh, it’s amazing. I found 19 different Scriptures here about God giving food with abundance. You’ll get them all in the transcript. Let’s just go to Isaiah 25:6: This is talking about a feast. I don’t know when it’s going to happen. It might be in the millennium, I’m not sure. It might be the marriage supper of the Lamb. I don’t think it is. It doesn’t specifically say that.

But it says: “And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.”

I like the World Messianic Bible Translation. It says: “A feast of choice meats, a feast of choice wines, a feast of choice meats full of marrow, a well-refined choice wine.” Wow! That’s some kind of feast, isn’t it? I love that phrase, “Choice meats full of marrow.”

Have you ever tasted marrow? Have you girls ever tasted marrow? Oh, marrow is my favorite part of the meat. It’s that stuff that’s inside the bones. When you cut the bone, say you're cutting bone, you're roasting the meat. Oh, at the end, when it’s all roasted, you can kind of suck that marrow out of the bone. When we were growing up, we used to all fight over that marrow. Who could get that marrow?

I’m a great lover of making broth. When someone kills a beef or a lamb, or whatever, if I can get the bones, I’m grabbing those bones! I cook them up. I usually cook them up and simmer them very slowly for about 72 hours. But, oh, I just love it. As it’s cooking, I’ll check to see if the marrow there is cooked. I’ll get it out and I will take that marrow. It’s so rich and so amazing. You can’t take too much of it. It is so rich.

It makes me think of back in New Zealand days. I grew up in a family where my father wasn’t a butcher by trade, but he knew the whole butcher trade. He knew so many trades. He was a sawmiller, but he was also the world champion shearer of the world in his day. He designed the way shearing is done. He was a horse trainer, and a dog trainer, and a taxidermist, and I don’t know how many other things. There’s a little saying, “Jack of all trades, but master of none.” But that was not true of him. He was master of all his trades, and the best.

But we grew up with home-grown meat all our lives. It wasn’t until I was married that I had to go to a butcher shop. Help! I had never had to do that. My father would kill all the meat. He’d kill a beef; he’d kill a lamb. Mostly sheep, because we’re a sheep country.

When he killed his sheep, we ate it all. He would come in with the brains and the sweetbreads and we would fry them up for breakfast. Then we would have the organ meats. We’d have the liver and the heart. We’d fry it up with onions. Then we’d even eat the tongue. We’d boil up the tongue and then we’d press it for quite some time so that it became so pressed. We would cut it like a loaf. Oh, we ate everything! So, I’m used to eating all these things like marrow and so on.

Of course, now, goodness me! You go to the supermarket and buy a packet of meat. It’s nothing like how we used to eat it back when I grew up. My father usually had at least two 22-cubic-feet deep freezers, full of meat, which he had killed himself, or gone out hunting and shot himself.

Let’s carry on.

No. 3: FOOD AND COOKING

Yes, you can’t disassociate food from cooking because although we can eat many foods raw, there are many foods we must also cook.

I love that story that we read in John 21, the last chapter of John. This was after Jesus had risen from the dead. He wanted to talk to His disciples, so he knows they’ll be out on Lake Galilee fishing. They were very sad at this time, although now they did know that Jesus had risen from the dead. But He wasn’t with them all the time like He was previously.

Jesus went down and wanted to talk to them. He saw them out in the water. Obviously, they’d been out all night, fishing. What did He do? The Bible tells us that Jesus began to make a fire on the beach. And then He began to cook. He began to cook some fish and some bread. When He had it ready, He called out to His disciples. He said, “Come! Come and dine! I’ve got breakfast ready!”

Now, just a minute, ladies. Who was this cooking?

It was Jesus, the One who had just risen from the dead. King of Kings, Lord of Lords! And what is He doing? Cooking. Cooking. And some mothers think, “Cooking’s too lowly for me. I’ve got better things to do!” And they put together something and they don’t really realize the power there.

Jesus. One of the first things He did after rising from the dead was cook a meal! And serve His disciples. The Bible says: “And Jesus served them.” He didn’t wait on them to serve Him. No, Jesus served them and gave to His disciples. Can you just imagine? The fellowship and the talking they had.

And then Jesus took Peter aside and began to talk to him. He told him to “feed My sheep, Peter. Feed My lambs.” He had something special to say to Peter, but He didn’t just go down to the lake and call out Peter and say, “Hey, Pete! I’ve got something to tell you!” No, He first cooked a meal. And then He spoke into his life. You see, that is the power of a meal and the power of the table.

And dear ladies, that’s the power of having family devotions at the table, because God aligns Himself with the table, and with cooking, and with a meal. When we eat, we release oxytocin, which is the relaxing hormone. And you relax, and you're more ready to hear and to take in. So, when we’re eating, we’re relaxed, and we’re more ready to hear from God, and to hear what He has to say to us. Just like Jesus gave food to Peter before He spoke into his life. I hope that you can begin to see the power of the table.

Well, time is gone again.

“Lord Jesus, we thank You. Thank You that we can read about Your life. The cooking was not an insignificant task for You. It was something You did with purpose. You love to do it, because You love food, and You love to serve. You didn’t come to be served, but You came to serve and give Your life a ransom for many.

“Help me, help every mother listening. Help us all to see that power of the table, the power of cooking a meal, the power of serving our families and all the folks that we invite into our homes. This is such a beautiful, God-given ministry, to serve our families and to serve other people with food. Lord, bring us into such a large place of doing this. We pray in Jesus’ Name. Amen”.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

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www.aboverubies.org

Transcribed by Darlene Norris

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“LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell, Above Rubies”

DON’T KEEP THE BLESSINGS TO YOURSELF.

SCRIPTURES FOR THE ABOVE POINTS:

1. 1.     FOOD AND THE TABLE

1. Tables originate in Heaven: Matthew 8:11; Luke 13:29; 14:15; 22:30, 30; and Revelation 19:9. God told Moses to make The Table of Shewbread after the pattern of God’s table in Heaven (Exodus 25:23, 40; 26:30; Acts 7:44; Hebrews 8:1-5; and 9:8).

1. God wants us to eat at the table, not on the run, or anywhere around the house: 2 Samuel 9:7-13 (19:28 and 1 Kings 2:7); 2 Kings 25:29 (Jeremiah 52:32, 33) and Psalm 128:3.

1. God wants us to SIT at the table to eat: Genesis 37:25; Exodus 16:3; 32:6; Judges 19: 6; Ruth 2:14; 1 Samuel 20, especially verses 5, 18, 24-29; 1 Kings 10:4, 5 (2 Chronicles 9:3, 4); Esther 3:15; Psalm 139:2; Proverbs 23:1, 2; Matthew 8:11; Luke 12:37; 14:15; 22:27; and 24:30.

1. Examples of Jesus siting at the table: When Jesus came to the table, they not only ate, but he taught, shared stories, and did miracles. The table is a great place for mighty things to happen, but it all starts with food: Matthew 26:6, 7 (Mark 14:3); Matthew 6:20, 21 (Mark 14:18); Luke 7:36, 37; 11:37; 14:1-4; and John 12:2.

1. 2.     FOOD AND ABUNDANCE

God delights to give food in abundance: Genesis 1:29; 9:3; Deuteronomy 6:11; 8:9, 10; 10:18; 28:5, 11; 30:9; Psalm 103:5; 104:14, 15; 111:5; 136:25; 145:15, 16; 146:7; Isaiah 25: 6; and Acts 14:17.

1. 3.     FOOD AND COOKING

Genesis 19:3; 1 Chronicles 9:31; and Proverbs 31:14, 15.