LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 234: Our God is a Miracle-Working God

Imagine being diagnosed with cancer when you are dreaming of marriage? Neely Stewart shares God's wonderful working in her life. While in college she was diagnosed with cancer and informed she would never be able to have children. Today, she is surrounded with nine amazing children. Together with her husband, Ben, they own a campsite and use it to strengthen families, and also teach young people how to live purely and how to prepare for marriage. You can also find out more at www.brockmountainministries.org.

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

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! Great to be with you again! This is the night before Thanksgiving that we are recording this session. I have with me another wonderful visitor. For Thanksgiving week, we have the Hartman family staying with us. You heard from Allison last week.

We also have the wonderful Stewart family and their nine children. They are with us for Thanksgiving. They’re also here, helping us put down a new floor in the Above Rubies office, which is so wonderful. Oh my, I’m actually so glad you haven’t come to visit me in my office, although I know some of you already have, of course, because it’s like a cow shed!

We did have vinyl on the floor, but after all these years, it’s worn through. We’ve had many floods, and it’s actually got down to the concrete. They are so gloriously putting in a new floor which will be wonderful! I will feel as though as I am a normal person in my office which is just part of our home downstairs. We live upstairs, and Above Rubies is downstairs.

I have with me right here, Neely Stewart. She has a wonderful story to tell that I don’t even know about yet. Allison told me. She said, “Oh, you’ve got to get Neely to tell her story!” We’re all going to hear about it together. I know it’s going to be wonderful. So, thank you for being with us, Neely.

Neely: Oh, absolutely. It’s a pleasure to be here.

Nancy: Now, Allison told me that you found out before you were married that you would never be able to have children. Is that true? Tell us all about that.

Neely: Well, it’s definitely part of the miracle that God’s done in my life, for sure. When I was 19 years old, I was in college. I know you all just did the college podcast, but when I was growing up, you went to college. That’s how you had success. There are obviously many ways to success, but that was the route that I was on.

When I was in my sophomore year, I just wasn’t feeling good. It kept lingering, so I went to the college infirmary there. I thank God for that doctor, because he saw past my symptoms. He looked deeper than what I’d told him, and he ordered a blood test, which normally they’d give you antibiotics and send you on your way.

But he, and I believe God led him, he ordered a blood test. He found abnormal white blood cells. That is an indication of either leukemia, bone cancer, or lymphoma, I believe. After the first of about eight bone marrow aspirations, I was diagnosed with leukemia.

Nancy: Wow, that wasn’t very good news.

Neely: Not in my plans, for sure! At that point, it was within probably a week, I was in the hospital. They were beginning treatment and it was kind of a whirlwind. There were so many miracles throughout. Just the miracle of God’s presence. If God’s presence is there, that’s where you want to be. So, whether you’re going through a fight with cancer, or you’re on the mountaintop at the time, wherever God is, that’s where you want to be. His presence was so evidently there with me.

My mom had come up when she heard. When we got the test results, she’d come up. I wasn’t in my hometown. She was with me through this journey and because of my treatment, we went to the hospital in New Orleans.

It was a small miracle that God did in the very beginning. I had an extreme fear of pain. It was kind of a fear of needles but that was a very small miracle.  I was really afraid of the pain that I might go through. He brought me through that. Maybe that wouldn’t be something for someone else, but that was the beginning of so many miracles, like I was saying.

Honestly, prior to even my diagnosis, God had been leading me on a journey of His faithfulness. Although you’re never prepared for a cancer diagnosis, His faithfulness, I knew that He was with me. He was faithful and true. I knew He was with us. It was an ordeal, and I didn’t know all the details of what the doctors were telling my then-fiancé, now husband, and my mom.

Nancy: So, you were courting Ben at this stage?

Neely: Yes, we’d been dating for about two years at that time.

Nancy: Oh, you started quite young, then.

Neely: Yes, well, I was 17, and he was 19, I guess.

Nancy: Wonderful.

Neely: But the prognosis was, the night before the chemo, they said that I had about a four percent chance of living. If I lived through the night of that first round of chemotherapy, then it was up to about 25%. It was a crucial moment, that first night. Yes, ma’am.

Nancy: Goodness me! Oh, wow! So, what happened?

Neely: I survived. [laughter] It was arduous. But again, His presence was there. Honestly, the biggest support for us was God’s Word. We sought God’s Word, obviously what He would speak to our hearts at that time.

Isaiah 41:10, that has been a Scripture that has been a life verse for me. “Fear not; for I am with thee: be not afraid; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with My righteous right hand.”

The first was “fear not.” Of course, our human response, when we hear a diagnosis of cancer, is to fear. But God has repeatedly told us in His Word to “fear not.”

Actually, my youth group back home, when they heard about it, they created this huge banner, like, gosh, 10 feet by 12 feet probably. Every time my mom would hang it on the wall in my hospital room, it was in huge letters, and that was what I would feel when I’d wake up, or all day long. “FEAR NOT, FOR I AM WITH THEE.”

Nancy: That’s so wonderful. I’ve often liked to speak this Scripture out as a promise for every day of the week. You know there are seven promises in this one Scripture? It’s amazing. You can actually say it like this, you had it for every day as you were going through that. We can say it:

 “Fear thou not,” on Sunday.

“For I am with thee,” on Monday.

“Be not dismayed,” on Tuesday.

“For I am thy God,” on Wednesday.

“I will strengthen thee” on Thursday.

“Yes, I will help thee” on Friday.

“Yes, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness” on Saturday. Although it’s for every day of the week. That’s rather lovely, isn’t it?

Neely: I like that!

Nancy: Seven promises.

Neely: Yes, ma’am! So, that was a Scripture. Also, Psalm 46:1: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble.” Sometimes we can feel like God is up there. We know He’s watching over us, but it says He’s “a very present help.” He’s right there in the midst, and He sees everything that we’re going through. He knows that He is that very precious help in time of trouble.

Nancy: Yes. Tell me, what happened with your courtship? There you are, you are faced with cancer, and you’re supposed to be getting married. Wow! What happened then?

Neely: Well, Ben is faithful and true, as he always has been to me. Not like God, but he is faithful and true to me. We actually were going to two different colleges. He was back in my hometown, and I’d gone to LSU. Honestly, I think that was the semester that he pretty much flunked out because he spent most of his time driving to visit me in the hospital.

But one thing that was amazing. Through it all, I lost my hair twice. At one point I got down below 90 pounds. Ben always made me feel beautiful. Through it all, he was my rock. Speaking of losing my hair twice, there were so many things. I ended up spiking a fever of over 106. They rushed in with ice packs. I had them all over my body. They were trying anything to get the fever down. It was an intense moment.

They had to place a port to get chemotherapy into my spinal column, to get chemotherapy into where the chemo doesn’t cross the blood/brain barrier. When they placed it, they cut a big horseshoe-shaped flap from out of my scalp. Then they drill a hole into my skull. Well, as my mom says, you never want to hear a brain surgeon say that they’re off by even a half an inch. So, they had to go back and do that again.

Even when you get those reports that aren’t what you want to hear, when God is walking with you, you can turn to Him. You know that nothing takes Him by surprise.

Nancy: You still haven’t got to . . . how did you get healed? When did you get married? And what’s happened?

Neely: After the treatment, it was over 100 days in the hospital, but I believe God led the doctors. I completed the treatment that they had prescribed. I never relapsed. When they said I’m done, I was done! I flew the coop. I had checkups for the first five years, and everything was all clear.

We ended up getting married, let’s see, that was in ’96, so we got married in 2000. It’s been glorious since then. Following treatment, actually Ben and I were talking about this. He remembers going up to the doctor’s appointment with me when the doctor said, “Usually with this treatment, it prevents you from having children.”

Of course, that was the desire of my heart. That was what I wanted to be, was a wife and mother. I heard what he said but I knew that God had called me to be a joyful mother of children. I didn’t let it bother me and we started having children. We didn’t have a certain amount that we wanted to have, but a friend, a fellow mom, handed me an Above Rubies magazine, and that’s when we said, “Well, you know what? We want to trust God with our family size.” So, we’re at nine right now. [laughter]

Nancy: Did you have to wait long? Did the Lord bless you very soon after your marriage?

Neely: Yes, ma’am. We didn’t have to wait. We were blessed. I know He’s the miracle-working God.

Nancy: That is amazing! Here. because many, after intense chemotherapy, you don’t conceive. But praise the Lord! Here you are, with nine amazing children! God is amazing! And you’ve never had any trace of this ever again?

Neely: No, ma’am.

Nancy: So incredible. Oh, that is so wonderful! Well, you’ve got to tell us about your children. Tell us their names and their ages.

Neely: Eliana is our oldest. She’s 21. Then we have Talia, and she’s 18. They’re both into mustang horses. They were participating in Extreme Mustang Makeover and enjoyed that. Zion is 15. He’s our first son. Then we have twin girls, Hosanna and Grace. They’re 13. Then Asher. He is 10. Then Bethania. She’s eight. And Moriah is five, and Gilead is two.

Nancy: How wonderful! Oh, the Lord has just blessed you! Of course, ladies, they are here with us, staying. We’re just so blessed to see such a beautiful family of children. They’re such a blessing. So beautiful, and such hard workers!

I remember Allison telling me that Ellie went to stay with them for three weeks to help them, because their business keeps them very busy. The Hartmans, wow, there’s another family like them that know how to work. But she said, “Wow, Ellie just runs rings around us! She is such a great worker!”

Tell us your secrets of how you’ve trained your children to work, and also to put in them the godly qualities that you long for them to have.

Neely: I will say, my husband being willing to let them work alongside of him, when he could get it done much faster without having children around. I wouldn’t say in the beginning that was what came natural to him, but he had to make a choice.

He tells the story of one time when he was trying to work on our car. We lived in Chicago at the time, and it was middle of winter, and it was freezing. Our son Zion came up to him and wanted something.

Ben said, “Zion, what am I doing?” Zion’s like, “Working on the car.”

He’s like, “Do I like to be interrupted when I’m working on something?”

He’s like, “No.”

Ben thought, “But then, what’s more important?” Ben was like, “Of course, our children are what’s important.” Taking time.

I think incorporating them into everything. We love to do projects around our house. As long as they can hold a hammer or do whatever, we’re going to assign them to do something, whether it’s just sweep with the broom. Of course, we have children who are more eager to help than others. You have to encourage the ones who would rather be off playing, and say, “Will you participate? We’re Stewarts, we work hard.” Also, we have fun. We know how to have fun when it’s done. That’s what we try to . . .

Nancy: That’s what I say around here. We work hard, and we play hard. Whatever you do, you do with all your heart. There’s a time for work, and then there’s a time to enjoy one another and fellowship. But I noticed the other night, one of your daughters, I noticed her pick up the broom and sweep the floor. Nobody asked her to do that. You can see it’s just part of her life, part of her habit

And yet, it’s amazing, there are many young people who will come into our home, and goodness! They hardly know what a broom was! I think that often happens too with children going to school these days, going to public school. Sometimes they leave so early on the bus. I see children out where we live, and the bus goes by, and it’s still dark! I think, “Oh, those poor children!”

They’re leaving the sanctity of their home, and the coziness of the home, and going out in the dark, and waiting for a bus. You never know what’s going on on that bus. Then they’re away all day. Then they come home, and they’ve got to do homework. They don’t even get a chance to be part of the whole life of the home. OK, you’re meant to be working and helping. They don’t even really know how to do that.

I had some children just a week or so ago around our table. I said to them, “Now children, I just want you all to come and be here and help. We’re all going to do something.” Well, a couple of them actually went and hid! They just didn’t even want to do anything! They weren’t even used to it! I couldn’t believe it. How have you trained your children to get into those habits?

Neely: We have, three times a day, after every meal, they each have their own assigned chore. It’s not a question of whether or not you want to do it. It’s just everybody, after the meal, we all break and do our responsibilities. It takes some training. You have to have oversight, make sure pretty much every time I’m reminding someone, “Hey, you forgot to do this.”

But everyone knows they have a responsibility, to feel that you’re a contributing member of the household. Especially, as you said, when we’re home all day, we all make the mess. It all accumulates. It’s a good reset, three times a day, to get things back in order. To feel like your brain can function without clutter everywhere.

Nancy: So, you began homeschooling from the very beginning, did you?

Neely: Yes, ma’am. I had been exposed to Montessori concepts of training, or not training, but teaching children early. Yes, I always had a heart to homeschool. I think I went; I went gung-ho with our first. She was reading by three. That first child, you just do everything. You’re not really focused on anything else, so they get it all poured on them. That’s where you make your first mistakes.

Since then, I’ve backed off significantly. I let them have more fun in those early years. We have loved homeschooling. Now that my older girls have graduated, they help me with doing some of the readings with the younger ones. I just think it’s a great way to enjoy family life, that we all contribute, we’re all a part. You belong, and we want you here. We need you here, and we all want that, I think.

Nancy: Yes. So, your life is really living as a family. You’re not all doing your separate things. How do you make that happen?

Neely: Like I said, our older girls do horse training during the day and things like that. But we do put mealtimes, they’re really important to us. Then we’ll usually lead a morning devotion, and in the evenings, we all gather after our meal for worship. Then we’ll do some form of Bible reading, devotions. I feel like that’s really crucial, for if we say that God is important, that it’s witnessed.

Nancy: Exactly. I do believe that. Parents can say, “Oh, we love God, and He’s first in our lives.” Yet, they don’t even make time to bring the family together to hear His Word and worship him. I think that shows our children how much we really love the Lord, how much we really love the Word, is if we’re going to bring them together to teach it to them.

I noticed when we were having family devotions all together here, that Colin would ask, can they finish the Scripture? And they all began reciting it off. Obviously, they’ve done some good memory work! How have you done that with your children, and got them to memorize the Word?

Neely: Well, we have Scripture memory as part of our homeschooling. Actually, we have a Scripture box. We memorize them and they go back in the file. Also, at our church, every Sunday morning, each family group gets up, and the children recite Scripture. It’s a big portion of the service. I feel like the children are learning the Word of God for themselves, and memorizing it, and hiding it in their hearts. It says that we might not sin against God. There is nothing more powerful than His Word, for them to know it.

Nancy: I love that. Each family is encouraged to teach their children the Word. How many families would get up each Sunday and share?

Neely: Oh, goodness. How many families get up on Sundays? I’m sorry, I’ve been helping. There are probably 20-30 families. There are families, so it’s all of the children in each family will get up and say their Scripture that they memorized for that week.

Nancy: Wow, that’s amazing! Do they all say it together?

Neely: Correct.

Nancy: That’s so great! And then they’re also feeling very much part of church life, too, because they’re on the stage.

Neely: Yeah, they get up on the stage to do it.

Nancy: Yes, that is so wonderful! I love that! That’s so great. What would you say now that your oldest is 21? They grow too quickly, don’t they? What do you think has been one of the greatest things in your family life? In training your children?

Neely: That’s a great question.

Nancy: There’s lots of things, of course. Maybe just tell the ladies one of them.

Neely: I would say, we want our children to know that we love them. I would say, early in our parenting we were very strict on discipline and obedience which are important things. But I think we have to make sure that it’s balanced with love. I think different personalities can lean one way or the other. I tend to be harsher than I would ever want to be, and that is something God is continually working out in me.

But I feel like, taking the time to connect in a way that means something to that child. I know, I’m a quality time person, and we have children. . . You know, the five love languages. I have a child, well our oldest in particular, that quality time, and we have a large family. It takes intentionality to make that happen.

But as far as the greatest thing, I would say loving God. Pursuing God for yourself. One thing I wish I would have done is to really pursue God before I ever had children, to have Him work out in me the things that were glaring flaws that I now see in my children as they have lived under my example for so long. The things that I would have, if I could have not passed that down to them, that would have been wonderful.

But if I could have allowed God to work out, and He can, of course, His grace is always there, and He knows all those things. But, really, pursuing God. I think that’s what the children want to see, that it’s real.

Growing up with my husband being a pastor, I never wanted my children to feel that pressure to perform in front of, or to be something that the congregation may expect. Because it’s about them having their own relationship with God, as I’m having my own.

Making time for me to spend time with God every day, to have that secret quiet time, where He can speak to me with encouragement for that day. Mothering, whether you have nine or one, it takes everything you have. But it’s only through Him that we can do it. He does gently lead those with young, so I don’t think He’s cracking the whip on us. But when we make that time to be with Him, that’s when we find the strength and the time to do what all we need to do in a day.

Nancy: I think that starts when before we get married. So, young people listening today, your preparation for marriage starts well before you’re married. In fact, I look back, and I am so grateful that the Lord wooed me into His presence and into His Word before I was ever married. I spent many hours every day in the Word. Right now, all these years later, it’s still the foundation of my life. I went into my marriage and into motherhood, knowing the Word.

The Bible says that we, as parents, that we are to pass on His Word to our children, not only getting it into their hearts, but into their mouths. How do we do that if we don’t know it? I think it’s an incredible, it’s really the time for preparing for marriage is before you’re married. In fact, really, as parents, we’re preparing our children for marriage all through their training. We are preparing them to be the husbands or the wives, so that they will have wonderful successful marriages.

We’re preparing them for that, because they’re going to go into their marriages with the character and the habits that they have formed all through their childhood. That’s why we have to get rid of their negative habits in their childhood.

That was one thing that we were always very, very, it was a big thing in our lives, that we didn’t allow our children to get into moods. So many children get into moods. I don’t believe a child should be allowed to get into a mood! It’s so absolutely selfish, and you’re allowing them to go into that selfishness and “me”-thing. We would never allow it. Colin would not allow it for one minute!

Our children grew up and they didn’t have moods. They still, to this day, they don’t have moods. That’s one thing that do not have. I think that is a big thing. So many children, they pout, they get in moods, they get into a state because they don’t get their own way. If they’re allowed to continue in that behavior, they’re going to take that into their marriage. That’s the foundation of the end of a marriage, before your hardly start! What do you think?

Neely: Oh, I agree. In the Bible, it tells us to rejoice in the Lord always. It’s hard to be in a bad mood and rejoice at the same time. I think it’s just basic self-control. I will confess, I can get in a mood myself, and I have to discipline myself in my own heart and call it out of myself and recognize what God has called me to. I believe the instructions in His Word are not given if we couldn’t achieve them. If He says to rejoice, then I can rejoice.

Nancy: We learn to do it, and then we teach our children to do it. By the way, Allison, can you check that element? Make sure it’s not burning? Thank you. [laughter]

Neely: It’s Thanksgiving.

Nancy: You wouldn’t believe what we’ve been doing today. Well, here this wonderful Stewart family, Neely and her husband, they have been putting down this floor in my office and putting in a new counter in the downstairs kitchen. And we’ve all been cooking for Thanksgiving and decorating the wedding barn for Thanksgiving. Here we are, we’re in the middle of preparing for a meal, but we decided to do this podcast! It’s all just part of home life.

Another thing, you guys have got this wonderful vision at the moment, of training other young people. Can you tell us more about that?

Neely: We own a retreat center in Arkansas, in the mountain up there. We actually do family camps.

Nancy: Sorry, but how long have you been doing these?

Neely: We moved to Arkansas right before covid, so that delayed things a little bit. We were renovating the camp and everything. We completed our second year of doing camps this past fall.

We invite usually three families at a time, and we walk them through a process. It’s not like a big retreat. This is more intensive, where you’re learning how to work together as a family, how to create a vision, how to create a shared goal, so that everyone in that family knows what their family is doing, and how they contribute to the family. What they bring, so that you can accomplish what God has planned.

Why did God put these people in your family? There’s a purpose. We help people to find that purpose. Obviously, it’s what God reveals. It’s not, but we provide the opportunity for that. What you’re speaking of

Nancy: First of all, I must say that is wonderful! If there are families who would feel they need that help, how can they contact you?

Neely: We have a website, BrockMountainMinistries.org. The information is on there. We actually haven’t put out our 2023 dates yet. But the camps are free of charge, so you just have to get there. We have sponsors who provide for the weekend. It’s a weekend—Friday, Saturday, Sunday. It’s a great experience. We’ve had many families who really feel that it helped change the trajectory of their families.

Nancy: I think that sounds wonderful! It’s BrockMountainMinistries.org. What does the “Brock” mean?

Neely: That’s the name of the mountain.

Nancy: The name of the mountain! BrockMountainMinistries.org. OK, we’ll take a note of that. It sounds like a wonderful thing to do for a family. Wonderful! Now, what’s the next vision?

Neely: God had laid on Ben’s heart, well, our heart, about hosting a purity weekend for young adults. Just to kind of give them some teaching on how to go about the new phase in their life of finding a spouse, in a way that honors God. It’s a great time of fellowship and fun where they can get to know each other. We just had our first one this past November. It was great. They got to have fellowship together. We had people from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Arkansas, and Florida.

Nancy: And Tennessee, because some of our young people came.

Neely: They had a great time. We go on a great hike up in the mountains. It’s beautiful. It’s fun, but it’s also an opportunity for them to learn and get God’s perspective on things. Of course, we encourage them to take it home, talk to your parents, talk to whoever is your godly authority.  Submit it, so that you have a plan, not just going into it, “Well, whatever happens, happens.” But knowing that you have a plan and purpose for this next stage in your life of finding a mate. For Ben and myself, marriage is the greatest blessing in our lives. It’s from God.

Nancy: I always feel sorry for everybody in the world who’s not married.

Neely: I believe He brought us together for His purposes. Our children, and what’s the mission that He has for us. We want to set them up for success in that area.

Nancy: Do you hope that maybe some of these young people will make a connection and the Lord would bring them together?

Neely: Absolutely, because like-minded young adults who are pursuing God, it’s hard in these days to meet the right one, especially when everything seems to be social media based. We encourage them not to be on their phones so they can interact.

Nancy: It’s known. I think that’s so wonderful, because we do need to get our young people into situations where they’re meeting other young people of the same mindset. That’s one of my dreams too, for our Above Rubies Family Camps, that young people will meet one another. Colin and I met at a Christian family camp, so we think they’re pretty good places to find one another.

Even in the Christian church at large, there are so many, either young ladies or young men who really, although they are born-again, they do not have a vision for family, or even embracing children. They have never really been taught God’s plans for them in this realm. They’re doing it in a normal way.

In fact, there are so many of them who are getting into their mid-20’s, and late 20’s, some of these young men are still not ready to take the responsibility of marriage. But I think it’s great when you can get young people who have this heart, and a longing for someone, and that God can bring them together.

Well, our time is gone, but it’s been so wonderful to have you with us, Neely. Please, families, any family who needs encouragement, or any young person who would love to get with other godly young people, well, you know what you’ve got to do! Just contact BrockMountainMinistries.org, OK? Look them up and look out for what they’re going to be doing in 2023. Amen.

“Lord, we thank You for this time together with Neely and to hear what You have done in their lives. Lord God, You are so bigger than every circumstance. We thank You, Lord, that you gave them nine amazing children. Maybe you’ll give them more yet, Lord. Even when it was impossible in the natural, You are so great. We thank You, Lord God. We thank You for every opportunity to talk about family life. We pray Your blessing on every family listening right now. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.”

 

LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 233: What Does God Want Us to Do in the Land? Part 9

Allison Hartman joins me again today as we share a few more things on our hearts. And I get back to our series with No.4. GOD WANTS US TO COMMAND OUR CHILDREN IN THE LAND. Many parents are afraid to command their children; they just want to be their friends. But God instructs us to command our children. What does this look like?

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

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! Here we are again, and yes, I have Allison Hartman with me again, so we’ll be talking about things together with you today.

Before we get talking, I just have a little Scripture that I’d love to share with you. I was reading it the other day in Psalm 47:13. It says: “For he strengthens the bars of thy gates. He hath blessed thy children within thee.” As we read that, we see how God wants our children protected. He wants them protected within our homes. He wants the bars of our gates strengthened.

I think it’s so important to strengthen the bars of our gates, to watch that we don’t allow the enemy to come in with his subtle inroads to get into our homes, with all his deceiving and worldly ways, or even when he wants to blatantly come in. Sometimes he tries to blatantly come in; other times, subtlely. But whatever, we are watching out.

In fact, I did write a manual about this whole subject called The Gatekeepers of the Home. You can get that book by going to the webpage, aboverubies.org. In this particular manual, I go back to Nehemiah 3, where it talks about Nehemiah building up and strengthening the gates of Jerusalem.

Back in that time, there were 12 gates in Jerusalem that guarded the city. And I’m sure you remember that there will be 12 gates in the heavenly city of Jerusalem. At the moment, they don’t have 12 gates in Jerusalem. I think it’s only about eight gates now, because of all the wars over the years. But there will be 12 gates again.

Back then, every single gate had a name. Every name had a specific meaning. It was very purposeful. Nehemiah started at the Sheep Gate. The Sheep Gate was where they brought the sheep in for the sacrifices. Of course, the Sheep Gate is representing, pointing, of course, to the sacrifice.

Every day, back in the Old Testament, they sacrificed a lamb every morning and every evening. But it all pointed to the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, when He would be sacrificed for our sins. It was one sacrifice. Jesus was sacrificed once and for all, so there was no more need, ever again, for the daily sacrifices.

But that Sheep Gate, it represents salvation, because when Jesus sacrificed His body and shed His blood, it was for the salvation of our sins. Of course, that’s the very first gate, where we start with our families, to make sure that they come into salvation, that they are born again, that even when they are little, we are leading them to Christ, and to a personal salvation with Jesus.

Our gates are very, very important. I’m not going to keep talking about the gates. My, I’d be here all day! But this Scripture in Psalm 47 is another one encouraging us to strengthen the bars of our gates. “He has blessed thy children within thee,” or “within thy walls,” as some translations say.

I was quite amazed as I looked into that word, where it says: “He has blessed thy children within thee.” This is where our children are meant to be, not out, not out being looked after by someone else who we don’t really even know. Not out, being educated by someone we don’t even know. We don’t know their character. We don’t know what they’re teaching our children. Oh, my.

No, God wants our children within our walls, where we are protecting them, where we are teaching them, where we are preparing them, and making them strong and ready for their destiny. There will be a time when they go out from our walls. Yes, we’re not training our children for hibernation. No, we are preparing them for the revelation of the Image of God in the world.

But we have to prepare them in this safe place before they are ready to go out. This word means, it’s amazing. It means, “the nearest part, in the center, the inward part, the inward thought.” It is the same word that is even used for the purtenances. Have you ever heard that old-fashioned word? That’s the King James language for the inner parts of your body, your lower parts of your stomach, the inner part, the bowels. It’s called the “purtenances.” But that’s actually the word. It has such a meaning of the inward parts.

Same word, when David said: “I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.”

Same word when he said: “Oh, bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me.” T

This is where God wants our little children, within the home, protected within the walls of our home. That’s where He blesses our children. I just wanted to encourage you again, dear moms, with that beautiful Scripture and to know this is God’s heart for your little ones. Amen?

Well, Allison and I have a few other things that we’d love to talk about together. I wanted you to tell us, Allison, about how you are doing this Power of Motherhood Bible study back there in Pensacola.

I'm not sure if you are familiar with my manual, The Power of Motherhood. I wrote it many years ago and re-edited it a few years ago. It’s a manual that goes into the Word of God to see what God says about us as a mother. We need to know what God says, not what society says, but what God says.

It’s a manual that you can use on your own. It has questions at the end of each chapter which you can answer personally in your own meditation. Or, if you’re doing it as a group, you can talk about them together. I think it’s great when you can do it as a group. Hundreds of ladies over the years have used this manual as Bible study for mothers. So, tell how us how you’ve been doing!

Allison: It’s interesting, about 20 years ago, I did The Power of Motherhood Bible study.

Nancy: I did write it a long time ago.

Allison: Yes, you did! That was my first finding out about you. I went to a Mennonite’s house. This amazing Mennonite lady had a Bible study. I was about the only one of the non-Mennonites there. But we studied The Power of Motherhood. I only had one child then, maybe two.

Nancy: So, now you have eleven?

Allison: Right. The lady who led the Bible study has eleven children also, and I thought, “Wow!” For the last 20 years, I’ve been going to your conferences and reading things on my own. I started thinking, I am so incredibly blessed with not only receiving so much wonderful wisdom from your books, but also personally.

I thought, “I need to put that into someone else. I need to bless someone else with everything I have in my brain from you.” I thought, “I’m going to start a Bible study.” A friend of mine in my little town also felt the same thing. She had also been to several conferences. She and I had bought several copies of The Power of Motherhood years ago and had stored them. We thought, “All right, we’re going to get them out.” I think it was, let’s see, how many chapters are in that book?

Nancy: I can’t remember myself!

Allison: Twenty? I feel like maybe twenty. We started this about 18 weeks ago. I put it all on Facebook and said, “Would anybody like to join me? I’ll be doing a Bible study on The Power of Motherhood at a coffee shop on a weeknight.” The first night we had probably 12 ladies come. The last 18-20 weeks we have had anywhere from six to 16 ladies.

It’s become a really tight group. None of us go to the same churches. None of us actually even knew each other before this Bible study. But what we all have in common is that we’re attempting to raise children in a very culturally challenging time. We joke we use your book as kind of a baseline.

But really, we have a lot of fun with tangents and really challenge each other. We did decide to do it at night so we could come and do more like a girls’ night out. But this study is set up perfectly that if you wanted to do it in your home, have children playing outside, you could definitely do that.

We all voted, “Let’s do a girls’ night out.” Some of us bring babies if we’re nursing, but for the most part, it's been a ladies’ Bible study. It’s been really good. We share prayer requests at the end. You can tell that these ladies are truly praying for each other.

It’s got a little heated sometimes. We’ve had some discussions that have caused a little bit of a disagreement and some controversy. But what we have found is that whenever that subject has come up, some of us are a little bit stronger personalities. But our goal is to go back to the Word and to decide, “What does the Bible truly say about this?”

Nancy: And that’s great. I think that’s the wonderful thing of getting together, you can discuss things together, where each one is at. But, isn’t it good to go, “OK, we’ve all got these varying ideas, but what does the Word say?” I remember you telling me how you got up to the chapter where it says “Mothers are fruitful.”

Allison: Are fruitful!

Nancy: You said, “OK, well, I don’t think we’ll have to speak about this, because we’ve all got loads of children!”

Allison: We said, “We’ll just skip this chapter.”

Nancy: What happened?

Allison: We thought, “We’ll just have coffee and visit, because all of us have several, quite a few children.” We’ve all got that. Well, it ended up being one of the most heated discussion Bible studies, because at the beginning of the study we talked about this whole concept of women are to be fruitful.

One of the ladies said, “But does this message really need to be taught in church?” The opening question I said was, “How many of you, by a show of hands, how many of you are either going to or have ever been to a church where they have preached on the subject of God being in charge of the size of your family? Letting God decide what your family size is.”

No one could say that they were in or had ever been to a church. We all represented probably ten different churches. We thought, “Wow!” Then, the part that became a little heated was when someone said, “But is it something that needs to be talked about in church? This probably doesn’t need to be discussed in church because, can you imagine a visitor coming to a church and hearing, “Be fruitful and multiply! Replenish the earth, and subdue it, and take over it!” No, it might not be a good subject matter for Sunday church.”

It seemed like everyone else started to agree with that. “Well, yeah, yeah.” But then my heart was pounding because I knew that this subject could be substituted with something else. Homosexuality. Gluttony. Debt. You name it. How many subjects that are in the Bible do we want to not bring up in church for the sake of offending someone? Well, guess what, just about every subject in the Bible can be offensive to someone!

When the study was finally over, I think we all came to the consensus that church is for the believers. It’s for the saints. We are to be there to encourage each other, build each other up, admonish each other. See what the Word says about subjects, and not be scared to bring up a subject because you might offend somebody.

Where we thought this subject was going to be such a slam-dunk, everybody agrees, it ended up being one more thing that we, as mothers, are following into this cultural blah, this neutrality, this “I don’t want to say anything, because I don’t want to offend anyone!”

MOTHERS ARE THE TRANSMITTERS OF TRUTH TO THE NEXT GENERATION

 

Nancy: As we take that stand of wanting to be silent, because we don’t want to offend anyone, truth is being lost. A generation is growing up, not knowing truth because we, as mothers, we are the transmitters of truth. We must keep filling them with truth. But I’m thinking of something, and I’ve really got to go and get a copy of The Power of Motherhood to find what I want to say. Can we take one minute?

Allison: Yes!

Nancy: In chapter 21, I give all the different Hebrew words for “children.” God doesn’t only have one word for “children.” His heart is so big for children that I found, can you believe it, ladies, I found 50, 5-0, different Hebrew words for the word “children.” That is amazing!

Now, the most common Hebrew word is the word ben. You often hear that in Jewish names. Ben Yochanan, Ben Yehovah, or whatever. It’s meaning is “the son of so-and-so.” If you go to the Strong’s Concordance, you will find in the concordance that that word literally means “the builder of the family name.” That’s a beautiful meaning.

Of course, it comes from the root word banah, “to build.” A child means that you’re a builder of the family name. You’re helping to build the family. That word ben is used, let me look at it here, nearly 4,000 times in the Word of God. That’s apart from all the other Hebrew names and apart from the 26 Greek words for “children.”

Let’s compare. When we go to church these days, we hear so many powerful messages about grace, love, faith. It’s so important to hear these messages, but let’s get it in perspective. Faith, how would we survive without faith? That word is only used two times in the Old Testament.

Allison: Wow!

Nancy: Ben, just one of the Hebrew words, is used 4,000 times! What about “grace”? It’s used 39 times in the Old Testament, 170, including the New.

“Love.” It’s a pre-eminent theme in the Bible. It is used 131 times in the Old Testament but 310 in the whole of the Bible.

What about “prayer”? The word “pray” is used 240 times in the Old Testament, but only 68 in the New.

But think of the thousands of times the word “children” is used. Words that start from in the womb right through every phase of the child, and even into adolescence. I think we have to become a little more balanced, don’t you? We rarely hear a message on embracing children, but that word is used more in the Bible than even these great themes of love and grace and faith!

When you think about how some of the ladies thought, “Oh, well, you shouldn’t talk about this at church,” this is the very first word that God said into the ears of man! When He created male and female, the Word of God says: “And to bless them, and He said unto them, be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and take dominion.” The very first words! So, you’re not ever allowed to speak about the very first command God gave? We are out of balance, aren’t we?

Allison: Absolutely.

Nancy: That was interesting, wasn’t it?

Allison: It’s been a great study, and I encourage you to, even if you’re not more of a hospitable-type person that will have people in your home, you can always do something like I said, at a local little restaurant or coffeeshop. It’s been a great discussion.

I think all of us in this 20 weeks have grown. We’ve really seen what most people are doing in today’s world. We’ve looked at what Scripture teaches us, and then we think what we, as mothers, we want to do better and greater than what’s going on in today’s world. It’s encouraging to be with other moms who discuss and share, “Hey, I’m struggling with this.” It’s been good.

Nancy: And you can, if you want to purchase as a group, The Power of Motherhood, if you buy ten or more, I can give you 40% discount. You won’t get that on the webpage. You’ll have to call us. Our phone number is in the magazine, or on the webpage. Just give us a call, and we can arrange a 40% discount for you if you’re wanting to do it as a group. I know you can be blessed by that. Ph: 931 729 9861.

Well, just quickly, how’s your market going, down in Pensacola?

Allison: So good, so good. Yes, so really quickly, we started a Farmer’s Market about five months ago. It has grown and grown and grown. It’s been such a blessing to our community. We are right now with about 380 vendors on our list. Each Saturday we have between 75 and 80 vendors that come, several thousand shoppers. It’s been amazing.

We’re actually very possibly opening up another one in another city, but it’s been great, seeing the community come together, vendors working together. We’re getting to buy local produce, local crafts, local products, and support local businesses. Everything’s been great about it. It’s been wonderful.

Nancy: So great! Now I want to get onto my next point in our series, “What Does God Want us to do in the Land?” I know it will be great to have Allison sharing with me on this point.

We’re up to . . .

No. 5. GOD WANTS US TO COMMAND OUR CHILDREN IN THE LAND

I think today many parents are afraid of commanding their children. They think, “Oh, if I command my children, they’ll just leave! I’ll just maybe suggest, or hope they’ll do the right thing.”

No, the Bible actually tells us to command. You see, the Bible is so different from society. Do we live our lives by the culture, or do we live our lives by the Word of God?

Like Matthew 4:4 says: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” That is how we should live! By every word. on every subject, we go, and we find what God says.

What does He say? Deuteronomy 32:44-47 says . . . Well, actually this is the word that came after this song that Moses wrote and taught the people of Israel. It says: “And Moses came and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people. And he said unto them, Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall COMMAND YOUR CHILDREN” (did you hear that? Not suggest) “COMMAND YOUR CHILDREN to observe to do, all the words of this law. For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life: and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land.”

We’re talking about the land. When we talk about the land, this was originally the Promised Land that God was bringing His people into. But it’s also a type of the land of the kingdom of God. It’s a type of the land of motherhood in which we live. We will be blessed in the land as we do this.

This word “command,” what does it mean? The Hebrew means “to command, to give charge, to commission. It’s a picture of a superior giving a verbal communication to a subordinate, as a father to a son, or a king to his subjects.” It’s not just a suggestion. It is a command.

We see some other examples. 1 Samuel 17:20: “And David rose up early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper, and took and went as Jesse had COMMANDED HIM.” He was a young teenager, and he did what his father commanded. His father didn’t say, “Well, it might be a good idea, David, if you go down and take this food and things to your brothers.” No. He commanded him!

We can’t be afraid of commanding. Of course, it’s the way we command. If you’re going to command with the wrong spirit, that’s not going to go over with your children. We can command in a very loving way but with the authority that God gives to us as parents.

We read about Abraham in Genesis 18:19: “For I know him.” God says: “For I know him, that HE WILL COMMAND HIS CHILDREN and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which He hath spoken of him.” Abraham was an example father. God told him, and he had that within him as a father, to command his children and his household after him. I think that’s something that’s been forgotten today, don’t you?

Allison: Absolutely. Absolutely. Yes, I think there’s this, you want to call it wimpy parenting. Wimpy parenting creates wimpy children. We just started a YouTube channel, and our title is “Raising Warriors, Not Wimps.”

When you think about raising a warrior, someone in authority of a unit or an army, they’re not going to wimpfully suggest, “Hey, go clean your room whenever you feel like it,” or “Hey, I need you to do your schoolwork whenever you’re done with that.” No, we have to, yes, absolutely, we’ve got to have that authority. We’ve got to do it in love, but we have to have our children and our children want that. They love having boundaries and having someone . . .

Every morning we have family meetings. We sit down, and we talk about our day. We decide

who’s doing what, and when, and why, and how. We lay out the groundwork for the day. Yes, I ask for input, but they know that whether it’s me or my husband, whoever’s home, or both, we’re the final authority. We’re going to decide what’s going to happen. Children need that. They thrive off of it. They’re confused when they don’t have that final authority. It leads to confusion. Then there’s, “Who do I obey? What do I do first?”

Nancy: And it also brings instability to the children. They feel safer when they have boundaries and when they know intuitively that their parents are there to lead them, direct them, and to guide them. That’s what it means to be a parent. Look, dear precious moms, and along with your husbands, we’ve got to be parenting, not just sort of letting them grow up how they like. No! We are parenting them.

Allison: Can I say something about parenting? I’m seeing in this a whole other podcast. I’m seeing these parents really desiring to be their children’s friend.

One thing they’re really being loose on is devices. Children are on phones and devices so much, because I think the parents don’t want to lay down the ground rules. We’ve got to be strong on that. There will be no devices in our home. There will be no phones, tablets, access.

You have to take authority over that. You can’t worry about what other families are doing or what their friends get to do. No, take authority over that. Make your children’s well-being their safety, their souls a priority.

Nancy: Yes, I think sometimes in many homes today, it’s really the children who have become the parents! They decide what happens. I am amazed at how children from Christian parents will come out of the home dressed immodestly! I cannot believe that!

I think, “Where are the parents?” They’re coming out with these short skirts. You can see cleavage. How, how does even a young person come out of a home, supposedly a Christian home, looking like that? Where are the parents? Where are the parents?

Allison: I don’t blame the children. I blame the parents, the fathers. Where are you, fathers? Are you seeing your daughters on social media posting pictures in seductive poses and wearing things? Where are you? Are you willing to stand up and say, “Absolutely not! You are not. I love you so much that I’m not letting you wear that.”

We don’t have to just continue on with whatever is in style. We’ve got to raise, yes, we have to raise children that want to dress modestly, but if we’re not there yet, then that is your job. To command what they wear.

Nancy: Oh, yes!

RULES WITH RELATIONSHIP

Allison: Now you know somebody’s sitting there thinking, “Oh, you just can’t tell people, children, what to do. Rules without relationship lead to rebellion.” Yes, but you’ve got to have rules. You have to have rules with relationship.

You’re not your daughter’s friend by allowing her to dress in a way to where a young boy is going to not have to subtlely lust after her. He doesn’t have to do much thinking. It’s all laid out there for him. You’re not doing your children a service. I think that’s a perfect example.

Nancy: It is. And I do believe that we have a responsibility, dear godly mothers, who I’m speaking to today. Just the norm today is for our young people to come out with their tights. OK, well, if they have something over them that covers, that’s fine. But half the time they hardly cover. You can see every little thing.

Do you know that it’s possible to be naked, even when you’re clothed? Oh, yes. Even older women, too. All of us, we have to watch that we’re not naked, even when we’re clothed, because today these tights, and even many jeans, help! Even then, you can see every nook and cranny, and every curve, and every crease.

Most of the young people don’t even have a clue what they see. They don’t see their bottoms from behind, but the young men do. Even I notice, and I don’t even know where to look. What about the young men? Although many of them are getting so desensitized. I don’t know. But it’s not godly. Who does it come back to? The parents. It’s the parents.

Allison: A lot of these parents are paying for these clothes. I’m always appalled around prom and homecoming when you see these families that are from Christian homes.

Nancy: Yes, because you photograph them, so you see them!

Allison: Yeah, it is absolutely, and it’s getting worse and worse and worse. It’s absolutely disgusting to me.

Nancy: But it’s from Christian homes!

Allison: I know. And wedding gowns! We could just go on and on and on. But the style of wedding gowns and prom gowns right now is to literally show most of your breasts to where it is you’re leaving a little to the imagination, but that’s almost . . .

I talked to a man one time who ran a pornography ministry. He had been addicted to it for years, his whole life. He told us that a girl that is dressed seductively is more of an attraction than someone who’s totally naked. I don’t know. You probably didn’t want to talk about all this.

Nancy: No, this is very true.

Allison: But this is the style! So again, what we talked about on our last podcast, is we’re either for Him, or we’re against Him. We’re dressing ourselves by these leftist, evil dressmakers in Hollywood, right? They’re deciding what the style is. Well, the style is to just cover up a little bit of your breasts, but show most of it. Well, do they know what they’re doing? Oh, absolutely! Do these young fifteen-year-olds?  Probably not. But their parents should.

Nancy: Yes absolutely.

Allison: We’ve got to be bold enough to command them.

Nancy: Yes! And we determine the culture. We, as mothers, determine the culture! Because what is the culture we’re living in? It’s totally ungodly, but we have allowed it!

Just as we’re closing, I think of another Scripture where it says: “Command it.” Actually, my husband was speaking about this on Sunday. In Exodus 16, it’s talking about how God sent them manna every day for the provision of their food. The manna also speaks to us of the Word of God, which is our food, which we feed upon every day. It’s interesting.

Verse 15 tells that God says: “This is the bread which the Lord has given you.” Then verse 16: “This is the thing which THE LORD HATH COMMANDED.” There’s that same word, same word in the Hebrew again, that He has commanded. And what did He command? He said, “Gather of it every man.”

Now, this is interesting. Sorry, ladies, I wish your husbands could be hearing this because this is a command to your husbands. The word here in the Hebrew is not a generic word for “man” as we read sometimes, but it’s ish, which is the actual word for “man.” The word for “woman” is ishah. But this is ish.

So, the man had to go out and get the manna. “Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number of your persons, take ye every man for them which are in your home.” God has given a command to men, to husbands, to go and get the Word every day for their family. Not only the provision, to provide for the food for their family, because God has given that mandate to the man, but not just the physical food, but the spiritual food. God has given that mandate and it’s a command.

Right through the Word, we see God commanding and also giving that word to parents, that we are then, as God commands us, then we are to command our children His ways. Because that’s His plan, that we pass it on. We are the transmitters of God’s Word to our children and to our children’s children. We transmit His truth to the next generation.

Therefore, it is true, as I said before, dear ladies, that we, as mothers, are the determiners of the culture of our society. Because if we are transmitting and imparting God’s truth and His Word into our children’s lives and it’s working out in their lives, and in the way they live, act, and dress, OK, we determine the culture. But what kind of a culture are we living in today? Such an ungodly culture! So where have we been, moms? We’ve got to take hold of what God wants for us.

Let’s just close with Isaiah 59:21: “As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and My words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of your children, nor out of the mouth of thy children’s children, saith the LORD, from henceforth and forever.”

This is what God has given to us. We are the transmitters of His truth. We’ve got to get it into our children. Not even just into their hearts, but into their mouths so it’s coming out their mouths. Is God’s truth and His Word coming out of the mouths of your children and the mouths of your children’s children? Oh, dear ladies, wow! This is who we are meant to be.

We can change the culture through our parenting. Amen?

Allison: Amen.

Nancy: Well, time has gone again.

“Dear Father, we thank You that we can share together and remind each other of Your precious Word. Oh God, I pray that You will raise up every mother listening, and all the mothers who acknowledge You as their God and their Savior, that Lord, they will rise up to, oh God, impart Your truth, to make it their life.

“That’s what Your Word says. This is your life, for this is your life, to command your children in My ways. Oh God, let’s get it! This is our life! This is what You’ve given us to do! Lord God, You give us children and children’s children, Lord, to impart Your Ways to them. This is our life. Help us to make it our life. We pray in the Name of Jesus. Amen.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

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To purchase GATE KEEPERS OF THE HOME, go to:

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FLORIDA RETREATS FOR 2023

January 4 – 11 WINTER RETREAT IN THE FLORIDA SUN

If you live in the cold in a northern state, take this opportunity to come down to the warmth and sunshine of Florida and receive wonderful blessings as a family at the same time!

AND MAKE THE MOST OF THE WINTER CHEAP RATES!

Above Rubies Gulf Coast January Family Retreat 2023

Registration fee: $200

Housing is VERY limited, assigned through Gulf Coast Above Rubies Organizers

Teaching, worship, prayer, small groups, great fellowship, family activities, volley ball and basketball competitions, fun games on the beach. The schedule and meal info will be released soon. 

If you would like to join us for our first ever WINTER family retreat, make sure to register asap!! We only have about 25 housing units available for this retreat, and they will be first-come first-served to those that register and pay through the link below! 

*If you are not satisfied with the housing that is available by the time we get to your name on the list, we will refund your registration at your request at that time. Otherwise, the $200 registration fee is non-refundable. The great news is that we will get the winter rates for campus housing, and the prices are incredibly affordable!!!! 

Gather your friends, old and new, and join us for this exciting week of fellowship together! We can’t wait to be with you!

If you have any questions about this new retreat, please email us at .">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Registration link:

https://forms.gle/dJcXHQCbwJw1UTmw9

 

April 19 – 26 THE POPULAR ANNUAL RETREAT

Above Rubies Gulf Coast Spring Family Retreat 2023

Registration fee: $200 (non-refundable)

Meals $60/person ages 3+

Housing is assigned through Gulf Coast Above Rubies Organizers, but payment for your housing will go directly to Laguna. 

This is our biggest retreat serving over 100 families during our week of fellowship, sessions with Nancy and Colin Campbell, breakout sessions with gifted speakers and teachers, family activities, and incredible worship! Come as a friend but leave as family! If you aren’t already registered, sign up now! We still have room!

If you have any questions about this family retreat, please email us at .">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Registration link:

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August 9 – 16 THE REUNION

Above Rubies Gulf Coast Family Reunion 2023

Registration fee: $100 (non-refundable)

No meals are offered at the reunion, but potlucks tend to happen a few times! 

Housing is assigned through Gulf Coast Above Rubies Organizers, but payment will go directly to Laguna. 

Have you attended one of our family retreats before? If so, we’d like to invite you to a reunion on the beach! Join your favorite families for a week of fun and fellowship! Nancy and Colin will join us for a few sessions, and we will host a handful of family activities, but this week is much more laid back than the typical retreats. 

If you have any questions about this family retreat, please email us at .">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

 

Registration link:

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LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 232: Should I Send My Child to College?

Allison Hartman from Pensacola joins me today as we talk about the WINTER RETREAT IN THE SUN in January. Also, what is happening to many Christian young people when they attend college? It’s time to reevaluate. 

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

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! It’s always so great to be with you! Today I’m interrupting my series, which is “What Does God Want us to do in the Land of Motherhood,” because I have Allison Hartman with me, all the way from Pensacola, Florida. Allison and her family come up every year to spend Thanksgiving with us, which is in a few days. So, we’re going to be looking forward to that, because now they actually have become part of the family.

In just a few weeks, Serene’s son, Cedar, will be marrying their beautiful daughter, Halle, on the 17^th of December. That’s the next wedding coming up in our family. It’s going to be so wonderful! In fact, I guess I’m allowed to say now that we actually have two courtships going on with the Hartman family. Another one of Serene and Sam’s sons, Vision, is courting another one of Allison’s daughters, Eden. We’re really kind of getting together, aren’t we?

Every time Allison comes, we always do a podcast together, or a couple of podcasts. I’m sure, when we get talking, we’ll most probably end up doing a couple of podcasts.

First of all, Allison, I think you need to update us about the Above Rubies retreats in Pensacola. No! That’s where you live. But we have our retreats in Panama City, Florida. Every year, we have our annual Family Above Rubies Celebration, where loads and loads of families come. It’s the most unbelievable time. But now, it has gotten so big that we can’t even fit everybody in. So, Allison is now organizing another retreat! This is going to be called “Our Winter Retreat in the Sun.” Tell us about it.

Allison: It’s so exciting, so exciting! Each retreat we’ve done, every time we’re finished, those families go back to their homes, and they invite more people, which is wonderful! More families. But the problem with the location where we’re at, there are only so many families that can come, because of the building.

So, we decided, let’s just offer another retreat! There is so much rich stuff that goes on during these retreats, so instead of people having to travel all over the world to get your message, they can just come to one of the greatest retreats ever. We are doing our first winter retreat. It is going to be, oh goodness, I don’t have my calendar in front of me.

Nancy: The 4^th to 11^th of January.

Allison: Oh, good! I’m so glad you knew that! January 4^th through the 11^th of 2023. That will be at Laguna Beach Christian Retreat Center, where we do all the others. It will be really neat. There are a couple of positives of January. Yes, it’s a little bit colder. . .

Nancy: It’s still warmer for all the people who live in the wintertime!

Allison: That’s right! And the location, the venue, has their winter rates, so it’s much, much cheaper for families to come. You’ll get the same amazing fellowship, the same great teachings, but at a much cheaper rate than when we go in April and August. That will be great.

We do have maybe a few places left. I just talked to a lady this morning who said, “My husband finally said yes! And they still have one room left in our size!” So, don’t wait, because we decided to do this such last minute, they had already booked a lot of their housing for what they call “snowbirds.” They didn’t have a lot of housing available, but we went ahead and took everything they had. So, don’t wait.

I just was thinking, “What a perfect Christmas present to give your family!” If you’re like me, children don’t need any more toys or clothes, but what an amazing Christmas gift to say, “We’re going to Florida. We’re going to the beach, and that’s going to be our family’s Christmas.” We’d love to have you.

Nancy: Yes, there are two advantages, especially for those who live in those cold climates. You can get out of the snow, come to the sun, and get the cheaper rates.

Allison: And they have heated pools, so that’s nice.

Nancy: Absolutely. And, of course, you mentioned the children. Do you know, I think the parents get so blessed. But the children! They make friends. To see the children meeting one another again, year after year! And they’re growing up together, knowing children of kindred spirit families. It’s just such a powerful thing!

Allison: Are you still on the Signal, the group chat? Signal?

Nancy: Yes, but I don’t always get to read everything, because life’s so busy. But I think it’s amazing.

Allison: This retreat has turned into something that we never expected it to. I’ve said this before, that when I first put on the Family Retreat, the Ladies’ Retreat, we would all get together. We would say our good-byes and then we would see each other next year.

Well, that is not the way it is. It is a continual . . . As we speak, there is a family that I met at the Above Rubies Retreat now at my house, with their family, helping us build this wedding venue for our daughter’s wedding, and I’m not even there! They’re there, helping! There’s another family heading this way to spend Thanksgiving with us that we met at the retreat.

A young girl posted just yesterday, or the day before, and said, “I just love these Above Rubies Retreats.” She’s a single girl. She said, “I met a young man at the retreat,” and now it seems like they’re in love. They would have never met, but they both came to the retreat as singles in their early 20’s, and now they have formed a friendship and a relationship. She put out there, “I’m just so thankful for Above Rubies.” That’s just the neatest thing, seeing these continual relationships and marriages coming along. It’s incredible.

Nancy: That’s always been a powerful encouraging of families. It’s always been my secret little desire that young people will meet the one that God has for them at these retreats, because you get out there in the world, and even in the average church today, where do you find these really godly young men and women? Oh, these are such a wonderful place.

Colin and I, so many years ago, we met at a Christian family camp. So, we think that’s a great place to meet. We’re coming up this March, we will have been married 60 years. We look back to that wonderful moment when we met at a Christian retreat.

Allison: I just have to say, I think we all recognize that the world that we’re living in is not the way it was, even when I was growing up. Mothers, let me encourage you that you have to absolutely fight for your family. One of the parts of fighting for your family is doing intentional things with your family.

We can’t just sit in our houses and say, “Oh, there are no good people for my children to play with. There are no good young people for them to get to know. I don’t have any friends who are like-minded. I don’t go to a church that’s right.” That’s true. But this is a perfect situation to come and meet like-minded families, build friendships.

I would say that my circle of friends right now consists mainly of families that we’ve met through these Above Rubies retreats. It’s that powerful. It has changed our lives completely. Every one of my children’s friends, those that they’ve married, those that they’re about to marry, the ones that they spend time with, they’ve all been met through this retreat. So, you have to do things that might be out of your comfort zone but make things like that happen. Make it a priority.

Nancy: Go to the Above Rubies website, aboverubies.org, and go to Retreats, and you’ll be able to pick up the information to book in for this beautiful winter retreat in the sun. Or if you can’t get to that one, there’s the April retreat, and then, of course, in August, we have the reunion. It’s a little bit different, a little bit more low-key. All those who just want to get together. So, that’s all there. Check it out! We hope to see you!

Actually, we have a family from England coming to the January retreat.

Allison: Really?

Nancy: Didn’t you know? Yes, they’re coming all the way from England!

Allison: Wow!

Nancy: In fact, we stayed with them when we were in England, up north of England. They’re planning to come! Isn’t that wonderful?

Allison: They’re welcome to call me. Honestly, if you have any specific questions, and you want to get in, you’re welcome to call me. My number is 850-221-1222. I’d be happy to talk with you and try to get you registered.

Nancy: Wonderful! Oh, we hope that we can see many of you! And it’s international. You can come from anywhere in the world.

Now, let’s talk about something else. You were telling me last night, Allison, how, was it last week, you went out for dinner? THM dinner. You do lots of THM things, don’t you?

Allison: We do! We try to do one at least every month in our area. Either I host it, or we’ll meet at a restaurant. But we’re passionate to share that message with as many people as we can.

Nancy: It’s amazing how everything you do spreads! I know Nadia was down in your end of the world and went to one of your THM dinners. She came back and said, “OK, we’ve got to do it here!” Now we are going to do it. Nadia’s organizing it.

We did our second one last week, and what we have to do is bring a little Trim Healthy Mama dessert. What we have ended up doing is, while we’re waiting for our food, we’re all so hungry, we usually eat it while we’re waiting! That’s so fun.

Tell us about some of the conversations you had at this one last week.

Allison: Yeah. We went to some friend’s house and started talking about Halle and Cedar, and their upcoming marriage, just a little bit about how we decided to raise our older children. We started asking questions about their older children and asked if they were in a relationship.

This particular family has raised their children in the church. They have also sent them off to college, as a lot of families do. Between youth groups and being involved in the church, they really felt like they had done a good job. Well, their oldest son, they shared, was in a relationship they weren’t really happy with.

I, of course, asked, what’s the biggest issue? They shared that she, this girlfriend was actually calling herself bisexual, and an atheist. My heart just sunk. I couldn’t even believe what I was hearing based on the fact that this was a Christian boy dating. It just blew my mind.

I started asking a little bit more. “So, your child, you raised your son in the church. You taught him everything based on the Bible. And now he’s chosen to be with someone who doesn’t believe in God, who is saying they are bisexual.” I don’t even know if that’s a thing. I don’t really understand why you’d even say that.

But I said, “Well, what would you say is the biggest reason? Where can you pinpoint “losing your son” if you will?” They quickly answered and said, “We sent him off to college.” I thought, “Wow!”

And then there was another lady at the same dinner party that shared a very similar story, in that her son was just on fire for the Lord for his childhood and his young teenage life. He was the one that would invite others over, youth group, and share the gospel with them.

He is now an adult, and he is completely an atheist. He tells his mother, “Everything I knew up until college was a lie. Now that I’ve gone to college, I now know the truth. The truth is, there is no God.”

My husband and I went away from this dinner party thinking, “Wow! Are we the only ones seeing this? This link between, how do you raise a child for 18 years in a godly home, and lose him in a semester? How does that happen?” Daniel and I, do you want me to share about our situation, our story?

Nancy: Yes, tell us your story.

Allison: So, Daniel and I, when we got married, we were both college graduates. I have my bachelor’s in communication arts. That’s hard to imagine, right? He has his bachelor’s in engineering. He almost had his master’s.

Education was a big deal to him. He came from a single-family home. His mom was a single mom. She really stressed the importance of a college degree because of “what if” something happened, and you needed to rely on your education? So, that was a big deal to him.

He even went so far as to say, “I won’t pay for a penny of my girls’ weddings until they have a bachelor’s degree.” I went along with that. It made sense to me. That was something that important to me as well. That’s what we decided.

Well, when our first child, when Makenna was college age, we decided that she would head on to Pensacola Christian College, so she signed up. In fact, we even did the “buy three, get one free.” We had paid a certain amount so that her fourth year in college would be free. You can see the importance we put on college. Very big deal to us.

Well, of course, we got to know you guys really well, and we knew that you weren’t really pro-college. But just like any good friend, you can have things that you disagree with and still be good friends, right? I kind of always kept my opinion to myself about college.

Nancy: I beg your pardon? [laughter] How do you keep your opinion to yourself?

Allison: For the first time ever! That was one thing we would not talk about! [laughter] Every time you would bring it up, and you talked about the CHICKING COLLEGE book, I was just kind of, “Oh, well, that’s for them, not for us!” I really thought of college as a neutral thing. It was good for some, not good for others. But it really, it didn’t really matter.

Well, one Sunday afternoon, we were here after church, and we had a very powerful conversation. Makenna was about to go back to college for that second semester. She was already signed up for classes, and we talked with you, Vange, Serene, and Zadok. We were all sitting around, discussing college. I told Makenna, “Just keep an open mind. But we know we’re probably going to send you back to college, because that’s what we do. We’re not quitters. We don’t quit.”

After that meeting, Serene said something. She said, “If my mom and dad had ever put me in college, it would have put us in a box, and it would have limited us to where we could have never done great things like we did like with this Trim Healthy Mama.” Zadok even said some of the same things. You said some of the same things. All this worldview about college really, because we respected you, but we never really considered that for us. We left, and y’all took us to the airport.

I remember I said to you and Colin, “Hey, if you could help me out, I think Daniel’s going to be the biggest hurdle about not sending our children to college. He’s so adamant.” You guys said a few things, and I’m so thankful that I have a husband who’s teachable and willing to recognize truth and be willing to change his opinion.

So many Christians are so stubborn. They believe something, and just because you’re going to show them something else, they’re not going to change their minds. Really, that’s pride, right? But Daniel was so willing to listen, because he respected you guys. Our views on college completely changed that day. Not only did we let Makenna know that she was welcome to not go back to college, but she ended up not going back to college that semester.

Allison: When we decided that that was what was best for us, it was so neat to see amazing doors open up. Instead of her going through the rut of college and getting her degree, and then being limited to that degree, we encouraged her to run her own business. She started teaching infant swim rescue, making amazing money at it, and taking over parts of our business.

We really encouraged her to be self-employed and not worry about having to get a “degree” to be successful. I’m telling you, I am so passionate about it, even as a college graduate. I am to the point now where I’m seeing the fruit of college students. I’m seeing the fruit of non-college students, and you couldn’t pay me to send my children to college.

I have a friend who is a nurse practitioner. She went to Duke University, and she said, “I would not let my child go to college right now. I would find a career that you can do without a college degree. If you need a college degree, you need to find it online.”

I’ll tell you one other thing. When my husband was in college he was in California, and he said he met a professor, and that professor said to him, “My job,” this is so powerful, “my job is to strip the faith of young people while they are under my teaching.” And he was proud of it!

Nancy: Wow! And how many years ago was that?

Allison: Oh, that was, let’s see, my husband’s 53. So, that had to be 35 years ago.

Nancy: 35 years ago. And that has intensified. You may think, “Oh, goodness me! Who are these people who are against college?” Well, I wasn’t always against college. But we have to be open to see what is happening. College is not what it used to be! It has now become the place to brainwash our young people into progressivism, and even now, transgenderism, and everything that is against God, and against family.

We have to see the fruit. It is the fruit of what is happening. Now we are seeing a generation that has been turned away from God, turned away from family, turned away from everything, even that is in our Constitution. They are totally reprogramming the minds of our young people.

Even this last midterm election, many states, the voting came out that especially there was more voting of people 30 and under. It was these young people, especially. What were they voting for? For pro-abortion! That’s just one of the normal things there in college today, is pro-abortion. Then there’s everything else. There’s homosexuality. Now it’s transgenderism. They’re more concerned about reprogramming their whole brains against Christianity, and God, more than anything else!

That statement! To think that was said 35 years ago! Now it is so intensified. That is their plan. So, we as godly parents, we’re not against education. Oh, what does the Bible say? “That the soul be without knowledge, it is not good.” But, you see, all knowledge, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are found in Christ. They’re found in His Word. (Read Proverbs 19:2 and Colossians 2:3).

And yes, we must be seekers after knowledge, those who search for knowledge. But we’ve got to find it in the right places. What does it say? “All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” It’s not just having knowledge because knowledge can be wrong. We’ve got to have God’s knowledge that has wisdom with it. We have got to steer our children in the direction where they’re going to get the right knowledge.

Sadly, in this day in which we’re living, it’s not in our colleges. OK, there are some where you do need a degree. I think, as you said, go online, where you’re not so much, well, you still will be exposed but not to the same extent as actually living in and being part of it.

Allison: You’re worried. It’s either for God, or it’s against Him. When you’re involving yourself in a state system, but even Christian schools, Christian colleges, if you’re not for Him, you’re against Him. Therefore, we align ourselves with, really, Satan’s system. You have to be so careful and keen to sometimes recognize it, because you think, like you said, knowledge is good, and learning is good.

Again, we’re definitely not discouraging that. But how much more knowledge and wisdom? In life, we know that things are either for Christ or they’re against Him. If we’re putting our children in a state system, then that would not be for Christ. Therefore, it would be against Him. We have to recognize it. That is what we’re aligning ourselves with, by encouraging our children to go to a state school, or even a Christian school. So many of these Christian schools are even so lukewarm. The gospel is so watered down. They’re creating neutral, lukewarm young people that can’t stand for anything!

Another thing is, we think we’re doing the right thing. We were talking last night about how so many of us just want to go with what culture is doing. It feels like this family I shared with you, their next son in line is planning to go to college. Here’s the problem. Where is this disconnect between, we raise a godly child, and then they go off? A semester into college, their faith is stripped.

Nancy: You were saying to me last night that one of these ladies said, she said, “When I sent my child to college, I noticed immediately, he just began to be stripped, stripped, stripped of every little iota of his faith.

Allison: Completely. He usurped every bit of her authority that she had poured into her child for all those years. Boom! Undone immediately. Within, it sounded liked, almost a semester or two. You have to ask yourself, as a parent, is the price worth it? Is this career that your child wants to achieve by getting a college degree, is it worth losing their soul over?

Nancy: Exactly. And, really, most of them never even use their degree!

Allison: Never!

Nancy: If you look at the statistics, hardly any use that degree! Tell me about Makenna. Is she happy that she didn’t go to college?

Allison: Absolutely. Again, not to brag on Makenna, but she ended up “as a college drop-out” according to the world, and is now doing private swim lessons, making $120 an hour! I don’t know many college graduates that are making $120 an hour, doing something that she loves, in her own home, with her family around, the aunts and uncles of her baby getting to watch her baby and be with her.

Whatever it is, there are so many avenues that we can encourage our children to pursue, to make a good living. You don’t need college for it. I am a college graduate saying this, that I would not, you couldn’t give me a certain amount of money to convince me that it’s worth it, to send my child. My own sixteen-year-old is making more money selling trees at a farmer’s market once a week than a lot of college graduates are.

We had a guy in my high school who graduated valedictorian, and I saw him years later, after he went to MIT. He was our waiter at Waffle House. OK? Valedictorian, went to MIT, Ivy League school, was a waiter at Waffle House. Nothing against the waiter at Waffle House, but can you imagine the amount of money that he spent on college?

But, guys, we’re not even worried about the money that you’re wasting on college. I’m worried about their souls that are being stripped. That you can’t get back. You cannot get that back. You can’t undo what those college professors are wanting to do. Not just our doing, but their wanting to do it.

This college professor that my husband met 30-something years ago, said, “My job is to strip young people. I love it! I love being able to strip down everything their parents taught them.” Again, this is before this gender confusion was even a thing. Can you imagine how bad it is now?

Nancy: Well, we know how bad it is. We see the fruit of it. I think of that Scripture in Psalm 1:1. We all know it. It says: “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, not sitteth in the seat of the scornful.” Which is what your young daughter or son will do when they go to college. They will sit in the seat of the scornful. They will scorn everything of God that you put into their lives.

Allison: Some versions say “scoffers.” And that’s what I think of when I think of a liberal, godless college professor, scoffing, scoffing at the Word of God. We are not only allowing our children that we’ve loved, and raised, and given birth to, and poured our life into, we are paying for it. There are parents that are working second and third jobs so that they can pay for their children to be sitting at the seat of scoffers!

Nancy: I know. It’s unbelievable. Then I think of last night, we had here at our home a graduation for a young man, Jeremiah, who lives right part of us here on the Hilltop. Such a wonderful young man, 17 years of age. He was having his graduation of homeschooling.

His mother had been with her homeschool covering and working it all out. Was he ready to graduate? She was hoping that he would graduate by next summer. But when she put in all that he has been learning, and all that he has read, and all that he has done, they said, “Please, please, please, stop! We can’t fit it all in! He’s gone far beyond what is even necessary for graduation.”

Not only has this young man graduated beyond where he’s necessary, but he also is employed already fulltime. Trim Healthy Mama have now employed him to do all their filming. They have had professional companies, many of them they fired. Serene was saying last night, they wouldn’t give up Jeremiah for any of those companies. He is far better. He also has another business on the side! He's ready to take the world.

Allison: That’s right. That’s right.

Nancy: And he doesn’t need to go to college.

Allison: That’s right. I think another good alternative is internship. We’ve had several young people come and intern us in our photography business and shadow us. I have said to many of them, “What you’re getting from us, what you’re receiving, is far beyond a four-year education in photography, because you’re seeing how a business works.”

We’ve had a very successful photography business. We’ve photographed 60 public schools, we’re super-busy, very successful in our city. We don’t have a photography degree. My husband has an engineering degree! But the way we learned is by taking a lot of bad pictures!

But if you have a young person that has an interest in something, find someone who is an expert in that field, and say, “Could my child come and sit under you for several months?” That is where you’re going to gain so much wisdom and knowledge in a certain field.

I just cannot say it enough, that if you’re even on the fence about it, you really have to reconsider if you are desiring to raise a young person that is sold out for the Lord, college is not the place for them. I would almost, like I said, I would go so far as to say, don’t say to me, “Well, but a Christian school is just as good.”

No, my daughter went to a Christian school, and I won’t even mention the name of that school, but they are known for one of the highest rates of homosexuals in the country. You would be blown away when you heard the name of the school, because it’s so conservative! The girls have to wear skirts, there’s no touching, there’s separate elevators, but yet this influx of this homosexual movement is getting right in that school. You can’t say to me, “Well, it’s a Christian school.” No. Just like our churches today. Most churches are so weak and not really, really preaching the truth.

I know this is scary, because as parents, we want our children to do the best. We want them to be the best. We think that we’re doing a disservice to them by not letting them go for a higher education. But as a mother of some very successful young people, just last weekend my 18- and 20-year-old girls made a couple thousand dollars apiece just by doing photo shoots. There’s no way, with a college degree, they could have done that and more.

We’re limiting them by forcing them to, No. 1, waste four years of their lives. No. 2, waste thousands and thousands of dollars. But again, most importantly, they’re losing, they’re being programmed into this garbage that the world’s pushing.

Nancy: And I look at your daughters and often I just can’t believe it! There’s nothing they can’t do! They are so well-rounded in every aspect of life. I remember once, at one of the Above Rubies retreats, you had ordered all the food from this company. Because of problems with transport, it didn’t arrive. So, you say to your daughter, “OK, go to Sam’s and you’ll have to re-buy it again.”

Allison: Right. Buy groceries for ten meals for 800 people.

Nancy: What adult can do that? She goes and does it!

Allison: Yep. Just gave her a credit card, and she spent, I think, five, six thousand dollars on food, and came back. Here’s another interesting thing. Eden, our 20-year-old, just recently, we had a really sad situation where one of our employees was arrested for grand theft. Super sad, and we, because of that, have had to transition our accounting and take it back over, just for the mean time.

I had no one to take over our books because this lady did everything, all the bookkeeping. But because she has so much going on in her personal life, we decided we have to do this ourselves. I honestly knew nothing about my finances. I didn’t know what was doing what. Eden decided, we sent her to our CPA, and she is training her how to do accounting and bookkeeping.

So, as we’re talking right now, she’s sitting at your dining room table doing our accounting and trying to reconcile our books for the past nine months because nothing had been done. She went and met with our CPA the other day to see where she’s at. She said, “Allison, she’s doing an incredible job.”

I’ve never taught her bookkeeping! I’ve never taught her accounting. In fact, I probably don’t do a great job at homeschooling! But she’s doing the accounting for a huge, huge corporation that we have in our photography business and she’s doing a great job! She’s learning so much, hands-on. She would never learn this by just learning the concepts of accounting in college. It’s amazing how much my brain has switched on this subject.

Nancy: Oh, yes! Hope we haven’t blown your minds again! I’m always blowing your brains away!

Allison: I don’t see how. I think it’s great to blow your mind! We need to change. We live in desperate times. We’ve got to change our mindset.

Nancy: Yes, and really, who wants to hear the same old thing? We’ve got to challenge one another because, as Allison said, we are living in a day, we’re living in a world full of lies and deception, and we’ve got to pursue truth.

Let me close now with these words of Psalm 1, where it says: “He will not sit in the seat of the scornful.” But this is the higher education . . . “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree, planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”

That’s the promise of God. As we pursue God’s ways, His truth, and His Word, we’re going to prosper. This is where our children will prosper. They’re not going to prosper going down the way of the devil. And sadly, this is where our colleges are today. Sadly, because they shouldn’t be, but they’ve been taken over! Sadly, and we have to wake up, to see what’s happening.

We do love you all!

“Dear Father, we thank You that we can talk about the things that we are facing right now. Lord, this is a different world than what it was a few years ago. We pray that we will have open eyes to see. Lord, we don’t want to be deceived by the enemy. And Lord God, we know that usually when we’re deceived, we don’t even know we’re deceived. So, we pray that You will keep our minds, our hearts, close to You, that You will keep us in your living Word, because it is Your Word that exposes all deceptions and lies.

“Lord, I pray that You’ll bless every mother, young person listening today, Lord God. We will all be open, open, Lord, to hear Your Word, to hear You speaking, to be like the children of Issachar, who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel should do. Lord God, we, as parents, we must have understanding of the times, to know what we should do in this hour, to know how we should direct our children. We ask for Your wisdom and discernment. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.”

Allison: Amen.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

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www.aboverubies.org

Transcribed by Darlene Norris * This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

FLORIDA RETREATS FOR 2023

January 4 – 11 WINTER RETREAT IN THE FLORIDA SUN

If you live in the cold in a northern state, take this opportunity to come down to the warmth and sunshine of Florida and receive wonderful blessings as a family at the same time!

AND MAKE THE MOST OF THE WINTER CHEAP RATES!

Above Rubies Gulf Coast January Family Retreat 2023

Registration fee: $200

Housing is VERY limited, assigned through Gulf Coast Above Rubies Organizers

Teaching, worship, prayer, small groups, great fellowship, family activities, volley ball and basketball competitions, fun games on the beach. The schedule and meal info will be released soon. 

If you would like to join us for our first ever WINTER family retreat, make sure to register asap!! We only have about 25 housing units available for this retreat, and they will be first-come first-served to those that register and pay through the link below! 

*If you are not satisfied with the housing that is available by the time we get to your name on the list, we will refund your registration at your request at that time. Otherwise, the $200 registration fee is non-refundable. The great news is that we will get the winter rates for campus housing, and the prices are incredibly affordable!!!! 

Gather your friends, old and new, and join us for this exciting week of fellowship together! We can’t wait to be with you!

If you have any questions about this new retreat, please email us at .">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Registration link:

https://forms.gle/dJcXHQCbwJw1UTmw9

 

April 19 – 26 THE POPULAR ANNUAL RETREAT

Above Rubies Gulf Coast Spring Family Retreat 2023

Registration fee: $200 (non-refundable)

Meals $60/person ages 3+

Housing is assigned through Gulf Coast Above Rubies Organizers, but payment for your housing will go directly to Laguna. 

This is our biggest retreat serving over 100 families during our week of fellowship, sessions with Nancy and Colin Campbell, breakout sessions with gifted speakers and teachers, family activities, and incredible worship! Come as a friend but leave as family! If you aren’t already registered, sign up now! We still have room!

If you have any questions about this family retreat, please email us at .">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Registration link:

https://forms.gle/iERkREjdmgkA6D1V7

August 9 – 16 THE REUNION

Above Rubies Gulf Coast Family Reunion 2023

Registration fee: $100 (non-refundable)

No meals are offered at the reunion, but potlucks tend to happen a few times! 

Housing is assigned through Gulf Coast Above Rubies Organizers, but payment will go directly to Laguna. 

Have you attended one of our family retreats before? If so, we’d like to invite you to a reunion on the beach! Join your favorite families for a week of fun and fellowship! Nancy and Colin will join us for a few sessions, and we will host a handful of family activities, but this week is much more laid back than the typical retreats. 

If you have any questions about this family retreat, please email us at .">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

 

Registration link:

https://forms.gle/oMhpTs7a6GyEz8bg7

 

LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 231: What Does God Want Us to Do in the Land? Part 8

Peggy joins me again today as we talk about standing up against evil. We, as mothers, have a responsibility to protect our children, and the vulnerable children of our lands. We cannot put our heads in the sand but must become proactive in pushing back against the evils that are preying upon our children. We also speak about how God wants us to teach our children in our land of motherhood.

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

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies. Well, today Peggy is back with me again because we still didn’t say everything we needed to in the last session. Praise the Lord, Peggy doesn’t have to come too far. She just lives down the road from me so that works out great.

Peggy, you had a few thoughts on your heart that you wanted to share, so, go for it!

Peggy: We were just talking about the power of Scripture and how that is something that seems to really spark the outrage of the crowd where we were, at that rally. I’ve seen examples of that since which we’ll talk about.

I want to emphasize the importance of standing firm in your faith. What the Bible says is true and right. There is absolute truth, and it is God’s Word. That’s what all of civilization has been built on for thousands of years. To try to erase that in a generation is absurd.

But, people, we have to stand firm. Mothers, stand firm. As it says in Ephesians 6, we want to put on the whole armor of God so that we can stand against the schemes of the devil. We know about the whole armor of God.

Nancy: The schemes of the devil.

Peggy: The schemes of the devil are on fire right now. They’re going after our children. We must stand, and we must stand with the shield of faith with which we can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. I’m telling you, the flaming arrows are coming, and they’re coming at our children.

We, the adults, those who know the Lord, those who are teaching those children and protecting those children, must stand firm with our shields to protect our children. Those flaming darts are coming and we have to deal with them. They can’t really hurt us, because that’s all they are, is flaming darts. There’s nothing to it. There’s no substance. Remember that. But we must, must stand firm. That’s the most important thing that I want everybody to remember.

Nancy: Looking at Ephesians chapter six on putting on the whole armor of God which you mentioned, I was just thinking as you were talking about another verse in the passage. Of course, we know it starts at verse 10: “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”

Then it goes on down to verse 14, where it talks about the very first piece of armor we’re to put on. I find it very, very interesting, because we notice that the very first piece of armor is truth. Truth. It starts with truth. We’ve got to put on truth, because if we don’t have truth, we can be pulled in every direction.

This is what all these precious children, and young people, and college students that today are being brainwashed, they do not have a foundation of truth in their lives. This is our responsibility, mothers. Oh, pouring truth into our children. As Peggy mentioned in our last session, we must give our children the objective truth, that’s the ultimate truth, which is God’s word.

Because so much of truth today is just subjective. “If it’s what I feel is right, what I think is right, what I’ve been told.” But no! That is not truth! It’s only what is written in God’s Word. We’ve got to give the Word daily to our children.

But this truth, OK, where, and this is what I find very interesting. It’s amazing. Where do we put on truth? It’s the first one. Where do we start? When the soldier begins putting on his armor, dressing himself, what piece of armor does he put on first? He puts on that girdle around that covers all his loins.

I do have to say that if you are reading a modern translation of the Bible, you will most probably read, “Put on the belt of truth.” Well, I am sorry to say, ladies, where do they get that? Because here, in my King James Bible (and I’m not a “King James Only,” I do love to read other translations, but I’m always checking things out carefully).

When I noticed other translations saying, “The belt of truth,” I thought, “Wow! I’d better look this up and check. Where do they get this?” I looked it up in the Greek, and I read, “Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth” So, I look up “loins,” and I find the word means “the procreative area of your body.” That’s all around your hips.

We know, if you look at a picture of a Roman soldier, he puts on this girdle. Now, I will concede that maybe it may be held up with a belt, yes, or it might fall down. We’ve got to have a belt to hold it up, but can you imagine a soldier going out to war with just a belt? I beg your pardon? Exposing his private parts?

And, of course, that soldier, one of his biggest things was to protect his private parts, to protect his fertility, to protect those procreative organs. Back then, that was the most important thing for a man. I’m sorry, ladies. He didn’t just put on a belt. He put on a girdle that completely covered and protected his procreative power.

Isn’t this interesting, that this is where truth starts? The thing that God uses is this area of our body. This particular area of our bodies is where not only the secular world, but most of the Christian world is in deception. They are in deception about this area of their body, even in the Christian world.

Most Christians do not protect their procreative power. No. Many of them are completely stopping it. “Oh, I’ve had two children. That’s enough for me, thank you. OK, well, let’s make sure that it cannot be used. Well, we’ll even have a tubal ligation or vasectomy. We’ll get the ‘snip’ so we can stop it completely!” That’s not protecting your procreative power. And nor is it the truth of the Word of God, because in the Word of God, it never speaks about keeping to your 1.9 children per family. No, the Bible speaks about the blessing of children, of increasing, multiplying, and filling the world with the godly seed.

Right at the very beginning here, even putting on the armor of God, we’re seeing how this is so important to God. Therefore, it’s going to be where the enemy attacks. So, once again, for the man it is his loins, but for the woman it is her womb.

We’re coming right back to this very area, the womb. This is what satan and all his cohorts and all those who he’s brainwashing, that’s what they’re coming against. The womb-man, the womb-man, the womb. It’s the attack against the woman, the attack against the womb. We begin to see it, even right here, in putting on the armor of God. Amen?

What’s your next little bit you were going to share about there?

Peggy: Well, Nancy, you gave me goosebumps with that because I’ve never thought about that, the girdle being specifically to protect that area. But I think that’s so relevant right now in what’s happening here. Thank you. Thank you for that observation because it’s true. It’s true, and we have got to protect.

I wanted to get back to this whole topic, as what exactly is being done to our children right now. Towards the end of the rally, they brought out politicians, the state politicians, and our senator, Senator Marsha Blackburn. I was glad to hear them say that as soon as they meet back as your state representatives, as soon as they meet back, they’re going to start some legislation to end surgery on minors, transition surgery on minors, which is wonderful.

But what I did not hear them say was that they wanted to end any of the other treatments; hormonal treatments, puberty blockers, the other things they’re doing that also permanently alter these children. Surgery is not the only way to sterilize a child. You can do it with hormones. You can also mess up their development, their organs so their male organs never grow and develop into reproductive organs. They just remain child-like.

For girls, they would begin to grow in a way that girls’ organs are never meant to grow. Also, when they would begin to grow hair, their voices deepen, and their ovaries and reproductive organs do not form in such a way that they will be able to produce children later in life. The hormones are just as important as surgery. Surgery is obvious, but the other is just as dangerous.

I would ask, call your representatives, local, state, and federal, and say, “Not just surgery. All of it needs to be stopped on minors. Parents need to be given back control and decision-making power in their children’s elective medical care.”

This is not considered by the Biden administration to be “elective” medical care. It’s considered to be “necessary” medical care. They literally make the argument that if a woman who has cancer needs a hysterectomy, why does a child who has gender dysphoria, why should they be deprived of a hysterectomy? I’m serious. This is the logic they’re using.

Nancy: Having these hysterectomies, goodness me! They’ll go into menopause before they. . .

Peggy: Before they’ve ever had puberty!

Nancy: Before they’ve ever lived life! [laughter] This is just horrific!

Peggy: We’re laughing, but it’s not funny. It’s very real, and it is happening. So put on your shoes of readiness, and your shield, and your sword, and get out there and fight!

Nancy: Here we are in a pretty conservative state, and all this is happening. Many of you are in liberal states and your politicians won’t even be saying, “OK, we would like to stop surgery.” They’ll even before that. But you can have power. You can have a say. Email, call, and tell them that they are representing you, and you want them to stand against all surgery for mutilating children, and all puberty blockers. We all need to do this, in all our states. Amen.

Oh, another thing I was thinking of as we’re talking. How these precious young girls and teens and even older, they’re cutting off their wombs. They’re having hysterectomies. They’re trying to take everything away that makes them a woman.

I was thinking, where it says in Proverbs, how there are three things that are never satisfied, yea four that say not, it is enough. The grave, and then the second one is the barren womb. The womb cries for life. It’s never satisfied. It longs for life, and to bring forth life (Proverbs 30:15, 16).

Even women who have a tubal ligation to stop having children because maybe they’re overwhelmed, and they feel as though they can’t cope. But then a few years go by, and wow! These little children who were so overwhelming are now growing. Now their womb is crying for life again! Sometimes it’s unbearable. It’s so intense!

Therefore, many, many women will have reversals, to reverse, and hopefully that they could have another child. This is normality, but these people, these young children and young people, they will always have, well, they won’t even have wombs, let alone a barren womb.

Peggy: Even heterosexual young adults in college are being discouraged from having families. It’s a trend too, to not have children. To have young women and young men go ahead and have the vasectomy, or have the tubal ligation, before they even have children.

Nancy: It’s number one on the World Economic Forum, the new world agenda, which is to reduce the population of the world by millions. They’re doing everything they can to bring in infertility, through vaccinations, and now through this transgenderism. In every way they possibly can. But in this society of death, wow! We should be more pro-life, and proactively open to bring forth life than ever before! Don’t you think?

Peggy: I think it takes a huge determination and a decision. If you are going to bring forth life

into this world, you have a responsibility then to protect it. It’s a tall order right now, with what the world is trying to do. It’s coming across everything. It’s everywhere. Like I said last time, it’s like smoke coming under the doors and through all the cracks. You have to constantly be trying to battle it back. But it can be done.

Nancy: But it’s not a time to stop having children. Some people would say, “OK, but how do I bring children into this evil world?” Well, this is why we bring them in, because they are going to be the life. They’re going to bring the truth.

God wants His people to multiply so that they will be more and mightier than the heathen. Just as when the children of Israel were in Egypt, they multiplied and filled the land. That’s what happened. They became more and mightier than the Egyptians! That’s what God wants for His people (Exodus 1:7-12).

Peggy: God can do anything! God can do anything! He can overpower anything. This may seem big. It seems big because the media is covering it as if 50% of the population, or some huge percentage of the population is transgender. That is not true. It’s a tiny percent of the population. I don’t even know why we’re talking about it except that they’re doing it to our children.

It’s coming through the internet. It’s coming through everywhere. We’re being bombarded with all this, I call it “Marxist, that woke stuff,” whatever you want to call it. It’s not true. It’s what we’re being shown. What we’re not being shown; we were not shown that legislation, that executive order that Biden put through in August in time for people to speak about it. I don’t know where it was published but I sure missed it and I watch the news every day.

You have to be so proactive. Yes, we need to bring children into this world, with bravery, with confidence, because God loves us. He expects us to be the ones. If not us, who will stand up and fight back, and protect? The world can’t go on. What would happen if we just left this alone? We’re going to lose the country that we’ve all taken for granted. We’re going to lose the ability to worship as we would like to worship.

Freedom of religion, freedom of speech, these are important parts of our lives. We’ve enjoyed this freedom in the United States for such a long time. It is absolutely under attack. Religion has been under attack, but now more clearly than ever. Faith in the Lord.

I will tell you that that Scripture drove those people out of their minds at the rally. One girl even had a sheet on some sort of little extender thing that she could make herself taller, like a tent pole. She stood right behind my husband and tried to cover up his Scripture with her sheet the whole time. I thought, “Well, that is the silliest thing. You can’t cover up God’s Word with a sheet!” (The Scripture was Romans 14:12).

Nancy: They are scared of God’s living Word. Oh, yes, now tell us the story of what happened to these young people when they went to stand up for truth. Someone was showing Matt Walsh’s What is a Woman?

Peggy: It was at the University of Wisconsin. This happened on Monday night. The rally was on Friday. It seems like something’s happened every day since. But Monday night there was a screening of What is a Woman? which is a documentary. Daily Wire, if y’all can find a way to watch that, you really should.

As expected, there were protestors there. I’m sure it was the same ilk that we had. A local church, it wasn’t a youth group, it was young adults. This young man was 19, and he was described in the article as a “street preacher.” But the young people from a local church decided to go and interact with the protestors outside the screening of What is a Woman?

In the course of time, he talked with one of the protestors. This young man set down his Bible, 19 years old. The protestor picked up his Bible, began shredding it and throwing the pages in the street. Then he began eating the pages of the Bible! Eating the Word of God!

I would have been surprised. I’m not surprised after having been in the presence of those people, because it was so animalistic, the way they were behaving. They sounded like a bunch of animals too. But the young man was very wonderfully Christian in the way he handled them. He was sad about losing his Bible. He said it was his study Bible and he used it every day. But he said he was very glad to see that they were digesting the Word of God! [laughter] That was good.

Nancy: Let’s see what happens out of that!

Peggy: Well, it’s just one more example.

Nancy: You were also going to mention this last Monday night, of what we were doing here locally. Actually, I think I mentioned to you before, ladies, how here in our Hickman County, where we live in Tennessee, we have been doing this great big thing called “Save Lick Creek.”

Peggy: Save Lick Creek! Whoo!

Nancy: Well, it’s called “Lick Creek,” but it’s really a beautiful river. A little bit low at the moment because we’ve had a drought. But it’s beautiful. Serene and Sam’s land borders on this river. So many of our family, children, they swim there, they fish there, they can even get trout. They kayak there. This river is pure, spring-fed. They are trying to put in billions of dollars of waste into it. We’ve been standing up against it.

On Monday night, they had a meeting, and sadly, Colin and I couldn’t be there. We had another appointment, which was so sad, because we love rallies. If Colin and I can get to a rally, and we can get our banners up, we love it! We were there on January 6, that great day. That was such a great day, too. The amazing thing was, when we were there, we were right up at the Capitol for about two or three hours, and never saw one thing of all the things that everybody so-called saw.

Back to this rally, we couldn’t be there, but Tim and Peggy were there. She can tell a little bit about it. But it shows you what she is going to share about, how we’ve been talking about standing up, calling our politicians, but really, we have got to start at our local level. Because every county has commissioners.

Do you know who all your commissioners are? I have to confess I didn’t even know who ours were until we began to face all this. I never even bothered about local government at all. But now, I’m realizing how important it is. It determines the whole way we live! Over to you, Peggy.

Peggy: It’s funny. Your daughter, Vange, whispered to me during the hearing, “Isn’t amazing how these 14 people’s yay or nay is going to determine the future for so many, for our whole county?” It really did come down to just one person at the end of the night.

Nancy: Yes. So, they went to a resolution that was going to be voted on. We all had to be there, even though we couldn’t get there, sadly, to have opportunity to get up and speak and so on. Then these 14 commissioners were going to vote. They will be doing things like that in your county all the time. You’ve really got to know what they’re voting about, because here we are, a very conservative county, but whoo!

Peggy: We don’t have to worry about the rest of the world, we thought!

Nancy: We’re not even in the city! And yet here, these guys weren’t standing for the people in their community. They had their own agendas.

Peggy: Well, you know, you’ve always got to follow the money, don’t you, Nancy? This was not the war. This was a battle. Praise God, we won the battle. I do want to say that throughout the day on Monday, I was in prayer about it, and I was writing what I wanted to say. But I wasn’t feeling optimistic. I was feeling pretty defeated.

This is about, basically they were trying to lay the groundwork to be able to run the plumbing for this huge wastewater facility that would service two other counties. Not this county, we’re rural. It would service the sewage from two other counties and dump it in our creek! They would process it and dump it in our creek. Obviously, we don’t want this, and this was about stopping this preliminary thing they were trying to do. Praise the Lord, we won that battle.

But I was not confident, and I felt bad about that afterwards, because God can do anything. God can move any mountain. We have to let Him, and we have to pray and be faithful and confident that He can, and He will. He did. But it was wonderful too, to see our community come together.

Save Lick Creek is an eye-popping neon yellow-green, luminous, blaze yellow, in that room, and people speaking from their hearts, passionately, desperately, trying to defend the creek. We’re a small group. It’s a rural area. We don’t have a big population, up against people with a lot of money, with a lot at stake. We went in there, and we were able to say our piece, and it was reasonably civil.

Yeah, there was a lot of lying going on. There was a lot of self-interest. It was hard to figure out what was true and what wasn’t true. But at the end of the day, you know you don’t want sewage from neighboring counties dumped in your creek. You know that much! You know that’s true.

We were able to do as America does, argue the case, speak both sides in a reasonably civil way, and praise God, it was a tie, which meant that it did not pass. So, whoo! We’re OK this time. We’ve got to win the war still.

But it was wonderful to see that happen, because our political system has become so contentious. It’s like, “I’m right, and you’re wrong about absolutely everything!” You’re either far right, or you’re far left. I think most people have issues where they’re in the middle. Not everybody is all the way to the right, or all the way to the left.

Probably the vast majority of people are afraid to speak up. So, we get right back to the armor of God. Put it on and speak up. Don’t be afraid of the names and the horrible labels that you’re going to get hit with, because it’s what’s going to happen. Unfortunately, that’s the culture that has sprung up in this time that we live in.

Nancy: Yes, yes. So, anyway, as Peggy said, we won that battle. We’ve still got a way to go, even with Lick Creek. But it will continue with our commissioners, and we have seven who were against our beautiful creek being polluted. But seven, they were quite happy for it to happen. I don’t think they really wanted that for Lick Creek, but as you said, they were controlled by money and other things. We will still have to keep going with this battle.

But I share that with you, ladies, because I think we’ve all got to start being more proactive, right down at the local level with commissioners, school boards, mayors, sheriffs, all these people who determine the way we live. In fact, in the end, wow! The final decision about this creek will determine the generations to come! Whoo!

Peggy: And it will be the same people.

Nancy: Let’s move on, because I’m going through the points of what we are to do in this land of motherhood. I’m taking it again from the Scriptures of the things that God told His people to do in the land, when they got to the Promised Land. We’re taking them to put it into our land of motherhood.

So,

No. 4. TEACH OUR CHILDREN DILIGIENTLY

God spoke these words through Moses as they were preparing to go into the Promised Land. Deuteronomy 6:1: “Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land where you are going to possess it.” He’s given all these instructions for what they are to do in the land

Then in Deuteronomy 6:5-7, He says: “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”

Here is something that God tells them they had to do in the land. This is, of course, what we will be doing in our land of motherhood. So many of you, this is what you’ve been doing today. You’ve been home educating your children. You are right in the very perfect will of God.

Oh, precious homeschooling, mothers, can I encourage you today? I know that sometimes you feel overwhelmed, and it’s all getting on top of you. But be encouraged! You are in the perfect will of God. You’re doing what’s right. You have the opportunity with your children there, to teach them the ways of God.

And, of course, you’ll be doing it the way God tells you to do it. You don’t have to sit them all down like in a schoolroom, and OK, give them their lessons. Well, you can do it that way if you want, but really, God’s way is not that way. Do you notice what He says? I’ll read it this time from the Amplified, because the Amplified version, I think is really great on this Scripture.

“These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be written on your heart and mine. You shall teach them diligently to your children, impressing God’s precepts on their minds. And penetrating their hearts with His truth. And shall speak of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk on the road.” That would, of course, maybe driving in the car today. We’ll be talking to our children as we’re driving. “And when you lie down, and when you get up.” Really, it’s all day. It’s an all-day teaching and imparting God’s ways.

Yes, you’ll have your curriculums that you have chosen. They are important. You’ll have a good, godly, biblical, homeschool curriculum. There are so many of them, and it’s often hard to choose which one. But lovely ladies, can I just put in something here? Even when you choose your curriculums for your children, remember that you don’t have to be totally bound by them. Yes, you’ve got them there as a basic foundation.

But ultimately, oh, teach them God’s truth, and His principles, and His ways. Make sure that they’re getting it, impressing it into their minds, and penetrating it into their hearts, so that they are filled with God’s objective truth, what He says in His Word. Not what someone thinks, not what someone feels. Teach your children that truth is not what they’re feeling at this moment. No, it’s what God says.

Truth is not what they maybe think or heard someone say. No, it’s what God says! Let’s always be bringing our children back to what God says. It’s why it’s so important to be filled with His Word yourself, isn’t it? And to know it, because then you have it in your heart, and it’s ready in your mouth, to speak it forth.

You begin talking about something with your children, but you’ve got that Word. “OK, let’s see what God says, children!” And even if you don’t know it, well, ladies, have a concordance, so you can look up a word in the concordance, and find the Scriptures where God talks about that subject. Do it with your children. In fact, teach them to learn how to look up a concordance.

Every young Christian child and young person should know how to deal with a concordance. It’s great fun to do that. If you’re not, if you haven’t got that Scripture in your heart, well, “OK, children, let’s find out together what God says. Let’s get out the concordance, and you can look up the word.” Then you can find all the Scriptures about it. Then you’re going to look up those Scriptures together, and you’ll find God’s truth.

This is what I do for everything in life. In fact, I have found an answer to absolutely everything in life in God’s Word. Everything’s there, if you can search it out and find it. Make that something you do all the time with your children. You can be doing it together, discovering it, going right into the Word, finding out everything God says about that subject, because really the ultimate truth on any subject is not one Scripture, but what God says about that subject from Genesis to Revelation.

Now some, you might just get a few Scriptures, some subjects you’ll get hundreds of Scriptures! Wow! But, really, to go through them all, that gets you into the ultimate truth. It’s so great and it’s so fun! Make doing this with your children the greatest fun of your lives! So that they will always have in their hearts this longing and desire to know, “What does God say on this subject?” And they’ll know how to do it.

Well, you can also do it on an iPhone, because if you have an app . . . I have a wonderful app. It’s called the Strong’s Concordance. I can find any Scripture and I can go to that. It gives me all the Hebrew words and then where all those Scriptures are. But you can do it with a concordance, or whichever way. But teach your children how to do this. I know many young people who have never used a concordance! Wow! That means they’ve never really studied God’s Word! No, let’s teach them how to do it so all their lives, on their own, they are able to know how to go into the Word and find out what God says. Amen?

And this is what He told us to do in the land. Here’s what we do in the land of motherhood. We go over to Deuteronomy 11. Did you know that God repeats these words again? Oh, He doesn’t only say them once. He says them again in Deuteronomy 11:18-19, and right down to verse 21. I’ll just read you a little bit.

“And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.” See, He’s telling them again, making sure it gets into their hearts. “That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land.” You see, this is what we do, in the land, in the land of motherhood.

“Which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.” Isn’t that beautiful? God says, when we will know His ways, and we embrace them, and we put them into operation in our homes, and in our lives, we can experience days as heaven upon earth. Isn’t that amazing? Incredible! But we’ve got to do it.

Then we go over to Deuteronomy 31. He’s telling them again. In fact, in chapters 29 and 30, it talks about the song that Moses . . . Chapter 32 actually is the exact song. God told Moses to teach the children of Israel a song, so they would remember all the things that God wanted to say to them.

He says, in Deuteronomy 31:19: “Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths.” Isn’t that interesting?

And then verse 21 says: “for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed,” of their offspring to come. “Moses therefore wrote this song this same day and taught it to the children of Israel.” You can read the song in chapter 32. But God wanted him to actually put it to music, because it is easy to remember when we sing it, isn’t it?

In fact, often, when we have family devotions and my husband is reading the Word of God, he’ll read a Scripture, and then all of a sudden, he’ll start to sing it, because he knows a tune to it. He knows so many tunes to the Scriptures that he usually ends up singing in our family devotions. How does he remember them? Because he knows the tune to them. But we see here that God wants it to get into our minds, and into our hearts, and into our mouths.

Time has gone. Do you want to say anything as we close, Peggy?

Peggy: God’s watching every day.

Nancy: And we’ll pray.

“Lord God, we come into Your presence. And Father, I pray for every mother, and everyone, all the daughters and young people listening, and even the little children. Lord, pour out Your blessing on them all.

“We ask that You will lead each one of us, all of us, into Your truth, into Your ways. Help us, Lord, to be mothers who do what You have told us to do, to, Lord, penetrate Your Words into the hearts of our children, and to get it into their mouths, so it will never be forgotten out of their mouths. Lord, we ask that You will help us to do these things in this wonderful, glorious land of motherhood. We ask it in the Name of Jesus. Amen.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

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www.aboverubies.org

Transcribed by Darlene Norris * This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

MORE INFORMATION ON WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH CHILDREN BEING MUTILATED:

Book: Irreversible Damage by Abigail Shrier

Excellent investigative book about the history and present situation regarding the transgender situation in the US, especially the contagious aspect among young people and the helplessness of parents to stop it.

http://momsforliberty.org/- Organization to root out inappropriate social and political trends in schools. Chapters throughout the US. Even homeschool moms can join and help- anyone who cares!

http://momsforlibertywc.org/- Moms for Liberty Williamson County; very active chapter. They have archives of presentations, guests and interviews from the last couple of years. Many presentations are available to view on YouTube.

https://www.trevoices.org/- Started by Scott Newgent, a detransitioner featured in Matt Walsh documentary “What Is A Woman?”. Website is a great resource for legislation, information, research data, and separating facts from fiction around all aspects of transition and detransition.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-administration-transgender-agenda-youth-sex-change-hormone-therapy 

https://www.kff.org/other/issue-brief/youth-access-to-gender-affirming-care-the-federal-and-state-policy-landscape/ - This contains a good amount of information about what different states and the federal govt. are doing. NOTE: This is from the Left point of view, i.e. pro trans legislation.

https://thefederalist.com/2022/07/11/vanderbilt-health-is-treating-tennessee-minors-without-parental-consent/ - This article explains Vanderbilt’s policy of excluding parents from access their children’s medical care or records after the age of 13. Photos of the policy and signage alerting parents of the policy.

https://thefederalist.com/2022/09/21/the-real-victim-of-matt-walshs-trans-expose-isnt-vanderbilt-university-medical-center-its-all-the-kids-they-maimed/ - Contains many leaked videos and now-deleted website links outlining Vanderbilt’s resources for minors seeking transition.

https://www.dailywire.com/news/adolescent-chest-reconstruction-surgeries-increase-nearly-400-in-us-report - Report on the JAMA journal report on the nearly 400% increase in “top surgery” from 2016-2019

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/article-abstract/2797439- Full JAMA (Journal of American Medical Association) report

https://www.dailywire.com/news/im-called-to-love-god-and-love-my-neighbor-19-year-old-responds-to-protester-who-stole-and-ate-his-beloved-personal-bible-at-matt-walsh-event - Story on the young man whose Bible was shredded and eaten by pro-trans protestors at a screening of “What is a Woman” documentary.

https://nypost.com/2022/10/24/why-did-president-biden-just-endorse-the-most-radical-trans-madness/ - Biden grants interview to transgender Tik-Tok influencer with 8 million followers; says that state efforts to curb “gender affirming” treatments for minors are “outrageous” and “immoral.”

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252376/chloe-cole-leading-fight-to-protect-children-from-transgender-surgeries - Article on Chloe Cole, the young woman who transitioned to male and then detransitioned back to female. NOTE: video of her speech at the Nashville Rally was taken down from YouTube since I watched it on Tuesday night. This is another speech she gave.

https://nypost.com/2021/11/23/social-and-emotional-learning-is-often-cover-for-progressive-indoctrination/ - on Social Emotional Learning