FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 117 - ACCIDENTS, DEATH, LIFE, AND THE GOODNESS AND GLORY OF GOD

My daughter, Evangeline joins me today.

Nancy Campbell: Hello ladies. Today we are hoping to continue our series about “We Are Gatekeepers of Our Homes.” However, before I get onto that, I thought I'd catch you up on what's been going on. I know you love to hear all the nitty gritty.

So we have recently been down in Florida at Laguna Beach for our annual Above Rubies Family Retreat down there. It was such a wonderful time. We had nearly 600 people, with all the children. Lots of children and young people! It was just the most glorious time, although we did have lots of little mishaps.

When I think about one dear precious mother, who was pregnant with her fourth baby. She had these  two or three beautiful little girls. She's expecting a little baby, and she fell down the stairs! Wasn't very nice at all. No, she had to go to the hospital. But praise the Lord, her baby was fine. She's since emailed me since being home, saying everything is great. They just can't wait to get back next year and to show off their little baby boy.

And then another little boy, someone kind  of closed the big door on him, and it nearly took his toe off! They had to rush him to the emergency. He had to get his toe stitched all up.

We also had a beautiful couple there. She was pregnant, but also was fighting leukemia at the same time. So we were all, in fact everyone in the camp was praying for her on the Friday night. We all gathered around and prayed for her. She was just loved by everyone.

Anyway, so those things were going on in the midst of a very precious time with the Above Rubies Retreat down there in Florida. It's a bit different from all our others. Usually, they're just the weekend. But this one, because everyone loves coming to the beach, and it's become so popular, they usually come for a whole week.

Anyway, the main part is over the weekend. So we're getting to the end of the retreat, and all the Johnsons, and Evangeline and Howard and their family, they couldn't get there until Sunday. So they arrived Sunday. There were still loads of people there, because they're staying on for sort of a weeklong.

So anyway, things are going along, and then I think, yes, Wednesday, yes, you'd better tell us about that! We'll start telling you about some of the things that happened. It was hurricane time; those two hurricanes were coming in at once. We weren't in the line of the hurricanes. But of course, the whole Gulf was just whipped up, and the sea was so rough!

Evangeline, who is, she's the ocean kayak lady. She loves to go out a mile or more in the ocean and fish for sharks. She was determined to get out, and Sam, Serene's husband was going out. Who else was going out?

Evangeline: It was just Sam and me.

NC: Yes, but he couldn't get out.

Evangeline: Yeah, so the day before, we had got out, and it was really wonderful. But as we came in, we knew we were going to take a tumble. It's not if, but when . . .

NC: Was that on . . .

Evangeline: No, that was on Wednesday, the day before we got out. But we still had got the tumble, right? So the next day we could see it was sort of going to be a little bumpy. And miraculously, I had got over all the waves. But my kayak was full, and I was dumping out all the water. But I couldn't even fish because it was just, it was like eight-foot swells out there. I was like, whooo, sliding down the biggest. I wasn't that far out, so I knew I could get back in. I practiced like; things took over. You have to always practice that.

So anyway, I was looking around to call out and say, “Sam, don't come out! Don't come out, there's no use! We won't be able to fish!”

Then way over on yonder, I could see Sam on the shore. So I was thinking, “Wow, so he can't make it out.” And then when I got in, he tried three times, but he said, “Pray for Jireh!” I was like, “What?!” Jireh's my son. Sam couldn't . . . Jireh had gone out into the surf to help Sam, and the whole ocean, a wave had brought up our big kayak, we've got the big PA-14. So with the whole weight of the ocean . . .

NC: It would have been over 300 pounds.

Evangeline: Yes. So with the whole weight of the ocean, this kayak came up. Jireh was off to the side, but it twisted at the last minute, and came straight down on his head. So I came up on the shore, and everyone's telling me.

Jireh said he blacked out, so Sam grabbed him and got his hands on the kayak. They managed to bring him in. And we thought he was paralyzed, because he heard, he blacked out, and he heard his neck snap! So he literally heard it, and he was like, “Oh no, there goes my whole life!” So it's amazing that Sam was able to grab him, and he didn't get swept out into the ocean because there were rip tides. So unless you're on a surfboard or kayak, you are not supposed to go in. But he was trying to help Sam get in.

So they got him up, and the next thing, his whole body is going into tingles. So the emergency, what do you call those ambulances? The emergency people came, and we were just praying for his life, because if his neck's broken . . . he’s just about to be a father.

I literally couldn't breathe. I couldn't breathe. I was like, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, save him!” So anyway, there were about five hours. They put him in the CAT scan. We were praying the whole time, just barely able to breathe. We were so in prayer.

Then the news came back that his neck wasn't broken! There was no fracture, and his muscles had taken the whole of the weight. He's really strong. In his work, he would run and do the job of about 15 men, for three years. In fact, he finished it, because he thought, “If I continue on like this, I'll run myself out in a couple of years.”

They said his veins were so huge and healthy, they were like highways. They'd never seen veins like it. So his neck, because he was so strong, his neck had taken the whole brunt. He was like a robot that couldn't even move his head one centimeter to the side. But he was alive, and he was going to be able to be well.

I heard, and I literally laid down on the street where I was, and just screamed out, “Thanks to the Lord!” It was like I could breathe for the first time.

It's so interesting, Mum, because all that week I had been in Luke 21. You know, Jesus is saying all these things are going to happen in life, and people are going to tell you it's the end. You know, you've got all these things, with what you guys have dealt with. Corona all around the world, and everyone saying our life will never be the same, and doomsday, doomsday, negative.

But you know, at the end of 21 in Luke, Jesus and the words we read . . . He was saying these words. He was like, “These things are bound to happen, but take heart.” And you know, these things were mulling in my brain that whole week, and then this happened with Ji.

He said, “Stay bold. Keep constant watch over your soul. Take heart. Be free from all worry of this life.”

We have to choose that. We have to choose that in the moment. I'll tell you what, we were stretched to choose that. I'm going to go on and tell you a story of how we saw that so, so vividly before our eyes, where we were having to work at it. But stay passionate.

NC: Yeah, that's so powerful, Vange. But we haven't finished yet, because, I mean, OK, we were all concerned about Jireh.

Evangeline: We still were!

NC: Oh yes!

Evangeline: We still were, because we didn't know how many . . . six months, or a year he was going to be in . . . he was in massive pain. Yeah.

NC: Yes, so praise the Lord! Well, we were leaving that day. But just before we were leaving, the ambulance was there, so we went over and Colin was able to pray (we’d all been praying of course) just pray over him as the people were taking him out to the ambulance. Of course, we're continually praying. So God is working, and He is healing so beautifully, isn't he?

Evangeline: Oh yes, it's incredible.

NC: But then we went home that day. And of course, we were still praying for beautiful Maria, that's the wife, the young wife who is, yes, who has leukemia. Over the retreat, she just felt she needed a blood transfusion, so they went in. She had two blood transfusions.

Then she got a brain bleed, and they said that they didn't think she was going to last. You know, the whole, all of the camp was so praying for her. But on the Thursday, that was the next day after Jireh's accident . . .

Everyone had left then. There was just Sam and Serene and family and Vange and Howard and family left. That day we heard that she died. So Vange was there, and I just wanted to tell you about it, to see once again . . . You know, we face these tragedies, but in all these tragedies, it's how we face them.

Evangeline: Well, Jether . . . We were intense in prayer. Jether was there in the hospital. He was able to be with Maria, even though she was on life support, in a coma. Apparently, the last thing that goes is the hearing. So he was able to be with her, speak with her. And his mother, beautiful Jenny, was there, and they were able to hold her hand, and be with her to the last moment.

And then he called up with Zadok, that's my oldest son, who's his best friend. “Zadok,” he said, “She's just gone to be with Jesus.” We were all out on the beach, and we were praying for resurrection, and Serene was praying, and I was down the beach crying out to God for resurrection.

And then Jether came back about three hours, three hours later. I want to tell you this, because I have never in my 55 years seen . . .

NC: Aren't you 56?

Evangeline: No, I'm 55. I thought I was 52, Mum, but I thought I was turning 53. But somebody told me I was turning 55, and now Mum's trying to tell me I'm actually 56! I've already gained three years, and now she's trying to tell me I've gained four!

But I'm getting younger and younger every year! So I actually couldn't believe I was turning 55. But I want to tell you, in 55 years, I have never seen, seen in my life, the glory of God to touch down. Jether came back, and it was all the Allison family, and all of ours in the room.

And he came in, and we were, our families were crying out to God. And Jether picked up the guitar, and all of a sudden, he started singing made-up songs, and he was in Heaven! I've never felt such, the Presence of God.

And here's this young man, and his beautiful 23 and a half-year wife, and she was in Heaven free from pain after all these years. She was dancing before the Lord, and he knew it! And here he was, before the Lord, worshipping with his wife. It's like he could see through the veil. The veil was so thin. It was so thin, and he was there with her! He could see through the veil.

He was on the other side, worshipping, worshipping our Father with her, for the three and a half . . . for the years he had with her. His songs were about . . . they just . . . I've never heard anything like it. Different octaves. It was, it was the most precious thing I have ever been able to humbly witness in all my born days.

He was singing to the Lord about his first kiss, and his first night, and that God had given to him a word, and how good God was. And it went on for an hour, and I was caught up, literally, into Heaven.

Heaven had come down and saved my Jireh. Heaven had come down in worship, and in a man who chose to worship the Lord. Heaven had come down again.

And he after that, he was in this place, and we were the ones he ministered to. He went round, and he literally prayed for every single one of us individually, laying hands on us, like even down to the little baby. Even to the six-year-olds. And there were like, 25 of us or more. And he would spend 20 minutes or more, for each person, until they were bathed, covered in the love of Jesus.

This young man has yet, you know that night, he slept out on the beach with my son. The night before he got married, he went off with all the boys and Zadok, and they slept in the woods. The night after Maria was with the Lord, they did the same on the beach, with the thunder and the stars. It's not that at night, of course, he's like, “God, come and be with me, come and help me.”

But this man has chosen this place, and God has granted to him. God, I have witnessed the Glory of God! What otherwise would be just horrendous pain. And this is the Glory of God like I've never ever seen, Mum.

And I came home, and I was in it, and I was witnessing it. I came home, yet my own stuff, my own brain, was like, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, help me, help my own brain. I see it in Jether, her husband. God . . . ”

You know, again, Luke 21 came, and the Lord spoke to me. He said, “Keep your heart. Stay passionate.” And I'm a passionate person, and I knew that was passionately in love, of thanking the Lord.

And that's what I saw Jether do. I saw him from morning to night, he was thanking Jesus. “Thank You, Jesus, for my time with her. Thank You for my daughter, Promesa.”

He's got a beautiful 10-month. They had a beautiful 10-month daughter, Promesa. I've never witnessed anything so profoundly chosen, and God granting back this place of Heaven.

NC: Yes, when the Allisons got home we popped over to say hi, and Serene also shared. She couldn't even talk about anything else. Because she said, “I have never experienced this in life. Not only did Jether pray for each one, but he prophesied over so many. It was like, because he had just been in the place of heaven, it was . . . ”

Evangeline: He was bringing heaven down. He was literally . . . this man literally had entered Heaven. And we got to witness when he brought Heaven down into the room to us. I have no words, but I have to share with you what God can do!

NC: Yes And I was talking with Jether today, and said to him, “How are you, Jether?” And he said, “I'm so great. God is so good.” He sees the good in everything. He sees every little blessing he experienced with his wife and he is thanking God for. It's so beautiful, and I said, “You know, would you mind if we shared of our beautiful Maria?” Because she was so beautiful.

Evangeline: Gorgeous! Gorgeous in every way, in her looks, and in her spirit.

NC: “Yes, well, only if God is glorified.” He said, You know the place I'm in, it's not me. Nothing is me. It's just God. God is good.”

Isn't it wonderful? We wanted to tell you this experience today because many of you face such difficult times. But we can go through them in despair, or we can go through them in triumph, according to how we see God.

And he's looking at the goodness. It's so amazing. And I think it's an amazing thing, something I feel so incredible about. This whole thing is that they were only married about 3-1/2 years or so, 2-1/2, not long, maybe only 2-1/2 (I think it was less). And they have this darling little 10-month-old girl. And she has another baby in her womb. That little baby died before they , , , But that little baby also went straight to Heaven!

Evangeline: Yes!

NC: And when you think about it, this marriage, this marriage has brought forth two eternal souls for the eternal realm, to live forever and ever! And although they only had these two-plus or so years together, they brought forth fruit for eternity! And they're going to enjoy their children together in eternity. It is so amazing isn't it?

Evangeline: And you know, it's true that, even though she was in a lot of pain, and he knew that, going into marriage, that she would be fighting for her life, it was the happiest years of her life on earth. And now she's in Heaven, just free from all of that too. So much God, so much goodness. And Jether, he knows the reality, the truth, the realness of really what has truly happened. Yes.

NC: Absolutely. Oh yes, for all those who were at the retreat, I think to many of them, one of the most beautiful memories of the retreat is that on the Friday night when we all prayed for her, and later on, they were worshipping, and singing. And Maria began to dance. She was just dancing before the Lord.

Many got up and testified, and that was before she even passed away. But that was the most beautiful thing that touched them. And so, so many just saw her dancing before the Lord, even before she was dancing in Heaven!

Evangeline: You know, Mum, Jether actually talked to me about this later. He said that was miraculous because he did, he'd been with her, and he couldn't fathom how she got that energy, how that even happened. He said that was the Lord. It was absolutely the Lord. Yeah.

NC: Yes, Yes. It's just like a little taste, because I had, I wasn't in the room at that moment. I missed it! Oh, help! But they said she wasn't doing a little dance. She was totally and passionately dancing before the Lord. So it was like a little taste before she went into that heavenly realm.

Oh my. But you know what? Though that was the most.... Well, do you know, I guess we have to say, it was triumphant. Even in the grief, it was the most triumphant...

Evangeline: I think many triumphant winnings and stuff, but in my whole life I did nothing that can match that triumphal entry. And of how Jether heralded her. He heralded her, with Jesus and the angels. Her husband heralded her. I have never ever been to such a triumphant, triumphant entry of awesome, beyond awesomeness . . . and that's not to take away from the missing he will have, completely. I know that. But God, God has done something there.

NC: Yes, God is bigger than every circumstance. And that wasn't the end of the retreat. Allison Hartman, you've often listened to her on my podcast. Allison is the one who does all the hard work behind the scenes to put these retreats on. She's so amazing.

But right through that retreat, her beautiful little darling girl, Emily Kate, was so sick! She could not lift her head off the pillow! You know, they knew she had a sore throat, but it just got worse and worse, so they . . .

Evangeline: They took her to the doctor. Three times!

NC: Oh, I know. So while the retreat was on, they took her on two different occasions to the hospital. The second time, Allison pleaded with them. She said, “Please!” They said, “Well we can't. . . . You know, she's just got . . . It might be strep, we don't know. She'll just get over it. Just give it time.”

Because it was the second time they had taken her, Allison pleaded, “Please, give me some antibiotics, just even to see if they'll work” because she knew how sick she was. But she did not improve.

So when they went back home, I guess it was Wednesday or Thursday, they went back to Pensacola where they live. They took her again to the hospital there. When they got there, they said, this was an infection that wasn't just in her throat. It had gone into the bone, and the bone had become sceptic.

Evangeline: They gave her a scan.

NC: Yes, the other place, they didn't even do anything! They just looked at her. Here, they gave her a CAT scan, and they found that this infection had gone into the bone. It had become sceptic. They said she hasn't got much time left. So they immediately got her onto IV antibiotics. Praise the Lord, little Emily Kate has come right too. But that was a very touch and go thing too.

So we went through that. and praise the Lord that everyone was so much in prayer about everything. Oh my, doesn't prayer work? And then, oh goodness, you started with Jireh, and you had Jether with Maria going. And then the next thing was Saber, wasn't it? What happened to Saber?

Evangeline: Oh yes! Well, Saber, he was . . . They had pulled there, and pushed, and I don't even know how it happened, but the next thing, he came in, and his whole . . . from the knee, all the way down, had completely opened up to the muscle! Like about, oooh, about 16 inches long! He walked in with blood gushing everywhere! He had opened his whole leg up, from the front, all the way down!

NC: Oh, by the way, Saber is Serene's youngest son.

Evangeline: Serene? Mine!

NC: (laughing) Vangie's! When the children were little, and I was raising them, I would usually say every name before I got to the right one!

Evangeline: So, yeah. And then, so we got him all fixed up, and he had . . .

NC: You didn't rush to the hospital with that one, did you? Howard fixed that up because he's actually the family doctor on our land.

Evangeline: He's very good. He works, because doctors are a lot of his friends, and they call him back and forth. But by the time we'd worked through these things that we had lived through, something like this was so little, even  though it was cut down to . . .We could see the muscle!  But Saber was so strong and so we did, I think it was about 15 butterfly stitches, and super glue. It's all healing up so wonderful.

But at the same time, Olivia, Jireh's wife . . . her brothers were with us too, and they're like other sons of mine. Her mom is like my bestie. John had gone out surfing.

Because the rip tide was so bad, there was one woman, just at her ankles, and she got out to just her knees, and the tide whipped her right out! She was a larger woman, and she came around, did the right thing, but she didn't go far enough. She waved to her friends that she'd be right.

And Jireh can't move. He's like a robot, just watching from the balcony with this huge thing around his neck, just only able to move his eyes. He's saying to Liv, “Liv, she's drowning!”

And then Isaiah was there, and he couldn't swim. He was like, “I would only drown both of us.” So she went round three times! She came around, and the riptide took her out again. She came around, and the riptide took her out again. On the third time, she knew she was drowning.

And they screamed to John, and John went out with his surfboard and was able to save her life. And then he was out, and on the way in, the keel of his surfboard came off and dug into him and did a huge gash in his calf muscle. So Howard had to sew him up. Then he had to sew Sharar up, who knocked his whole front toe off! (Sharar is another of Evangeline’s older sons).

NC: (laughing) So . . .

Evangeline: These things will happen. Luke 21, but it's not the end!

NC: So Howard was really, you know, you went down, of course, to do your kayaking. But really, the whole thing changed.

Evangeline: Exactly. It wasn't about our kayaking at all. God, God so had us there. It was amazing. It was such a time. It was beautiful.

NC: Howard put in full time, wasn't he? Sewing people up! (laughing) Oh yes. So anyway, when we came home, and of course, we were in prayer for everyone. Then we were just, I was on the phone, hearing the news of Maria.

And then Colin was on the other phone, my husband, of hearing the news of a very dear friend, a dear pastor friend, who we've been with for years and years, Shaun Kearney, from New Zealand. His son called to say how he had just gone to be with the Lord.

Sadly, some of his family were in Australia, and they can't even get back to the funeral because nobody can get into New Zealand. They've kind of just cut it off. That has been such a sad thing, hasn't it, about this whole lockdown.

Things are coming out now, how that all the numbers have not been true at all. That the real numbers for COVID have gone right down. I think it was about, oh, I had it before me, and I forgot. They were saying it was 153.504 recorded deaths, and now it’s only 9,210 who actually died from COVID alone.

The heartache that people have had to go through. Our dear friend Willy, a dear friend in California, one of our very dear friends, Willie Tata, he's one of our native New Zealanders. He got pneumonia. They took him to hospital, and he was so bad they even had to give him a blood transfusion because he couldn't even . . . his antibodies couldn't fight this thing.

All he was doing was calling out for his wife. She was home calling out for him, and they couldn't even be together! It was so sad!

And then, we had another dear friend, I guess because we're getting older, some of our dearest friends are passing away. Another dear friend, we had worked in full-time ministry with, many, many years ago. We got a call to say that he had passed away, John Dornan.

Evangeline: You are kidding me!

NC: Yes, John and Andre.

Evangeline: You didn't call me!

NC: Oh goodness me, I'm so sorry!

Evangeline: What's his name?

NC: Shaun.

Evangeline: Oooooohhh . . .

NC: I know. John and Andre, they, oohhh, these people I'm talking to you about, they are not just ordinary people. They were saints of God.

Evangeline: I knew them! They were like uncles.

NC: Yes, John and Andre, they were always, did you notice, they're together. You never saw them ever alone. They were together!

Evangeline: It's interesting that it was in the same week.

NC: No, no. Andre's still alive. No, it was a few weeks ago for John. But anyway, he had had a stroke, and she had said they had to put him in a home  because she couldn't cope with some of the things she had to do for him.

But she would go every single day and spend the whole day with him. Because they were an inseparable couple. They couldn't be separated. But when this COVID thing happened, they told her,  “You can come for half an hour only.”

Evangeline: NO!! No!

NC: Yes.

Evangeline: But what would be the difference? Half an hour, or a day? That's disgusting!

NC: I know, it's been so sad. Well, with half an hour a day, he was languishing. They said he was not expected to die, but he died! And it was because of loneliness, the longing for his wife. It was so sad! And that's just been multiplied, over and over and over again.

But anyway, we're talking about this last week, and while we were hearing of Maria, we were also hearing of our dear friend Shaun. And then the next day, we heard of another precious friend, dear Rosa and Ben Brant. She used to look after Above Rubies in Canada. Such a wonderful beautiful woman.

And her husband, he was blind. But he was, he had such an anointing of God upon him. Such a sweetness of soul. When you were with him, you felt like you were just touching Heaven. And we got the news he had passed away.

Anyway, in the midst of all this, it just brings us closer to eternity, doesn't it? Because I think this is what happens. In this life . . . really, what is it? It's a vapor.

Evangeline: It is.

NC: The Bible says it's a vapor. It's going to be here and gone, like a vapor. Here it is, and then it's gone. And that's what this life is, but we live for the eternal realm that is forever and forever. Yes.

Evangeline: Yes. And when you start to see the aspects of the eternal realm, wow! Yeah, you know, it really does change you. You come back, and you're like, “Whooo! Wow!” This is just, this is just nothing on earth.

NC: I think we have to look at everything in the light of eternity, don't you?

Evangeline: To see somebody who does, who's going through it, like I did, to see someone who does, it literally brings Heaven to earth.

NC: Oh yes, so anyway, I didn't start our series, but we'll start it again for next week. But let me just close the session with this Scripture.

2 Corinthians 4. Yes, and this is talking about those who are going through difficulties, and even those who are feeling weary, and all kinds of infirmities and things.

Verse 16, and it says here, “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment...” Sometimes we think that our affliction, or what we're going through, it just goes on and on and on. But the Bible says that when we put it on God's scales, it's light! It's but for a moment. And in the eyes of eternity, it's nothing! It's but for a moment.

“And it works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;” Five adjectives are given to describe the glory that will be revealed in us as we go through . . .

Evangeline: 2 Corinthians . . .

NC: Yes, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18. So it takes five adjectives to reveal the glory that will be worked in us as we let God come into the situations we're going through. Listen to it again.

“A FAR MORE EXCEEDING AND ETERNAL WEIGHT OF GLORY.”

Do you see the scales go down? My infirmities, my thing I'm going through, oh, it seems so heavy! But when we put it in God's scale, boom! Up it goes, and down comes the weight of glory.

“While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

What does your translation say?

Evangeline: Well, I love how it begins here. It says: “For no wonder . . . ” No wonder! “we don't give up.” What a way to start it! “For even though our outer person gradually wears out, our inner being is renewed every single day. We view our slight, short-lived troubles in the light of eternity. We see our difficulties as the substance that produces for us an eternal weighty glory far beyond all comparison.” That's what I saw and witnessed this week, Mum.

“...because we don't focus our attention on what is seen, but what is unseen.” And that's the choice. We choose that, Mum. That's when you see the glory. “For what is seen is temporary, but the unseen realm is eternal.”

NC: That is the Passion Translation. Well, let's pray.

“Father, we thank You that we've been able to talk today about, really, about eternity, about the glory of eternity. We've had little glimpses of it. And Lord, even in all the little things, and the big things that  we have faced over these last couple of weeks, we thank You, Lord, that You are bigger, and You are greater, and You are more glorious.

And Lord, that we can find Your glory and Your anointing in everything. I pray Lord, for every precious mother, young person, grandmother, whoever is listening today, that, Lord, You will pour out Your glory upon them into their situation, into whatever they are going through, Father.

I pray that they will, Lord, choose to see You, and to see Your glory, and, Lord, that that they will see into the eternal realm, and realize that this life is truly a vapor. It's going to be here and gone. But, Lord, we have to prepare, and live, and do everything for the eternal realm. Thank You, Jesus. Amen.”

Transcribed by Darlene Norris.

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 116 - WE ARE GATEKEEPERS OF OUR HOMES – Part 1

Rocky Barrett: Welcome to the podcast, From our Home to Yours, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies. 

Nancy Campbell: Hello ladies. Today I would like to talk to you about guarding our homes. I think it may end up being more than one session, but we’ll see how it goes.

Guarding is something that God loves to do. He is a Guarder.

When we read about the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21, we read that God will have angels guarding the twelve gates of Jerusalem. I think if God needs guardians at the gates of His home, I think we need to have guardians at the gates of our home, don’t you?

Of course, we are the mothers who are at home. We have that responsibility to guard our homes. I think it is a beautiful thing, because with everything, there is hardly a subject that we begin to talk about, and it begins with God.

In the beginning God! in the beginning He was the first of everything. He was the first Guarder. That is Who God is: He watches over us. He guards over us and as we are created in His image, He wants us to be guarders, too.

In fact, we are to be guarders of our homes, but also countries have to be guarded and cities have to be guarded. Shepherds guard their flocks. When God is talking about pastors and elders of churches, He talks to them about shepherding and guarding their flocks (Acts 20:28).

Then it comes down to us as the fathers and mothers of our homes and we are to guard them.

Before we get down to the nitty-gritty of guarding our own homes I have been thinking very much about the guarding of our nation. As I think about that, I think about our coming elections. I want to put a little plug in here for every God-fearing person listening to me that we be ready and prepared to vote for this election.

I don’t say that as being political. I say that as someone who is burdened for our families and for the future generations for our nation.

I think about it often. Do you think about it? Do you think about your children? Do you think about your grandchildren? And do you think about what kind of a nation that they are going to live in?

Sadly, we have to face the facts that this election is far more than just an election of, “Do we vote for President Trump or do we vote for Joe Biden?”

I mean that’s even no longer the issue. The issue is: are we going to vote to save our nation? Because if Joe Biden and Kamala Harris get in that will definitely be the end of our nation as we know it today.

They will open all the borders. It will not be a nation that is guarded.  That is one thing about President Trump: He has protected our borders. When he came into power there were caravans of thousands coming up from the Southern border. He put a stop to all that. We have nothing of that now. He has sought to guard the borders and the gates of our nation because He loves this nation. He is a nationalist.

But Joe Biden and all his pack, they are for open borders. Anyone can come in--terrorists, it doesn’t matter who they are, it’s just, “Come on in. We’ll look after you. We’ll pay for you.”

It doesn’t matter about the citizens. They can hardly survive but they will look after any person who comes into this nation, coming in totally illegally.

Now we came into this nation from a foreign country but my! We had to pay a lot of money. We had to work hard to first of all spend time to get our Green Card, then after having that for many years, getting our citizenship. That was a wonderful day for us. We are so blessed to be citizens of this great country.

But there will be no protection if they get in. There will be terrorism. Police, as they are being defunded, will be defunded all over the nation.

They will open the doors to China. That is their agenda, to open the doors to China. China will be able to come in and take over our businesses, they will take over our government buildings, and they will take over the land. Russia will come and will take over  . . . it will become full of anarchy.

In fact, you can do a little experiment. Do you want to try this?

At our church fellowship on Sunday one of the ladies said to me, “Nancy, I couldn’t believe it. I put into my Internet antifa.com as I just wanted to check out what their agenda was, and I couldn’t believe what came up.”

Can you believe what came up? Immediately the moment you put in antifa.com Joe Biden or Kamala Harris come up. That’s the first thing that comes up.

They are tied to Antifa.

That’s hard to believe, isn’t it, that someone who is running to protect our nation is tied to Antifa. They’re all one.

Try it yourself; it’s unbelievable. You just can’t believe it.

Therefore, we have to be sure that we are prepared to vote and that all of our children who are 18 years or older are registered to vote.

There are going to be thousands and thousands of young people across this nation who have been brainwashed and propagandized in our universities by liberal and communist professors who will vote for this extreme socialism, which is really communism.

What about us? We’ve got to get our young people voting so make sure they are registered.

Perhaps you are someone who has never believed in voting. Well, I’m sorry to say, when you don’t cast a vote you are casting a vote. To not vote is to vote. When you don’t cast a vote for righteousness and the protection and the saving of this nation, you are casting a vote for communism because that is what’s going to come in.

So as we begin to think about guarding, even guarding our homes, guarding our families, we have to guard our nation.

I want to guard the type of nation my children, my grandchildren, my great-grandchildren, of which I already have many and so many are coming on, what kind of a nation will they live in.

It would be devastating, as we have seen in every country that has gone to communism, like Venezuela. I mean, it was a rich and amazing country and now it’s just poverty-stricken and we don’t want this for our children.

As we talk about guarding our families, we have got to take a strong stand. We have got to take action. We do have to vote so that we can guard the future of our precious children that they will live in a nation founded on the Constitution, which it is meant to be.

Already we are on a downhill slide in our nation because of Roe versus Wade. We have 63 million precious babies who have been murdered in the sanctity of the womb.

I mean, we cry out for God’s mercy and yet we deserve His judgment.

Yet if this Democratic Party gets in, it will be open slaughter for they totally believe in abortion for any reason right up to birth and after birth, which is infanticide. I mean, God vomited the children of Israel out of the land of Israel for that very thing and so we have to vote against that.

Our President is Pro-life. This other party is totally pro-abortion and not just abortion, but infanticide.

I mean they embrace the homosexual agenda and the transgender. It’s everything that is against God.

I believe that we as God-fearing, Bible-believing people, we must take a stand. We have to vote against these evils, and we must vote for righteousness.

All right, so now let’s come down to the nitty-gritty of our homes. How do we guard our homes?

First of all, let’s go to the Word and see what God has to say.

NEW TESTAMENT GUARDING

There are two words in the New Testament about guarding and there are two words in the Old Testament. There may be more, but these are the main ones.

In the New Testament we go to Titus 2:4-5 where God is telling the older women to teach the younger women how they are to live. The Bible says we are to teach them to be keepers at home.

“I beg your pardon,” I hear you say, “So you are telling me that I just have to be at home and that’s all I’m good for.”

Well, let’s look at what the word really means. If we go back to the Greek, we find that this phrase is actually translated differently according to what early manuscript it came from.

One manuscript translates it as: “Workers at home.”

It is two words, oikos, meaning “home,” and then the other word, ergon, meaning “to work.” And so it means “workers at home.”

Dear mother, you are doing the most wonderful job in your home as you raise your children and as you watch over their lives.

Some of you may be doing extra work in the home and that is wonderful, too, because as it says, we are workers at home. Of course we do have to watch the seasons for that. For those of you with little children all around you, that takes every moment of your day. You don’t have to feel that you’re not accomplishing much. No, you’re doing great work.

Some of you are older mothers and you have older children who are such a wonderful help to you, and you are able to do other things in your home. They are things that can be reaching out to those who are needy and those who are poor. Maybe you have a business in your home and your older children are helping you with it.

But you are very busy in your home and you are right there. That is the main thing, that you are right there because you can watch over your children. You see, the enemy’s ploy is to get you out of your home so we can’t keep our beady eyes upon our children. He doesn’t want us to be guarders of the home

He wants us out of the way because when the devil can get mothers out of the home and mothers out of the way then he can get his claws on our children and into the minds of our children, putting in the seeds of deception that can turn them away from God.

We have to be there, always there, watching over them.

The other word is also an oikos word;  oikos meaning “home” and ouros meaning “to guard, to watch, to keep, to have the oversight and responsibility for something.”

It also means not only a home worker but a home guarder where we are a watchdog, watching over our home, watching over the doors and the gates of our home.

The word also means “a stay at home mother.” That’s also the meaning that the Strong’s Concordance brings out.

But she’s not staying home just because she has to stay at home. No, she’s staying home for a purpose. She knows she is needed. She knows she is the guardian of the gates of her home. She is a watchdog.

She is like the keeper of the keys of the castle. That keeper, that guarder of the castle, he will not let those keys go to anyone, to any invader, or to anyone who would come in who should not. No, we are the ones who stand sentinel at the door of our homes to guard over them.

So we see that word and then we have another word in the New Testament. The next New Testament word is found in 1 Thessalonians 5:23. Here Paul is praying for the Thessalonian believers and he says: “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

When I was raising our children, this was the Scripture that I took hold of. I made it my vision when I raised our children.

My aim was that when I stand before the Lord, as I will one day, and as each one of us will and we will stand there to present our children before Him, I want to present them the to the Father WHOLE—spirit, soul, and body, and that they would be preserved blameless at the coming of Jesus.

That’s the other word, it’s the word preserved. It’s tēreō and it means “to watch over, to guard from loss or injury by keeping the eye upon.”

Once again it is a close guarding where we are watching with our eyes—with our physical eyes, and with our spiritual eyes as we watch in prayer. We are guarding over our children.

We are not only guarding their bodies because, you know, it’s easier to care for the physical bodies of our children. We just watch that they’re fed, and they’re clothed, and they’re housed. But it’s a bigger thing to watch over their souls and to watch over their spirits.

That’s a greater mothering. That’s a greater nurturing. That is a greater guarding. That takes being there.

You can’t watch over your children’s souls and spirits if you’re being wooed away from the home.

I love this little quote. I think it’s so true:

“The devil woos women out of the home;

God woos them into the home.”

 We have to watch who we are being led by.

I think if you would like, you could also take that Scripture in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 as a beautiful vision for raising your family. I found it such a wonderful Scripture.

OLD TESTAMENT GUARDING

Then we go to the Old Testament and we see another two words that I’d like to tell you regarding guarding.

The first one is shammah and it means “to keep safe, to preserve, to guard, to protect, to watch, to hedge about.”

The very first time that we read this word is in Genesis 2:15, right at the very beginning. God has created the man and then He puts the man in the garden. Then it says that He put him into the garden to “dress it.”

The Hebrew word there means “to work in it” and also “to keep it” and that’s the word shamar meaning “to guard and preserve and protect and keep watch.”

Now isn’t it interesting? Did you pick up on that, ladies, that the words, “keepers at home” is either translated from either two manuscripts. One being “keepers” or “guardians of the home.”

Here we are right back in Genesis at the very beginning and at the beginning God shows the way for the rest of time. In the first three chapters of Genesis God revealed His plan for mankind, His plan for marriage, His plan for motherhood, and His plan for the home.

He laid it all out and here He is giving it again. The garden of Eden was the first home. It was the type of home to come. It was called “The Garden of Eden.” Do you know what the word Eden means? It’s the Hebrew word for “delight.”

So it is called “The Garden of Delight.” And this, being the first prototype of the home, is how God wants our homes to be today. He wants them to be a delight.

Of course it takes time to make them a delight, doesn’t it?

In this home, God said, “I want you to do two things: I want you to work in it and I want you to guard over it.”

We see it in the Old Testament, and we see it in the New. God gives the principles of what He wants us to do in the home. He wants us to work in the home, make it our life and, dear precious ladies, you make your home what you want it to be.

Is it boring? Do you feel like a prisoner? Well, obviously that’s what you’re making your home to be like.

You can make your home the most wonderful place on earth, such a delight that you don’t even want to even leave.

That’s what we’re meant to do. To make it a delight for our husband, a delight for our children, a delight for everyone who comes and a delight for ourselves because we long to be there and we come to realize what an amazing place it is.

Yes, it is a sanctuary where we can raise our children but it’s a place where we can minister to so many people.

You have the gift of a home. God has given you a sphere where you can invite people to come in. You can bless them, you can feed them, and you can encourage them. You can make wonderful things happen.

You can do projects. From your home you can minister out to so many needy people. The home is where you can do such creativity and such great things can happen.

We’ve just got to get a vision for our homes, don’t we?

But we’re talking about guarding and also how that God is our Guarder and God is our Shamar. Did you know that dear ladies? That same word God gave to us to guard our homes, that is Who God is called.

He is the Keeper of Israel. He is the Shamar of Israel.

Don’t you love Psalm 121 where it says: “He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.” That is the word shamar. He’s guarding over you, protecting you, watching over you, and hedging you about.

“Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.” Once again, that is the word shamar.

“The  Lord  is thy keeper [shamar]: the  Lord  is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil . . ..”

That’s shamar. There it is. It just comes over and over again.

“ . . . He shall preserve thy soul . . ..” Yes, shamar again. He’s guarding over your soul as you yield to Him.

“The  Lord  shall preserve [shamar again] thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.”

Dear ladies, this is a picture of God, Who is our Guardian, our Keeper, our Protector; the One Who hedges us about. This is God. This is Who He is.

When you are in your home and when you are taking up that anointing to guard your home, you don’t just think, “Oh here I am stuck at home with these children.”

No, you have a great career and you have a task. It’s a God-given task, a God-like task and when you are guarding your children you are being like God.

Read Psalm 121 again and when you read about how God guards you personally and how He guards His people of Israel, think about how you can guard your children like that.

What can be more powerful, more influential, and more incredible in the whole of the earth than to be like God and to do what He does?

We read in Psalm 34:7: “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.”

I love Deuteronomy 11:12 where God is speaking about His people and the land that He was taking them into. He says: “A land which the Lord thy God careth for: the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.”

Isn’t that a glorious promise?

That was spoken over Israel but I believe that as we put our trust in God that we can claim that promise that His eyes are always upon our homes and that He watches over us from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.

That should also be our heart for our children too.

We also read another different word in the Old Testament and it’s found in Proverbs 31:27. That’s in the virtuous woman chapter. It says: “She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.”

Let’s look a little closer at that Scripture, shall we?

It says: “She looketh well . . ..” Do you notice that pronoun SHE?

Yes, did you know that there are some schools that are now trying to take out those pronouns? They don’t want she. They don’t want he. But these pronouns are God-given. God created male and female. God created she and he.

God gave different tasks to each one and as we read the example of this woman in Proverbs 31, we read over and over and over again the pronoun SHE.

When you have a moment go and read it again and go and put a little circle around, SHE. Every time it talks about what she is doing, what she is doing in the home.

It’s not what the man is doing. No, he is out working to provide for the home; but this woman is in the home doing great and mighty things.

I hope I got my count right, but I counted that the word SHE occurs 18 times in Proverbs 31. And get this, the word HER occurs 30 times in Proverbs 31.

How about that? Yes, it’s all about SHE and HER!

The phrase “her household” occurs three times. Yes, it’s HER household that God has given to her to create, to make it what she wants it to be, and to guard it, watch over it, and protect it.

Then this phrase: “She looketh well.”

Now that phrase is the Hebrew word tsaphah and it is exactly, can you believe it, the same word that is used for a watchman of a city?

When it’s talking about the watchman on the wall, it’s the word tsaphah and it’s the same word here. Instead of saying “She is a watchman” it says: “She looks well to the ways of her household.”

But that’s the word in the Hebrew. It’s watchman, or should we say, “watchwoman.” It means “to lean forward, to peer into the distance, to observe, to espy, to keep watch.”

Dear ladies, this woman, she’s not only watching over her children just for the day. She’s not like a babysitter, “I’m watching over these children for the day.”

No, it’s her life work and she looks into the distance. She peers into the future because she is guarding them from what is to come. She is creating now what she can do to make the future a safe place for her children. She is getting her children ready to go out and face the world.

She is strengthening them. She is making them strong in truth, strong in their convictions, strong in faith, strong in purity, and strong in righteousness because she is getting them ready for the future.

She knows that she has to do this because when we are nurturing children, we are not just babysitting them for a day.

No, we are preparing them for the future. We are preparing them to go out of our homes into this deceived and evil world. We are preparing them to stand, to be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

This is what this woman is doing. She watches, protects, hedges about, and guards the ways of her household.

“The ways of her household” is another lovely phrase.

“She looketh well to the ways . . ..” The next phrase is “to the ways” and it means: “walking, a procession, or a march.” It’s a going. It’s talking about action here. This mother at home is not just sitting on her sofa getting taken up with social media and the hours are going by.

No, she actually has purpose in her walking and in her going. It’s like a processional or a march because she knows what she is doing.

It’s the same word that is once again used of God. I love it, don’t you, dear ladies, when we read a word in the Bible that relates to us but then we read that same Hebrew word where it relates to God.

We read in Habakkuk 3:6 where it says that God’s “ways are everlasting.”

There is another Scripture, I forget where it is, but it talks about the goings of God in His sanctuary and it’s the same Hebrew word.

There we go. We saw two words in the New and two words in the Old about guarding.

Now how are we to guard our families and our households?

We’re going to look at it a little more closely and we’re going to find out what our resume should be because if we actually do have to have a resume to be a guardian of the home.

We could call ourselves a “Gatekeeper” too. That’s another good name.

We look back as we go back in the Bible and see what the Gatekeepers were like. As we go back to David’s time we found that during the time of David’s tabernacle he appointed 4,000 gatekeepers, which weren’t all working at the same time because they did it in courses that had different times and then others would take over.

But there were 4,000 of them to keep watch over the tabernacle. The gates were north, south, east, west and the entrance gate and they were never ever to be unguarded.

Once again, our time has gone so next week we are going to start talking about the resume because not just anybody could be a gatekeeper.

You couldn’t just say, “Oh I think I’ll be a gatekeeper at the tabernacle and watch over the temple.” No, they had to have certain criteria. They had to have certain characteristics and we’ll see how God wants us to be as the guardians and the gatekeepers of our homes.

I know that you are going to look forward to that next week.

Let us pray:

“Dearest Heavenly Father, We thank You so much that You created us in Your image. You created us to be like You. You are a Guardian. You watch over us. You protect us.

“I pray Father, that You would pour that anointing over each one of us that we would truly learn to guard our children and guard our homes in the way You watch over and guard us.

“Help us to be faithful guardians and faithful gatekeepers of our homes. We ask it in the precious name of Jesus. Amen.”

 

Transcribed by Morgan Roth.

 

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 115- BIRTHING BABIES, PART 2

Meadow joins me again today as we continue talking about birth. We talk about embracing birth, the power of birthing, and how God is very involved in the birth. We talk about the blessing of BIRTHING ENCOURAGEMENT PARTIES, which prepare young mothers for childbirth, and more.

Nancy Campbell:  Hello, ladies. Meadow and I are here together again. I'm so sorry that you didn't get the podcast on time. Meadow and I had done it together, but when it was time to be sent out to our webmaster, it was lost! It could not be found. o Colin and I came all the way back from Florida, where we had been having our Above Rubies Family Retreat. Now we've come down the track (a couple of hours) to Meadow's home, because she's just moved into a new home.

So here we are, and we're going to do this second session again. Well last time, I started off with a poem, so I'm going to read it to you. It's called:

BABY, YOU’RE WORTH IT!

By Jenny Silliman

Morning sickness, nighttime too,

Sleepy and tired the whole day through,

Oh thank You God! A baby!

Money’s tight and clothes don’t fit,

More to sew and mend and knit,

Oh thank You God! A baby!

Baby stuff is everywhere,

And I just sit here in my chair.

Oh thank You God! A baby!

Daddy declares, “We’re going out to eat!”

“Then ties my shoes, I can’t reach my feet.”

Oh thank You God! A baby!

Waiting and waiting, and pains at last,

Only false labor and due date past,

Oh thank You God! A baby!

Out in public, huge and humble,

“Is this your first?” “My sixth,” I mumble.

Oh thank You God! A baby!

Strangers’ advice, looks and sneers,

Taking comments, jokes, and jeers,

Oh thank You God! A baby!

Five children in tow, one on the way,

Out shopping my nerves begin to fray,

Oh thank You God! A baby!

Aches and pains and heavy with child,

Can’t wait to put Baby down awhile.

Oh thank You God! A baby!

The pains begin, they’re good and strong,

Pray and labor all night long.

Oh thank You God! A baby!

Labor and sweat and bear the pain,

Husband works to share the strain,

Oh thank You God! A baby!

The babe is born, oh sweet reward.

What a blessed gift from the Lord.

Oh thank You God! A Baby!

Well, in this session, we're talking about birth. Now that's the harder part. But of course, the reward is worth it. This precious, precious baby!

So it's great to be here with you again, Meadow. We've got lots of things to talk to you about in this session. Maybe before you share, Meadow, I should share with you . . .  I said right at the end of Part 1, we didn't get time to tell you about Evangeline's story.

We were just sharing, weren't we, about the “high” that you get after the baby is born, that oxytocin high. Meadow was saying how that you feel as though you climbed Mt. Everest. I said, “Wow, that's exactly what Evangeline said when she gave birth to Tiveria!”

Now that's quite a long time ago. I think Tiveria is 17 now, isn't she? I'm sure she is. Anyway, at that birth, Vange was having a breech baby. They decided that Howard would be the midwife. It was quite an amazing birth. He was an incredible midwife. He just was totally “hands on.” He was in control. He just knew how to bring this baby forth. When a baby is breech, you only have a couple of minutes to get that baby out, once the breech part, the buttocks of the baby, has crowned.

This baby, she was ready to push, and Howard said, “Yes, you can push, but as she began to push, Howard realized this baby was stuck. He had to manually go in, to bring down each leg, one by one, and then go in, and bring down each arm. All the while, he's just looking up at Vange, and saying “You're doing great! You're doing great!”

He was doing all this. It was just unbelievable. We were all gathered around Vange, and we were crying out, “Oh, God, bring forth this baby in the Name of Jesus!” And then the head was stuck! Oh goodness me.

But he had prepared and thought about if ever such a thing should happen, what would he do? He had worked out what he would do, which he did. This baby's head became unstuck and came out. We sort of thought, oh goodness me, it seems like half an hour that all this was happening! But it was only, barely a minute or so.

This baby came out, and it was just so glorious! Evangeline said, “Oh, I've climbed Mt. Everest, and I've put my flag at the top!” That's what you feel like after a birth. It's so amazing.

You know, sometimes, it doesn't work out that you have a natural birth. But we always love and long for that, and pursue that, if we can possibly do it, because it's how our bodies were created. Our bodies were created to bring forth a baby. Then you have this glorious, wonderful oxytocin high. You have such an empowerment. I think there's an empowerment in birthing, isn't there?

You know, I think it's sad for many mothers who just give over their birth to a doctor and hospital staff. They're not really participating themselves. They miss out. Because in participating and birthing your baby, you are empowered. It gives you worth as a woman. You feel that there's nothing you can't do!

Meadow: It reminds me about birth. “A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come. But as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers her anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into this world.” That's John 16:21.

NC: Yes, that is just so true, isn't it? So I believe, this is why our lovely young mothers, especially first-time mothers, they need encouraging. So many of them have never been encouraged, or even understood about how they can actually birth.

Along with my lovely daughters, a while back . . .  Actually Rashida was the first, wasn't she? We decided that we would gather together and put on a birthing encouragement party for our new mothers.

Meadow: I had one too.

NC: Oh you did. It was so great. We started with Rashida, and it was so wonderful that we thought, “Oh, wow, we're doing one for Meadow.” You made sure we did one for you, didn't you? You weren't going to not have that!

So, of course, we had the baby shower. But then, we had this birthing encouragement party. What we do, at Rashida's, and we did it for beautiful Meadow, too . . . We don't just have a great big party, because we only gather those who can positively share about birth, and give understanding, and little tips and know-how to these new mothers who have never been through it before.

I come, and Pearl, and Serene, and Vange, and one or two other close friends who just birth naturally. We begin to share. It's just so wonderful. Vange, she has really studied birth, of course, had ten births. Between us all, we've all had so many births.

So each one will go round and share the things that they found helped them during birth, so that they could encourage this young mother. How was it a blessing to you, Meadow?

Meadow: Oh, after I had my birthing encouragement party, I remember thinking, every new mother needs to have one of these. It was so encouraging to me. It made me excited about giving birth! Another thing that they did at my party is they all brought freezer foods for me. That really helped out post-partum.

That's such a wonderful thing, because a lot of times in western culture, we throw a baby shower for the mother because we want to bless them with the new baby. We sometimes forget about the mother. I was thinking, this is such a wonderful way to bless the mother because she's the one having the baby. She needs a lot of rest, and she needs a lot of encouragement. I think it would be . . . A lot of women would have a lot more confidence as they approach their birth. In Japan they don't even have baby showers!

NC: Oh, really?

Meadow: Yes, I remember saying, “Oh, I'm going to have a baby shower” to my doctor, and they were like, “What's a baby shower?”

NC: Oh, really?

Meadow: So at least we have that! But this was just one more thing that's such a blessing to the new mother.

NC: Oh, yes, and it's so wonderful to have a baby shower, and get all these beautiful gifts and clothes for your baby, clothes that you'll never manage to get through all of them to wear! I remember Rashida's second baby shower, no, third, for her last little boy. That was her third baby. Oh, she got so many sets of clothes, I don't know how she'll ever use them.

But when you have a birthing encouragement party, oh, I don't know, I just think it would be wonderful, as Meadow did, for every young mother to have this.

Meadow: Oh yes, I would say, at your birth encouragement party, invite women who are only going to share positive birth stories. This is something I think is so important, to encourage young women and not scare them with their birth stories.

I think that's why so many women, they want to have epidurals, because a lot of times, when we talk about our birth stories, if we had a traumatic experience, that's how we cope with the trauma, is by talking about our birth stories. But that can cause fear for young women who have never given birth or been pregnant. So I think it doesn't mean that we can't talk about how our birth was hard, but it's about the way we talk about it.

Like when you, Nana, were talking about Auntie Vangie's breech birth, it was the way you talked about it. You talked about it as a victorious experience. But if you had said, “Oh it was terrible, she had a breech birth, and she was really scared to go through it again. I don't know how she did it! It was so scary!”

Well, that would cause a lot of  fear, I think. So I, when I talk about my birth, there were some physical things that I went through, but my point is, “Oh, but God got me through that. It was so beautiful, a victorious experience.”

Yes, some things were hard, like I had back labor with both of mine. Their head was in the wrong position. It was down, but it was facing the wrong way. So that was very painful. But it was not traumatic. I was so able to get through it, and still look back and think it was a wonderful experience.

NC: Yes, yes! That is the thing. Because something can be hard as you're going through. You know, labor is labor! It's hard, hard work. Like some men have to get out and work so hard. You know, even when you work hard, if you're really doing something that takes all your strength, you go, uhhhhh. Yu kind of groan, and you do that with labor, too.

Of course, that's one of the little secrets, isn't it? You do have to be vocal in labor. It's important. There's something about being vocal that helps you move these things. So when you're in labor, and you've just got to let it out, but the secret is, you keep it to that low groan.

You don't get high and scream, because that doesn't help. It just completely makes it worse. There's something about this intense, uhhhhh, this groaning, this low groan, even if it's loud, loud, loud. Because it helps you in that intensity of the labor. But it's not as though you're dying, it's just you're doing intense labor!

Meadow: I can add that, yes, I remember before I gave birth, not to scream, not to make any high-pitched noises, because that actually makes it worse. So when I had to push Warren out, I was pushing a really long time, over an hour. I was doing like heavy metal groaning!

I have a very soft, high-pitched voice, so that noise was kind of surprising, coming from me, I guess. I just had to do everything I could to get him out, because his hand was up there, so I did that deep, deep, almost growling noise. But it seemed to help!

NC: It does, it does help, yes. I would notice with many of the births of our daughters, and our wonderful midwife would be there. They would maybe start to get a little bit high and she would say, “Come on, get that noise down!” Because it's so much better for your labor contractions.

Another thing I love to tell the young mothers, and this is something I found a blessing for me. I had to know it, because you're going through labor, and you're getting up to six and seven and eight, and then you're getting closer, you're coping. OK, you're groaning, but you're coping. You ride and you raise, or whatever you do.

That's another thing too. You know, when each contraction comes, it's important to think of something that you will do as you go through that contraction. Everybody will think of something different. For me, to me it was like riding a wave. I guess, because I was brought up near the sea, by the Pacific Ocean, with the pounding waves kind of coming down, and loving to ride on those waves. It was something that I loved.

In fact, we were just down at Panama Beach, because that's where we had the family retreat. The hurricanes had been coming through nearby. We didn't get them, but it made the sea very rough, especially for the Gulf.

It was fun. I just love going out, but although it was sort of rough, it was still not like what I was used to with living in New Zealand, and then in Surfer’s Paradise in Australia. So I, as each contraction came, I would just think of riding this wave. Instead of tensing, I would seek to just go with the contraction, and go with it, and ride it out to the finish. So that was my mental image. What did you do with yours?

Meadow: Yes, I think women have different approaches to how they manage their contractions. I remember when I gave birth to Raymond, I would open up my palms every time I had a contraction because that would prevent me from tensing up. Because if your palms are tense, then it's likely that you're tense down there.

I would thank God. When the contractions came, I would be like, “Thank You, God, because my body is working to get the baby out.” Contractions are progress. That's how you have to view them. You can't fight them. You have to surrender to them.

So I would just focus on one contraction at a time. Don't worry about the next contraction. Don't think, “Oh, if this one is hard, how am I going to handle the next one?” Just take it one at a time. Because you get breaks, and God's grace is sufficient for that moment.

NC: Yes! That's beautiful. I love that, Meadow. Oh, I think Serene is a little spoiled. She always has quite a little wait between her contractions. I have even seen her at some of her births sort of nod off to sleep between them.

Meadow: That happened to me!

NC: Really?

Meadow: Yes, not with Warren. It was very intense with Warren, my first. But with Raymond, it's like my body gave me a break during transition, and I almost felt like I could take a nap.

NC: Wow!

Meadow: And I remember hearing my midwife say, “Yes, sometimes this happens when you're at a ten. Your body will put you in rest mode before you push, to reserve energy.” It was amazing.

NC: Amazing! Yes, God is so good! He is with us in labor. He is with you, dear mother, in your labor. God is with you every moment.

That's another thing, talking about transition. To me, I always had to have that there in the back of my mind, knowing that when I got to transition, when I'm opened up to ten, that's those last two or three contractions, they are so intense. They are the most intense. It's that time that many mothers think, “Oh, no, I can't do this! I can't do this!” And they want to get an epidural or get something else. They will give in.

But if you know, you've got to remember, OK, when you get to that intense time, that's transition. “Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! I've nearly got my baby!” So many of them, after those last few transition contractions, you're then, maybe you'll have a rest like you, but then you're going to begin to push.

And you're doing something entirely different. You're now pushing your baby out. So if you can just remember, especially dear new mothers, when you get to that most intense time, maybe your midwife or your nurse will say, “Yes, you're just at nine or ten! You're just about there, and you can do it! You can do it because you're right at the end!” So it's remembering at what stage you're at.

Meadow: That's right. With my second, transition was a lot faster. My water broke, and two contractions later, he was here. But with Warren, I had a long transition. But I, one thing I never let myself think was, “Oh, this is going to take forever! How am I ever going to get through this?” The mindset is so powerful, so I just kept thinking, “He's coming soon, he's coming soon,” even though I was pushing so long. You just have to thank God, “Oh, Thank You Lord, that this baby is coming!”

And you have to really envision yourself opening wide, because if you envision your body opening up wide, then you're more likely to open up wide, because our mind has a powerful influence over our body. But if you think, “Oh, I don't know how this baby is going to come out! I don't know how I can get this baby out of  my body!” Then you're more likely to tense and close up. So one of the best tips is to really envision yourself opening up.

NC: Yes, yes! Amen. Oh yes. So I hope you're getting all these little things. These are just some of the little tips, along with many others, that we would share at these encouragement parties. I'm just thinking, maybe we should do a podcast—I should get Serene, Vange, and Pearl...

Meadow: We'd have so much to share!

NC: Oh, yes, it would be a great idea, because, oh, it is so necessary to have that encouragement. It is just such a beautiful experience. I would have to say that giving birth to my babies were the most, some of the most beautiful, even though they were intense, and I had true, real labor, but oh, when you think of the whole birth, and the joy of that baby coming! They were some of the greatest experiences of my life!

Meadow: Oh, yes, after giving birth . . . two of the most amazing moments I can think of in my life were just after I gave birth. Because you have all of these endorphins, natural hormones of responding with your baby, oxytocin . . . It's just oh, it's hard to describe it!

NC: You cannot describe it until you have experienced it. That's why I want to encourage every new mom to just not give in and, “Here I am, just do what you have to do to get this baby out.” No! You birth this baby, and you will then get that beautiful, wonderful experience that God gives to you. Because God is in it all.

Oh, can I read you one or two Scriptures? There are so many Scriptures, but I wrote down a couple here I wanted to share with you.

Psalm 22: 9. David is speaking, and he says: “But Thou art He that took me out of the womb.” Now David is saying, “Oh, God, You are the One Who brought me out of the womb.”

He would have had . . . sure, there were midwives around. That was very much part of Biblical life and historical life back then. There were always many midwives around who would be there to help the mother with the birth.

But David acknowledged: “Oh, God, You are the One Who brought me forth from the womb.” I want you to get this, dear mothers. Ultimately it is God Who brings forth the baby. You may have a doctor there, you may have nurses, or you may have a midwife at home. But whoever is with you, it is God Who will bring this baby forth. He is the One Who does it.

In my margin, it says: “You were the One Who kept me in safety.” That's actually the root understanding of that Scripture. Quite a few other translations say: “You delivered me safely from my mother's womb.” Yes, now actually the New English Translation, in their comments say: “You are the One Who pulled me out.” They say the word is “pull out,” or “burst forth,” or “kept me safe.”

So these are beautiful understandings of that Scripture. “You are the One Who took me out of my mother's womb, Who brought me safely forth.” Oh, that's a Scripture you need to write down, and have it there, so you can have it in your heart, and in your mind, and speak it forth.

Yes, the Knox Translation says: “What Hand but Thine drew me out from my mothers' womb?” What hand was it? It was God's Hand. He's the One. His Hand is there to help bring forth your babies.

And then we have the Message Bible, which is a little more kind of down to earth. It says: “And to think that You” speaking of God, “Oh, God, You were midwife at my birth, setting me at my mother's breast.” Ultimately, God is your midwife. He is the One Who will bring your baby safely forth from your womb. So take hold of that. Oh, what a promise!

And then there's Psalm 71: 6. “By Thee, Oh God, have I been holden up from the womb. Thou art He that took me out of my mother's bowels,” or my mother's womb. “My praise shall be continually of Thee.” Isn't that wonderful? That's how I think of birth, every time I think of it. For my own . . . I think of it for every mother as I pray for her, for her birth. Thank You, Lord.

And maybe I just want to pray over every mother who's getting ready to have a baby. You're pregnant, your birth is coming up soon.

“Oh, Father, I bring every pregnant mother before You now. I bring her birth before You. At that moment, when this baby says it's time to come, because it's the baby who says it's time to come . . .

And Lord, I pray that You will come to her, and You will bring their precious baby forth, Lord. Oh, we thank You that You are the One Who does it. You are the One Who brings the baby safely forth. Lord God, I speak that promise over every mother waiting to have her baby. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

Meadow: One more topic I can cover really quick. I just, I remember in our last podcast, we were talking about pain. And we were talking about fear of childbirth, but more specifically, I want to talk about fear of the pain, because that's why so many mothers get epidurals.

A lot of times, when we think of pain in childbirth, we think that it's going to be the most excruciating experience we've ever had. And in some cases, it might be the most pain a woman's ever gone through.

But not always. I've actually experienced some things that I thought were worse than childbirth, like when I had my root canal. Like this is worse than childbirth! It's more intense.

The thing about contractions is, they're not a sharp pain. They're more of a deep pain that grows. The nice thing about it is, you get breaks. You're not in pain the entire time, like if you have really bad tooth pain that hurts almost the entire time until you get it fixed. That's not the case with childbirth.

Another thing is when the baby comes out, when you have the “ring of fire.” I know some women are scared of that. What I would say to them is that's actually an exciting pain. Like when the baby starts to come out, and you feel that happening, that's one of the most exciting experiences ever, because you can actually feel the baby coming out of your body.

You're not really focusing on the pain. You're focusing on the baby, on the process of giving birth, and pushing out the baby. I don't remember that part being scary. It was like, “Oh my goodness, it's happening! He's almost out!” So don't be afraid of that part.

NC: Yes, Yes! Oh, I know! Lovely ladies, you don't have to look with just, oh, that fear, as you come to birth. You look forward it with joy because it is a very beautiful experience. And the greatest thing is, God is with you! He is the One Who brought conception. He is the One Who has mightily, supernaturally, amazingly, created this precious life in your womb.

He doesn't abandon you when this baby is to come. He is there! He's bringing this baby forth. Yield to your birth. As you yield to it, you will find that it is so much easier. God will be with you in the most wonderful way. Amen!

Meadow: Amen, Nana!

NC: Anything more you want to say about it?

Meadow: Oh, I guess I'd have a couple of practical tips. Get your husband on board. Let him study with you so that he can be your coach. So you can be a team. I love that my husband was my coach during birth. With my second, I didn't really need coaching so much, because it was so instinctive for me. But it can be comforting to know that your husband can remind you to keep your palms open, and how to breathe through the contractions.

NC: When I was breathing and preparing for my births, so many years ago now, but there was a wonderful book called Husband-Coached Childbirth. I'm not sure whether it is around today, but I'm sure you can get old books that are still there on Amazon. Look for it. It was a powerful book. I loved it. It was one of my favorite books on childbirth. Just look it up You might find it. It will be a real blessing to you.

It's so good to get hold of positive, encouraging books on birth that would encourage you to see it as a beautiful, God-given experience that your body was created to do. This is also what we need to be reminded of, lovely ladies, especially beautiful young mothers, or even mothers who had difficult hospital births, had invasion. And you haven't been able to be free to just do it how you want, and to position yourself how you want, get down on your knees, or do however you want to birth this baby.

Go after that, even those who've had C-sections. You know, many times you are informed by the medical staff that, “Oh, you've had a C-section, you'll just have to keep having C-sections. You know, you can't have a natural birth now.” That is not true.

There are literally thousands of women who have had VBACs, vaginal birth after C-section. It is something to go after. Go after it, and seek out a good midwife, or someone who will help you do that. Because it is so worth it! Your body was created to give birth! You're created to do it! So you can do it!

Meadow: Yes, that's great, Nana. So I just wanted to go over some of the practical tips we've already discussed. We've talked about opening your palms. We talked about low deep noises. We talked about envisioning yourself opening up wide, and how to handle each contraction.

Another one is to push out slowly. When I pushed with Warren, my first, I had to push out really long and hard, because his hand was stuck, so I couldn't really help with that. But he came out flying, and the doctor caught him thankfully! So I couldn't really push slowly out with him.

But with Raymond, I was one my knees, which helped so much. I actually gradually pushed him out really slow. That can take a lot of self-control, because you really, really feel like they need to get out, when they're in there like that. But that gave my body time to open up. So I think that really helped, the fact that I didn't tear.

NC: The pushing out is so important to do like that. I just love watching our lovely midwives, who were with so many of the births of our daughters. I think, well, she's hardly, of all the thousands of births she's done, she's hardly ever had a tear. She would just massage the perineum, helping to open it up, just as the baby was crowning.

She helped them so much with bringing forth this baby, just little by little. That's important too, although usually with your first, the baby is coming out more slowly, and you will have many more pushes. Subsequent babies, oh, I've found that I just got faster every time, until in the end, they would just fly out. I didn't even have to push! I think your body just gets used to birth. That can happen too. 

But I think our time is gone. I trust you have been so blessed and encouraged. Let me pray again.

“Oh, Father, we want to give You thanks. Thank You for Your design. Lord, Your works are perfect. And every design and plan of Yours is perfect. Your design to bring forth a baby is perfect. So Father, I pray that You will help every lovely young mom to understand this, that Lord, Your design is perfect, and that You are there to help them bring forth this baby safely.

“And Lord, as they yield to Your design, that Lord, You will be with them, and their birth will be so much easier. Maybe hard, but easier, because, Lord, You help us know how to do it, and you teach us. We thank You, Lord, that also You teach us, Lord.

“Every birth, we can understand more of how to do it as we learn to do it Your way. I just pray, Lord, again, for every mother who's pregnant, who's ready to give birth. Be with her in a powerful way. We pray that Lord, their baby will come forth triumphantly, victoriously, beautifully, wondrously. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.”

Now, just before I go, I was thinking as I prayed, Serene and Pearl wrote a beautiful song about birthing. It's on one of their CDs. You can go to my web page, and all their songs you can download. So just check around for the one on birthing. It will so bless you. Maybe you'll want to put it on your playlist for your birthing. You made a playlist, didn't you, Meadow?

Meadow: Yes, I did. they were mostly worship songs.

NC: Yes, that's beautiful, to have worship songs. But this was a great song for birthing. Oh, it would so encourage you! Anyway, we've got to say goodbye. Love you all!

Transcribed by Darlene Norris.

 

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 114- BIRTHING BABIES, PART 1

Rocky Barrett: Welcome to the podcast, From our Home to Yours, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies. 

Nancy Campbell: Hello ladies. It is always so wonderful to be with you again.

Today I have my lovely granddaughter with me, Meadow. I know many of you have gotten to know Meadow. She is the daughter of Pearl of Trim Healthy Mama. In fact, Pearl is looking after little Warren while we are doing this podcast. We have little Raymond right here just cuddled into Meadow while we’re going to talk.

I’m looking forward to this session. This is number 114 Podcast and the last time Meadow did a podcast together was number 11 when we did “Facing Modesty Head on.” Then we did number 12: “Modesty and Femininity in the 21^st Century.” If you haven’t gotten to hear those, you will love to hear them.

As I was saying to Meadow, “Oh Meadow, it’s time we did a podcast together again.”

Of course Meadow has been away for quite a long time living in Japan with her husband who is an engineer. But when this COVID thing all happened, they had to come back because Japan was shutting down. So she thought she was going to have her second baby in Japan, but it worked out she was able to have him here. That was lovely because you got to have family all around, didn’t you?

Meadow Hall: Yes, the support has been so nice.

NC: Yes. And so, I said to Meadow, “What would you like to talk about?” Of course because she’s just given birth again, she said, “I’d love to talk about birth, Nana.”

I think this is going to be an amazing session that all of us have been through, or are going through, or will go through.

But before we do, I just want to just finish reading you the last of the “ness” words.

Remember for the last four sessions I read to you over eighty words that all end with “ness” that belong to motherhood. They are all beautiful words. I would love to talk to you about some of them as the days go on.

The rest of them are right down at the end. We got up to uniqueness, uprightness, usefulness, virtuousness, wifeliness, willingness, womanliness, wombness (I think we’ll get to talk a bit about that as we talk about birth), queenliness and zestfulness.

We always have to come up with a “Z” at the end, don’t we? Zestfulness is the quality of being full of energy and enthusiasm. I think we need that in our motherhood role, too, don’t we?

Of course we had queenliness for “Q.” Actually, that makes me think of Meadow, who’s sitting right beside me. I always think of my Meadow as a queen because she always dresses so femininely, and yet so full of dignity and beauty. She’s just a picture of such a queenly young mother.

MH: Thank you, Nana.

NC: You are Meadow! In fact, Meadow has always had just something special about her. I remember when she was just a young girl and until she married, she lived right here on the hilltop with us. Their home was just a couple of minutes from ours.

Back in the days when Meadow didn’t have an iPhone she had to come over and check things on my computer. I would see her walking over. She would always come over dressed so beautifully and here we are out on the hilltop and nobody is seeing us.

I have to confess, you know, I don’t always put on my beautiful clothes for around the home. I look like a bit of an around-the-home person until I go out.

But Meadow always dressed as though she was going out, even though she was just on the hilltop with no one to see her except her rough and tumble brothers.

Then I would see her walking down the path to her home out the window of my office. She would walk with her head up, just like a queen. She wasn’t trying to because there was nobody to impress but it was just how she does it. You’ve always had that anointing of queenliness, Meadow.

NC: Thank you, Nana. People say I get that from you.

NC: I think maybe you just got a little more of it.

MH: I don’t know about that!

NC: Maybe it will get better as it goes down the generations. At the moment Meadow just has two little boys. But I am sure that down the years the Lord will bless her with some daughters, too.

Anyway, Meadow, tell us about little Raymond. He’s your latest.

MH: Yes, he is three months now.

NC: Wow, the time goes.

MH: Yes, I flew over here when I was 37 weeks pregnant and so I just gave birth to him shortly after I got back to the States.

NC: You were just in time!

MH: Yes! I had to find a new midwife and a new birthing center. We had to work that out very quickly when we came back. He’s such a healthy big boy. I need to dress him in size 6-9 months clothes now and he just turned three months. He’s very long.

NC: Oh lovely. Anyway, how did this birth go here?

MH: It was a beautiful birth. It was much faster than my first. My first was about 27 hours. Both of these births were natural, and they were both very beautiful, but the second was easier.

NC: I always think that the first baby paves the way for the coming babies. That was my experience anyway.

MH: Yes that was mine, too.

NC: Of course you’re learning, too. You don’t know quite how this baby is coming out. Then as you experience that and as your body sort of opens up and paves the way for future babies it becomes easier.

I think also you learn a little bit more with each birth. I really believe that birth is an art. It’s something that you learn. I think that all the beautiful things of homemaking and mothering are very much an art. You don’t always know what you’re doing when you first start out.

Even nursing your baby is an art, like the book, The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding by La Leche League, which is a wonderful book.

There it speaks of it as an art. I found it was an art, too, I didn’t know what I was doing when I first started but then you learn the art and then you become a pro.

It is the same with birthing. You kind of learn as you go. So lovely, precious young mothers, maybe you had a long birth or a difficult birth with your first one. Don’t despair, because it can be so much better next time.

MH: Yes that is so true, Nana. I believe that birthing is an art. I also believe that even if your first birth is really long and really hard it can still be a beautiful experience. That’s what it was for me.

NC: Yes, yes, I think that’s the wonderful thing about birth. Sometimes you can have a short very, very hard birth and then you can have a long more kind of prolonged but not so intensive birth. It’s amazing how every birth is different. All my births were different.

I often say to young mothers, “Don’t expect it to be the same next time.”  Maybe you’ve been through something even quite traumatic in your birth. Well that doesn’t mean it’s going to be the same next time. Every birth, the labor and the actual birthing are often different each time according to the position of the baby and all kinds of different things.

MH: Yes, for sure. My mom, when she had me ,that was a traumatic experience for her. I was her first and I think it was because she wasn’t really prepared, and she didn’t know what to expect. She did not really spiritually prepare for it the way I did. When she started having that pain, she fought it.

She didn’t learn how to handle that and so it was a very traumatic experience for her when it didn’t have to be.

NC: No, I think it was in her mind. I was there, right at that birth. Yes, I don’t think she expected it to be so intensive as it was.

MH: I know. So I had that at the back of my mind that my mom had a very difficult first birth. But then when I got pregnant and I started learning about how childbirth is supposed to be and how God wants us to experience it and how it can actually be a blessing, I realized that just because my mom had a really bad experience the first time doesn’t mean I have to.

So I decided, I’m not going to accept that for myself. My birth experience can be beautiful. I held on to that hope and it was, and you know what? I think my first birth could have been traumatic. It could have gone badly, the same way my mom’s had, if I had a different mindset.

NC: Exactly, that is true. I think the biggest thing is your mindset and preparing yourself. Reading as much as you can about natural childbirth and filling your mind with that understanding and preparing your heart and preparing your mind.

I actually have a testimony in that. I prepared myself as much as I thought I could for my first, but I wasn’t really so prepared. The next time I prepared more, and I found the more I prepared just mentally and in every way. I remember when I came to my fourth birth and I thought, “Oh well, fourth birth, I know now, everything will be great.” I really didn’t read again. I thought, “I know it all, this will be great.”

That was actually my hardest birth and I realized after that birth I hadn’t prepared myself. As I had continuous births, I always would take time and prepare myself like I was a first mother and prepare my heart and prepare my mind.

I would prepare for it because if your mindset is right it has such a huge bearing on the kind of birth you’re going to have.

MH: I agree. It’s like if you’re going to run a marathon, you need to train for that, you need to prepare.

With childbirth you need to prepare physically, mentally, and spiritually. I think preparing spiritually was the most important factor for me.

I think we’re going to talk about some practical tips for childbirth because like my Nana said, it’s an art, but along with that we’re going to talk about how childbirth can be such an intimate experience with God and it can draw us closer to Him.

NC: Now tell the ladies, Meadow, how did you prepare?

MH: So when I got pregnant with Warren, I did have a lot more time back then to read. I read a lot of blog posts and books. That’s one benefit when you have your first: you don’t have a toddler to chase and you have more time to prepare.

But some of that knowledge I was able to carry over with me into my second, but I still spent some time learning with him. I read one book that made such a huge impact on me. I think that if I had not read that, my birthing experience could have been different because it brought so much revelation to me about how we as Christians are supposed to view childbirth.

The book is called Redeeming Childbirth by Angie Toplin and she is a Christian. The book talks about how we should be inviting God into our birthing experience and how we can embrace natural childbirth and it doesn’t have to be a traumatic experience.

Even if it’s hard, even if it’s painful, God walks us through that.

NC: Can you say the name of the book again in case they didn’t get?

MH: Redeeming Childbirth by Angie Toplin.

NC: I can remember from your first birth with Warren you had this list. Because you were going into the hospital . . .  the moment you go into those hospital doors you have to watch your guard that they don’t take over your birthing experience because it’s your birth and your baby.

I remember you had a big list that Kendall had to have to watch and make sure that this didn’t happen and that did happen.

That was a very good thing, wasn’t it, because when you’re in birth, oh goodness me, you’re going to forget so much and you’re not in a place to take authority and say, “No I don’t want that” or “I can’t have that.”

So you made sure Kendall was the guardian, didn’t you? Tell us about that and some of the things you felt were so important that you wanted him to protect you and guard you.

MH: Yes, with Warren, my first birth, I gave birth in a hospital. We gave birth in a small town at the time and there weren’t many options. There weren’t natural birthing centers, so I found this hospital.

I had heard that some hospitals have very strict policies and you have to make it clear to them what your birthing plan is otherwise they might just take over and sometimes you have to be firm.

So I took a long time preparing my birthing list and I wrote it all down and printed it out. We took it to the hospital, and we showed it to the nurses. I was very blessed to be at a hospital where they really respected my wishes. Some hospitals can give you a tougher time on that. I think more hospitals, at least in Western culture, are starting to respect the parent’s wishes more.

When I was in Japan I had very limited rights. That’s when I was thinking in this case, I would have preferred a home birth, but it would have been hard to do that in a foreign country and a high-rise apartment.

I was very blessed with a Christian doctor, too, who was very respectable of my wishes. In that case, I didn’t have a very hard time at my particular hospital.

I would suggest that if you are planning on giving birth in a hospital to do your research on that hospital’s policies and to do your research on your doctor’s policies. Ask them how they handle childbirth and if they’ve done a lot of natural childbirth. Just make sure that they will go along with your birth plan.

One thing I told my nurse the first time was not to offer me an epidural, not to even bring it up, because sometimes that can be a temptation if you’re offered it.

NC: Yes. That’s good to lay those things down before you even get there. That’s so great. It is true, you can be tempted, so yes that was a good thing.

What other ways did you prepare?

MH: Well I would say, physically preparing is important, too. I wasn’t as fit with my first pregnancy because I wasn’t chasing a toddler around.

I believe I was more fit in Japan with my second pregnancy because I was walking all the time. That’s one thing American’s don’t do as much, is walk, because we just drive everywhere.

When I was in Japan we would walk to the supermarkets. I believe that is why I was more fit and that may have played a factor in making it an easier and smoother birth.

Being physically fit is important. If you don’t have a good neighborhood that you can walk around you can just work out at home.

That’s one thing that I think is a good practical tip. It’s good to study about practical tips you can learn during natural childbirth. Like I learned my second time around that there were some things I wanted to do differently than in my first birth. One example was the position of pushing.

During my first birth I was on my back.

NC: Oh I know that’s hopeless.

MH: I was slightly elevated but still I was working against gravity.

NC: I know, I don’t understand why they expect mothers to work against themselves.

MH: The thing is, and this is one downside about most hospital rooms, they are not designed for natural birth. When I was in the birthing center, it was designed for natural birth.

But in normal hospital rooms you just have very small beds where they t usually give you an epidural. It’s not good for a lot of other positions.

When a mother is laying on her back, that’s more convenient for the doctor. It’s actually one of the worst positions for mothers to give birth in.

NC: Yes, it causes it to be longer and harder.

MH: Yes and that was the case for me.

NC: It’s often the cause of C-sections.

NC: With my first birth I pushed nearly two hours. I think part of the reason was my position. Another part was Warren’s fist was up here with his head. I think even if I was in a different position it still would have taken longer.

If I had been on my knees like with Raymond it would have gone faster.

NC: I think that the position is just so important. All these things are just so important.

How did you prepare emotionally and spiritually for your births?

MH: I think it’s good to really pray and invite God into your birthing experience.

It’s good to ask Him what you want but to also not make your birth plan so important that if something goes wrong you freak out or you can’t let it go because ultimately God’s plan is the best.

I don’t believe that means He brings on the problems and the issues that could happen because we live in a fallen world and sometimes problems happen and things go wrong but He can get us through that and it still can be an incredible experience.

My whole approach was that I would like to have a natural birth and I would like God to be there and these are my hopes of what would happen.

But if some things don’t happen the way I want them to, I know that God will still be there for me and God will still help me go through that and just releasing that to Him.

Some other things I did to prepare, I wrote down some birth affirmations because words have power. I spoke those over my baby and myself when I was pregnant, and I also wrote them down and gave them to my husband so he could speak them over me during the birth.

Another thing I did was I wrote down some Bible verses to encourage me and I had Kendall read those to me too.

I built a childbirth playlist. I found a lot of songs that I felt were really relaxing and encouraging and brought me closer to God. I created a playlist and had that playing throughout the whole birth.

NC: So you really prepared and were ready to go.

MH: Yes. I wanted to create an atmosphere of worship.

NC: That’s so great. Did you bring any of your affirmations? Have you got them with you?

MH: No I didn’t bring them. I would have to print them out and I don’t have  a printer.

NC: When we do each podcast, it’s transcribed. We may be able to put some at the bottom of this when it’s transcribed.

MH: Oh yes, that would be a good idea.

NC: I love to give mothers something practical. If you’ve found them such a blessing maybe they would be a blessing to them too. So I think we will try and do that.

MH: Okay!

NC: That would be so good. I think to me, one of the biggest things that can really hinder a birth from flourishing is fear. Especially with your first baby because you don’t have a clue what’s going to happen next and you can have this fear.

If you have fear, that can cause you to tighten up and not just go with your contractions and ride with them.

How did you conquer fear? Did you have any fears?

MH: I’m so glad you brought that up, Nana, because the number one thing I like to say to my friends who have never gone through childbirth and may have concerns is, “Just don’t give into fear.”

I believe fear is probably the worst thing during childbirth because it can create tension, which can slow you down, which can cause more complications, which can just ruin an otherwise beautiful experience.

And so I decided I was not going to allow any fear. It doesn’t mean that the enemy won’t try to tempt us with fear.

It means that if it ever tries to pop in our heads, we take every thought captive and we’re like, “No, I am not accepting that.”

I believe that there comes a point with every woman during their birth that they start to think, “I can’t do this.” If you get that thought, you cast it out and you say, “No I can do this. I was designed to do this.”

NC: Absolutely, our bodies were designed and created for birth.

In fact many scientific studies prove that the more births a mother has the greater blessing it is for her body and the greater deterrent against female cancers. The more babies a mother nurses at her breast, the less incidents of breast cancer.

We were created for birthing and nursing babies. This is who we are. This is our body. It was created for this. We just have to have our minds renewed and educated into what is right.

Many mothers out there today have been brought up in families with one or two children. They have never seen babies around them, and they haven’t been around mothers birthing babies and nursing babies. They haven’t got one clue and they don’t know anything about it.

Unless they really can get around mothers who can really encourage them or read some good natural childbirth books, fear is going to enter in.

Knowledge really helps to counteract fear, doesn’t it? It really does.

MH: Yes.

NC: Actually, getting on to fear, these were my Scriptures for this morning. I’ve been reading through Deuteronomy and I read this morning Deuteronomy 3:22. God is speaking to them about going into the Promised Land and how they are going to come up against enemies that are bigger than them. They’re going to face cities with walls that are so high and gates and bars that are bolted. They’ve got giants in the land and in the cities.

I mean, wow, it was totally beyond them, but He said to them: “Ye shall not fear them: for the Lord your God he shall fight for you.

He told them not to fear. In fact, it wasn’t just a suggestion, “Well, you know, it would be a good idea not to fear them.”

No, He said, “YOU SHALL NOT FEAR THEM.”

There are so many Scriptures in the Word where it says, “You shall not fear.”

Yet all of us, I know I can be prone to facing a situation and feel fearful. Although I have found the more I get to know God, and the more I know of His Word, the more I can trust Him.

You see, the antidote to fear is trusting implicitly in God’s Word and His promises knowing that what He says is true, and I will stand upon it because it cannot fail.

I think we have got to come to this in many areas of our lives. We are facing different situations all the time where fear can come in and we have to learn this. But we can also face this in the area of childbirth.

We go on to chapter 7:17-21 and God says again: “If thou shalt say in thine heart . . ..”

That is interesting. Did you know we talk in our hearts? Yes. The Word says, “If thou shalt say in thine heart” and I looked it up and it actually means: “To talk, to declare.”

We do talk to ourselves in our hearts and sometimes we don’t say it out through our mouths, but we talk a lot in our hearts. Sometimes we talk a lot of fear in our hearts, you know, and God doesn’t want us to do that.

“If thou shalt say in thine heart, these nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them?”

You were just saying that Meadow. I think nearly every mother comes to a point in her labor where she says, “I can’t do this! I didn’t think it would be this intense” and you have that little thought.

It comes in, but as you said, you have to cast it out. You have to know, “Oh but my body was created for this. Of course I can do it and God is with me.” Amen?

MH: Yes.

NC: He goes on: “Thou shalt not be afraid of them: but shalt well remember what the  Lord  thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt . . . Thou shalt not be affrighted [or dread or in terror. That’s quite a strong, fearful word] at them: for the  Lord  thy God is among you, a mighty God and terrible [or fearful].”

In other words, it goes back to, do we fear God, and do we trust in His Word and who He created us to be, or do we trust in our fear? Because fear is not from God, it comes from the enemy.

Pop that little one in your hearts, dear ladies. Be ready and practiced to overcome fear. There are so many Scriptures in the Word of God about fear and overcoming fear. Go through those Scriptures.

If you are preparing for a birth, write those Scriptures down.

Be saying them over yourself, and your baby as Meadow did while she was pregnant, and then have the list so your husband can speak them over you if you are not in a state to speak them, he can speak them over you because the Word has power.

Matthew 4:4: “ . . . Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”

We can even go through labor with the Word of God coming out of our mouths. It will take us through because it is so powerful, isn’t it?

MH: Yes, it is so true. And maybe we should bring up why so many women have a fear of childbirth.

NC: Yes, yes.

MH: I think it is because our culture literally thinks that you’re just ridiculous if you have an un-medicated birth. There is so much fear of the pain in childbirth.

That’s why we have so many epidurals and I have heard so many people say, “I just can’t imagine not having an epidural” when that’s actually what we were designed to do.

When I was in Japan, they rarely did epidurals. It was just considered so normal to have a natural childbirth.

NC: I was once speaking to a chiropractor. He said to me, “Most of my patients are women who have had epidurals at childbirth because it has affected their backs.”

You know, I always believe, of course, there are always certain situations where we maybe have to have these things where we maybe we have to have something, but on the whole, birth is meant to be natural because God designed it.

That’s what we’ve just so got to get into our brains. If we know, “Wow, I was born for this! I was created for this. My body was created to do it.” When we have that, we get the right mindset, and we’re going into it with a whole different attitude than, “Okay, we’re just giving up our body to the doctors and the nurses. Just do what you’d like, and this is all how it happens.” It gets hard and then you end up with an epidural or even a C-section.

That’s so sad because, dear ladies, I know sometimes that happens and I know some precious mothers who are just so set to have a natural birth and then they have to have a C-section. Those are rarer cases. But we miss out when we don’t experience birth. There is such a power in experiencing birth, even if you have been through intense pain.

There is something so powerful, which I’m sure those of you who have experienced a natural childbirth will say. There is such a power in it and there is empowerment.

In fact, after a natural childbirth, how do you feel?

MH: Oh I had endorphins. I couldn’t even take a nap that day.

NC: Oh no, you cannot.

MH: No.

NC: You feel you can conquer the world.

MH: Absolutely.

NC: I mean, I have just done something, and I can conquer the world!

Talk about oxytocin and endorphins. It’s the biggest high that you can experience in your life and I would go through it again and again to experience that high, it’s so incredible.

MH: You don’t get the same experience if you had an epidural.

NC: No you do not, you don’t have it. It’s something you don’t want to miss out on.

MH: It feels like you just climbed Mount Everest.

NC: Do you know what? Did you know that’s what Evangeline, Aunty Vange, said at one of her births? It was one of her births that I was there. It was one of hers that was a breech birth. She knew was having a breech birth and she decided that they would not be going to the hospital.

They didn’t even have a midwife. Howard, her husband, was the midwife. Now, not every husband could be a midwife at a birth, or specially a breech birth.

But Howard, on the hilltop, we call him our family doctor. When something goes wrong, we call him, “Howard, come quick!”

I mean, he stitches up and he does that. He usually checks out if either we can fix this or says, “Nope, you better go to the hospital.”

He is incredible and he really prepared for this birth, knowing this was breech. He talked for hours with a very experienced midwife. She could not be there although she had helped many of their births. It was unlawful for her to be at a breech birth.

He had also worked out if things could go wrong. But hey, we’re getting beyond time so I’m going to tell you the story next time! Wait for it!

You listen next session and I’ll tell you what happened next time, okay?

Let’s just pray and we’ll come back with Meadow, if that’s okay, Meadow? We will do one more session about birth.

“Lord, We just thank You that we can talk about these things, these beautiful womanly things, Lord. It is something that is just so part of life because this is life, this is how we bring life into the world. Lord, we pray that You will teach us and show us Your ways.

“I pray for all the childbearing mothers who are listening, Lord, that You will bless them and You will teach them and You will help them to understand more as they go into birth. We just ask this in the precious name of Jesus. Amen.”

Transcribed by Morgan Roth

MEADOW’S LISTS:

DECLARATIONS FOR BIRTH:

The Lord is my Deliverer and my baby’s Deliverer.

In my weakness, He gives me strength.

My body was designed to do give birth naturally.

The Lord will help me.

The Lord has good plans for me and my baby.

Because I worship Jesus, He takes sickness away. No harm will come to me or my baby because God guards me with His angels  and my safety comes from the Lord.

In the name of Jesus, I trust God to give me a safe delivery. The Lord safely brings my baby out of the womb and I am kept safe also.

In the name of Jesus Christ, I refuse to give in to worry and fear. God has not given me a spirit of fear. The Lord is with me and helping me from the beginning to the end. I will not be afraid; I will only believe God's Word.

BIBLE VERSES FOR LABOR AND DELIVERY:

“Look, the Lord’s hand is not too weak to deliver you; his ear is not too deaf to hear you” (Isaiah 59:1).”

“Draw near to God and he will draw near to you” (James 4:8a).

“You delivered me SAFELY from my mother’s womb” (Psalm 22:9 NLT).

“I HAVE LEANED ON YOU SINCE BIRTH; YOU PULLED ME FROM MY MOTHER’S WOMB. I PRAISE YOU CONTINUALLY” (Psalm 71:6).

“AND THIS IS THE CONFIDENCE THAT WE HAVE BEFORE HIM: THAT WHENEVER WE ASK ANYTHING ACCORDING TO HIS WILL, HE HEARS US. AND IF WE KNOW THAT HE HEARS US IN REGARD TO WHATEVER WE ASK, THEN WE KNOW THAT WE HAVE THE REQUESTS THAT WE HAVE ASKED FROM HIM” (1 John 5:14-13).

“The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust;  my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold” Psalm 18:2

“The Lord will give strength to His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace” (Psalm 29:11).

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear,  but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7).

“Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your GOD IS WITH YOU wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9).

“I can do all things through Him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13).

“FEAR NOT, FOR I AM WITH YOU, be not dismayed, for I am your God.   I will strengthen you, Yes, I will  help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10).

“For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you” (Isaiah 41:13).

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

“If you make the Most High your dwelling -- even the Lord, who is my refuge -- then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent. For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways” (Psalm 91:9 NIV):