A young mother wrote to me recently, “My baby is five months and it seems like yesterday he was born. His smile is what greets me when I wake up in the morning, even if I am dog tired. He makes any mood I have change instantly to joy with one look at his smile. I feel God through the way he smiles and laughs and am so blessed to have him and nurse him.” Another mother says, “Everything my two year old does and says inspires me and gives me a new reason to love life. Even the expressions on his face cracks me up.”
How blessed we are to be mothers. We get to smile and laugh more than any other sector of people. Each time we look at a baby we can’t help but smile. And they make you smile big! When we watch our children, we naturally smile and can’t help but laugh at all their childish antics. And every time we smile and laugh we de-stress! We release endorphins which make us feel happy and relieve stress from the body. What a great way to live.
This is just another blessing of all the blessings of motherhood. No wonder the Bible tells us that we are preserved through motherhood (1 Timothy 2:15).
Love from Nancy Campbell
Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs
Strengthening Families Across the World through the encouragement of women in their high calling from God as wives, mothers and homemakers.
It is heart-warming to be embraced into a welcoming home, isn’t it? It makes you feel good, as if you belong, and how good it feels to belong. But not only should our doors and gates be welcoming to people we invite into our home, but especially to the Lord.
Psalm 24:7-19 says, “Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory.”
I am sure this is talking about the triumphant entrance of Jesus back into glory after He conquered death and hell and took captivity captive. But it also relates to our individual lives and our homes.
What kind of welcome do we give to the King of glory? Do we open the door of our heart, and the gates of our home each new day, and welcome Him in? What a wonderful way to start the day: “King of glory, I open the gates of my home to you this morning. Please come and enter every life and every room. I want you to fill our home with your mighty presence. Expose every bit of darkness and deception with the light of your glory.”
Who is the King of glory? The Lord of hosts! Who is the Lord of hosts? He is the Mighty Warrior, the God of war who will bring all His enemies into subjection. He is the Ruler of the universe, standing ready to intervene on the behalf of His people. Do you have battles raging in your home? He will fight your battles for you. He is the Lord of hosts.
Open your gates and welcome Him with open arms today.
Love from Nancy Campbell
Have you blown it? You've fallen again! You feel as though you have failed! Don't despair. God has put a principle in the universe that when we fall we will get up again. Isn't that great? Jeremiah 8:4 says, "Do men fall and not get up again? Does one turn away and not repent?"
If you've fallen, just get up again! That's the way! Isn't that how we encourage our little ones when they are learning to walk or when they are learning anything new as they grow older? This is the same way God treats us. He knows that we are weak and frail, but He encourages us to get up again. If you have sinned, repent and receive God's forgiveness which flows freely to you through His blood that He shed for you.
Psalm 37: 23-24 says, "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand."
"Even if you fall seven times in one day, you can get up again each time" (Proverbs 24:16, Psalm 145:14 and Micah 7:8). Praise the Lord.
Love from Nancy
“She always made home happy.” This was an epitaph a husband inscribed on his wife’s grave after 60 years of marriage. What a powerful life. Imagine 60 years of making a home happy. As she put aside her own interests and sought to make her husband, her children, and all her came into her home happy, she blessed so many lives.
Could this be written over my grave, or yours? Are we consciously seeking to make our husband happy? Are we intentionally blessing and encouraging our children each day? Are we seeking to make our home a delight? Or are we too busy taken up with our own problems, self interest, and self pity?
Can I tell you a secret? The best way to get out of the doldrums and depression is to forget about yourself and try to make someone else happy. “How can I make someone happy when I feel so lousy?” you ask. Forget your feelings. Just do it. You will be amazed at what happens.
When you make others happy, you become happy yourself. As you become happy yourself, you’ll make others even happier. Your husband will be happier. Your children will be happier.
This is the way to go, mother! Start making someone happy right now. If your husband is around, sneak up on him and give a big kiss and cuddle. Or give him a call at work and tell him you love him. Do something special for one of your children.
What a great goal for today. Make your husband happy, your children happy, everyone you meet happy--and guess what, you'll be happy!
Love from Nancy Campbell
How much to do you believe in the power of God’s Word? Psalm 19:7-11 tells us that His Word restores the soul, makes wise the simple, rejoices the heart, enlightens the eyes, gives us warning, and “in keeping of them there is great reward.”
I believe God’s Word has the power to fill up weaknesses in our own lives and our children’s lives. If you have a weakness in your life, search the Scriptures for God’s Scriptures that relate to it. Meditate on and memorize these Scriptures. Constantly confess these Scriptures out loud. As you do, you will find that the weakness will turn into a strength in your life.
I also used this principle as I raised our children. When I saw an area of weakness in their lives, or an area where I knew God needed to work in their lives, I would search the Scriptures to find answers. I would then minister these Scriptures into their lives. It is not your words, but God’s Word that will change their lives.
I would encourage you to do this also in the training of your children. Write the applicable Scriptures up on your walls. Teach and explain the Scriptures you researched to your children. Use them as memory verses. Repeat and recite them over and over again.
You will be amazed at how the Word brings change into their lives and molds them into the image of God.
Love from Nancy Campbell
Psalm 37:34 (NLT) says, “Don’t be impatient for the Lord to act! Travel steadily along his path.” I don’t have visions and dreams (I would love to). I don’t live by my feelings. How then do I live out my walk with God? By plodding on from day to day.
I don’t have to be disturbed by my circumstances because God is bigger than all the challenges I face. I don’t have to be intimidated by my antagonists because God’s truth will eventually win the day.
I don’t have to be fazed by what is going on in the world for God is in control. He is the only Potentate, King of kings, and Lord of lords. All presidents, prime ministers, and leaders of this world are all in His hand and He will have the last say. Praise God.
Therefore, by faith, I walk steadily along God’s path. I don’t have to be high one day and low the next. I keep on plodding on faithfully from day to day, no matter what the day brings. I can patiently wait for God to move because His timing is better than mine.
Steady your soul today, dear mother. God is in control of your life and the lives of your precious children.
Love from Nancy
God hovers over motherhood. He is with you from the beginning to the end. Are you waiting to give birth to a baby soon? God will be with you in your birth. David confesses in Psalm 22:9, “Thou art He that took me out of the womb.” Many translations say, “You brought me safely from my mother’s womb.”
Whether you are having your baby at home or in a hospital, put your trust in God. He is the one who brings the baby safely from the womb. He is hovering over you for the life of your baby. Trust Him.
When the baby is born you become aware of a special atmosphere--it's the presence of God in your home. It always comes with a new baby who is sent fresh from heaven. I reveled in this beautiful atmosphere when my babies came.
David continues, “Thou dist make me hope when I was upon my mother’s breasts.” As the little babe nurses at the continually available breasts of the mother, the baby learns that he can totally trust God. As the breast is always accessible, so he learns that God, Jehovah Shamah, will always be there for him.
Another Psalmist confesses the same thing as David, “Upon Thee I have leaned from birth; it was Thou who took me from the maternal womb. My praise is continually of thee” (Psalm 71:6 MLB).
Put your trust in God who is watching over every aspect of your motherhood.
Love from Nancy Campbell
The great preacher and author, Dwight L. Moody confessed, "If I could relive my life, I would devote my entire ministry to reaching children for God!" He understood the power of investing in a child's life. Dear mother, you are in this very ministry! Every day and all day! What a privilege. There is nothing more powerful that you could be doing. The investment you pour into your children will not only bless your own family, but the world. But, even more--future generations, and eternity!
Don't let the enemy fill you with his lies that motherhood is insignificant. You are part of the greatest work in God's kingdom. When the people brought children to Jesus, the disciples shooed them off, thinking Jesus would not have time for the children. This made Jesus angry and He let them know. He said, "Do not push these children away. Do not ever get between them and Me. These children are at the very center of life in the kingdom" (Mark 10:13, 15 Msg). Mother, you are at the very epicenter of life in God's kingdom!
Love from Nancy Campbell
Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers, "I will very gladly spend and be spent for you" (2 Corinthians 12:15). The adding of "and be spent" adds the meaning of "vehemently, heartily, and exceedingly" to the phrase. This was Paul's attitude to the new believers in Christ.
What about us mothers? We have precious lives in our care that God has given us to disciple. What is our attitude towards them? Are we willing to "spend and be spent," or do we resent the fact that motherhood takes every bit of our energy and time? Read 1 Thessalonians 2:8, 9 for a little more understanding.
Paul's attitude was not just because it was his duty, but "VERY GLADLY." I often see mothers with the attitude of "very complaining," "very resentful," or "very unhappy."
Come on now, dear mothers. You are in full time ministry for the Lord. You are discipling precious souls.
What's your attitude today?
Love from Nancy Campbell
Dear mother, can I ask you what voices you are listening to? There are so many voices in this world, all vying for preeminence in your mind. Humanistic voices lure you away from the heart of the home, the place God has divinely provided for you to raise your children. Voices tempt you to get involved in more and more things that take your time away from your home and family.
God has innately put in you what He wants you to do. Listen to your heart, dear mother. Listen to God's voice. You are needed for your children. No one else will ever love and care for your children like you do. No one else will ever be sensitive to their physical needs, and especially their innermost needs as you will.
Someone else can always replace you in your career, or your organization, or even extra church activities, but no one can adequately replace you as the mother of the children God has given you. You were born for this mission. It is your destiny.
Love from Nancy Campbell
In the midst of your daily routine and challenges of mothering you can often forget the awesomeness of what you are doing. Did you realize that your children are not only a gift from God to you, but a gift from God to the world? Motherhood is so far-reaching. It's not confined to your little home. Each one of your children have been destined by God and have been in His heart from the foundation of the world. God has a special purpose for each one of them to fulfill. What a privilege to raise a child who is "a gift to the world"!
God said to Jeremiah: "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I sanctified you. I have appointed you a prophet to the nations" (Jeremiah 1:5 WEB). The word "appointed" in the Hebrew means "a gift" and in other Scriptures is mostly translated "give."
Rejoice in the greatness of your calling today. You are nurturing and preparing children who have been appointed as a "gift to the world." As you nurture them, teach them, pray over them, and prepare them you will get to see the exploits God will do in their lives to bless many people. This is the power of motherhood. It is not something you are doing for yourself. You are blessing the world!
Love from Nancy Campbell
We are so good at complaining, aren't we? We not only complain about things that are going wrong, but we even complain about the weather. "Oh it's so hot! I can't stand this heat." "Oh this weather's too cold!" Why can't we receive everything from the hand of God? After Job lost everything, he confessed, "What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?"
Psalm 74:17 says, "Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter." Because God is the Creator of the summer heat and the winter cold, shouldn't we learn to embrace them and the special blessings that go with each season?
Our big extended family all leave on the weekend for our annual holiday in Florida, drinking up the sun and surf (sadly Colin and I miss this year as I have four Above Rubies retreats in a row). Fall, then winter will be coming soon. Yes, it will be cold, but we look forward to snow falls, wood fires burning to keep us snug, candles burning, and hearty meals to keep us warm. There is such joy in all God's seasons, isn't there? So let's change our vocabulary to thanking and praising God instead of the habit of complaining. What do you think?
Love from Nancy Campbell
The world was shocked back in April 2009 when Obama bowed from the knee to the Muslim Saudi King, Abdullah. When we bow to someone we show submission to them. Now we don't go around bowing to people, but we constantly bow in our hearts. Who and what are we bowing to in our daily life? Do we bow to God's ways, or our own self will?
Judges 2:17, 19 tells us how the children of Israel went after other gods "and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in . . . they corrupted themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way." How easy it is to bow to our own stubborn way.
Dear mothers, can each one of us today seek to bow to the Lord in every circumstance and challenge we face?
What worldview do we bow to? Is it a truly biblical worldview or the popular humanistic one that is prevalent in our society today and even in the church?
The way we live will reveal to whom we are bowing. Let's make God, the Potentate of the universe, the preeminent One in our lives and our homes.
Love from Nancy Campbell
The state of a city will be according to the state of the homes within the city. In Psalm 46:4 (JUB) it gives a description of the homes of Jerusalem: "There is a river, the streams of which make glad the city of God, the sanctuary of the tents of the most high." The city is filled with gladness because streams are flowing into and from the homes of the city.
What are these streams? They flow from the river of the Holy Spirit (John 7:37-39 and Romans 5:5). As mothers, we have a responsibility to "make glad" our home. The words in the Hebrew mean "to brighten up, to cheer up, to rejoice, to make merry and very glad." The only way we can do this is to be filled with the Holy Spirit and allow the streams that flow from Him into our lives to flow out from us to our husband and children.
What are these streams? They are streams of love, forgiveness, sweetness, healing of the soul and body, holiness, encouragement and building up, compassion and kindness, tenderheartedness, humility and meekness, longsuffering and patience, and streams of forbearance and peacemaking. These streams can only come from the river of the Holy Spirit.
Are you making your motherhood glad? Are you making your home glad? Are these streams flowing from your life or are they stagnant? Don't allow the logs of self-pity, discouragement, despondency, unforgiveness, and discontentment to block up the river. Let the steams flow to fill your home with gladness.
Love from Nancy
"Righteousness exalts a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people" (Proverbs 14:34).
We can only have a righteous nation as we have righteous homes. We can only have righteous homes as we have righteous mothers and fathers in living in those homes and who are raising righteous children.
Love from Nancy
I have in my library the wonderful classic, "The Keeper of the Bees" by Gene Stratton Porter. One of my Above Rubies girls began to read it this week and read us a quote at breakfast time. I'll share it with you, too.
"He had not the smallest obligation to the woman before him, other than the obligation that any man owes all women to love them honestly, to care for them gently, to respect their bodies as the vessels through which the world must be populated. That was a thing that had been hammered into him from the hour that he was old enough even remotely to understand its meaning. He must always take care of the women. He must always be polite to the women. He must always be kind to them. They must be taken care of because they were to make homes; they were to mother little children. They must be respected. They were the vessels that contained the seeds of life. From their loins must come the presidents and the senators, the governors and the business men, the captains and the sailors and the soldiers and the tillers of the soil and the ministers who filled the pulpits and the teachers who moulded the minds of youth in our schools."
Did you love this? Nancy
No wonder we need to fill our hearts with God's Word. It's filled with principles for our success (Joshua 1:8). Here's one secret for you and your children today. "Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will stand in the presence of kings. He will not stand in the presence of unknown men" (Proverbs 22:29 HCSB). The word "skilful" in the Hebrew also means "quickly, ready." It comes from "mahar" meaning, "to be hasty, hurry, speedily, swiftly."
Whatever gift God has given to us, or to our children, we must not only learn to be diligent and skilful in that gift, but to be eager and ready to use it whenever the opportunity arises. It is easy to dream about doing something, but that doesn't get it done. We have to hasten to do it. I am sad when people hold back in sharing the gift God has given them. I love it when people respond immediately.
We must train our children from the beginning to be "ready" to share their gifts and abilities. They should not only do it when they are in the mood to do it, but as the Bible says to "be instant in season, out of season" (2 Timothy 4:2). We must train our children to obey us immediately, not lazily and in their own time.
Tell your children you are watching out for those who will obey the most speedily or who will respond immediately to help you or someone else. Reward those children.
A child who gets into the habit of running to obey or help someone is preparing for success. They are training for a future life of standing in the presence of "kings." God's Word does not come back to Him void. I am now in my seventies and yet am amazed when many times a young person will quite happily sit in their chair and watch me go downstairs to retrieve something. (Of course I don't mind because it's another opportunity for me for exercise while they stagnate!) Now and then one will say, "I'll get it for you" and go immediately. That's the attitude that will make way for great things for that person.
Success doesn't suddenly happen. We train our children for success with training their attitudes NOW--a most important habit is teaching them to RUN SWIFTLY to obey, to accomplish a task, to help someone, or to bless someone with their gift.
Love from Nancy Campbell
“The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saves such as be of a contrite spirit” (Psalm 34:).
Dear sweet mother, why do you cry?
Don’t you know that your God is nigh?
He is closer to you than your very breath,
He will never forsake you, not even in death.
He created you for His joy and pleasure
And has chosen you as a special treasure.
He has graven your name on His very own palm,
He’ll come to your aid with His mighty right arm.
He is your Source, He will fill your cup,
When you are down, He will lift you up.
You don’t have to stay sad, for He is your Joy,
He’ll help you conquer those things that annoy.
God has given you children, which are your glory
To enrich your life and help write your story.
You’re in God’s perfect will, this is your calling,
He’ll help you each day and keep you from falling.
You can’t do it alone, your strength is weak,
Trust in the Lord and things won’t seem so bleak.
Look to the Lord, not the problems you face,
You’ll be amazed the way He gives you His grace.
A joyful mother is what He wants you to be,
Filling your home with gladness and glee,
Counting your blessings and praising the Lord
For His daily mercies and love out-poured.
~ Nancy Campbell
Dear Ladies, You may have missed some of the testimonies on the thread of the post, DARE WE ARGUE WITH GOD. Therefore, I will post some of them here for you to encourage you. You will love Donna's testimony of conceiving AFTER WAITING FOR 18 YEARS! Nancy
Donna Marsingale: I got pregnant shortly after I got married. Listened to everyone around me and went on the pill shortly after he was born. A couple of years later, God convicted us to leave it in His hands. I came off the pill and expected to get pregnant right away. A year went by, two, five, ten, fifteen. Every month, the heartache of watching others get pregnant so easily and then listen to them complain about their one or two children. I wanted a houseful! I took test after test, crying out to God. I spoke to family and friends that stopped having children after 1 or 2 because they were a burden, trying to get them to seek God in this matter. After trying almost 18 years, I finally just told God that I was giving it to Him. If He wanted me to only have one, then I would accept His decision. I am due any day now with my second child. God is so good. My family thinks I'm crazy, having a child at 40. But, I've told them that we will still let God decide. If He wants to send more, my heart will rejoice and gladly welcome them. If this is it, then I thank Him for allowing me this honor.
Melissa Horton: I stand in a position of having had the tubal, and living in regret ever since. If only we had the funds to reverse it, we would! I'd rather have had FOUR more babies in the past four years than to deal with the complications in my body from the procedure taking away the opportunity for blessings from the Lord. I have prayed MANY times for the Lord to work a miracle and "undo" the tubal. If the Lord had said, "One thousand dollar bills are a blessing from the Lord", would we so easily say, "nah, I'll pass on another." or "I have one already, and that is ENOUGH." Or would we cry over being blessed with our 7th one-thousand dollar bill? No. But children have been turned into a burden by society, and even obstetricians who make a living from us having reproductive health and more babies encourage cesareans, which, in the long-run, mean fewer children due to complications (such as scar tissue build up) that arise from having them. Oh, how I wish I could reverse my tubal while I'm still young.
Rachel Kate Parish: We had a vasectomy after 2 babies & thought it was 100% the right choice! I'm now looking at our little miracle vasectomy reversal baby sleeping next to me. Hard to explain, but a few years after the vasectomy I became somewhat depressed & didn't really know what my purpose was anymore. Long story short I feel like this baby has healed me in a way! I try to tell people out story but they don't really get it. I didn't either at one time. Not until I realized what a terrible mistake we made (my husband too!) We were just lucky enough that the reversal worked... life without this new little guy seems unimaginable!
Tania Marie: I've had a tubal reversal this summer. I regretted my ligation within 1 year. The guilt I felt taking something into my own hands was unbearable. This helped me realize all forms of birth control is not God's will. I realized that I have no right taking control of something that is not mine. My body is not my own. I was bought at a price and I needed to ask God's permission prior to altering my body, which is really His body. This is something I thought I had God's ok on, but how could He ever be ok with something that limits His power? Birth control should be leaving it up to God's control. When I came to Jesus, I surrendered to Him* (the * is there because I surrendered every part of my life except one--my womb). True obedience requires no asterisks. Now I surrender all to Him. Please keep us in prayer that we would be able to conceive a healthy baby.
Chris Beth Biggerstaff: I am the oldest child of 11. I love having my wonderful siblings and I can't hardly remember life without any one of them. A couple of years ago my mom had a miscarriage around 12 weeks. When the placenta didn't detach she almost bled out. After rushing to the ER, an emergency DNC was done. She came home the next day! But it really scared my parents. They began to re-evaluate where they stood and through it all we have all come away more convinced that preventing life is wrong! God is trustworthy in all areas of life! Even though it was a hard time in our lives I'm thankful for the deep conviction it brought to my life. I said that's what I believed but now I know it is. I look forward to seeing what God does in my life and the lives of my family!
Dear mother, you are in the most power-packed and influential career in the nation.
When you get up each morning, get dressed accordingly. Don't wander out in your bathrobe--you can't work in your bathrobe. Get dressed and ready for your great job for the day.
Not only put on your clothes, but put on the right attitude. Start the day confessing, "I love being a mother. I am in the greatest career in the nation. The children and I are going to have a great day today."
Now you are dressed and have the right attitude and confession, you're ready to go!
Love from Nancy Campbell