Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs

A PLEASANT PLACE

Do you feel hedged in? Do you feel the desperation to get out of your home? Sometimes you can feel like this because of the pressure of people around you who only know a humanistic viewpoint.

Can I ask you to think differently? Psalm 16:5-6 NIV says, “Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.”

Boundary lines are necessary in life. They are for our protection and blessing. Isn’t it wonderful that our boundary lines are our home and family? We have a delightful inheritance.

The first home was called The Garden of Eden, which means delight. When we embrace the fact that God has assigned this portion for us, we find joy and security. Instead of being frustrated we begin to flourish. Instead of drudgery we find delight. Instead of seeing the problems we find pleasantness.

We make our home what we want t it to be. We build or we pull down.

Enjoy your “pleasant place” today.

Love from Nancy

ARE YOU A GATHERING TOGETHER FAMILY?

God loves families gathering together.

One of the greatest places to gather together as a family is around the meal table where we eat together, fellowship together, and meet with God together. Matthew 18:20 says, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” God loves to gather in the midst of families.

And one of the greatest things God wants us to do when we gather together is to pray. Yes, it is good to pray individually, but God loves it when we come together to pray (this Scripture is in the context of praying).

Dear precious mother, this is not just a good idea. It is imperative, especially at this hour of history in our nation. This nation began with prayer, and yet now it is banned from our schools. But we can gather together at home. I believe the greatest thing that Christian families can do at this time is to pray together.

Don’t let a day go by, morning and evening, without gathering the family together to pray, and especially to cry out to God for our nation.

Love from Nancy

Why is justice perverted? Why is truth fallen in the streets? (Isaiah 59:14-15). Do you think it is because it is failing in the homes?

I believe the answer to truth reigning in the streets and the market places of this nation again is by it coming back to the family. The family was the first institution God ordained (before the church and before government) and it is where He wants things to happen first.

I hear of families who once were shining brightly who are now backslidden. Unless we are “rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith” (Colossians 2:7-8) we can easily be uprooted.

Become a truth-seeking family. Become a Word loving-family. Become a praying family. You can be an excellent homeschooling mother, but if your children graduate without being RICHLY FILLED WITH THE WORD OF GOD, they will not be ready to resist the adversary in the evil day (Colossians 3:16).

It’s interesting that after this lament of truth falling in the streets, this chapter ends with God’s plan for His families, “My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, SHALL NOT DEPART OUT OF THY MOUTH, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and forever” (Isaiah 59:21).

That’s our answer.

Love from Nancy

What are you alive to? God wants us to be alive to Him. When we are alive to God, we are alive to life, for He is the life-giving God. Did you wake up this morning ready for life? Every day is a new exciting day for life.

When we are alive to God, we will also be alive to our destiny and God’s plan for us. That means if God has blessed us with children, His destiny for us is to nurture and train these children for Him. Of course, we’ll have many other projects and passions in which we love to be involved, but mothering will be our paramount passion.

Are you alive to motherhood today? Don’t let the negatives and deceptions of people around you dampen your vision for motherhood. Let God renew His passion in you.

Romans 6:1 says, “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Love from Nancy

I started out mothering by listening to the “good advice” from people around me. I was told I should wait four hours between feeding my baby. But he couldn’t wait four hours. I was told I should train him to sleep through the night. Oh how frustrated I was. I loved by baby, but oh this motherhood was painful!

Then I read a statement by a doctor that was my lifesaver.

“There is more in a mother’s intuition than all the books you’ll ever read.”

Praise the Lord, I didn’t have to listen to all the “old wives’ tales.” I could listen to the maternal intuition that God put within me. I was free to respond to my baby. I could nurse him when he cried! I could bring him to bed and let him sleep with me. What bliss! What freedom.

Forget all the books. Forget all the humanistic advice. Listen to God. Listen to your mothering heart. It will release you to be the greatest mother to your baby and your children.

Love from Nancy

The Bible talks a lot about banners. Banners are a sign of victory. We should be always heralding the banners of God’s truth in our home, in the church, and in the world. If our banners are not waving, it is a sign of defeat!

Never compromise the banners of God’s truth, even in the face of opposition and persecution! Keep them flying high.

I love to write encouraging posts, but I felt grieved this morning as I read Psalm 74:3-4, “Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations: even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary. Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns (battle flags) for signs.”

The Amplified says, “They set up their own emblems for signs of victory.”

Can you believe it? The enemy had come into the heart of God’s sanctuary and established their banners! And yet we see the same thing happening today. Right under the nose of God’s people, the enemy has entered into the heart of the church and set up his banners.

In most of Christendom today, the banners are raised…

“Wait a few years until you are established before you start a family.”

“Make sure you use birth control.”

“Don’t have too many children.”

“Put your children in daycare so you can enjoy your career.”

These ideologies are now entrenched in the church. They are not God’s signs. They are not taken from the Bible. Instead, the enemy has staked his emblems in the heart of the church.

Let’s take the flag of God’s truth which is lying in the dust and lift it high.

Love from Nancy

What are you making happen in your home today, sweet mother? Are you sowing discord? Are you sowing a bad attitude? Are you making it a negative and dissatisfied atmosphere?

Or, are you sowing joy and happiness? Are you sowing positivity and encouragement? Are you making your home full of gladness?

I love Psalm 46:4-5, “There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. God is in the midst of her: she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.” God wants to dwell in the midst of your home. He wants you to make it a glad place to live.

You can’t do this in your own strength. Often, you feel absolutely the opposite! You don’t feel glad and you don’t feel like making anyone else glad! But how does the gladness come? There is a river! The Living Bible translates it, “There is a river of joy flowing through the City of our God—the sacred home of the God above all gods.” Praise God for the river of life of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. Let the life of Jesus Christ (the One who has more joy than all His fellows) and who lives within you, flow from your life today.

Don’t give into your fleshly feelings. The secret of my life is learning to not live by my feelings but by the life of Christ within me. Let the river flow from your heart today and into your home. Let the river of the joy of the Holy Spirit overflow your home today.

Keep smiling.

Love from Nancy

Recently I read of a wife who was having marriage problems. He husband was unkind to her and didn’t want to spent time with her, choosing to spend all his evenings in other company. She went to a counselor. He didn’t spend hours counseling her, but instead gave her one simple message, “Always treat your husband with a smile.”

She began to put it into practice. A few months later she returned to the counselor with the news. Her husband no longer sought other company, but longed to be with her and treated her with constant love and kindness.

This secret works wonders for a problematic marriage. It enhances a good marriage. Each time you look at your husband, smile at him. Make it a natural habit of your life.

Love from Nancy

Today is my last comment from the I LOVE HOME post. A mother writes, “I worked until our first child was born. Now he is 18 and we have seven more blessings. Working isn't an option with nursing babies, but I would love it if you would comment on the women who work at husband's insistence even after the wife has expressed the desire to stay home. Will G-d bless the wife or is she in the wrong?”

This is certainly not an easy question to answer and yet many women find themselves in this situation. I think the reason for this is that the husband has never grown up with a vision for family. The only experience he knows is of his own mother working. He also imbibes this philosophy from his education, the media, and society as a whole. Unless, he has been taught the truth, what else does he know? May God raise up pastors all over this land who will have courage to share the truth and God’s ways for families with their congregations.

But, what would should the wife do? She needs to spend a special time with her husband sharing her heart, or perhaps even writing down the feelings of her heart.

What about writing down on a piece of paper…
1. All the advantages of staying at home—financial, emotional, generational impacting, and eternal accountability, etc. List specific items as you think of them under each of these headings. The greatest thing we can do in this life is to give our lives to that which will last beyond our lifetime. A career will not last even for this life, let alone beyond our lifetime. Mothering and training children lasts into generations to come and even eternity.

2. All the disadvantages of leaving the home to go out to work—the effect upon the children, the effect upon your marriage because of less time to minister to your husband, and even less energy and time for love-making with your husband which is a high priority in your marriage, and extra stress upon you which also affects your home and marriage, etc. List items specifically under these headings also.

3. All the biblical reasons why you should be at home. Biblically, motherhood is synonymous with home. The Bible always paints the picture of the mother in the home. Psalm 113:9 says, “He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children.” The home and children are “twins.” When describing a home that is blessed of the Lord, God paints the picture of the mother in the very heart of the home with all her children sitting around the table (Psalm 128:3). Once again, the home and children are synonymous.

4. All the pros of building into the home and the cons of weakening the home because you are no longer in the home.

5. All the reasons why you cannot afford to go to work.

6. All the reasons how you can save money at home. Scaling back and doing without things you think you need is a better way to save money than going out to work where you have to spend more money to go out, e.g. extra gas, extra clothes, fast food, daycare etc. It’s amazing what you can save at home with home gardening, home cooking, and home rationing of what you don’t need.

It may take some time and prayer to complete this project. When you have completed it, one evening ask your husband with your sweetest and loving voice, “Darling, I have written down some thoughts for you. Could you please take time to read them and pray over them? Thank you so much.”

I am sure that as he reads these important truths and all the reasons of how going out to work will negatively affect not only you, but your husband, your marriage, your children, and your home, that he will begin to see things from a different light.

Some women like to do a business in their home, but this doesn’t always work out. Another idea is to look after someone else’s child or children in your home. This can often be accommodated because you are already looking after your children. If you seek Him, God will always give you a way to work it out without leaving your home and your precious children.

When God gives you your children, He gives them to you to nurture and train, not somebody else! This is a deception of the enemy.

By the way, my husband said that he is happy and available to encourage any husband about this issue if they would like to call him. He can be contacted on his cell at 615 948 5958.

Blessings from Nancy

Yesterday we talked about de-cluttering. It’s important to keep the home clean and free from junk and stuff that we don’t need! Isn’t it true that we can live on far less than we think we need? And yet how we need to watch accumulating!

We have moved not only across state, but from one country to the other—New Zealand to Australia and 10 years later from Australia to America. You can’t put all your stuff in a moving van and set off. You have to get rid of everything. Each time we purged a home and started again in another country, I would say, “I’m never going to have another piece of junk in my home again!” And yet, somehow it accumulates. We have to keep purging and not wait until we are moving, don’t we?

But, there is more to organizing a home than de-cluttering. We also have to make our home “feel” a home. You can have a de-cluttered and organized home that has no atmosphere. Everyone wants to walk into a home where the atmosphere is warm, cozy, and inviting.

I love the words one mother wrote in answer to my I LOVE HOME post, “What makes cozy? Touches of homemade, lamps, and things that invite people to snuggle up and be friendly. Ask the items in your home ‘Are you inviting me to you?’ I made a plan for my home. I called it the common sense home. I planned it around sight, sounds, smells, tastes, and touch. Have music, sweet words, and nice odors wafting thru—and of course, lots of hugs.”

Home is a place to feel welcome, not only for your visitors, but for the members of your own family. It is a place for God to feel welcome. God is a dwelling God and wants to dwell in your home. He loves to have the freedom to walk in every room.

A warm and welcoming home doesn’t just happen. We have to make it happen. It is a never-ending opportunity for creativity to make our home a place where everyone wants to be. How could anyone say they could get bored at home?

I think that one of the ways to make a home inviting is the cooking of meals. Meal times gather the whole family together. Meal times fill the home with delightful aromas that whet the appetite and make each one feel warm and satisfied. It is pitiful to be in a home where you cannot enjoy the smells of cooking and homemade bread coming out of the oven and where instead some pre-cooked meal is served.

There is no atmosphere to a meal if the family does not sit around the table together. This brings an ambience that cements the family together over the weeks, months, and years.

This is a Facebook post and not an article, so I must stop. I pass it over to you. I’d love to hear how you make your home a warm and welcoming place. I close with another comment that came in, “I love my home inside out! And I want same for my children.” Amen to that.

Love from Nancy

In reply to my post, I LOVE HOME, here are a few comments that came in about de-cluttering.

“I do love being home, but sometimes the clutter gets to me.”

“I'm on a de-cluttering kick, because I'm realizing the less you own and have to care for, the more you can LAUGH and enjoy what you have--your husband and children. You can make your own happy and peaceful and have a spirit of joy rather than stuff.”

“I'm currently redoing our budget as my husband's income is down. For us, doing without things and cutting back is a better fit for our walk in Christ than for our household to do without ME.”

I think we could receive a load more comments on this subject. I am sure many of you have found great ideas to keep your homes free from clutter. Feel free to share to encourage and bless other mothers. This is what this Above Rubies Facebook is all about—to help and encourage one another in our great calling of making our homes the greatest places on earth to live!

It certainly is true that we can’t enjoy living in our home if it is unorganized and full of clutter. Clutter in the house clutters the mind. You can’t even think straight. If only we could get it into our heads that less is better than more. The more we have, the more we have to care for and thus the more work! The less we have, the less we have to worry about which equals a lot less stress.

If your house is in a clutter and you don’t know how it can ever change, don’t despair. Instead of looking at the whole mess, take one room at a time. Start with one room and get that organized, and then start on the next.

One of the blessings in our home is Preparation Day. Did you know that this is an actual day that is mentioned in the Bible? It is the day before Sabbath when they cleaned their house and prepared their food so they didn’t have to work on their rest day.

Every Friday in our home we clean the house from top to bottom. Although we tidy every day, it is great to have one day when you thoroughly clean, involving all children in the clean, of course. You can’t do it all on your own (although mothers with little ones have to wait a few years for their reward years when they have older children to help).

Some ladies wrote yesterday, “Why not work WITH the children to get the house clean? That makes more sense than ignoring them to clean the house.” And “My children always joined in with the cleaning and cooking because that is how they learn these skills to later use in their own homes. Both my sons are excellent cooks as a result.”

On this day, I usually like to clean one extra thing, such as a fridge, the pantry, or a cupboard, etc. And so gradually the whole house keeps organized. You can read more about this by going to the web page and checking on The Preparation Day. Although Preparation Day is officially Friday, you can make it any day of the week to work for you.

Love from NANCY

We continue to discuss comments from the I LOVE HOME post. One mother says, “This is our home and I love it but I don't want to love it more than the children.”

This comment reminds me of a little poem I have always loved. I’ll share it with you.

“I LOVE YOU, JOHNNY!”

I love you, Johnny, said mother one day,
I love you more than I can say,
Then she answered his questions with,
Don’t bother me now!”
And just didn’t have time to show him how
To tie his truck to his tractor and plough,
But she washed her windows and scrubbed the floor
And baked, and cooked, and cleaned some more.

“Bring the boy next door in?” “Well, I should say not,
You’ll mess up the floors and I don’t want a spot.”
“No, we don’t have time for a story today,
Mother’s too busy cooking, so run out and play,
Maybe tomorrow,” she said with a sigh,
And Johnny went out almost ready to cry.

“I love you, Johnny,” again she said,
As she washed his face and sent him to bed.
Now how do you think that Johnny guessed
Whether ‘twas he or the house that
She really loved best?

Love from Nancy

A mother asks, “Can anyone tell me where in Scripture it says we are to be watch dogs or protectors of our children’s souls?” The following are a few Scriptures for you to meditate upon.

1. Hebrews 13:17 says, “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.”

This Scripture is speaking to the elders of the church who have the responsibility to watch over the souls of their flock. However, before the church was ever instituted, God designed the family. The family is the first institution that God ordained and the church is only a reflection of the extended family. It is primarily the responsibility of parents to watch over the souls of their little flock. This is the principle task of parenting. And God holds us responsible.

2. Titus 2:5 exhorts the older women to teach the younger women to be “keepers at home.”

This phrase is translated differently according to which manuscript from which the version was translated. One Greek word is “oikourogo” meaning “to work at home.” The other is “oikouros” meaning “to guard and watch over the home.” This not only means to guard the physical home, but more importantly, the children in the home. Our greatest task as mothers is to guard our children’s lives, and that means watching over their souls. You are a WATCH DOG! And a watch dog has to be on the job! We have to be constantly watching and praying to detect any intrusion of the enemy into our home or our children’s hearts. This is a full time job.

3. 1 Thessalonians 5:23, “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.”

This was Paul’s prayer for the new believers at Thessalonica. This was my prayer and vision for my children as I raised them in our home. Our ultimate aim and prayer is for our children’s souls to be preserved from evil and the contamination of this world. This doesn’t mean that we separate them from the world. Jesus prayed in John 17:15 that we would not be taken out of the world, but that we would be kept from evil as we live in this dark world. We are not raising children for hibernation, but for the revelation of God’s character to the world.

The word “preserved” in this Scripture is “tereo” and means “to watch over, to keep watch, to guard from loss or injury by keeping the eye upon.”

This doesn’t happen by hoping it will happen. This only happens by much prayer. It only happens by zealously watching over their spirit, soul and body! And notice that the spirit comes first! Make this Scripture your prayer for your children, too.

4. Proverbs 31:27, “She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.”

The Hebrew word for “looks well” is “tsaphah.” It means “to observe, to lean forward, to peer into the distance, to watch with a purpose, to spy.” It is exactly the same word that is used to describe “watchman” who watch over the city (1 Samuel 18:24; Ezekiel 3:17; 33:7). God told the watchmen to listen to the words of His mouth and to declare them to the people. As watchwomen mothers, we are to always be listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit. He will show us areas in our children’s lives that we need to attend to. He will fill us with His Word so we can impart it to them.

Be a great WATCH DOG today.

Love from Nancy

I continue to comment on another comment from I LOVE HOM. There are so many comments from my last few posts that I am looking forward to commenting on. We will enjoy lots more discussion together this coming week.

This mother writes, “I always love your posts. With this one my sense of humor popped up with the words “delicate” and “delightful.” Of course, I understand the correctness of what you are saying but a mental picture of me in my gardening boots popped into my mind. Boy oh boy, that is anything but delicate and delightful!”

So true! This is the amazing thing about motherhood. It has two powerful anointings. God has put within us the anointing of nurturing which is tender, caring, loving, and sweet. This is the “delicate” part.

But, God has also put within mothers an anointing of strength--strength of mind, character, and purpose to enable us to fulfill this great task of running a home and raising a family. He also gives us physical strength. Proverbs 31:17, “She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms. “ Have you noticed that you become stronger as you mother? Your arms get stronger holding heavy babies! You strengthen up as you dig and tend to your garden (which is very much part of homemaking) and physically run your household.

You also receive a new kind of strength that is like the strength of a lion. Look out anyone who would hurt your children. And look out adversary, the enemy of our souls and our children’s souls. We guard over our children like a lion guards over her cubs! We will fight against any intrusion of the enemy!

It is lovely to look and dress as femininely as possible. I love to see my daughters in their lovely flowing long skirts (although they are not always dressed this way, and especially not Evangeline)! She’s usually in her gardening, shooting with the boys, and adventuring clothes! Serene says that she likes to wear feminine clothes around her home as wants her children to remember her as a princess!

But, we also have to get into our “work” and gardening clothes. I don’t know about you, but I have to get into my “work” clothes to work or be in the garden. I have a dear friend who can do physical activities in her home and stay dressed like a queen! I remember one time when we were all painting the church together. She came with her hair done up and her high heels on, looking as she usually did just like a queen. But, it didn’t stop her working. She worked along with all of us and never got a drop of paint on her! Help, I was in my oldest clothes and had paint splattered all over me!

Let’s embrace with all our heart the two powerful anointings of motherhood. And lookout world!

Love from Nancy

Today I answer another comment from the post, I LOVE HOME. A mother writes, “I wish that this was the case for me, but we can't afford for me to stay home.” Why are these words such a common reply? I think it is because we feel we have to take things into our own hands to make it work. We don’t think that God is able! That’s the bottom line.

That’s rather challenging, isn’t it? Especially when we read the words in Psalm 78:19-22, “Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? … Can he give bread also? Can he provide flesh for his people? … Therefore the Lord heard this, and was wroth… because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation.”

When we don’t believe that God can provide, we are really confessing that we don’t trust Him and that He s not sufficient for our needs. And yet, isn’t He God? The God of the universe. The God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills. The God who has promised to provide for the fruit of the womb.

I know it can be scary when you wonder where the next meal is coming from. And we all go through seasons, just as Paul did (Philippians 4:11-13). There were times when he abounded and times when he was abased. We’ve faced the same thing many times. I remember one time in my life when we had no money coming in and I thought that I would help out the situation! Help, Nancy Campbell didn’t trust God! Shame!

I could never imagine my getting a full time job out of the home, but I thought I’d do a few cleaning jobs to bring in a little extra (my children were mostly grown by this time). I was dutifully doing this when a woman of God challenged me. She said I was actually blaspheming the Word of God and not being an example to the younger women. At first, I was most put out. “Who does she think she is?” I thought. “She doesn’t know our situation.”

But, then the Holy Spirit used her words to speak into my heart. I realized she was right! I confessed to the Lord and immediately stopped these little jobs that took me out of the home. The amazing thing is that it didn’t change a thing! I noticed no difference when I was trying to bring in a little extra money than when I trusted God! God could do better than what I could do!

Why is it we think we can do a better job than God? God doesn’t require sacrifice, but obedience. When we obey Him and trust Him we will experience His faithfulness. That doesn’t mean we will always be abounding, but we will never starve!

To the dear mothers in this situation where you are out working and yet long to be home, I want to encourage you. Please, take a step of faith and obedience. You will wait for the rest of your life for the circumstances to be right before you can come home! Your circumstances will never be perfect. You will never think you have enough money without your wage. You have to take a step of faith. You have to act in obedience. You have to give your notice, and then you will see what God can do.

While you try to do it in your own strength, God has to step back and let you do it your way. He can only show you His faithfulness and His provision when you let Him take over! Try it and see! I would love to hear the hundreds of testimonies from those who have seen God’s provision as they have taken this step of faith.

Instead of “we can’t afford for me to stay home, “ my husband always says, “We can’t afford for my wife to be in a career and leave the home. Too much is at stake!” When the mother is out of the home, the enemy and destroyer of souls has a chance to influence our children. We as mothers are watch dogs of our children and our homes. A watch dog is of no worth if he is not at home. We can’t leave our post. Our children, the nation, and future generations are dependent on us!

Love from Nancy

I am continuing to answer comments from I LOVE HOME. Another dear mother writes, “I'm with you to a point, but I miss working as a nurse and I feel locked up like Rapunzel while constantly at home.” This mother is obviously a very caring and nurturing person as this is what nursing is all about it. Nursing is only an extension of mothering. So why not be the greatest nurse and mother in your own home? Not only to your children, but to the hurting and needy around?

The home is primarily a nurturing center, a sanctuary to nurture and raise our children. But it is also the hub where everything happens from birth to the grave.

Dear mother, you are the one who determines the status of your home. You can keep it boring where nothing much happens, or you can make it the most exciting place in the world where so much is happening that you no longer have any time to think about yourself.

Ask God to give you a vision for your home? Which mother would He like you to invite for lunch, to bless her and her children and bring encouragement into their lives? Which family would He like you to ask for an evening meal or Sunday dinner after church to encourage and enrich their lives? Perhaps you feel you cannot afford to have extra people in your home. Let me give you a secret. You’ll eat better when you reach out in hospitality than when you keep to yourself. Try it and see.

Have you thought of inviting a few widows to your home and giving them a special meal and evening, and arrange a concert where your children entertain them with all their gifts. What about a club for children in your neighborhood to tell them about Jesus?

Why not start a weekly prayer meeting in your home? A prayer meeting for Israel, for your community, or for the nation. This nation is languishing because of lack of prayer. You can turn that around!

We live out in the woods of Tennessee, but we are never lonely. There is hardly a moment when the house is not filled with people and folks coming and going. I believe the

What is your gift, your passion, and your vision? Make it happen in your home. This is where God wants it to take place, because remember; the home is where everything is meant to happen!

Love from Nancy

Dear lovely wives and mothers, Thank you for your lovely comments regarding yesterday’s post, I LOVE HOME. Would you mind if I took the next few days to comment on some of the comments? I think it will be encouraging for all.

One precious mother writes, “I’m struggling with this as my home doesn't feel like home. I’m so grateful that God has given this place but it needs so much work doing to it and money spent that we don't have.”

Dear mother, and so many other mothers in similar circumstances, can I encourage you to not get bogged down with all the problems and what needs fixing and repairing, and instead enjoy what you do have? You are so blessed to have a roof over your head, a place of shelter for you and your children, and a place to raise them for the glory of God. You don’t have to have everything perfect to do the great job of raising godly and effective children for the kingdom of God. You just have to have the right attitude.

It all comes back to our attitude. It’s certainly not hard to get depressed when things are not as they should be. I know. But, it is amazing what you can do even in the most primitive and imperfect situations. I could even complain myself. My fridge is falling to pieces and the drawers fall out every time I open the fridge. The stove is ready for the dump! But, hallelujah, I can still cook, and I can still put some things in the fridge! So I keep praising the Lord until we can one day afford new appliances.

I think of my daughter, Serene. Currently, her husband is fulfilling contracts in different states in the country. Serene and the children go to be with him as they are able. His last contract was in Mississippi and he and his brother rented a tiny home for them to sleep when not working—no homely things for a woman! But, Serene couldn’t be parted and she and the eight children spent a few months with him in this little home. The children had to keep quiet all day while the men slept as they worked night shift. She couldn’t let them outside because it was next to a quarry with sheer cliffs a few feet from the house! And she was at the end of her pregnancy!

We arrived to bring her and the children home so she could have her new baby in Tennessee. Instead, she had the baby on the day we arrived in Mississippi. That night Colin and I slept on their blow-up mattress and it was so uncomfortable we couldn’t sleep all night! Serene slept on it every night in her last weeks of pregnancy.

I asked her, “How on earth did you do it?” With a big smile, she said, “God gave me grace. I loved our time in that place.” You see, it’s not the circumstances, but our attitude!

I think of my daughter, Evangeline. They live in their tiny home with their 10 children. They are building on bedrooms, but they are still not completed. The children have never had beds and have slept on the floor all their lives! But, no one complains. They all love their life and you couldn’t find happier children. The boys all want to be tough and train for the Delta Force anyway!

How does Evangeline homeschool and run a home in such tiny circumstances? It’s her attitude! Ask her how she is doing today. She’ll reply, “I’m great. In fact, I’m God’s pet! God is so good and I have a wonderful life.” Evangeline also loves to say, “I’m caring for children, not stuff!”

Please, dear mothers, get your eyes off your circumstances and put your eyes upon the Lord. Thank the Lord for what you do have. Rejoice in what He has given you. Make the most of what He has given you and make it the most beautiful place in the world even if everything is half-finished and falling down around you.

One of the challenges of homemaking is to make something that maybe ugly into something that is beautiful. Isn’t that exciting? As another mother commented, “I used to live in a basement apartment where pipes were coming out of the ceiling, but it was our home at the time and I loved being there with my growing family.” If you have pipes coming out of the roof, decorate the pipes and make them an amazing feature! Who wants to have a boring house anyway? Make every negative into a creative and beautiful thing.

It’s the atmosphere of your home that counts. You can have joy, fun, laughter, and most of all, the presence of the Lord in a tiny unfinished home. You can have coldness and complaining and discontented children in a large and beautiful home.

It’s not the building, it’s the atmosphere. Have you got it?

Love you. NANCY

Paul asked the question in 1 Corinthians 4:7, “What do you have that you were not given? And if it was given to you, how can you brag?” (CEV). How we need to be reminded of this question. Truly, everything we have and everything we are as a person has been given to us by God. We cannot lay claim to one thing! We have no room for boasting.

What a difference this truth makes to our lives. We are cast upon God for our every breath. He is our Source, our Life, our Hope, and our Salvation. Every gift and talent we have has been given to us by God and therefore we are responsible to Him to use it for His glory (Matthew 25:14-30).

What about our children? We cannot claim them as our own, either. They are gifts from God, and therefore, once again, we are responsible to God for the way we train them and prepare their hearts to receive God’s direction for their lives. We cannot plan their path, or even bend them in a certain way, apart from God’s way. God has already put His chosen gifts and talents in them and planned their destiny before the foundation of the world. We can’t take any credit for their gifts. They are all given by God.

I look at my grown children (and some of them already have grown children of their own) and I see more than ever that God created each one uniquely. I cannot boast of their gifts and talents because they were indelibly placed within them by the hand of God.

You can trust God for your children because He has planned their lives.

Love from Nancy

It’s our attitude that counts, isn’t it? What kind of an attitude did you wake up with this morning?

Don’t let your feelings control your attitude. Determine your attitude and your feelings will follow! That’s the victorious way to live!

I was challenged today by the attitude of Jesus. When He came from the glory of heaven to this earth to accomplish the Father’s will, He didn’t do it grudgingly, but He delighted to do the Father’s will, even though it meant giving His life. Psalm 40: 8 says, “I DELIGHT to do thy will, O my God.” His was the ultimate sacrifice, and yet He DELIGHTED to do His Father’s will.

You are in the Father’s will as you create a godly home and tenderly nurture the children God has given you. He is the One who has given you this task. What’s your attitude? Do you complain and groan? Or do you DELIGHT to do His will?

Change your attitude to DELIGHT today. Check out Deuteronomy 28:46-47 which tells us that God takes His blessing from us when we do not serve Him with “joyfulness, and with gladness of heart.”

Love from Nancy

In my last post, we talked about the first thing God did after creating man—He blessed them.

Do you remember what He did next? I’ll give you a minute to think about it.

Yes, I’m sure you got it right. He spoke. What did He say? Genesis 1:28 says, “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it.” The very first words that man ever heard from the mouth of God were to be fruitful and fill the earth. These words followed His blessing.

It is interesting that when God talks about being fruitful, or children coming, that He first blesses the couple. Blessing always comes before fruitfulness. You can’t even have a child without the blessing of God. Isn’t it amazing that God’s blessing is always fruitfulness, and yet so many don’t want to receive it?

Let’s keep under the fount of God’s blessing.

Love, Nancy

P.S. I have given a whole chapter of my book, BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY to the Scriptures that speak of God’s blessing before He sends fruitfulness. You can check them out by ordering the book from