Do you feel overwhelmed at all you have to do? Don’t give up in Despair. Keep plodding on. Do a little bit at a time and soon you will have the job completed the job.
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Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs
Through the weekly and daily devotionals you can be constantly encouraged in your great role of parenting, the highest career in the nation. You can also stay updated on what's happening with the Above Rubies ministry.
A few days ago, I shared the picture of two of my granddaughters helping me make my annual Christmas cake. I notice that a number of folks are asking for the recipe. Sorry for the delay, but here it is for you.CAMPBELL’S CHRISTMAS CAKE
(This was my husband’s mother’s recipe and she most probably got it from generations previously).
Cream together 1 lb. butter and 1 lb. raw sugar (I use succanat or equivalent THM Gentle Sweet). Beat it until it is very creamy. I use a strong wooden spoon. Lots of arm exercise! Get your children taking turns to beat.
Add 10 eggs. Add them two at a time and beat them into the creamed butter and sugar mixture. More arm exercises!
Gradually add 3 cups flour. You can use any flour. I use spelt or kamut (with half THM Baking Blend). Start adding the flour slowly along with the eggs. Even more arm exercise! It gets harder to beat as you go along. But keep beating. Get the children to take turns. And dad too! You’ve got to get this mixture really creamy.
When you’ve gradually added all the eggs and the flour until they are absorbed, add:
1 Tbs. dark jam
1 Tbs. Treacle (American readers, we can’t get treacle, but you could use sorghum, molasses, or dark honey)
Essences. Use whatever you have in your pantry such as vanilla, rum, brandy, almond etc.
Spices. Use 1- 2 tsp. mixed spice, ginger, and cinnamon, as you desire
1 tsp. Baking Soda
Mix in, and then add the fruit and nuts.
1 lb. Currants (it’s hard to get currants in USA, so I add more raisins).
1 lb. Sultanas
1-packet raisins (or use more raisins if you don’t have sultanas or currants)
1 cup chopped walnuts (nuts are optional)
1 cup chopped almonds (use more nuts if you desire). I use more nuts as I love the nuts in the cake.
Grease a large cake tin. I usually line the tin with newspaper, so it doesn’t burn on the bottom. I then line it with butter papers (the paper in which the butter was wrapped). Start saving your butter papers now. Place mixture in the tin and cook at 250 degrees for about three to four hours.
I usually pour wine or brandy over my cake when it comes out of the oven.
Suggestions from lady in England: Did you know that in England we make our Christmas cakes in October. The reason is that it matures over the weeks. We pick holes in the top and pour a little brandy in (about 2 Tbs.) or apple juice if you don’t use brandy. Seal fully with foil. Then we open every two weeks and repeat the process. This keeps it lovely and moist and allows the fruit to mature. My children and I make six every year as love gifts for our family.
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
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THE IMAGE OF GOD’S FACEEvery life is sacred
And possesses untold worth.
The prophet John leapt in the womb
When unborn Jesus was on earth.
How is it that before it's born
A child is seen as less
Than anyone outside the womb?
It's strange, I must confess . . .
Until I ponder on this truth
Revealed in God's own Word,
That people are deceived and lost
Until their ears have heard . . .
That God, the Author of all life,
Gives value to us all.
Rich or poor, young or old,
All people, big or small.
Before He formed us in the womb
Our lives by Him were planned.
Yet till we know our worth to Him,
We cannot understand.
Oh Lord, please open every heart
To know your love for all,
That every unborn, precious life
Will live to hear your call.
Rescue those condemned to die
At hands of sinful man.
Restore the right of every life,
Let truth rule in this land.
Each baby that you send in love
Is a miracle of grace,
As we gaze upon each tiny one,
There's the image of Your face.
VAL HALLORAN
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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This is another Scripture you can pray. It is powerful to pray God’s Word. Horns in the Bible speak of power and authority. Pray that the usurping power of the wicked and those who are wanting to control humanity will be cut off and the authority of righteous men will be lifted up for righteousness exalts a nation. It is interesting that the golden altar of incense in the temple had four horns, one on each corner. And we know that the altar of incense represents prayer and praise. Let’s take up our authority in prayer. It is our greatest weapon of war. Pray as families together every day.
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The deep state, the world economic forum, the great reset, and others want total jurisdiction over our lives. They are taking dominion over our bodies. We will no longer enjoy freedom unless we fight for it. We must resist all tyranny.
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Amen! I love to pray the Scriptures when I am praying. I can’t pray anything more powerful than the Word of God. Join with me in praying this prayer and that all the lies and deception from the media and the government will be exposed and become powerless. Amen again
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1 Peter 4:12-14 tells us not to be surprised at the fiery trials that come our way. Instead of complaining about them, this Scripture tells us to rejoice and be happy! Paul gloried in his tribulations knowing that they were working God’s character into his life (Romans 5:3-5). Be encouraged dear one. God will not let you go.
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You can trust God for each new day. God doesn’t give you today what you need for tomorrow. He will give that to you tomorrow. Lay your head on the pillow and have a good sleep. Give all your worries and concerns to God. Stop worrying about them right now. Tomorrow you will wake with fresh wisdom, fresh strength, and understanding what you need to do. God‘s mercies and blessings and strength for each new day.
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MOTHER OF TODDLERSBy Bonnie Sampson
(Bonnie wrote this one evening after one of “those days” with little ones!)
As I sit on the couch and breastfeed my babe,
There’s a clattering sound down the hall,
I squeeze my eyes shut with a frustrated sight
And lift my voice and call.
No reply hits my ears, so I unlatch the babe
And race to the scene of a crime,
There’re cupboards wide open and food on the floor,
She’s been having a wonderful time.
In the midst of the mess sits my small, cute offender
With the guiltiest look on her face.
“Patience! I think and I slowly exhale,
Shooting speedy prayers upwards for grace.
She’s just being curious, exploring the world,
Making messes is what toddlers do,
I don’t want to spend her whole life saying “No!”
And she’s young, she’s not even two!
Being a mother just stretches my patience
And wears it down really thin,
Toddlers are constant, chaotic people
Always exposing my sin.
But sin exposed, as I look to the cross
And see hanging there my Lord,
Giving up all in a maelstrom of grace,
Heaven’s joy his final reward.
I fall on my knees and worship the God
Who showed limitless mercy to me,
Who saw all my sin and still went to the cross,
Forever setting me free.
If my Jesus could give up Himself, even die,
And if love demands mercy and grace,
Then I can be patient with my children at home,
So I scoop her up in my embrace.
I marvel again that God chose me
To love and to raise this one,
Oh, Father grant grace and patience
And make me like Your Son.
~ Bonnie Sampson.
Bonnie was one of my lovely Above Rubies helpers. She lives in New Zealand and is now married with two darling little girls, Shari and Hazel.
Hannah Bronn was also an Above Rubies girl from New Zealand at the same time as Bonnie. And now she is engaged to the brother of Bonnie’s husband. Isn’t that special? And they didn’t even know one another before they came to be with us here at Above Rubies.
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Oh, don't you love children? God loves them too! Apart from your salvation, they are the greatest blessing you can receive in life.
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Satan is scared of mothers who know who they are and who know their purpose! He doesn’t want homebuilding mothers. He doesn’t want home teaching mothers. He doesn’t want mothers who want more children. Oh no! He wants to get His hands upon the children to influence them for His kingdom so he lures the mothers out of the home. Be aware of his tactics. Embrace your powerful calling of motherhood and you’ll make the devil scared!
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Such a good reminder!
An Above Rubies reader for many years shared this picture with me (in fact, Paula was one of very original Above Rubies helpers many years ago).
“Here is a photo of the twins (Tiveria and Tikvah). I keep all of my old Above Rubies in the loft and within the last year or so they discovered them, and I think they have already read them through once and are on their second round.”
Paula Smith, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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I was reading again in Philippians 2:7 how Jesus “made himself of no reputation and took upon himself the form of a servant.” I was arrested by the fact that no one made Jesus a servant. He made Himself a servant. He took upon Himself the position of a servant!Why did He do this? “For the joy that was set before Him he endured the cross, despising the shame” (Hebrews 12:2).
Although Jesus endued such agony and took upon Himself the sin and sickness of the world, He saw ahead to His glorious purpose of getting a bride who would dwell with Him in Heaven eternally. He saw the joy ahead.
Sometimes we despise the role of a servant, don’t we? I can remember back to my early days of motherhood with all my children around me and everything I had to accomplish and saying, “I’m just a jolly servant around this place.!” Oh, what disgusting words! I didn’t understand the glory and blessing of being a servant.
When we willingly take upon us the servant role, because we know this will bring great blessing to our husbands and family, we can do it with joy When we don’t want to serve or do the lowly monotonous tasks each day and have a bad attitude about them, we usually bring gloom and chaos to our household.
But when we willingly serve to bless everyone in our homes and make things run smoothly we bring joy to everyone in the home and joy to ourselves.
Servanthood equals joy!
Love from Nancy Campbell
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If you want to enjoy vitality, confess the joy of the Lord. If you grumble and complain and live in self-pity, you'll be miserable and tired!
~ Nancy
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...to feed our children’s bodies. We must feel their souls and spirits too. Don’t neglect feeding them with God’s nourishing food from His Word. It’s as important or even more important than their natural food.
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I have a dear friend who literally her own home. Her husband worked full time and earned the money, but because she was at home with her little baby, she decided she may as well build the home. With the advice of her father and studying building books she did it! She built this beautiful five-bedroom two-storied home which she and her family continue to live in today. And now she is a grandmother!Lois Jordan was the design artist for Above Rubies back in the beginning days, over 44 years ago! I would frequently go out to her home and call her down from the roof to do some artwork when we were working on a new magazine. Those were the days when we didn’t have computers and all the design was done with cut and paste.
I know there are very few women who would have the capacity to do what Lois did. She is not the ordinary person! But God says that women are builders! We don’t all have to build a house with hammer and nails. But we do have to build. We are building a godly family. A strong family. A family that can ride the storms and stay intact. We are building godly generations.
Proverbs 14:1 says: “Every wise woman builds her house: but the foolish plucks it down with her hands.” What are you putting your time into? Into building up someone else’s organization or business? Or are you building up your home? That takes being at home. It takes time to build up your home and family. It doesn’t happen by gadding about here and there,
What about your marriage? Are you building into your marriage? That takes time too. What are you speaking into your marriage? Loving words? Encouraging words? Sweet words? More than anything else we build our marriage and our family with words. Words either build up or destroy.
Let’s be builders, not destroyers.
Love from Nancy Campbell
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What a lovely day we enjoyed on the weekend. Began with a three generation walk with Serene and granddaughter Chalice who is due to have her baby tomorrow. We walked down to the river and back, a long hard walk. Serene walked with weights, I just walked, and Chalice waddled and yet kept up with us all the way. She is amazing. She hoped it would help baby come, but it hasn’t happened yet!Colin and I then drove into the city to see a dear friend who was displaying all the beautiful clothes she makes at SewPop. And then we drove on to see our lovely family which you can see in the picture. Joseph and Psalmody, Anthony and Aden and Sapphire. Always fun to see them. And then in the evening a surprise birthday party for Kendall’s 30th birthday. Kendall is Meadow’s husband and we enjoyed the party at Pearl’s home.
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The best way to live and the way God intends us to live.
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Many women don’t like the phrase “keepers at home.” Even Christian mothers. And yet it’s in the Bible! I wonder why they think they know better than the Bible. The phrase is found in Titus 2:5 and is translated from two different manuscripts.The first is ”oikourogo,” coming from two words:
oikos meaning “home” and ergon meaning “to work.”
The word literally means HOME-WORKERS!
In other words, the mother is not working out in the corporate world, but in the home.
The second is ”oikouros.” also from two Greek words:
oikos meaning “a home, a dwelling, or by metonymy--a household or family” and
ouros meaning “to guard, to watch, to keep, to have the oversight and responsibility for something.”
This translation means HOME-GUARDERS!
It is the picture of a “keeper of the castle” who guards it from any intruder.
The above word is only used in this Scripture in the New Testament. Therefore, we must look to similar words in the Greek language to fully understand its meaning. This word and all derivatives of this word were used in the context of a woman who stayed at home for the purpose of managing her household. In the language of the day this same word referred to a watch dog who guarded the house. It was also used of men who stayed home to avoid military service. They were called “stay-at-home” men.
Therefore, this word means a “stay-at-home” mother, which is also the exact meaning from the Strong’s concordance, “a stayer at home.” She does not stay home for the sake of staying home. She is home to watch over and guard her family. She is a Watch Dog. What is the use of a Watch Dog who is not at home?
This woman does not stay at home because of legality. No. She sees her home as a powerful place to raise her children and prepare them for their destiny and to impact the world. She also sees it as a glorious opportunity to bless many people as she invites them into her home to bless and encourage them.
She loves her home. She is happy and contented in her home. She knows the power of her home. She is proud of her career in her home.
Be blessed in your home today,
Nancy Campbell
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