PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | Episode 17 – Building an Exciting Home, No. 5
Episode 17: Building an Exciting Home, No. 5
FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell
Rocky: Welcome to the podcast, FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.
Nancy: Good Morning to you ladies from my home to yours. I wonder what is happening in your home today. Here, it is a rainy day, and the rain has abated for a minute, but if it comes again, you may hear the pitter-patter on our roof. A little while ago we had to renew our roof. It was leaking, so we put on a tin roof. I love to hear the sound of the rain on the tin roof, but it's not so good for recording. If that happens, you'll know what the sound is.
Well, we are still talking about living life in our home and how to make our home an exciting home, how to make life happen in our home. I have 15 points that I'm sharing with you, and I know that there are so many more. We are up to number 10.
10. OUR HOME IS A HOSPITALITY CENTER
Yes, our home is for our family, to enclose our family, to make it a sacred and safe place for our family, but we are not to live only for ourselves. That is never ever a part of Christianity. We are to live for others, and therefore, even in our home, we are to open our home to others, precious ladies. This makes exciting living.
Colin and I have been married now for over 55 years, and I would have to say that hospitality in our home has been one of the greatest blessings of our lives. It’s added another dimension to our lives, spice to our lives, excitement and joy and blessing and fellowship. It's such a wonderful thing to invite other into your home.
Hospitality is a biblical doctrine that starts in Genesis, right in the very first book, and weaves through the pages of the Bible to the very last book in Revelation. Hospitality is an extension of our mothering and homemaking ministry. Hospitality is not an option. Some people think, “Well, some people have that gift of hospitality, but it's not my thing.” Hospitality was the lifestyle of the early church, and it should be the lifestyle of the church today.
Of course, hospitality means serving. Hospitality means cooking. Hospitality means that you're in your home. You can't show hospitality if you're not there. I think maybe that's one of the reasons so many don't have hospitality today. They are not there in the home. If a mother is out in the workforce, it's hard enough to look after even her own family, let alone be there to cook and invite others to come into the blessing of her home, the atmosphere of the home. But it's God's idea, and as I said before, it makes for exciting living.
Our God is a hospitable God. One of God's favorite words is “come.” We often read it in the Word of God where God says: “Come, everyone who thirsts. Come to the waters, come buy and eat, and come buy wine and milk without money and without price.” God loves to say come.
It was the language of Jesus. “Come unto me all thee that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
It's the language of the Holy Spirit. Revelation 22:17 says: “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come.” Not just the Holy Spirit but the bride. We also should have the same language. Don't you think we should have the same language as God has, as Jesus has, as the Holy Spirit has? We should have it too. “Come, come to my place, come and have a meal with us. We would love you to come and spend some time with us.” Let's get that attitude. As I said, that was the attitude of the early church.
If we go to Acts 2, we read here in verse 46, talking about the believers, “And they, continuing daily,” Notice the word DAILY, not once a month or once a week but DAILY. “They continued daily with one accord in the temple, breaking bed from house to house.” That's not just talking about communion. Breaking bread was a term that was used to fellowship and eat with someone else. Back in biblical days, even in Middle Eastern times today, people break bread. They have flat bread which they break, which they dip into the hummus or the baba ghanoush (sometimes spelt baba ganouj), or whatever dish they have. They dipped it in, and they ate it, and they broke bread, not just with themselves but with others.
Back in the early church, they were so filled with Holy Spirit and with the joy of their salvation and with the revelation that Jesus was their Messiah, they couldn't help but meet daily. They wanted to get together to share and talk about Jesus, to share the new understanding and revelation that they were receiving because I'm sure that they had revelation that we wouldn't have today because they were so familiar with the sacrifices, which were still happening in the temple at that time. In those sacrifices, the morning and the evening sacrifice, it was all pointing to Calvary; it was pointing to Jesus, the Lamb of God. Now they could see it. All the rituals they had done for so many years and for centuries, now they are seeing the meaning of it. They are seeing everything in the temple with a new understanding and revelation with Jesus their Messiah, and they wanted to share, so they got together daily.
They couldn't do it in the day. I'm sure they had to get together at suppertime, when they were ready to eat, and the work of the day was finished, and they would come. Instead of being on their own, they would fellowship with one another. Now, in doing that can you imagine them having time to prepare elaborate meals and put on something so special that we think we have to do for hospitality? No, they were sharing the ordinary meal that they would eat together as a family. “Oh, come and share it with us.” They didn't have to put on something special. They weren't entertaining; they were just opening their home to fellowship.
That's what hospitality is all about. Some mothers think, “Oh, I could never show hospitality,” because they think of having to put on this very elaborate meal; they have to do all these extra things. No, that's entertaining. Yes, there are times when we do entertain, when we do something very special. There are times for that, but regular hospitality is down to earth. It's eating what we normally eat and sharing it with others. This is what the early church did.
“They broke bread from house to house and ate their food together with gladness and joy and singleness of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people,” and get this, this is something we often don't notice, “and the Lord added to the church daily, such as should be saved” (Acts 2::46, 47). I'm always challenged by that. We don't see so many people coming to the Lord today. We don't see them coming daily into the kingdom of God. Yes, every now and then, we see someone come to the Lord, and it's so exciting. But here they were seeing people daily added. I wonder if it had something to do with their daily lifestyle. As they daily opened their home and fellowshipped, God added to them and to the church daily.
People saw their lifestyle; it wasn't religiosity. This was something real. This was something that affected your life. Wow, these people, they love one another, they've got something we've never seen before; I want that. Their lifestyle drew others into the kingdom of God. That makes me think of that Scripture in 1 John 3:14, where it says: “We know that we have passed from death unto life.” Why? “Because we love the brethren.” We love the brothers and sisters in Christ. If we love them, do we just say, “Yes, well, I love the people of God.” Or do we show it? You really don't love unless you show it. If we love our brothers and sisters in Christ, we will want to get with them. We will want them to come to our home for a meal, we will want them to come to our table, we will want to be with them. That's the proof that we are passed from death unto life.
Let's go to 1 Peter 4. Peter is writing here to the people. In this book, they were really facing persecution and many trials, and Peter wrote to them a lot about that. In fact, in verses 12 and 13, he says: “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye, for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you.” With this Scripture and many others, he encouraged them in their persecution.
Here in verses 7-9: “But the end of all things are at hand.” Well, they are closer at hand today, aren't they? “Be ye therefore, sober, and watch unto prayer. And above all things have fervent love among yourselves: for love shall cover a multitude of sins. Use hospitality one to another without grudging.” Isn't that amazing? The message: “The end of all things is at hand.” You'd think he would then say, “You better get down and fast and pray and make sure your life is ready for the coming of the Lord.” No, he just says, “Love one another fervently and show hospitality to one another.”
The Word of God is so practical, isn't it? Let's embrace it and enjoy it. Maybe if you're not use to showing hospitality, just start off with one person. Perhaps you know a single mom. She's lonely, she needs encouragement, invite her to your home for lunch. Even better, invite her for supper if your husband is willing.
Many of the exhortations of hospitality in the Word of God are to men. Many of the examples are men showing hospitality. Men are meant to have a heart for hospitality. Sometimes, wives are married to husbands who weren't brought up with it, and they aren't used to it, and they don't want hospitality.
You think, “Well, what can I do? If you can't have someone for supper, you can invite them for lunch while your husband is at work. Invite them to your home to encourage them and bless them. In summer time, you can invite them to a picnic. Take them to the park and show hospitality that way. If you have a heart for it, God will show you ideas of what to do.
I find myself, that I never have enough time to show hospitality to all the people that I want to, the people I want to invite to my table for a meal, the people I want to reach out to. I have a list, and I can hardly ever fulfill that whole list because I keep adding other names. You can never, ever get bored when you have a hospitable home. We could talk for hours on hospitality, but I want to get through my other points this session. Maybe one time we will do a whole podcast on hospitality.
11. THE HOME IS A COUNSELING CENTER
Our homes are so wonderful. Everything happens in our homes. Our home has always been that home where people have come to receive counseling. In fact, our children grew up with that. I can remember back in the days when they were teens and a little older than teens, and the people would come to our home. Colin and I would not be there; we were out perhaps doing something, and we would get home, “Oh, this person came; they needed counseling, but don't worry, mom and dad, we counseled them.” They would think, “We can do this. It's part of our lives.” I'm not quite sure what kind of counsel they gave, but this is another part of our homes.
It makes me think of a beautiful article that Pearl, my daughter, wrote. Pearl wrote this article about my mother, her Nana, before she was married, so she wrote it a long time ago. Pearl has been married about 24 years now. Can I read to you a little bit of it, if I can get through it without crying because I always cry when I read this? You can go and read this on my webpage. It would be under Family Life or something. It's there on the webpage, www.aboverubies.org. It's called “More than Toast and Pots and Pans.” Let me start down a few paragraphs. This is Pearl writing:
“Perched on my stool, watching her through those childhood eyes, I learned that the kitchen is more than just a room. Its significance goes beyond a feeding facility. Her kitchen had a heartbeat. Though she may not have been young, there was more life there than the local coffee house.
It was in her kitchen that she welcomed friends and those who were lonely. An herb tea made in a pottery teapot and “something nourishing to eat” were the items on her menu during visiting hours . . . though there never seemed to be a closing time. But it wasn't just for the home-made food they came. It was the listening ear she offered and the well-chosen words of counsel. Her kitchen was not only a place to feed the hungry; it was a psychiatry office with a stool for a couch.
It was never a place or drudgery for Nana. Certainly, she often worked hard, and there would be piles of dishes, pots boiling over, steam, and a little bit of sweat. But the mundane chores could not dampen her pleasure of serving others. It's been said that the only way to true happiness is by helping others--this worked for her. Her smile told everyone so. So did the songs which she hummed and sometimes belted forth, so loud you'd wonder how such a small woman could summon such decibels. I've heard her sing Amazing Grace at phenomenal volume. Shoulders straight, hands clasped, she'd let it fly.
Looking back, I've wondered whether she ever felt less than a successful woman when the liberation movement swept the world. There she was, a housewife, and to add to the stereotype--a seamstress. That does not spell "ultimate fulfillment" in feminist language. But I only know what I saw, and I never saw anything other than a fulfilled woman.
The tasks she accomplished everyday were not demeaning to her intelligence, as far as she was concerned, and her opinion was the one that counted. She did not need liberating because she never considered herself repressed. In fact, she loved the kitchen. And so simply, that is why we did too. The announcement of an intended visit to our grandparents would ignite in us children an excitement much too wild to suppress. "Yippee!" we would yell and dance around the house. "We're going to see them, Yeah!"
"I've got the window seat," one of us would yell.
"No way, you had it last time." Inevitably a rip-roaring argument would ensue, but as it was a regular part of the hysteria no one really minded. We were off to see Nana and Granddad, and nothing could dampen our spirits, not even when the arguing sometimes turned to thumping.
We would arrive at their home after a day's long trip and leap out of the car, scattering peanuts and pillows on to the driveway. It was a race to the front door. Up the wooden steps, through the overhanging ferns, up and up, panting and running until we reached the front door, and there they were, waiting for us.
"How's my best mates?" Granddad would boom, squeezing each one of us in a hug that never failed to squash out spare breath. Then we would head straight for the kitchen, six children, a set of parents and two more in their golden age, with their arms around one another and as many of us as they could capture. Through the door, the glowing, wafting kitchen would open its arms to us, and we would crowd around the oven, guessing its contents and hinting vocally of the hunger that gnawed in our stomachs.
It was never a disappointment. Always the room gave the promise of a wonderful meal, the chance to boast to a doting grandparent. Always it lived up to the excitement.
But we weren't the only ones who were big fans of their kitchen. It attracted many other pilgrims who knocked on the front door and ended up staying for days. Granddad was very adept at pulling people in from the doorstep, dragging them into the kitchen, sitting them down at the table and stuffing them full. He was a food man. "Tucker" he called it. "What you need is some good tucker," he'd say, pulling out the contents of the refrigerator at remarkable speed and lining them up on the counter.
There was a fierce, unspoken competition between my grandparents as to who was the master chef. Granddad considered himself quite the man for the job. He'd hold up a slab of meat. "Hunted this myself; you'll never taste anything like it." He'd thrust it into the oven like he was scoring a goal, and then begin a boisterous and dramatic commentary on the items of food the guest would be served. "See this honey here?” He'd hold it up and beam proudly. "Comes from my own bees, greatest in the country."
Their kitchen was there for others--always open. They liked it full, so full it was. There are many who have its memories like I do; many who have learned the meaning of happiness through watching them give. They too must have learned that a kitchen is more than toast and pots and pans. And some days I'm sure that they, like me, cannot help longing for hot soup and a little golden-haired woman who made afternoons of staring out of a kitchen window the most cherished moments of a life time.”
That was my parents, not only a home of hospitality, a home where they counseled so many people, not formally but just casually, as they sat at their table where they fed them food, and they fed them love, and they fed them wise counsel from the Word of God.
Our home is a counseling center to our children first, of course. It’s part of our lives, daily counseling them and once again, being there to counsel them. Counseling is not just, “Ok, at 2 o'clock, I'm going to teach you something or give you some counsel.” No, it's part of life; it's when things happen; it's when something is said; we bring forth these wise words of counsel. We do it to our children, and we do it to the others who come into our home. Think of your home as a counseling center.
12. THE HOME IS A HEALING CENTER
If you have read the latest issue of Above Rubies, # 95, I'm sure you have read the article, which I wrote in this magazine, called “The Healing Home.” I hope you've read it and if you haven't, make sure you do. I shared in this article a word that I recently discovered. It's therapia. Now, as you can imagine, we get our word “therapy” from therapia, and it literally means “to give care and attention, to bring medical cure, to bring healing.”
Now, the amazing things is, is that I discovered that this exact word is used to describe a household in Luke 12:42. This amazed me. It excited me. Wow. My home is to be a healing home. This word is only used three times in the Bible—about a household, another time when Jesus was healing the sick, and thirdly, in Revelation 22 where it talks about the leaves were the healing of the nations.
Dear precious mother, God wants your home to be a healing home. Healing to the body, physically. We make sure we give our children healthy foods. We don't have junk food in our home. No, we are a healing home. Every bit of food we have in our home is for the health of our husband and children. That's just in us; that's what we want to do. We are not just doing what everybody does. We are out to make and build a healing home.
It's not only for their bodies; it's for their souls and spirits. You'll have to read more about it in the article. In fact, I only really shared a little bit in that article. Since then, I have joined with Erin Harrison on her Talk Show, and you can find Erin's talk show on Facebook. Look up “Keeper of the Homestead Blog.” Erin and I ended up doing nine over one-hour sessions, which you can not only hear, but you can see about the healing home. Erin asked if I would do it with her on the Talk Show after reading my article. She also wrote a testimony in Above Rubies about healing relationships. I said that would be great, so we set out and did one session. We thought that's all it would be. It ended up nine sessions, so if you really want to learn more about the healing home, you can find the links on her Facebook blog, or you can just email me, and I can send you each link, which might be even easier for you to find them. I'll send the links to you, and you can enjoy learning so much more about how to build a healing home, physically and spiritually and mentally and emotionally. This is a wonderful thing. Our time is going again so let’s look at number 13.
13. OUR HOME IS AN INDUSTRY CENTER
It's a place where we can do so many projects. How can anybody ever say they can get bored at home? Do you ever have enough time in your life to do all the things and dreams you have in your home? The projects you have, the visions you have. There is just so much. I've never had time to do them all and still don't have time to do them all. In your home, you can do such wonderful projects with your children.
You can even have a home business. Of course, you have to be careful with home businesses. You have to be careful when you start them. You don't start a home business when you have little ones all around you. The most overwhelming time of motherhood is when you have maybe two or three children. They're all tiny, and you have to do everything for them. It’s the most challenging time and perhaps the most physically challenging time.
Then the children grow. The sad thing is that too many people stop when they have two or three children because they think, “Wow, this is so challenging. I don't know whether I can keep doing this.” But they forget, or they don't understand that children grow. They get bigger, and as the children grow, you get helpers. When another little baby comes on, instead of just looking after these two or three little ones, suddenly, you've got a helper. Then you have another child if God blesses you, and wow, you've got bigger helpers, and then it gets to the time when you have teenagers in your home. You have daughters and sons who are 17, 18, and they know how to run the household. They know how to look after everything outside the home. They are capable. They become your great helpers.
When you get to this season, it is a better season to start a business. Maybe you're really good at creating things, and then you want to sell them through a webpage, and you can do that. Then, you can even get your children involved.
Serene and Pearl, my daughters of Trim Healthy Mama, now have a very huge and flourishing business. They didn't start this when they had little ones because that was their life. Now, it's still their life, although they wrote this book and somehow God blessed it and now they have this huge business. But they are not going out of their homes. I think of Serene. She is at home, and of course, Pearl is at home too, although her children are growing.
Serene has her ninth biological baby, little Solly; she's six months old now. She still has her little ones at home, although there are 14 in the family with the adopted children and some are married now. She has these little ones, and Pearl and Serene established at the very beginning, as the business began to grow, and their husbands then came from the jobs they were doing and took over. They have taken over.
If you were to ask Serene, “Now, Serene, how's Trim Healthy Mama going?” “Oh, I don't know, don't ask me.” She doesn't know one thing about the business at all. She just does what she has to do. They do their podcasts; they do their radio work; they do their filming, but it's all done at home. All their cooking demonstrations are done at home.
Arden, who is recording for me right now does all their filming, and it's in the home. When they first started, they had some people who were going to do their filming, but they said, “Well, we'll need you to come into our studio.” They said, “No thanks. If you can't come to our humble home, we are not doing it.” So, these people came with all their equipment and were taking it into Pearl's little trailer home. That's where they started doing their cooking demonstrations. In the end, they actually fired those people and now Arden does it all, but it's all in the home.
It's amazing what we can do in our homes. Once again, you don't actually have to make everything a business either. Yes, some of you will do that. You know, I've always been one of those who felt you don't have to everything as a business. I have never made Above Rubies a business. I've been doing Above Rubies for over 40 years, and it’s never been a business. It’s been a love ministry. I've never taken money from Above Rubies. It's just a love ministry. You can do things in your home, and of course, this has never gone out of the home. I have known of other magazines, that have fewer distribution of magazines than I do, yet they have offices and buildings. Goodness me, I've never taken it out of the home, ever in over 40 years.
We read in the Word of the Proverbs 31 woman who stretched out her hand to the poor, who reached out her hand to the needy. To do that, she had to make things in her home to take them to the poor. Yes, sometimes you will make a business out of the creative things that you can do. Other times, you'll do it as a ministry.
You think of Dorcas. Remember her from Acts 9:36-42. She passed away, and Peter was used of God to raise her form the dead. It talks about the widows who, when he came, were all weeping and showing him the coats and garments that Dorcas had made. She didn't make them for business; she made them to give to people. They were her alms deeds. Our home is a place of productivity and industry. It's so exciting and so many amazing things we can make happen. Sometimes for business but sometimes just for us to bless others.
Precious ladies, embrace your home. It's a place where so many exciting things can happen. Let's pray.
“Oh Father, we thank You for Your plan and giving us homes. Homes, homes from where we can change the world, from where we raise children to go out into this world to take Your love and salvation. Homes that can be filled with Your presence to touch so many lives. Oh God, I pray that You will give everyone listening a vision for their home. Lord, we are not all going to have the same homes. Each one of us are different. Show them what You want them to do in their homes. Give them Your ideas. What You have planned for them. I pray Your blessing and anointing and creativity upon each home and each mother. in the name of Jesus. Amen.”
Link to Pearl's article MORE THAN TOAST AND OTS AND PANS: http://aboverubies.org/index.php/2013-11-12-17-55-51/english-language/family-meal-table/846-family-meal-table-more-than-toast-and-pots-and-pans
LIVE TALK SHOWS WITH NANCY CAMPBELL AND ERIN HARRISON
THE HEALING HOME, Part 1. Sadly, the filming of this first session is very blurred, and yet you need to hear it as the foundation for everything we say in future episodes. If it drives you crazy looking at it, you may prefer to just listen to the sound.
https://www.facebook.com/keeperofthehomestead/videos/968682509961222/
THE HEALING HOME, Part 2
https://www.facebook.com/keeperofthehomestead/videos/972213059608167/
THE HEALING HOME, Part 3
https://www.facebook.com/keeperofthehomestead/videos/976005822562224/
THE HEALING HOME, Part 4
https://www.facebook.com/keeperofthehomestead/videos/980206722142134/
THE HEALING HOME, Part 5
https://www.facebook.com/keeperofthehomestead/videos/986122464883893/
THE HEALING HOME, Part 6
https://www.facebook.com/keeperofthehomestead/videos/1008012999361506/
We thought we were finished, but then we got more inspiration and moved on to talk about HEALING WATERS. There is so much about healing waters in the Bible which relates to mothers and wives.
HEALING WATERS, No. 1
https://www.facebook.com/keeperofthehomestead/videos/1008012999361506/
HEALING WATERS, No. 2. Toward the end of this session we talk about sexual intimacy. Proverbs 5 tells how the wife is to be "thirst-quenching water" to her husband. You will love this revelation. But use your discretion who you have watching with you.
https://www.facebook.com/keeperofthehomestead/videos/1022610917901714/
HEALING WATERS, No. 3.
https://www.facebook.com/keeperofthehomestead/videos/1030311223798350/
OTHER SUBJECTS:
CHANGING THE WORLD FROM YOUR TABLE
https://www.facebook.com/keeperofthehomestead/videos/954336478062492/
THE SEASONS OF LIFE—FIRST WATCH, SECOND WATCH, AND THIRD WATCH
https://www.facebook.com/keeperofthehomestead/videos/220082002185925/
And then we did a series together on BUILDING OUR HOMES. You’ll enjoy this series immensely. Email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for the links to this series if you would like to watch.