Did you ever listen to the podcasts I did with Meadow? You can check them out here.
No. 11 FACING FEMININITY HEAD ON
https://www.buzzsprout.com/…/776016-episode-11-facing-modes…
No. 12: MODESTY AND FEMININITY IN THE 21ST CENTURY
https://www.buzzsprout.com/…/776938-episode-12-modesty-and-…
Painting: “At the Cottage Door” by William Henry Margetson
A POST FROM MEADOW
Many of you have got to know my lovely granddaughter, Meadow, Pearl’s daughter. Recently Meadow and her husband, Kendall celebrated their third wedding anniversary. As usual, I love what she wrote, and she has given me permission to share it with you. Kendall and Meadow are currently living in Japan as Kendall is an engineer with Nissan. They are looking forward to their second baby in April 2020.
MY TRUE IDENTITY
“Three years ago we entered this covenant relationship called marriage . . . how much growing has happened since then! While the honeymoon season was exciting and sweet and filled with so much joy, I'm so glad I'm not the same person I was back then.
I was an insecure wife. I had the most affectionate and loving husband who adored me, but that did not cure my insecurity. This was because my identity was in the wrong place. No matter how much my husband assured me, I kept buying the lie that many women believe these days that I will never "be enough.”
This past year, God has been showing me where my true identity lies. Even though it's wonderful that my husband finds me beautiful and loves me, my value does not come from what my husband or others think of me. It comes from what God says about me, and who He created me to be.
Now that I don't have to look to my husband to find my value and worth, I can just love him, truly love him. Insecurity is so selfish. Sometimes we think it's humility, but it's really keeping our eyes on ourselves, instead of becoming love.
A few months ago, I told my husband, "I'm so sorry I've been insecure for so long. That wasn't loving to you."
Marriage isn't about having your needs fulfilled by someone else. It isn't about finding your value. Marriage isn't even 50/50. Marriage is "I love you." It isn't "I love you; do you love me too?"
My husband is such a blessing to me. I'm still amazed that I got to marry him. I think about how much God must love me to give me such a wonderful gift as him, but that's exactly what he is for me. He's my gift. But I am only fulfilled by Christ. And when two people are fulfilled by Christ, there are no more false expectations you put on your spouse.
I'm so thankful God is showing me how to love Kendall more. I know I have more to learn, but He is creating a work in me.
MEADOW HALL
Facebook: Meadow Hall
Instagram: _m_e_a_d_o_w_
Photo: Celebrating their wedding anniversary at the New York Grill in Tokyo.
He was just a little boy,
On a week's first day.
Wandering home from Bible school,
And dawdling on the way.
He scuffed his shoes into the grass;
He even found a caterpillar.
He found a fluffy milkweed pod,
And blew out all the 'filler.'
A bird's nest in a tree overhead,
So wisely placed up so high,
Was just another wonder,
That caught his eager eye.
A neighbor watched his zigzag course,
And hailed him from the lawn;
Asked him where he'd been that day
And what was going on.
‘'I've been to Bible School,” he said
And turned a piece of sod.
He picked up a wiggly worm replying,
‘I've learned a lot about God.’
“M'mm, very fine way,” the neighbor said,
“For a boy to spend his time.
If you'll tell me where God is,
I'll give you a brand new dime.”
Quick as a flash the answer came!
Nor were his accents faint.
“I'll give you a dollar, Mister,
If you can tell me where God ain't.”
~ Unknown
When Jesus was moved with compassion towards the hungry people who came to listen to him, he asked Philip where they could buy bread to feed them all. Philip replied that eight months’ wages would not buy enough bread for all the thousands of people (John 6:7).
I think that would have been my reply too! Like me, Philip looked at the situation—they had no money, and even if they did, where could they get enough food to feed this multitude? Philip hadn’t yet learned to look past his situation and circumstances and look to his God.
Do you think we could change our thinking too? We are so prone to look at the difficulties or trauma we face. We think of the worst. But God wants us to look to Him. He is bigger than any situation that looms in front of us. When we look up to Him and trust Him, it’s amazing what happens. Our circumstances may not change but our attitude does! And that makes all the difference.
When you cast your burden upon the Lord, He will sustain you. When you can’t see your way out, don’t despair. Keep trusting God. Have patience. God is working all things out in His wonderful way.
Psalm 78:19 says that the children of Israel “spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?”
Can we change our confession from “Can God?” to “Thank You, Father. I trust You. I know You are in control.”
Have a blessed day,
Nancy Campbell
What are you breathing today? Of course you breathe to keep alive, but what else are you breathing? Threatenings to your children? Or love and kindness and truth?
Proverbs 12:17 (AMP) states: “He who breathes out truth shows forth righteousness.” Isn’t that interesting? I checked it in the Strong’s Concordance, and yes, it is absolutely correct! The Hebrew, “puach”, means “to breathe, to puff.”
We breathe without thinking; it is completely natural to us. It should also become natural to us to breathe out truth. Truth breathing mothers are powerful mothers. Of course, before we can naturally breathe it out, we must be filled with truth. Richly filled. And then we’ll be richly filling our children’s hearts (Colossians 3:16).
May we become so filled with truth that we breathe it out unconsciously. This is the picture of the virtuous women. Every time she opened her mouth, she breathed out godly wisdom (Proverbs 31:26). Constantly dropping seeds of truth throughout the day.
Be blessed today, Nancy Campbell
Each new baby is born with the stamp of God upon them.
John 1:9 describes Jesus, who was God, being the true Light, “which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” Each person has an awareness of God for they are created in the “image and likeness” of God. They have a conscience. They have a knowingness of God.
Gerhard Eberling writes of “a spark of the Eternal implanted in the first human person and in all subsequent human progeny.”
This is the great blessing of children being born into a godly home. Godly parents will fan this flame. As you teach your children the ways of God and His Word the light increases. More understanding and revelation of God fills their lives.
That’s why children who are daily fed God’s Word can come to know Christ at an early age. They can be born again into God’s family while they are young. Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:15: “From a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” Young children can receive Christ into their lives at three and four years of age.
Most of our children came to Christ at four years of age. They are in their fifties today and have never deviated from walking with God.
In an ungodly home where Jesus is never mentioned and His Word is never opened, this light can be dimmed and squelched. If it is an atheistic home, it may have a lot of water thrown on it. But the spark is always there. No human is exempt. Therefore, no matter how degraded the person, we can continue to witness to them of the truth of the gospel. The spark of light is waiting to be lit.
As parents, we keep fueling the light that God has put in our children. We want them to shine brightly. And we keep brining the gospel to children and adults who have no one to fan their flame.
When our children were small, we lived near a school. I used to have a Joy Time Club once a week and gather in children after school. I was able to share the gospel and teach God’s Word to up to 40 children each week.
Let’s keep lighting the flame.
Love from Nancy Campbell
Before I was a Mom
I made and ate hot meals.
I had unstained clothing.
I had quiet conversations on the phone.
Before I was a Mom
I slept as late as I wanted
And never worried about how late I got into bed.
I brushed my hair and my teeth every day.
Before I was Mom
I never tripped over toys or forgot words to lullabies.
Before I was a Mom
I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.
Before I was a Mom
I had never been puked on,
Pooped on, spit on, chewed on, peed on,
Or pinched by tiny fingers.
Before I was a Mom
I had complete control of . . .
My thoughts, my body, and my mind.
I slept all night.
Before I was a Mom
I never held down a screaming child so that doctors could
do tests.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.
Before I was a Mom
I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't
want to put it down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces; when I
couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small could affect my
life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.
Before I was a Mom
I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside
my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel to
feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small could make me
feel so important.
Before I was a Mom
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every
10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love,
the heartache, the wonderment, or the
satisfaction of being a mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much before I was a Mom.
~ Unknown.
Painting by George Moreau de Tours (1848 – 1901) French.
This is such a powerful truth. Every human being is created in the image of God. We are theomorphic, created to bear His image in the earth. Each new baby is another revelation of His image and likeness. What an incredible privilege to cooperate with God to bring forth The image and likeness of God into the earth. #imagebearers #ilovemotherhood #powerofmotherhood #mothering #joyfulmothering #aboverubies
"Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb"
(Revelation 10:7-9).
Who helps to cheer the daily round?
A Mother!
Or smooths our cares when they abound?
A Mother!
Who makes the home a haven sweet,
With love and comradeship complete?
Where turn each night the eager feet?
A Mother!
Who softly croons a cradle song?
A Mother!
Or soothes her babe the whole night long?
A Mother!
Who tends with such unwearied care,
Her household, and her children, fair?
Who bears them up to God in prayer?
A Mother!
~ Anon
Painting by Michael Malm
BABIES DON’T KEEP!
Mother, oh mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing and butter the bread,
Sew on a button and make up a bed.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking!
Oh, I’ve grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo)
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due,
(Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peek-a-boo)
The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for
stew,
And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo,
But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren’t her eyes the most wonderful hue?
(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
Oh, cleaning and scrubbing will wait ‘till
tomorrow,
But children grow up, as I’ve learned to my
sorrow,
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust, go to sleep.
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep!
~ Ruth Hulburt Hamilton
PAINTING BY MICHAEL GARMASH
What kind of aromas fill your home? Sweet or bad smells? The flesh gives off sour, bitter, grumpy, and horrible smells, doesn't it? They make everyone in the home feel bad and want to run! But Christ in us is a sweet-smelling savor, and He wants us to exude His sweet aroma throughout the home. Most husbands love fragrant perfumes (well, my husband does), but more than perfumes, we should constantly wear the perfume of Christ in our lives.
II Corinthians 2:14 (J. B. Phillip's translation) always challenges me: "We should have about us the unmistakable scent of Christ." What’s the fragrance in your home? Are your husband and children avoiding you or running to you?
(II Corinthians 2:14 (HCSB) says: “But thanks be to God, who always puts us on display in Christ and through us spreads the aroma of the knowledge of Him in EVERY PLACE.” God wants us to be a “sweet” aroma in “EVERY PLACE.”
Every place includes our home! It means in the midst of what we are doing--when children are making us crazy, when our husband is rubbing us the wrong way, and when we are doing the mundane chores like changing dirty diapers!
Keep sweet.
Love from Nancy Campbell
Painting: The Swing Art by Morgan Frederick
Isn’t it nice when everything is peaceful and lovely? We would rather not be in a battle, would we? But did you know that God leads us into battles? If you are facing a battle right now, maybe it’s God who has you the battle.
Exodus 23:20 says: “For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off.” That’s not one battle, but many! And who is leading them into battle? God!
But God does not send you into battles on your own. He is with you in the battle. He is with you to win. His promise to you is: “I will cut them off.”
But we also must remember that although God fights for us, He also expects us to fight in the battle too. God gives us many examples of this in His Word. Here are a couple for you:
God’s part: “When the LORD your God delivers them over to you . . .
Your part: “and you defeat them, you must completely destroy them. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy” (Deuteronomy 7:2 (HCSB).
God’s part: “The LORD your God will cross over ahead of you as a consuming fire; He will devastate and subdue them before you . . .
Your part: “You will drive them out and destroy them swiftly, as the LORD has told you” (Deuteronomy 9:3 (HCSB).
Are you fighting a battle and feeling discouraged? Thank God that He is with you. Acknowledge that with His help you will win and cut off the enemy who is seeking to destroy your family.
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
As you wait for the miracle of finance for the new magazine, I want to remind you that you can continue to be blessed in so many ways through the ministry of Above Rubies.
Although Above Rubies began as a magazine and it has always been my main thrust to get out God’s truth for families through this magazine, I continue to share the truth in many other ways. I hope you can make the most of these ways to be encouraged and inspired (and even challenged) each new day.
WEEKLY PODCAST:
FROM MY HOME TO YOURS W/ NANCY CAMPBELL
I know you will be so blessed by this podcast to encourage you as a wife and mother. It comes out each Tuesday morning.
You can go to the home page of Above Rubies to click on it.
You can go to http://ARPoddy.buzzsprout.com
You can listen on Google and Apple Podcasts on or your favorite pod app.
Oh yes, we also do TRANSCRIPTS for the podcasts. Go to the front page of the web page, www.aboverubies.org to pick them up.
WEEKLY LIVE TALK SHOW:
TEA TIME AND TALK SHOW WITH ERIN AND NANCY
This is a live Talk Show where Erin Harrison (Keeper of the Homestead Blog) and I talk with you about all the different aspects of marriage, motherhood, homemaking, and the joys and challenges of womanhood.
We are currently going through Proverbs 31. You can pick up the link each week from my Facebook.
WEEKLY EMAIL DEVOTION
These devotions are a little longer and meatier than the ones I send to you each day on Facebook. They are filled with God’s truths and will help you grow in God’s ways for womanhood. They come straight to your email box.
I am currently doing a series called ARE YOU IN A WILDERNESS? You will be amazed to find many surprises even while going through a wilderness experience.To receive them go to:
http://aboverubies.org/magaz…/subscribe-to-womens-devotional
SPORADIC ABOVE RUBIES NEWSLETTER
From time to time, I prepare a mini online Above Rubies to catch you up with news and encouraging stories and articles. If you subscribe to this, you will also hear when we have a sale and you can make the most of discounted books, etc.
http://aboverubies.org/magaz…/subscribe-to-womens-devotional
ABOVE RUBIES FACEBOOK
I seek to post an encouraging word to you EACH NEW DAY to motivate you as wives and mothers on this Facebook. I know you will be blessed. Check it out each day.
https://www.facebook.com/AboveRubiesUS/
ABOVE RUBIES INSTAGRAM
_above_rubies_
https://www.instagram.com/_above_rubies_/
TWITTER
https://twitter.com/aboverubiesusa
ABOVE RUBIES WEB SITE
www.aboverubies.org
Make the most of this website for ordering books and DVDs to inspire you in your high calling of mothering and parenting.
http://aboverubiesbookstore.mybigcommerce.com/
Also loads of articles and testimonies to read on about 40 different subjects regarding family life. You are sure to find great articles and testimonies on any issue you need encouragement.
http://aboverubies.org/index.php/articles-stories
I trust that all this is enough to keep you filled up each day and each week. Share these links with friends so they can also be blessed and encouraged in their great calling.
Much love to you,
Nancy Campbell
“Through childbearing God’s providence supplies humanity with problem solvers, world changers, and every other sort of individual. It is through this same mode that God Himself was able to come into the world to become human and become the ultimate problem solver and world changer.”
~ Bill Oord, BC.
Not only does God call mothering and homemaking a “good” thing (Titus 2:3-5 and I Timothy 5:10), but there's something else! He also tells us how to do these good things! How do you think we should do them? Grudgingly? Reluctantly? Complainingly? No, the word is “DILIGENTLY”!
Do you want to know the real meaning of the word? The Greek is “akribos” and it literally means "perfectly, exactly, and circumspectly." No room for slovenliness! No room for half-heartedness! No room for sloppiness!
Don’t forget who you are working for today—the King of kings and Lord of lords! That sets the tone, doesn’t it?
Have a blessed day,
Nancy Campbell
Did you notice I wrote the words, sacred AND secular, rather than sacred OR secular? God does not separate religious things with secular things. He wants everything in our lives to be touched with His divine presence. He wants everything in our homes—each person, each piece of furniture, and even all the pots and pans and utensils to be anointed with His presence (Zechariah 14:20, 21).
Everything that God created is holy. All His creation is holy. God doesn’t see a church building as holy and the trees and flowers as earthly. They are all holy unto Him. They all praise Him.
In Exodus chapter 30:22-33 God tells Moses how to make the anointing oil and what to do with it. They had to use a gallon of olive and oil and four different spices—pure myrrh, sweet cinnamon, sweet calamus, and cassia. It was well-balanced—two sweet spices along with myrrh which is bitter tasting. Myrrh and Cassia speaking of the fragrance of Christ through His suffering.
But most importantly, this oil was to be holy! It was called the HOLY ANOINTING OIL. Verse 32 states: “It is holy, and it shall be holy unto you.” And God commanded him to anoint every piece of furniture and every vessel in the whole place—and the high priest and his sons.
One of the pieces of furniture in the tabernacle was the table of shewbread. This table had to be anointed with this holy anointing oil too.
Everything in the tabernacle was a type for us today. God has now made us “priests and kings unto God” (Revelation 1:6 and 5:10) and therefore He wants us to be anointed with this sweet and holy anointing oil which is presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. He also wants every material thing in our homes to be anointed with His presence. He wants our tables to be anointed with His sweet and holy anointing.
You most probably feel that your dinner table is the opposite to sweet and holy! You are in throes of raising and training children who are not robots. They don’t like their food. They complain. Some may argue. They cry. Sometimes its bedlam!
Please don’t despair dear mother. Keep training. Keep praying and asking God to pour out His sweet anointing on your family meal times. Pray for His holy anointing to come to you. You will reap what you sow. As you little by little train your children and they grow older, you will move into such blessed and holy times together.
Without a vision nothing happens. But when we have a vision and we understand that God wants to come to our tables and manifest His sweet and holy anointing, we will press toward this vision in our family lives.
Be blessed in Jesus’ name.
Love from Nancy Campbell
God’s dealings with us can be gentle or powerful. God spoke to Isaiah and said: “My care for the people of Judah is like the gently flowing waters of Shiloah” (Isaiah 8:6). What a beautiful description of God’s care and watchfulness over our lives. He loves to be gentle with us as He convicts us of things in our lives that grieve Him and as He woos us on to be conformed into the image of His Son. Do we respond to His gentle proddings?
Or do we resist? When we resist, God needs to use stronger methods. The Bible says that that the people of Judah rejected God’s gently flowing waters. They wanted their own way. Instead, He had to bring a flood upon them, a flood that reached up to their chins! It was literally the King of Assyria wanting to take them captive.
We either experience the dealings of God one way or the other. We can live in the “gentle flowing stream” anointing as we respond to God speaking to our hearts. But if we let our hearts become cold and resistance to His voice, He may have to send a “raging river” upon us to get our attention.
Which would you prefer?
Let’s keep soft and tender hearts towards the Lord.
Love from Nancy Campbell
Are you satisfied with your life? In other words, are you content? We are always thinking of something we need, aren’t we? But do we really need it? We can’t afford it and so we go without, and we find we live life just fine without the thing we think we need! It’s amazing what we can live without.
Oh it would be nice to have this and that fixed in our home. I look at my floors and despair. I can’t wait to throw out all our old carpets upstairs and get some wooden or wood-substitute floors. Most the tiles in my office where I am typing now are worn down to the concrete. I am so ashamed when people work in. But really, what difference does it make to how I live, except my pride! So I am content.
Contentment is an anti-stress attribute. When we stop worrying about what we can’t have and accept what we have, we no longer stress.
I read this morning in Jeremiah 31;14: ”My people shall be SATISFIED with my goodness, saith the LORD.” Oh we are so blessed. We are overwhelmed with the goodness of the Lord. So much of the world lives in poverty and we live so well in America. Millions are being persecuted and we live in peace. We have a roof over our heads, food on our tables, and more clothing than we need to wear. What are we worrying about? Instead, we should be basking in God’s goodness.
I think of the children of Israel who lived in the wilderness in tents. They had no supermarkets to buy food, no entertainment centers, no mod-cons such as washing machines and dishwashers and so on. But God said in Nehemiah 9:21: “Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that THEY LACKED NOTHING.”
Can we learn to be truly satisfied with God’s goodness to us? It’s a beautiful way to live.
Love and blessings,
Nancy Campbell
I am always challenged by Romans 3:4: “Let God be true, and every man a liar.” I have to ask myself the question: would I be prepared to stand true to God’s truth if I was the only one believing? The truth is not always popular! #abhorevil #hateevil #lovegood #standfortruth #speaktruth #repost #aboverubies
AboveRubies
Email Nancy
PO Box 681687
Franklin, TN 37068-1687
Phone : 931-729-9861
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