Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs

Dear friend the following article is longer than my usual posts, but I hope you will take time to read it. I share my thoughts about depression in young mothers which is becoming rampant. It is an issue that needs to be addressed and needs to have positive answers. I believe we have to turn back as a nation to God's original plan to experience the full answer.
Blessings from Nancy

IT’S TIME FOR CHANGE
How far have we degenerated from God’s original plan?

Recently a new mother mentioned to me that before her post-partum checkup, the hospital called to check if she was suffering from depression.

“Why would they ask you this question? I asked.

“Oh, don’t you know it’s a standard question?” she replied. “Most mothers have depression after a baby. Didn’t you hear about the new mother who recently committed suicide because she was so depressed because of her new baby?”

I was appalled. What is their purpose? To get them started on anti-depressants? Make them victims? Give them a pill to counteract our deceived society?

Yes, I concede that there are some mothers who suffer severe hormonal PPD, but this is not normal motherhood. This is not what God intended.

Again, I can see how many young mothers today feel depressed as they begin motherhood. But a pill is not the answer. The reason is that we live in an environment where motherhood, originated by God, is not the vogue. Most mothers having their first baby are not conditioned for this role.

It’s time to come back to God’s original plan. It’s time for change. Let’s think about some of the reasons:

1. THEY ARE NOT PREPARED EXPERIENTIALLY

Many young mothers grow up in two-child families. They don’t grow up in homes where new babies keep arriving, the joy and delight of the home. As they grow older, they don’t have the opportunity to care for a baby, to see their mother nursing the baby as a natural part of life, or to experience the responsibilities of daily motherhood.

Friends and family don’t have babies in their homes either. Some never hold a baby until they hold their own baby in their arms. No wonder they feel overwhelmed. Their depression is not due to a clinical state, but because they don’t know what to do. They feel inadequate! Unprepared!

2. THEY ARE NOT PREPARED EDUCATIONALLY

Most young women today are not educated for motherhood. In fact, they are educated against motherhood. They’re educated and trained for whatever career they want to pursue in this world. Anything except motherhood.

They are brainwashed to think motherhood is an inferior career. Even when they prepare for marriage, counselors (even Christian counselors) tell them to delay motherhood and continue pursuing their career. Motherhood is always delegated to the lowest item on the list.

3. THEY ARE NOT PREPARED EMOTIONALLY

They are not encouraged toward motherhood. Because they don’t live in an environment of motherhood, it is unfamiliar to them. They don’t feel comfortable with being at home, cooking meals, or looking after a baby.

4. THEY ARE NOT PREPARED PSYCHOLOGICALLY

When the new baby comes along, they feel it is an interference to their career, college, or their plans for life. Although they love their baby because it is their own flesh and blood, they are thrown into confusion. This baby is a “wrench in the machinary.” How do they fit this baby into their lifestyle or well laid-out plans? No wonder they feel depressed.

5. THEY ARE NOT PREPARED FOR RESPONSIBILITY

It is true that motherhood is not easy. It is not for wimps. It is a life of selflessness rather than selfishness. Most young people today grow up with an entitlement attitude. They think everything revolves around them and nothing should get in the way of their plans. A baby arrives. Suddenly, they can no longer live their own life. Or do what they want when they want to. They must sacrifice for another person. They can’t even have a full night’s sleep. A little baby arrives to change their life forever.

But no matter what we do in life, nothing will always be perfect. Everyone who wants to do something great will face challenges, hardship, and sacrifice. A businessman has setbacks, trials, and disappointments. But he doesn’t give up and go into depression. He faces them head on, understanding they are part of life.

A missionary often faces hardship and persecution. Does he or she get into depression because life is not a bed of roses? No. They face the battles head on because they’re doing a great work.

It’s the same with motherhood. It is the most important career in the world. It is the highest career God gave to women. He equates it with joy. But every mother faces challenges. She will face laying down her own life for her baby. Sacrifice . . . yes. Selfless love . . . yes. But isn’t this what grows us into maturity? It takes us from the selfish and ugly to beauty and joy?

6. THEY ARE NOT PREPARED BIBLICALLY

Most young women have no idea of God’s plan for them as a woman. They don’t know what God’s Word says. Even young mothers in the church are often as ignorant as those in the secular world. Where are the older women who teach the younger women about being a wife and mother (Titus 2:3-5)? They are nonexistent in our churches today. Will they be responsibility for a nation of mothers who have no idea of God’s plan for motherhood?

I am saddened when I hear older women saying, “I don’t need to hear about motherhood any more. I’m well past that time of life.” I beg your pardon. We are never “past that time of life.” When the time comes that we can physically have no more children, we don’t abdicate motherhood. We were created to be mothers and nurturers until we go into eternity. We begin enjoying grandbabies. And then we move into the responsibility of teaching the young mothers of the next generation how God wants them to mother. How can we do that if we say “we are past that kind of thing”? I think many older mothers desperately need to hear God’s truth for mothers so they can pass on the truth to the next generation, rather than leading them astray.

Our humanistic society puts mothering at the bottom of the list. When God gives a description of the attributes of a godly woman in 1 Timothy 5:10 He puts mothering at the top of the list!

God did not create haphazardly. He created each female with a womb to conceive life and breasts to nurture life. He reminds us we will be preserved through embracing motherhood. Many scientific studies now reveal that the more children a mother has and the more babies she nurses at the breast the more protection she has against female cancers.

1 Timothy 2:15 (NASB) says: “But women will be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint.”

The Greek word for “saved” or “preserved” is sozo, pronounced sode’-zo. It is a powerful, multi-encompassing word meaning “to save, deliver, protect, heal, cure, preserve, keep safe, and make whole.” That means that through embracing motherhood a woman is saved, delivered, protected, preserved, healed, and made whole--physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. You can’t beat that!

The reason many young mothers (and older mothers) feel depressed and confused is because they have not embraced their role of motherhood. They love their baby. They love their children. But they don’t love the career of motherhood because they think it interferes with their life.

The true joy of motherhood comes when a mother not only loves her baby, but loves and embraces her role of motherhood. A mother who embraces mothering WILL NOT BE DEPERESSED. She experiences the joy, delight, and glory of motherhood that God intends for her.

7. THEY ARE PROPAGANDIZED TO DENY MOTHERHOOD

Liberal teachers and professors teach the students of this generation to despise motherhood. They direct them toward alternative lifestyles and that to murder the unborn babe is accepted behavior. They are heading them down a path of destruction. To get back to normality their brains must be reprogrammed again in God’s infallible truth.

8. THEY ARE ISOLATED

Another reason many young mothers feel depressed is because they are isolated. They don’t know many other mothers living around them. Their own mother is often working and not available. Or, even if she is, it is so long since she had babies that the is not confident herself.

Why do we have this scenario? Because mothering is not accepted as an important career in our society. I believe that when motherhood becomes the norm in society that depression will disappear (except for the genuine clinical PPD).

Mothers need one another. It is fun to have babies when family members, friends, and neighbors have babies at the same time. This is how God intends it to be.

When I was mothering my children I always had a Ladies’ Bible Study I my home. Every week, mothers, babies, and children filled my home. The children broke things and messed up my home, but we had great fellowship together. It was what kept us going through the difficult times.

I would encourage every young mother to find an encouraging Ladies’ Bible Study group where she can learn more about motherhood and find strength from being with other mothers. Make sure you find a group that encourages biblical mothering and not the opposite which is counter-productive!

Go to: http://bit.ly/PowertOfMotherhoodUS and order the manual, THE POWER OF OTHERHOOD. Every mother in the world needs this manual which takes you into the Bible to see what God says about you as a mother. It is a great manual to use at Ladies’ Bible Study Groups to share and discuss together.

LET’S WORK TOGETHER TO BRING CHANGE

We cannot let things carry on the way they are. Unless we rise up and make known the truth, the next generation will degenerate further away from God’s plan. You may not feel you can do this in a big way. But you don’t have to. Be faithful in the little opportunities. Start with your family, filling them daily with God’s truth and His plan for family life. Give them a love and awe for embracing life from God and an understanding of the horrors of abortion. Give them strong convictions to live by.

When you and your children see things wrong in society, don’t let it go without speaking about it. Teach your children what is wrong. Help them to have discernment between the right and the wrong, the clean and the unclean. Ephesians 5:11 says: “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather REPROVE them.” Some translations say “expose” them. I don’t think there is anything sadder that seeing a young person grow up in a Christian home without godly convictions and without courage to stand up for truth.

As you go out of your home, always be prepared to drop seeds of truth wherever you go. Take a few Above Rubies magazines with you. Put them in a plastic bag in your purse so they don’t get mutilated. Give them to people and to mothers when you meet them. You may not have a chance to say a lot, but you’ll never know how the Holy Spirit can speak to them through the pages of the magazine. We need to get this magazine out in greater and greater ways. I’m tired of being bombarded with liberal and progressive jargon. The feminists and liberals do not keep quiet. Why do we when we have the truth?

For more ideas of how to spread Above Rubies, go to:
http://aboverubies.org/…/ideas-for-distributing-above-rubies

Encourage friends to go to the Above Rubies Facebook, and Above Rubies Instagram where they can be constantly encouraged in motherhood.

Most of all, live the plan. As we embrace God’s plan for family life with joy and positivity, we are a testimony to all around us. Happy, united, loving, and God-fearing families are the biggest blessing of the nation. When motherhood returns to normality in our society, we will see happy mothers instead of depressed mothers.

Many blessings from NANCY CAMPBELL * www.aboverubies.org

Painting: “Mother and child” by Lin Wang

Isaiah 49 speaks of the restoration of Zion. Allegorically verse 23 speaks of nursing mothers and says that “queens” will be “thy nursing mothers.” Breastfeeding is elevated to queenship. You are a queen when you nurse your little babe.

I love the way Sarah describes her motherhood. She could have talked about playing with her baby, teaching her baby, and all the things required to care for him. Instead, she talks about breastfeeding. Genesis 21:7: “And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children su.ck? For I have born him a son in his old age.”

We also read a similar description about Hannah. After crying out in agony for a baby at the temple in Shiloh, God blessed Hannah and she conceived. The next year she didn’t go up to the temple because she wanted to stay home with her baby. 1 Samuel 1:23 says: “And the woman abode, and gave her son su.ck until she weaned him” after which she took him to the temple. It doesn’t say that she stayed home to care for her baby and enjoy all the the lovely mothering moments. Instead the Bible describes these years (maybe three to five years) as a breastfeeding mother.

Are you nursing your baby? You are doing a great thing. A queenly thing. A glorious thing.

Enjoy the nursing moments (and hours) with your baby today (and tonight). Don’t try to wean your baby too soon. Nursing is mothering.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

Teach your children to pray aloud too. Encourage them to pray aloud in their personal praying. Encourage them to pray aloud when you have Family Devotions each day. When we gather together, we get everyone to pray, right down to the youngest who can talk. Children should be comfortable with praying aloud.

When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, He didn’t go into a great discourse on how to pray. Instead, He prayed. He showed them how to pray by praying. We learn to pray by praying. Your children learn to pray by praying.

I am frustrated when I go prayer meetings and end up listening to a message. Or people talk more about the needs than praying about them. I thought we came to PRAY! Why don’t we get stuck in and pray? The need is so great. The nation is in peril. Our only hope is to call upon the Lord. Let’s do it.

We all know 2 Chronicles 7:14: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and hear another sermon.” Ooops! Did I get it wrong? Sorry. But isn’t that what we do? We come together for another sermon. Prayer is the last thing on our minds! But God won’t save our nation by another sermon. He will save our nation when we pray.

Let’s get it right: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

But we don’t have to wait to go to a church prayer meeting. You can have a family prayer meeting every day in your home with your children around you. What a blessing.

Be a praying family,

Love from Nancy Campbell

Painting: “Lord, Teach Us How To Pray” by Ron DiCianni

I am challenged how Paul tells the new believers to observe and follow him. He was God’s living example for them to emulate. 1 Corinthians 4:15, 16: “For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.” Because Paul brought them to birth, he was responsible to show them the way. Because we bring our children to birth, we also have the same responsibility to show them how to live.

1 Corinthians 11:1: “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.”

Philippians 3:17 (PHILLIPS): “Let my example be the standard by which you can tell who are the genuine Christians among those about you.” Do your children see that your walk with God is real? They see through hypocrisy easily. Your life should be such an example that it exposes the fake and sham in other lives. Your lifestyle shows them the true way.

Philippians 4:9: “Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God peace shall be with you.” Can we say to our children? “Children, watch me closely. God wants you to do what you see me do. God wants you to speak the kind of words you hear me speak!” Your children learn more from watching you and your husband than from all the curriculums you will ever purchase.

You teach them how to have a successful marriage (or an unhappy one) by the way you and your husband relate together and show love to each other. My parents gave me an amazing example of a godly marriage. This set my husband and me on the path of a wonderful marriage (54 years on Thursday). Although we give marriage counseling, Colin and I have never been to a marriage seminar. We learned it by example (and experience) which is the most powerful way. This is the best way for your children to learn too.

Have a wonderful day,

Nancy Campbell

The MLB translates it: “unlimited patience”! Wow! Our patience runs out quickly, but God’s patience is unlimited. God promises to fill us with His glorious power so we can exercise His unlimited patience in our lives.

This reminds me of James 1:3-4: “Let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” The strange thing is, most of the time we are not patient enough to let patience have its full work! We give up before God has finished working out in our lives what He wants to accomplish.

I love how The Living Bible puts it: “When the way is rough, your patience has a chance to grow. So let it grow, and don’t try to squirm out of your problems. For when your patience is finally in full bloom, then you will be ready for anything, strong in character, full and complete.”

Dear mother, don’t despair when everything is going wrong. Rejoice! Let God work out His patience in you. This is how He makes you strong in character. God doesn’t want to do a half-work in you, but a full-grown work!

Be blessed,

Nancy Campbell

God poured beauty and intricate design into the tiniest of His creations, some that can’t even be seen by the eyes of men. You also are being transformed into the character of God when you make beauty and joy out of your little and menial tasks, tasks that you think are boring. Nothing is boring when God is in it! Seek ways to do your little tasks faster, better, and more creatively. Sing while you do them. Thank God that He is with you as you do them.

I am challenged by Frank Bunker Gilbert in Cheaper by the Dozen who sought to do every household task more efficiently and quickly. He timed his children doing each task to see if they could do it more quickly the next time. That’s why we have so many wonderful inventions in the world today because people seek ways to do things more swiftly and resourcefully! The little can lead to the amazing!

Make everything you do in your home exciting. Encourage your children to make each task they face exciting and adventurous. Inspire them to think of doing it a better and quicker way.

Love from Nancy Campbell

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!

Picture: Leah Thurber. Leah used to be one of our Above Rubies girls. Now she is a happily married wife and mother. Here she is enjoying motherhood with one of her little ones.

It’s more than kindness. Lovingkindness is a better word. It’s a kindness which involves two parties. It speaks of God’s covenant with Israel which is an everlasting covenant. His dealings with Israel show how He deals with us. Because of their waywardness and rebellion, God had to continually judge and punish His people. Because He is God, He cannot let go His justice and righteousness, and must execute judgment on sin. Eventually, He could not tolerate the evil of the Israelites any longer and scattered them to the four corners of the earth.

Nevertheless, God had made a covenant. He is lovingkindness (chesed). His lovingkindness will not let go. He will not wash His hands of Israel, nor of us. He judges, but never gives up. Rebellion cannot destroy His love. It is the essence of that lovely old hymn, “O love that will not let me go.”

After vomiting the Israelites out of the land because of their sin, God sent hundreds of promises through His prophets to tell them that He will one day bring them back to the land again. These prophecies are being fulfilled before our eyes. We saw the miracle of Israel become a nation again on 14 May 1948 and now Jews are pouring back to the land from all over the world. This is God revealing Himself as "chesed."

It is also related to the old English word “troth.” Have you heard this word before? At the end of their vows, the bridal couple says: “And thereto I give thee my troth." Our children used these original wedding vows on their wedding day. I was pleased that our eldest grand-daughter also used the same vows. It was quite fun to hear her practicing to say "troth" on their wedding rehearsal night. It’s not an easy word to pronounce! It means that the couple confesses publicly that they will be faithful to their marriage covenant.

Because God is a God of lovingkindness and we are created in His image, He desires us to show forth this grace too.

Let’s practice being kind. Kind to our husband. Kind to our children. Kind to the people around us. Do you notice this Scriptures says that the virtuous woman reveals kindness through her tongue? Are your words kind? Did you speak kind and loving words to your husband today? Did you speak kind words to your children?

Let’s seek to be the women God wants us to be.

In His love,

Nancy Campbell

You notice that I am sharing descriptions in God’s Word about women. God’s Word also pictures the career of motherhood to be higher than every other career.

In Ezekiel chapter 19 we read an allegory. God talks about the tribe of Judah and likens her to a mother. As we read this passage, we understand God’s value of motherhood. Ezekiel 19:10, 11: “Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters: she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters. And she had strong rods for the scepters of them that bare rule, and her stature was exalted among the thick branches, and she appeared in her height with the multitude of her branches.”

The Hebrew word for “exalted” is “gabahh.”
It means “to soar, to mount up, to lift up, to raise up to great height.”

God exalts motherhood. He places it high in society. Higher than all other careers. It is manifold and involves many different areas. God made men to be focused; they like to concentrate on one thing at a time. However, God created women with the ability to do many things at one time. He gives her this capability in order to care for several children at once.

Dear mother, God wants you to soar in your great role of motherhood. He wants you to mount up above the petty things that often pull you down and the trials that make you despondent or get into self-pity. You are not meant to be flapping around like a chicken. God wants you to soar like the eagle.

Sadly, this allegory in Ezekiel 19:12-14 ends on a bitter note: “But she was plucked up in fury, she was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods were broken and withered; and the fire consumed them. And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground. And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit, so that she hath no strong rod to be a scepter to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.”

This passage is an up-to-date picture of motherhood in our society today. God exalts motherhood to a high place, but (notice the “but” in the above Scripture) angry hands seek to pluck m others out of the home. They end up in a wilderness. The wilderness in this passage literally speaks of Babylon, which is a type of confusion, deception, and delusion.

This is where many mothers are planted today. They are misplaced! God purposes for them to be in the home, but they are away from their children. Their wombs are “dried up” (v.12) because they no longer have time to have children. The children they do have are “devoured” (v. 14) by the enemy because they have vacated their post. They are not home to care for them. They have, often ignorantly, been sucked into the sly strategy of the enemy of our souls who wants to rob children of their mothers and mothers of their children.

Satan knows that if he can get mothers out of the home, he can get his hands on the children and consequently steer the course of the nation. He is terrified of mothers who understand their divine calling and who will not be pushed out of the home, no matter what the situation. He is afraid of mothers who are prepared to sacrifice new homes and many material things to stay home with their children.

One of Satan's biggest threats is godly mothers who have a vision to raise godly children and diligently teach and train these children to be pure and ardent in God's truth.

The world cannot do without mothers! When mothers abdicate their role of mothering in the home, they lay down their power to lead the nation in God's ways!

Love from Nancy Campbell

Painting by Cecile Veilhan

It’s interesting that translators used the word “valor” for men, but the word “virtuous” for women, and yet it is the same Hebrew word. That doesn’t mean that we go out to fight in an army. I believe that is the place for men, not women. But God also wants us to be strong. Strong to fight, not flesh and blood, but principalities and powers. Because God ordained marriage and family, Satan hates it. He is out to destroy it. Therefore, we are in the fight against the enemy. We fight against all his temptations to destroy our marriage or fragment our family life.

We need to be strong in the Lord, strong in faith, strong in truth, strong in our convictions, strong in embracing our femininity in a deceived world, strong in commitment to our marriage and to our family, and strong in faithfulness. We need to be strong spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically.

Who knows that motherhood is not for wimps? We need to be strong in every aspect of our lives for this high and noble calling. No wonder God pictures women clothed with strength.

Proverbs 31:17 says: “She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms.” Have you found that you have become stronger the longer you mother? Your arms certainly get stronger holding babies and toddlers. You become more mature and stronger in every aspect of your life.

Of course, we know our strength comes from the Lord. We can confess “I am clothed with strength,” knowing that we walk in His strength.

Be blessed today,

Nancy Campbell

Painting: “Climbing Mother” by Brian Kershisnik

Feminists are fighting harder than ever for their women’s rights! As they fight, they spurn their glory. How sad they do not understand that God has already endowed them with glory and majesty—the glory of being a woman and the purpose of their femaleness. It is ridiculous to my brain that these dear women fight against how God created them. They despise their womb. They rant and rave for the right to murder unborn children. And they throw away their glory (Hosea 9:11).

Do you notice that this Scripture says that the gracious woman RETAINS her glory? She doesn’t have to acquire it. It has already been given to her. All she needs to do is keep it. Hang on to it. Don’t throw it away. We keep our glory by embracing who God created us to be. By loving the way God created us as a female for child-bearing and nursing . By knowing our purpose to be a helper to our husbands. By living dignified, gracious, and sensible lives.

How is it that women do not understand the way God created them? The Scripture is true that when people do not want God in their knowledge that He gives them over to a “reprobate mind,” a mind that is void of judgment (Romans 1:28).

Once again, as with Proverbs 31:25, the word “honor” that is given to women is also the same word that speaks of God’s glory! God has invested us with a glory from Him when He created us female. How dare we throw it back in His face. Let’s retain our glory. In this way, we glorify Him.

Be blessed today,

Nancy Campbell

Painting by William Rothenstein (1872 - 1945): Mother and Child (candlelight, oil on canvas).

Some examples of God’s glory: Exodus 24:17; 33:22; Numbers 14:10, 22; 16:42; Psalm 24:7-10; 29:3; 145:5; 2 Chronicles 5:14; 7:2; and Zechariah 2:5.

Dignity is meant to be the testimony of godly women. The more we walk in God’s ways, the more we will walk in dignity.

It is heart-breaking to see thousands of women crying out for recognition as women. Unfortunately, they have been deceived to think they will receive it with ranting and raving and vicious and vulgar words and lifestyle. This is the very opposite of womanhood and dignity.

We reveal our dignity as women when we embrace who God created us to be. He created us female. He created is physically to birth and nurse babies. He created us to be nurturers in society. This is God-given dignity. And don’t forget, dear mother, that you have an honorable and high rank as you faithfully mother in your home each day.

And even more amazing, too amazing to comprehend. The word “honor” in the King James Bible or “dignity” as many translations give it, is the very same word that is used to describe God! Here is one of many Scriptures: “O LORD my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honor and majesty.” And yet here in Proverbs 31:25 the woman is clothed "with honor.”

We can only walk in this honor and dignity as we embrace God’s ways and His beautiful life He wants to live through us. It is His ways that will be honored through our daily lives.

Walk in your God-given dignity today.

Love from Nancy Campbell

Would the word “thankfulness” describe you and your family? I don’t believe we can be too thankful. Firstly, to God for His wonderful salvation given to us through His Son, Jesus Christ. None of us will ever be able to fathom that enormity of His grace to each one of us. The fact that He, who lived in the glory of eternity, was willing to not only become a man and die, but take upon Himself our sin (the vilest of sins) is incomprehensible (Philippians 2:5-8). Eternity will not be enough time to reveal the wonders of his grace and salvation.

I love to thank God, every day for providing such a great salvation. I try not to miss a day. I think of how back in the Old Testament God required the Israelites to sacrifice a lamb every morning and every evening. They sacrificed at many others times, but this was the foundation of all sacrifices. It pointed to the Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who would come to take away our sins (John 1:29). When Jesus became our sacrifice, there was never any need for the daily sacrifices again. Hebrews 10:10 tells us of “the offering of the body of Jesus Christ ONCE FOR ALL.”

The Israelites looked forward to this ultimate sacrifice. But now we look back to the sacrifice of Jesus, once for all. I never want to forget or take it for granted, do you? That’s why at our Family Devotions each morning and evening I seek to praise the thank the Lord Jesus Christ for His great and eternal salvation.

But that’s just the beginning. We have been given everything we need in Christ to live this life (2 Peter 1:2,3). We are overloaded with blessings every day. Each new day is a blessing. We are blessed with family, a home to live in, food, and all of God’s glorious creation.

I think we should get into the habit of thanking the Lord for everything we think of.
A new spring flower appears. Thank Him.
Your baby laughs and smiles. What joy. Oh, thank You, Lord.

Water pours out of your tap. You don’t even have to go to the well. Thank you, Lord.
You throw your disposable diaper in the trash. You don’t even have to wash your diapers in an old ringer washing machine! Praise the Lord.
And this could keep going for pages. Get into the habit of being thankful for everything. And not a little thankful, but hugely thankful.

Thank your husband for every little thing he does for you, and just for being him. Become an extravagantly thankful wife. Thank your children when they finish their chores, when they do something for you, or when they are polite. Become an excessively thankful mother. And watch your children become thankful people too.

Some time back a wonderful missionary family stayed in our home. They also loved fellowshipping with the Johnsons (Howard and Evangeline’s family). They noticed how their children were very thankful about everything. They didn’t say “Thank you” in a monotonous voice, but “Oh, tha-a-a-a-a-a-nk you SOOOO much.” Our visiting family and their children got into the habit also. When they waved goodbye to us, they all puts their heads out the window cried out: “Tha-a-a-a-a-a-nk you SOOOOO MUCH!” You can never be too exuberantly thankful!

Have an extravaganza day,

Nancy Campbell

In my post NO LOOP HOLE, posted below, I shared with you an important word that God wants proclaimed and broadcast to the to the ends of the earth. Do you remember what it was? We find it in Isaiah 48:20 (CEB): “Go out from Babylon; flee from the Chaldeans! REPORT this with a loud shout, PROCLAIM it; BROADCAST it to the end of the earth. SAY, ‘The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob!’”

God wanted His people out of Babylon in that day. He wants us to get out of Babylon now. In God’s Word, Babylon speaks of confusion, delusion, and deception. It also speaks of mixture.

The amazing thing about deception is that we usually don’t know we are deceived. Deception deceives us from knowing we are deceived! Satan’s deception is so subtle that he successfully deceived Eve. And yet she walked and talked with God personally every day! Help, what about us?

I believe our greatest deterrent against deception is God’s Word. We must live in it. Meditate on it. Talk about it. And of course, share it with our children. We have an awesome responsibility as mothers to not only save ourselves from deception, but save our children from the deception of this humanistic society.

Sadly, a large proportion of the church is deceived. It is filled with mixture. People love God with their hearts, but their minds are filled with the humanistic agenda. It permeates this society. Most people in the church have been educated in the humanistic, feministic (and now, increasingly influenced by alternative lifestyles and the homosexual agenda). The most popular doctrine in the church today is “tolerance.” The devil makes sure that we are silent about sin. Or look out, we’re judgmental! On the other hand, God wants it exposed loudly, like a trumpet (Isaiah 58:1). This shows up whose side we are on!

My constant prayer is that God will save me from deception and that He will fill me with discernment. I’m sure this is your prayer too. It’s so easy to be deceived by that which looks good. That’s how Eve was deceived. Satan made the temptation look “good” and “wise” (Genesis 3:6). Everything from God is good, but not everything that looks good is from God! We must have godly discernment. We’ll get it from God’s Word.

As you pray together as a family each day, pray that God will show you any mixture that has come into your lives or your home. Ask Him to expose every tiny bit of deception. Ask Him to show you the spirit of Babylon in your lives. Ask Him to give each one of you such a love for His Word that you, your husband, and all the children will love to read it.

It isn’t the people in the world that God tells to flee out of Babylon. It’s God’s people. If the spirit of this world is more important to us than God, His Word, and prayer, we’re obviously still in Babylon. Every time the word “saints” is translated in “The Scriptures” it translates it “set-apart ones.” This is who we are as the people of God. Living in this world, but liberated from the spirit of this world.

Be encouraged today,

Nancy Campbell

P.S. Further Scriptures about coming out of Babylon: Isaiah 52:11; Jeremiah 50:8; 51:6, 45; Zechariah 2:6-8; 2 Corinthians 6:17, 18; James 4:4; 1 John 2:15-17; and Revelation 18:3-5.

This is the beginning. But this is how we continue our walk with Christ. We keep on confessing. It is not a one-time confession, but a daily confession of our salvation. A daily confession of God’s truth. It’s only what we confess that we keep.

I was challenged by reading Isaiah 48:20 (CEB): “Go out from Babylon; flee from the Chaldeans!
REPORT this with a loud shout,
PROCLAIM it;
BROADCAST it to the end of the earth. (the whole world)
SAY, ‘The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob!’”

God doesn’t tell us only once to share about our redemption, but in four different ways in one Scripture. He doesn’t give us a loop hole to be silent! He wants us to broadcast His truth through the whole earth. God miraculously redeemed Israel from the hand of Pharaoh. He miraculously delivered them from Babylon. But we have an even greater redemption.

What a wonderful redemption!
Never can a mortal know
How my sin, the' red like crimson,
Can be whiter than the snow.

Ephesians 2:7 tells us that it will take “the ages to come” to “show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.”

Are you confessing every day? Are you teaching your children how to be confessing Christians? If not, we are not teaching them correctly. If they are not confessing, they will grow up weak in the faith.

Be blessed today,

Nancy Campbell

Do you ever get into a dream when reading or listening to God’s Word? I have the best intentions to not let my mind wander, but it still happens. Even this morning at Family Devotions as Colin read the Word to us I found my mind wandering. I started thinking about Bowen and Kahoru’s wedding that is coming in May. Help! I had to immediately focus again.

I notice the pattern God sets when He wants to tell us something. He wants to tell us something new every day! His Word is filled with truth and the way He wants us to live. Filled with treasures waiting for us to discover.

When God wanted to speak to Ezekiel in Ezekiel 40:4 the angel (or was it Jesus Himself) said to him: “Behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thine heart upon all that I shall show thee.” We must see by the eyes of faith. We must hear with our spiritual ears, listening for the voice of the Holy Spirit who is the interpreter of God’s Word. And we must set out hearts upon it. I cannot find a verse in the Bible that talks about getting it into our minds (although of course we will do this), but He commands us to get our eyes, ears, and heart involved.

That’s why I believe it is imperative to ask questions at Family Devotions when we read God’s Word to our children. If it is easy for our minds to wander, what about our children? They can begin dreaming about other things. Questions keep them focused on what God is saying. Questions keep them interested and attentive.

I find I need the questions too. There are times when Colin asks a question and I am guilty and must ask, “Darling, can you please read that Scripture again?” I didn’t comprehend it properly as I was not intently focusing at that moment.

Ezekiel 40:4 also speaks about our mouths! It says: “Declare all that thou see to the house of Israel.” Our mouths must become involved too. God wants to us to share with others what He tells us. We can only declare what is deeply imbedded in our hearts. If it’s not in our hearts, we have nothing to say. That’s why the Word must get into our hearts.

“Did not our hearts burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures?” exclaimed the disciples about talking with Jesus. There’s nothing like true Christian fellowship when you can talk and discuss the Word together. However, I find it hard to find this today. When meeting with fellow believers I love to ask, “What’s God been saying to you from the Word recently?” It is so deflating to be returned with blank looks and silence. They have nothing to declare!

Dear precious believers, if we are opening God’s Word and tuning in our eyes, ears, and hearts, we’ll have so much to declare! To confess! To share with others to change their lives.

This is not only a challenge to ourselves, but in the training of our children. What kind of children are you training? Those who are being trained to stay babies, go to church once a week and open their mouths like little birds to receive food from the pastor or minister? Or are you training children to discipline their eyes, ears, and hearts to hear what the Spirit is saying. They are learning to hear personally. To hear for themselves. Not second hand. They are the children growing into mature Christians. I am sure no mother wants her children to stay babies in the Lord. We want them to be declarers of God’s truths and they can only do this as they get it into their hearts.

May you be anointed of the Lord today as you prepare mighty young men and women for God’s purposes,

Nancy Campbell

Don’t you love this famous painting? "Way to Emmaus" by German painter, Robert Zünd (1827-1909). My parents had this picture on the wall of the home where I grew up and I loved looking at it.

There are many paintings of the story of Jesus walking with the two disciples to Emmaus. I'd love to share two or three more of my favorites: This is a painting by James Tissot from "Pilgrims on the Road to Emmaus" (1884-1896).

Further to my post above, LEARNING TO FOCUS, here is another of my favorite paintings of the scene on the way to Emmaus: This is a painting by William Brassey Hole.

Here's just one more painting of the Scripture: "Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures?" (Luke 24:32). Painting by Ira Thomas.

Today I am posting you another writing from my granddaughter, Meadow. Be blessed.

I have a question for liberal feminists (I love you, please don’t hate me):

I agree that women should have rights. I’m glad that I have the privilege to vote in this country. I have a career of my own. And I am glad that I am free to openly share my personal opinions. I believe that women can still be intelligent, bold, and contribute to society without calling themselves feminists.

And seeing that American women have more rights than we’ve ever had before and more rights than most women in the rest of the world; seeing that I am content to let my husband be the head of our household (which is biblical and he is much better at leading than I am) and that doesn’t mean he doesn’t respect my opinions and that I am in bondage; seeing that I do not believe in abortion; and seeing that I don’t feel like life is unfair to me as a woman . . . I do not consider myself a feminist. I have nothing to complain about.

But that is not the point . . . The point is a that I see a flaw in the liberal stance of feminism, which some of you may not have considered yet.

What is feminism? What do feminists stand for? Feminism is the belief of the social equality of the sexes, correct? Feminism is the doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of women to be equal to those of men. Feminism says that women are just as important as men (I believe men and women are important for different reasons). Feminists thrive to prove they can be just as independent, capable, and contributing as men.

But is this the true nature of women? Many women are at least forcing it to be so. According to feminists, women who do not want to prove they are just as good as men (like me), simply haven’t been enlightened yet.

Back in the old days (before feminism), when women considered a man to be her husband, she was drawn to qualities that made her feel protected and provided for. She didn’t want a man who was weak and lazy. She wanted a man who would take care of her NEEDS. Women were wired to feel this way. This was a natural attraction. And it was one of the qualities that I naturally found attractive in my husband. There were many other reasons why I fell in love with him, but I also loved that I could DEPEND on him.

But now days, it is not feministic to depend on a man. Women aren’t looking for men to be their providers anymore because now they compete with them. It is almost shameful for some feminists to admit they depend on men because the whole point they are trying to prove is that they can do without them.

Feminists seek to prove that they are independent and can take care of themselves . . . and that is why liberal feminism confuses me.

Instead of looking for those ancient attractions that used to draw women towards men, liberal feminists now look for those same qualities in the government. They want a government that will protect them, provide for them, take care of their needs, and give them free stuff. They want to feel like they can depend on the government. They place their security in the government. They seek the same qualities in a government that women used to seek in a husband.

This is why a majority of voters who elected President Obama (who was sending the message that he would provide for their needs) were women. And perhaps, this is part of the reason why a majority of protestors against President Trump (a conservative, whose agenda is an economy that provides for themselves and he doesn’t believe in giving free-hand-outs) are women. (I know there are other reasons why women hate Trump, because he has been disrespectful towards women in the past, but that's off subject).

This is my question . . . If they really are feminists and they’re capable of providing for themselves. . . why should they need the government to be their husband? Why should they need the government to give them free care if they are independent and strong women who can provide for themselves? Even though I am not a feminist, I at least have a better understanding of conservative feminism because they don’t rely on the government to provide for all of their needs, which is true independence.

Forgive me if this post has angered you. I am not trying to judge you or attack you. I don’t want to start a heated argument. I am just trying to challenge that way of thinking. My request is that since feminists like to believe they support women to express their own opinions and rational thinking, that you will at least support me for expressing my own rational thinking, even if is not something you agree with. Even though I challenge this way of thinking, I do not want further division and conflict, so please keep responses polite and let's respect one another. I want liberal feminists to understand where the rest of us are coming from . . . and I really want to see peace and unity in the country we all love.

MEADOW HALL