Don’t worry that you can’t have everything perfect. People don’t expect that. The most important thing is to make people feel welcomed, loved, and accepted.
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Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs
Through the weekly and daily devotionals you can be constantly encouraged in your great role of parenting, the highest career in the nation. You can also stay updated on what's happening with the Above Rubies ministry.
“A woman can do most things a man can do. A man can do many things a woman can do. But some things only a woman can do. A man cannot become pregnant, form life in a womb, give birth to a new human being and nurture the soul of that human being. It takes a woman to be a mother. Her gaze, her touch, her eyes, the nurture of her breast are uniquely and powerfully female.”
~ Darrow Miller (Author of “The Grand Design”)
Painting: “Waiting for the Birth” by Marco Ortolan, Argentina
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A testimony from Anastassija.I am sure you will agree with me that mothering children is such a high calling from the Lord. My heart longs to fulfill that calling—the right way, God’s way. Yet I will not deny those constant questions in my head by the end of the day, “Am I doing this right? Maybe I should have spent more time with them? Maybe I should have disciplined them differently today?” I am sure I am not the only mother who has such loving intentions for her children, yet always battling some guilt and doubt.
I have searched for answers in books, articles, podcasts, and sought advice from other parents who seemed more experienced than me. And yet again, something was missing. What worked for one mother did not work for me and my children.
So how do I become that godly mother that does the will of the Father in her home?
I tried reading about being patient and then tried so very hard to be patient with my children. The results? I failed miserably.
I would read Proverbs 31 and push myself to be that woman throughout the day. The results? I failed once again. God knows I have tried to finish all the things on my to-do list and manage my time wisely. I have tried increasing my faith. I have wholeheartedly tried moving mountains. The only mountains I was able to move were the mountains of laundry I have to do daily.
I foolishly believed that I had to live out the Word of God in my own strength. But the simple truth is that when you read God’s word, it “supernaturally” changes your heart. It makes no sense how it is possible, but you cannot separate God and His Word.
When you take time to indulge yourself in His Word, you give the Holy Spirit an opportunity to make you into His image. That Word is living, breathing, and incredibly powerful.
I can testify that there is now peace in my home, beyond understanding. There is a different depth of love between my husband and me and our children. The Holy Spirit is working on a special bond within our family.
It's simple. It's about making His Word a priority in your life. Yes, before the dirty dishes, laundry, homework, before children’s playdates and everything else that is on your “to-do” list. I will not claim to be perfect at it in any way, but I’ve got a small taste of what His Word is capable of doing in my heart and in my family.
When you read His Word and you store it deep in your heart, consistently, God MOVES. He moves within your day, your husband, and your children. He moves within your heart.
Jesus said, “Seek the Kingdom of God first and His righteousness and everything else will be added to you” When you do that very thing that Jesus said, it gives God a chance to fulfill His promises in your life. It doesn’t matter what situation you are in as a mother, if you are focusing on His Word, He is able to take care of stuff for you. I no longer have to “try” so hard to be the mother God wants me to be. Stress is so unnecessary, yet you cannot escape it when you try to do it all on your own.
Believe in His Word. Lay all your responsibilities upon His Word. Our Mighty God and His Word are One, fully capable to perform miracles. Read it with your heart wide open. Let Him in. When you read His Word, you are letting the Father speak directly into your heart. His Word produces faith inside you.
Dear mothers, our attitude toward God’s Word can change our family and bring peace to our homes! God’s Words on the lips of a believing mother can move any mountain within your marriage, your heart, and your children. You are called to so much more than just to move mountains of laundry.
My mind still cannot comprehend it. I cannot use logic for it to make sense. But I can simply testify that the Word of God is the ONLY foundation that there is for you and those you love. I still have a long way to go. But one truth I experienced in my own life is that it is impossible for His Word to fail.
If He has done it in my family, He is able to do it in yours.
Precious mothers, let’s give His Word a try.
ANASTASIJA MOURTZANOS
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Wilberforce, Ontario, Canada
Picture: Anastasija with her husband, Josh, and Jadon, Tayah, and Eleanor.
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Extend your prayers to not only your children but future grandchildren and coming generations. Your prayers can affect the generations to come.
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Wow! It’s hard to believe the change! I think that because God made us beautiful that our clothing should be beautiful. The more we act, dress, and speak femininely the more we glorify God who created us female. Those who have been created female by God’s eternal design should live totally female and dress femininely!
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Where is your mind today? Dwelling in the past? Or even in the present as you mull over the difficulties you face? To dwell in the past or the present can be depressing unless you are doing it with joy and thankfulness.Did you know that God wants us to LOOK AHEAD! To that which is BEFORE! Paul confessed in Philippians 3:13, 14: “This ONE THING I DO, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
Things may look pretty bleak at the moment. But it’s not the end of the world. God has got so much more ahead for you. Look ahead to what God has. Forget the past and keep pressing forward to the prize.
We read this Scripture in Philippians in our Family Devotions the other day and my husband talked about how we can easily get stuck in an eddy. An eddy is where some flowing water gets sidetracked and stuck to the side of a river. Instead of flowing with the current it goes around and around in circles going nowhere.
If we don’t keep our eyes on what is ahead, we can be sucked into an eddy. Instead of looking up, keeping our eyes upon Jesus, and the hope of what is before, we can stay in a rut (or an eddy), going over and over our problems and never getting anywhere. Remember, that’s what happened to the children of Israel in the wilderness. Because they didn’t believe God was bigger than their enemies, they ended up going around in circles in the wilderness for 40 years!
We’ll never find an answer to our problems while we keep worrying about them. We’ll only know the way out when we look to the Lord and trust Him. When our eyes are upon Him, He can show us the way He wants us to go. And it will always be FORWARD. GOING AHEAD. PRESSING ON TOWARD THE MARK.
Keep out of eddies and keep running your race. It’s not the end yet!
Love from Nancy Campbell
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When Jesus came into a village between Galilee and Samaria he met ten men with leprosy. They stood at a distance, as all lepers had to do, and cried out to Jesus to have mercy on them. Of course, Jesus responded with mercy and compassion and said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were healed!How amazing this must have been to suddenly look down and see all their leprosy disappearing.
But what is even more amazing is that only one bothered to return to Jesus and thank Him. When this man saw that he was healed, he “turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God and fell down on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks.”
But then Jesus asked: “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine?” (Read Luke 17:11-18).
I wonder how often Jesus still asks this question today? “Where are the nine?
Which company do you belong to? The tenth, or the nine-tenths? Do we belong to the people who are constantly filled with gratefulness and thanksgiving for all God’s goodness to us? Not just the big things, but the little things. Or do we belong to the company who take all the blessings and forget to thank Him?
Make it your habit to constantly thank the Lord Jesus throughout the day. Teach your children this habit. When something good happens, even it is only a little thing, stop what you are doing and gather your children around and thank and praise the Lord together. Even when something bad happens, do the same thing. Gather your children around and thank the Lord that He understands and that He is working all things together for His ultimate plan.
I am always encouraged by 1 Thessalonians 5:18: “In EVERY THING give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus CONCERNING YOU.”
And Colossians 2:7 tells us to be “ABOUNDING with thanksgiving.”
Make your home a thankful home today.
Love from Nancy Campbell
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God wants your home to be a sanctuary for Him in this world, a place of security, stability, and salvation for your whole household.
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Because God created you a woman, be a woman. Act, speak, dress, and nurture like a woman. In doing so, you will fulfill your destiny. How sad to live your life and not live as God intended you you live.
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What kind of children are you raising? What kind of laborers does God want us to faithfully prepare for His service? The following is what I long for our children, grandchildren, and future generations. Wow, we certainly have a full-time career, don’t we? We will never have a moment to be bored!Baby lovers
Blessing imparters
Bible believers
Bible lovers
Bible obeyers
Committed laborers in God’s harvest
Courageous overcomers
Demon destroyers
Diligent workers
Evil haters
Faithful servers
Fearless soldiers
Family lovers
Freedom fighters
Fruit bearers
God fearers
God lovers
God pleasers
God worshippers
Gospel preachers
Holy Spirit empowered witnesses
Home lovers
Israel supporters
Jesus fanatics
Justice keepers
Life choosers
Light shiners
Liberal threateners
Obedient listeners
Overcoming conquerors
Parent honorers
Persecution endurers
Prayer warriors
Responsible citizens
Sharp arrows
Tomorrow’s leaders
Truth bearers
Truth keepers
Truth lovers
Truth preservers
Truth seekers
Truth speakers
Righteousness lovers
Uncompromising disciples
Valiant warriors
Wisdom getters and
Zealous servants of the Living God!
Have a wonderful day as you raise godly children for His kingdom,
Nancy Campbell
P.S. You may have some other goals to add to the list. Please share.
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(A testimony from Joyce Graves, Tennessee).I have three children. When we started homeschooling my youngest son was in second grade, my daughter in 5th grade, and my oldest son in 7th grade.
My oldest son graduated from high school with a 4.0 grade point average. One thing I found interesting was that there were times when he would get a different answer in his math than the score key.
When I called the school to speak to the very sophisticated-sounding gentleman whom I always spoke to when I called about this, I told him about the different answer that my son had gotten. Of course, I also had to tell him the grade, the subject, the page number, and the problem number. He looked it up and worked out the problem.
Then he would ask me the answer my son got for this problem. I told him, then he replied, “He is right. The score key is wrong.” This happened several times. In effect, my son was editing their score key, although the curriculum was excellent.
After graduation, one evening this same son took the ASVAB, which is the military entrance exam. The next morning, since he was going to flip hamburgers at McDonalds, he gave me the slip of paper with the phone number on it to call and find out his score. I called and was able to get his recruiter. I told him who I was and why I called. He looked it up and told me that my son could have only scored a 99, the highest score, and he scored a 98 putting him into the upper 2 percentile in the country. My son attributes this high score to the curriculum that we homeschooled with which was ABEKA.
My daughter was very studious during our home-schooling years in her studies at home, in her private piano lessons, and in her private French lessons. After she graduated, she attended two different colleges. At each one she attended she received letters of commendation for her high academy achievement. When attending Lipscomb University, her high-grade point average made her eligible to participate in their “Lipscomb in Vienna” program. At that young age, she was in Europe, enjoying swimming in the Mediterranean Sea, visiting Paris, etc.
My youngest son who also excelled at his private piano lessons and private French lessons decided that he wanted to join the Boy Scouts. We took him to talk to the Scout Masters to enroll him. He told them that he wanted to make Eagle. Knowing he was already 16 years, they responded: “Well son, we will bend over backwards to help you, but we have never had a 16-year old make Eagle by their 18th birthday and you have to make it by the age of 18.”
Well, long story short, due to our flexible schedule and by the grace of JESUS, he made it. It took a lot of trips, hard work, camping out, etc. to earn all those badges. We were really proud of him not only for making Eagle but also for what he did for his Eagle Project, which was a beautiful musical concert along with some other highly talented homeschoolers with their stringed instruments. The concert went beautifully without a hitch and was free to those who brought food for those in need.
All I can say is, “To JESUS be the glory for helping us to achieve all of this, for it is He from Whom all blessing flow and may He be honored in all things forever and ever, for HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is His Name!”
JOYCE GRAVES
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
PAINTING: SIMON GLUCKLICH
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Keep being faithful, dear mother!
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Amos 3:3 asks the question: “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” I have always thought of this in the context of two people, specifically a married couple. However, it is really in the context of God and me. Can God walk with me if I don’t agree with what He says in His Word? That’s not going to work very well, is it?I immediately think of Isaiah 55:8, 9: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Our job is to come up to God’s thoughts and ways. We cannot bring Him down to puny thinking.
We must also think about motherhood the way God thinks about it. When God says His ways and thoughts are higher than our ways, the word in the Hebrew is “gabah” which means “to be high, exalted, to soar, to raise up to a great height.”
God also uses this word in describing motherhood. In Ezekiel 19:10-14 we read an allegory about motherhood. God is actually talking about Judah but likens her to a mother. He likens Judah to a fruitful mother planted by the waters, similar to the description in Psalm 128:3. Verse 11 says: “her stature was exalted” and "higher than all the other trees around.” The words “exalted” and “higher” are also “gabah” meaning to soar to a great height.
God sees motherhood higher than every other career for women. Every other career is only for this life. It will be left behind. But motherhood is an eternal career. It impacts eternity as we bring forth eternal souls into this world to reveal His image and to prepare them for the eternal world.
Motherhood is more influential than any other career in that we determine the destiny of the nation. The nation is strong or weak according to the mothers in the home who raise godly or worldly children. We have the power to turn the nation to righteousness or to evil.
Dear mother, don’t listen to the lies of this world who seek to push motherhood into the mud. Those are the lies of the enemy. God states that our career is “exalted.” This is how He sees it. This is how He planned it. Think like God thinks.
You can’t walk with Him if you don’t agree with Him.
Blessings to you today,
Nancy Campbell
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The apostle John loved to call his readers his “little children.” The Greek word is “teknion” which means “a little child.” It is also used of a tender term for a "teacher towards his disciples.” He calls them “little children” seven times in this book.However, in 1 John 2:13, John changes the word. He wrote to the fathers because they knew God, the One who was from the beginning. He wrote to the young men because they had overcome the wicked one. But then I noticed with new alertness these words: “I write unto you, little children, because ye have KNOWN THE FATHER.”
This time he uses a different word, “paideion” which means “a little boy or little girl, infant, a young child.” I was arrested by these words. God wants our little children to know Him. Sometimes we don’t expect our children to know the Father until they are older, but this Scripture shows that God wants our little ones to know Him as Father too.
He wants them to experience the Father’s love and protection from their earthly fathers so they will understand His love. He also wants them to come to know Him through the hearing of the Scriptures.
We see this 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.” Here a different Greek word is used for child. This time it is “brephos” which speaks of “a babe in the womb, a babe that is newly born, a little child.” Check out Luke 1:4, 44 and 2:16. Once again, God is not limiting the understanding of knowing Him to older people. He wants little ones to know His Word.
How can this happen? It happens at our Family Bible times where father reads the Scriptures to the family morning and evening. Little by little the word goes into the hearts of these little ones (even when they are in the womb). In a godly home, even young children can be ready for salvation, because they are daily filled with God’s word. They can receive Christ Jesus into their lives at the ages of three and four because it is the Scriptures that prepare them for salvation. We are saved through the Word of Truth. Most of our children had a definite encounter with the Lord at the age of four years and it is still as real to them today although they are now in their late fifties!
Dear mothers, please be aware that your little ones can begin to KNOW God at an early age. Did you notice that word KNOW? Paul said to Timothy that he had KNOWN the Holy Scriptures since a little child. John wrote to the little children because they KNEW the Father.
Be faithful in reading the Scriptures daily to your children. Watch over their souls. Speak to them much of the Father and of His character and of His great salvation. Expect your little ones to desire to KNOW Him.
I am amazed and so utterly blessed as I watch little ones in our prayer meetings with their hands raised to God and looking up in adoring worship to God. Sometimes these little ones are more into worship than the older ones. They already KNOW something of the awe of their Father God.
Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 19:14 (NLY): “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them. For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.”
Have a lovely day with your children,
Nancy Campbell
Picture: Selah Hartman. Selah was part of the wedding party of Vision and Eden’s wedding on Saturday. I took this picture of her as everyone was singing the hymn: “Worthy of every son we could ever sing, Worthy of all the praise we could ever bring.”
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Hope you have enjoyed a wonderful Mother’s Day!
Dear mother, never forget that you are in the most influential career in the nation. Your children will be the next generation! Be encouraged in your great work!
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Such a beautiful thing. But to be loved we must first love. The more we speak love, show love, and give love to our spouse, the more it boomerangs back upon us. Just like we love God because He first loved us.
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“When God lays a new-born babe in the arms of a mother, he says to her heart, "Take this child and nurse it for me and I will give you your wages." The answer of maternal love should be, ‘Oh God, you have put your noblest workmanship into my hands. I accept the precious trust. I will shelter this young life under your mercy-seat. I will be truthful that it may never learn falsehood. I will nurse this soul in its infancy with the sincere milk of love, that in after years it may bear strong meat for strong service of God and righteousness.“Oh, Heavenly Father, make my life in harmony with yourself, that this young life may reflect your blessed image in following my example!’”
To such pious fidelity—God offers the highest wages; he pays the heart's claim, in the heart's own coin.”
~ Theodore Cuyler, 1896
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Dear mother, Sometimes you think you are not accomplishing very much in your home! But be encouraged, you are doing a great work. Great things are a combination little things. Every day you are doing little things that are adding up to big things. Every smile and cuddle you give to your children is filling up their tank of security. Every encouragement and affirmation you give them each day is preparing them for their future. Every seed of truth from God’s word that you speak into them throughout the day is a seed that will grow into a full tree as you keep watering it. Every prayer you pray for your children is going up before the throne of God as incense!Keep faithful in the little things. They are all adding up! Amen!
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Tomorrow Colin and I drive to Pensacola along with loads of other members of our family.
Once again it is a family wedding. Oh, how we love weddings. This Saturday Vision Allison (Serene and Sam’s son and our grandson) will marry Eden Hartman (Daniel and Allison Hartman’s daughter).
We are already blessed to have an Allison/Hartman couple. Cedar Allison is married to Halle Hartman, and they now have a precious little girl called Lael. Now another brother is marrying another sister! So exciting.
I’d love to share what Allison (the mother of the coming bride) wrote on her Facebook:
“It’s possible . . . to “rejoice in the wife of your youth” (Proverbs 5:18). To have love so sweet and pure as these two, go through a long-distance relationship for three years, all the while protecting your purity, even saving their first kiss for the wedding day!
It’s possible . . . to raise the standards for your children and not lower the bar to what the world is accepting. Don’t accept anything less than the best, and God’s ways are the best (1 Cor 7: 1, 2).
It’s possible . . . for young people to value modesty and purity and practice it and not give into their peers.
This amazing young man, Vision Allison (yes, he is Cedar’s brother) asked us to get to know Eden with the intentions of marriage about three years ago. In a few days those intentions will come true. We are so excited to see what God has planned for these two and we are so proud of them!”
Allison Frost Hartman * This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
P. S. Let me encourage you mamas & daddies, and young singles. It is possible, and it is worth it. It saddens me so much to see these sweet girls wearing prom & even wedding dresses that I can’t even show my boys or husband because it’s showing so much flesh!
We can do better!
Let’s make modest hottest!
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