We all know that God looks upon the heart and it is our heart attitude that counts. However, I do believe that we reveal outwardly what is in our hearts. I believe that when we come to worship the Lord with God’s people that we should dress appropriately. What does this Scripture say? “In holy attire.” We should dress in a way that is glorifying to God and that is aligned with holiness. God wanted the priests to be clothed in ”holy garments” and “for glory and for beauty” (Exodus 28:2). And guess what? You have been made a king and priest into God! #worshipthelord #modesty #beauty #glory #dressappropriately #dressforworship #aboverubies #nancycampbell
Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs
Mother, never underestimate the power and influence of your high calling of motherhood. The world may disdain your role but God holds it in high esteem. Even the devil knows the power of motherhood. That’s why he tries to woo mothers out of the home. He wants the mothers out of the way so he can get his hands upon the children. Don’t ever be intimidated by the world or the devil! #powerofmotherhood #influenceofmotherhood #mothering #motherhood #joyfulmothering #happymothering #generationalmothering #aintnohoodlikemotherhood #aboverubies #nancycampbell
Someone asked me recently, “How do I respond to folk who think large families are a drain on the environment?”
My first thought is: Who are they listening to? Humanistic garbage or the God who created the earth?
We hear plenty from our deceived society around us. Let’s hear from God for a change: "For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, HE FORMED IT TO BE INHABITED: I am the LORD; and there is none else" (Isaiah 45:18).
Did you read those words? God formed this earth to be inhabited and it is still nowhere near fully inhabited. Maybe, like me, you have driven from the west to the east of USA. You drive for miles and miles and miles with no inhabitants, pass through a city, and then drive for miles and miles again without seeing a house or a soul.
I have driven through Asian countries, driving for miles through jungle or acres and acres of palm trees, only seeing a few mipa huts here and there. Of course, the cities are filled but there is still so much room.
Why don’t we listen to God? He has everything in His control and every person in the palm of His hand.
Be blessed today,
Nancy Campbell
Photo: Allison and Daniel Hartman. Allison is just about to give birth to their 11th baby! Allison and Daniel organize the great annual Above Rubies Family Retreat Florida each year. I think it’s nearly booked out for April but check it out This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Who or what gets the most attention in your home?
Our God is the MOST HIGH GOD. But do we really put Him in this position of who He is? Sometimes He is so low on our agenda. He receives such little time in our homes. How many minutes of the day do we give to Him? Did I say “minutes”? Shouldn’t we give Him so much more than a few minutes?
The youth of our current age (and adults too) are besotted with the fascination of media and technology. Wherever you look, people sit behind a laptop or their eyes are glued to their iPhone or iPad. Even mothers are constantly checking their iPhones. We give so much time to these things but God, the One who gave us life is left out.
I think these gadgets also take away our wonder and awe of our MOST HIGH GOD? Psalm 47:2 says: “The LORD MOST HIGH is terrible; he is a great King over all the earth.” He is Potentate, Ruler, Sovereign and the Supreme Being of the universe. He should capture our attention and the amazement and awe of our children.
Do you think we could give Him more time each day? Shouldn’t He rule in every decision and situation? Do we function as a family with the awareness that He is Ruler over all?
Many “Christian” families don’t even have time to sit together around the table and end the meal with Bible reading and prayer. They don’t have time to feed their souls and spirits. They don’t have time in their busy schedule for the MOST HIGH GOD.
The bible pattern is to meet with God every morning and every evening. This should be our family habit. If we don’t make time for this, we show by our actions that God is low on our list. Are the things that make us so busy more important than Him?
May God save us from acknowledging Him with our lips and yet our hearts are far from Him. We show where our heats are by the time we give Him each day.
Isaiah 29;13 (NLT): “These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” (Repeated in Matthew 15:8, 9 and Mark 7:6, 7).
Be encouraged today,
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 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 richly fill 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 opens her mouth, she breaths out godly wisdom (Proverbs 31:26).
Let’s become truth-breathing mothers.
Be blessed today,
Nancy Campbell
Do you, like me, long for the “restoration of all things,” the time when God will subdue all wickedness and bring everything, everyone, and all nations into subjection to Christ? Or perhaps you are longing for restoration of situations that are nearer to hand. You have relationships in your family and extended family that need restoring. You need marriage restoration.
The final restoration is coming, but God is also restoring NOW. He is the God of restoration and wants to heal estranged relationships.
Don’t ever give up. Keep praying. Ask God to show you how you can break down barriers and walls. Ask Him to give you a soft heart and forgiving spirit. God is the ultimate Restorer, but He wants you to be involved too.
Isaiah 58: 12 says that you will be called: “The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.”
Do some restoration work today. I love the line that you will read in the coming Above Rubies magazine which is in the Post Office now. It says:
“Win the marriage, not the argument.” It’s such a good line to remember. What do you gain by winning an argument and losing the precious communion and relationship in your marriage? You don’t gain anything; you lose! So aim to win by building, repairing, and restoring.
Love from Nancy Campbell
We constantly hear about de-cluttering our homes, but have you thought about de-cluttering your shopping cart? It's amazing how much we can eliminate and save money at the same time.
Next time you go shopping, can I suggest that you read all labels. When you read sugar, corn syrup, red color (and all the other colors which are cancer forming), and all words that are too difficult to pronounce, put it back on the shelf! These foods are not worth eating and are not going to nourish you or your children’s bodies.
Throw back all packaged and de-vitalized products.
Keep mainly to the produce aisle and basic whole ingredients. I refuse to purchase packaged cereals. You may as well eat the cardboard. Eat the original food. Cook up some rolled oats, steel cut oats (my favorite), quinoa, or millet, etc., for your children’s breakfast.
Be blessed today,
Nancy Campbell
Dear mother, God has commissioned you to be part of a great building program, the building and strengthening of your family. There is no greater building program in the nation. Building each individual family builds the nation and continuing generations.
However, you can’t effectively build if there is trash in the way. Physically and spiritually. When they were building the wall in Nehemiah’s day, the workers complained that they couldn’t continue building the wall because there was so much rubble to be moved. Nehemiah 4:10 (HCSB) says: “The strength of the laborer fails, since there is so much rubble.”
Do you have rubbish in your home (not just literal trash, but sin and hindrances that grieve the Holy Spirit) that are piling up? Stop. Don’t continue living this way any longer. It’s impossible to build with trash all around you.
Ask God to help you deal with the trash. Talk to your family about it and encourage everyone in the family to get involved in the clean up!
Throw out anything and everything that hinders your great building program.
Hebrews 12:1 (NLT) applies to us individually and as families: “Let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.”
Blessings to you today from Nancy Campbell
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 is 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 few 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 give them over to you and throw them into great confusion until they are destroyed. He will hand their kings over to you . . .
Your part: “and you will wipe out their names under heaven. . . . you will annihilate them” (Deuteronomy 7:23, 24 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).
Deuteronomy 33:27: “He shall thrust out the enemy from before thee . . .
Your part:” and shall say, Destroy them” (Deuteronomy 33:27).
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
Mother, you are a life-giver to the world.
How blessed we are as mothers to have the privilege of bringing life into the world, not only life for this earth, but for the eternal realm.
We were created to be life-givers. Eve, who was the prototype of all women, was given the name of “chavah” meaning “life-giver.” To cooperate with God to bring life into this world, an eternal soul who will live forever, is a privilege beyond any other.
Life-giving is our glory. We teach our children the wonder of life. We teach them the preciousness and value of life from conception to the grave. We teach them how to enjoy life.
We speak life-giving words to our husbands, children, and everyone we meet.
We prepare our families life-giving foods. We eliminate all dead foods and junk foods because we are life-giving mothers.
We delight in life because “Christ who is our life” dwells in us (Colossians 3:4).
Wow! What an amazing mandate we have as life-givers!
Embrace who you are as a life-giver.
Love from Nancy Campbell
Are you an encourager or a nagger? #encourageyourhusband #loveyourhusband #buildyourmarriage #aboverubies
Nehemiah faced persecution on every hand. His adversaries tried every way to stop him from building up the gates and wall of Jerusalem that were broken down. You are also in a building program and the adversary, the devil, does not want you to succeed in building either. He wants your marriage and family weakened.
What did Nehemiah do? Nehemiah 6:9 he says: “They all made us afraid, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it be not done. Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands.” Instead of caving into their plots against him, he cried out to God for strength to continue.
The Knox translation says: “I pressed on the harder.” The more his enemies came against him, the more he determined to finish the task.
Moffat’s translation says:, “I applied myself with greater energy.”
Don’t give up on your marriage. Don’t give up on motherhood. Don’t give up, even when everything looks hopeless. Press in harder. God will never forsake you. The battle may be hard, but He is with you in the battle.
Be blessed today,
Nancy Campbell
For how long will God love you? Until the very end (Jeremiah 31:3 and John 31:1).
For how long will He guide you? Continually . . . until the very end (Isaiah 58:11 and Psalm 48:14).
For how long will He carry you? Until your hair is white with age (Isaiah 46:3, 4).
For how long will He be with you? Until the end of time; He will never abandon you for one day (Mathew 28:20 and Hebrews 13:5).
For how long will His goodness and mercy follow you? All the days of your life (Psalm 23:6; 52:1; 105:5 and 136:1-26).
So why are you filled with worry?
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
How does your husband think of you? Sour like lemon juice or sweet like honey? What about your children?
Don’t you think we should be like honey in our homes? That’s a big challenge, isn’t it?
I have always been challenged by a little passage in the Song of Solomon. This book is a picture of the relationship of a husband and wife. In the Song of Songs 4:10, 11 (NET), the husband says: “ How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much better is your love than wine . . . Your lips drip sweetness like the honeycomb, my bride, honey and milk are under your tongue.” Oh wow. Can our husbands say thse words about us?
What kind of words do we drip from our mouths? Complaints, arguments, resistance, or even bitterness? Or do we drip words of sweetness and love?
If we are not doing this, we can cultivate it. We can make a deliberate effort to speak sweetly. We’ll keep failing, but we don’t give up. We seek to make it a habit of our lives. As you know, you have to work on things. You may not feel like doing a certain thing, but you do it because you know it is the most powerful thing to do.
Think of yourself as a honeycomb in the midst of your home, dripping words of sweetness to your husband and to your children.
Proverbs 16:24 says: “Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul; and health to the bones.” The word pleasant in the Hebrew means to speak “agreeable words, delightful words, and beautiful words.” We’ve got a long way to go, haven’t we? But just imagine what would happen to the atmosphere of our homes when we speak agreeable, delightful, and beautiful words to our children and husbands. These words will change the atmosphere of our homes. The behavior of our children. And our own character!
Let’s be dripping honeycombs today.
Love from Nancy Campbell
An Above rubies reader, Cathrine Rose from Canada, found this drawing of her seven-year-old describing how many children she would like to have! Children love to have another sibling, don’t they? We buy them materials gifts and they break or are lost shortly after. But when they get a new sister or brother, they have a friend for life.
~ Nancy
Do you sometimes feel disheartened, weary, and unappreciated? Be encouraged. The word for good in this scripture is “kalos” and It means “beautiful, lovely, valuable, virtuous.” It is the same word that is used in Titus 2:3-5 about the good works we as wives and mothers do in the home. The world may look upon them as insignificant but God says they are BEAUTIFUL. Yes, they are beautiful in His sight. Even when you are discouraged, hang in there. Keep on plodding on. DON’T GIVE UP. Your reward is coming. #donotgiveup #beautifulworks #goodworks #mothering #powerofmotherhood #joyfulmotherhood #joyfulmothering #yourrewardiscoming #aboverubies #nancycampbell
Have you ever felt offended when trying to help someone and they don’t want your help? Perhaps you feel discouraged because you ask people to your home and they don’t want to come. Or you feel worthless and unappreciated as you mother in your home. It is easy to get these negative feelings. But God always has a word for us.
Galatians 6:7 states: ‘”Let us not be weary I well doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not.”
In other words, no matter how you feel, don’t give up! Most translations of this Scripture say these very words: DON’T GIVE UP!
I was encouraged as I checked the words “well doing.” The word well is “kalos.” Did you know that this word describes our life as a wife and mother in the home? Titus 2:3-5 tells the older women to be teachers of “good” things and the word is “kalos.” Sometimes we think that what we are doing I the home is mundane and useless. But God says it is BEAUTIFUL, lovely, valuable, and virtuous! It may seem insignificance to the world’s eyes, but it is BEAUTIFUL to God’s eyes.
The word doing is “poieo” and means “to make, to do, bring forth, execute.” A fuller meaning is” to bring forth something which when produced has an independent existence of its own.” I think this is so true of motherhood. The years of loving, nurturing, and training our children are not wasted. They add up to fruitfulness. They bring forth a strong family that stabilizes and strengthens the nation.
Our mothering today establishes godly families for the future that take on a life of their very one!
So on these days of feeling like a failure, feeling hopeless, or plain unappreciated, keep on with your beautiful works. There is coming a day when you will reap your reward.
The New Living Translations says: “So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing IF WE DON’T GIVE UP!
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
Painting by Tasha Tudor
Motherhood is beautiful, wonderful, and vital to the health of families, children, and the future of a stable and flourishing nation. No amount of cold, hard, plastic toys will replace the warm, human touch of a mother. No amount of staring into a screen will replace the loving gaze of a mother’s eyes. No amount of material things will replace the art of “being there.” Our children, communities, and nations are starving for the presence of the maternal, nurturing heart.
~ Darrow MIller
Mom and baby, oil painting on canvas, 30 x 60 cm, love - buy in online store at the Fair of Masters with delivery - H98RJRU | St. Petersburg.
Do you want to be strong in character? Do you want your children to have strong character? How do we get it? Romans 5:3-5 (NLT) says: “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.”
It all starts with sufferings and afflictions. They help us to have patient endurance and this leads to strong character. Therefore, we should not despise our trials, but learn to endure them. Not with complaining and bitterness, but with rejoicing as Paul states. As we do this, we grow stronger in faith, stronger in our knowledge of God, and stronger in character.
Strong character is not being dominant and lording it over everyone else. Strong character comes through patiently trusting God in our trials. We don’t cave into self-pity but know endure with joy, knowing that God is bringing us through in His way and in His time.
We must teach our children this truth too. Because we love our children, we hope they won’t have to go through any trials. We protect them from suffering. And yet they also learn to become strong through enduring their little trials.
The word in the Greek is “dokime” and means “the act of proving oneself true, proof of genuineness, trustworthiness.” In other words, the way we go through our trials proves our character . Most translations use the word “proven.”
Paul wrote to the believers in Corinth “that I may know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things.” He wrote about Timothy in Philippians 2:22 that they had observed the proof of Timothy’s lifestyle.
May God help us to have “proven” character and may He help us to raise children with “proven” character. Amen.
Blessings to you today,
Nancy Campbell
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 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 the whole story in Luke 17:11-19.
I wonder how often Jesus still asks this question today? “Where are the nine? This story has always challenged me. I certainly don’t want to belong to the nine tenths company.
It’s important to regularly check that we belong to the right company. Do we belong to this company who are constantly grateful and thankful for all God’s goodness to us? Not just the big things, but even the little things? Or do we belong to the nine tenths company who take all the blessings and forget to thank Him?
Let’s cultivate being thankful—thankful for the provision of a home, for our husbands, for the children God has given us, and for all the little things that happen all around us every moment of the day if we look for them.
I love to make it my habit to thank my Savior, Jesus Christ, every day, for His great salvation and for the sacrifice He made to leave the glory of eternity to come to this world to die for me. How can I ever thank Him enough? I don’t want to miss one day.
Let’s also cultivate this habit in our children too. Encourage a lifestyle of thankfulness. Never forgetting to say “Yes, thank you” and “No, thank you.” Do they thank you for cooking your meal each night? That’s a good habit for them too, especially as sons grow up to be husbands. My husband reminds everyone each evening to thank me for preparing the meal.
Are you teaching them to be grateful when you, or their siblings, or anyone else does some little thing for them and to immediately respond with thanks?
I wonder how many times you say Thank You throughout the day. Is your home filled with each one thanking one another?
Love from Nancy Campbell