Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs

Awaking, they began to top up the oil in their lamps to go out to meet the bridegroom. However, the five foolish exclaimed: “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” Did you notice, they didn’t say, “Our lamps have gone out”? No, they still had some light, but it was fading. They had got used to their dim light, but that dim light was not enough to meet the bridegroom. Because they were not diligent, they missed out on the wedding feast. Read the whole story in Matthew 25.

It’s so easy for our light to go out if we don’t keep refueling. We have to constantly and daily replenish the light in our soul with the oil of the Holy Spirit. We have to abide in Christ. We have to feed on the Word daily. Unless we feed and refuel, our light fades.

Dear mothers, we have the responsibility to not only keep the light of God burning in our hearts, but also burning in our homes. That’s why the Jewish mother lights the candles on the eve of Shabbat because it is her responsibility to keep the light of God burning in the home. To do this, we have to keep our own light constantly topped up with the infilling of the Holy Spirit. We have to fill our own and our children’s hearts with God’s Word which is a lamp to our feet and a light to our paths (Psalm 119:105).

Don’t let the light of Jesus grow dim in your home.

Be blessed,

Nancy Campbell

I’d look like a fairy princess,
Like the one in my storybook.
And I’d be happy, oh so happy,
Beaming each step I took.

Down the aisle, toward my Love,
All I’d see was his face.
He would take my hand in his,
And then my heart would race.

I’d promise him my whole heart,
My love, my strength, my life,
Because I’d wish for nothing more
Than just to be his wife.

These are the dreams of childhood,
Written on every girl’s heart.
We want to be beautiful, loved, and cherished,
We want to play our part.

But as I grew, I began to lose
The hope of the dream come true.
No longer did I feel beautiful,
And the pain inside me grew.

I believed the lies they told me:
“Beauty is soft, shiny hair,
And tall, slim bodies, flawless skin,
And in the clothes you wear.”

The lies―they kept on coming,
Harder and stronger each year.
“You’ll never be fulfilled,” they said
"If you don’t have a career."

But then one day I heard a Voice
Call my name, soft and clear.
It was the voice of my loving God
Whispering in my ear.

He said, “My beloved, lovely daughter,
You are beautiful to Me.
My love for you does not depend
On anything man can see.”

And then I knew that it was true.
I am lovely in His eyes.
His beloved, spotless bride,
His most precious, valued prize.

Oh the joy of being loved,
Not for what you do,
Or how you look, or what you say,
But just for being you.
~ Eliza Haley

Eliza was one of my incredible Above Rubies helpers. Although she is now back home, she continues to create beautiful Above Rubies picture posts which I send out to you. She wrote this beautiful poem to go with this picture. I know you'll want to share it with your daughters.
~ Nancy

ONE DOESN’T NEED GOD

Last year Moderator Frank Lutz asked Donald Trump, “Have you ever asked God for forgiveness?”

“No” he answered. He also stated, “I don’t like to have to ask for forgiveness.”

In a recent interview with CNN Donald Trump says that after months reflection he still doesn't regret his decision not to ask God for forgiveness for his sins . . . partially because he says he doesn't have much to apologize for.

I think I would feel safer in a country with a president who relies on God than one who doesn’t need God, don’t you?

~ Nancy Campbell

The place of the home-life among the influences which mold and shape character is supreme in its importance. Our children are given to us in tender infancy to teach them and train them for holy, worthy, beautiful living.

It is not enough to have an opulent house to live in! It is not enough to have fine foods, and luxurious furniture, and expensive entertainments! Most of the world's worthiest men and women, those who have blessed the world the most, were brought up in plain homes, without any luxury!

It is the tone of the home-life, that is important. We should make it pure, elevating, refining, inspiring. The books we bring in, the papers, and magazines, the guests we have at our tables and admit to our firesides, the home conversation, the pictures we hang on our walls—all these are educational. As in everything, LOVE is the great master-secret of home happiness.

The religious influences are also vitally important. In that first “garden home,” the Lord came and went as a familiar friend. Christ must be our guest if our home is to be a fit place either for our children or for ourselves. If there is no sincere prayer in it, it is not a true home at all—it is only a heathen lodging-place!

How can we make “new Edens” of our homes? What are some of the secrets of home happiness? I might gather them all into one word and say—CHRIST! If we have Christ as our guest our home will be happy! He must be welcomed into all our life. He must be in each heart. He must sit at our tables and mingle with us in all our family interaction. Christ can bless our home, only through the lives of those who make the home circle.

Make your home so sweet, so heavenly, with love and prayer and song and holy living, that all through it, there shall be the fragrance of the heart of Christ!

How do we keep them sharp? The margin of my Bible explains “reason of use” to be a habit. Another translation says it is by “constant use.” We constantly use our senses to discern what is good and what is evil. We are not conditioned by a humanistic society, but daily sharpen our minds in God’s Word. That’s the only place to receive discernment. If we don’t know what God says about a subject, we won’t know God’s discernment about it.

We have a responsibility to train our children to have sharp spiritual senses in this deceived world. That means we must put God’s Word into them daily so that it is the habit of their lives to constantly discern what is righteous and what is evil. Many times evil can have a “nice look” and it takes godly discernment to know the truth (Leviticus 10:10; Jeremiah 15:19; Ezekiel 22:26; 44:23-24).

Many so-called Christian young people today are conditioned by their education to accept same-sex marriage, excuses for abortion, and the whole liberal agenda. Their spiritual senses have been totally dumbed down because, instead of being filled with God’s Word, they are programmed with feminism and socialism.

What about all the Christians who are enamored with Donald Trump? He has many good things to say, but do we have discernment? There is more to fixing our nation than the economy. How can godly people vote for a man who does not walk with God and who has built an empire building casinos and all the evil that goes with them? That includes the first American casino to have a strip club and all-male revue club for women. And who boasts of sleeping with many women. The Bible says that “Godliness makes a nation great, but sin is a disgrace to any people” (Proverbs 14:34 NLT).

It’s time for God’s people to have their “senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

Why? Because they are preparing their children for life--to one day be the best employee in the company, to have good attitudes, to be a vessel ready to be used by God, and also to enjoy a happy and successful marriage If we allow our children to grow up with negative habits, those habits can destroy their marriage.

Dear wife and mother, in the same way God diligently works in our lives. His wants to conform us into the image of His Son (Romans 8:29). This certainly doesn’t happen without some serious working of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Paul said to the Corinthians: “Our one prayer is for the complete correction of your lives” (2 Corinthians 13:9 Barclay). The KJV uses “perfection” for the word “correction.” I checked my Lexicon and it says the word “denotes a process in the progress.” This can only happen through correction of what is wrong in our lives.

We must always be open to God’s gentle correction. He uses many ways to do this. He speaks to us as we read His Word and shows us what grieves the Holy Spirit in our lives (Ephesians 4:27, 30). He uses other people to correct us (sometimes our husband). We don’t usually like it, do we? But we must remember that it is ultimately God who wants to correct us and conform us into His image.

If we don’t listen to God speaking to us through His word, or we don’t have a soft heart to receive correction from our husband or other people, He often has to resort to allow difficulties and trials to come into our lives to wake us up and to refine us and bring us into line with His will.

Let’s keep soft hearts, always open to correction. If our children are stubborn and do not receive our correction, they become willful and rebellious. It’s just the same with us. We either have soft and tender hearts to God’s correction in our lives or we become stubborn and rebellious.

The Amplified version ;says: ”And this we also pray for: your all-round strengthening and perfecting of the soul.” I want this, don’t you? It only comes through CORRECTION.

Love from Nancy Campbell

Have a beautiful day,

Nancy Campbell

This is my life. This is my vision. Please enable me, Oh God, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.”

~ Nancy Campbell

Homosexuals have freedom to stand up for their lifestyle and yet Christians face unbelievable fines, court costs, and maybe prison if they refuse to give business to a homosexual. Where is the tolerance in this?

I believe in free speech. I believe in a free country. The alternatives can say what they like, but Bible believers should also be prepared to speak truth with freedom.

The Bible is not allowed in schools, but we now have state-mandated standards on middle school social studies implemented during 2014-2015. Parents complained in my state of Tennessee of their children having to recite out loud, and do projects on the Shahada, or Five Pillars of Faith in Islam. They also had to write: "Allah is the only God." Reports are also coming from parents in many states saying their children are being asked to learn the Five Pillars. Are they asked to learn Bible Scriptures?

Let’s play fair! And most of all, let’s not be deceived. And even more, let’s make sure our children are not deceived, brainwashed, propagandized, and programmed by leftist ideology. What are you doing to prepare your children against this militant agenda?

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

Shadow continued to feed her babies for many months until they were as big as her, sleek and fat. And now she has had kittens again! Is she upset? No. Once again she contentedly and intently mothers four new kittens. We put her outside to go to the bathroom (although an outside cat, it’s winter time and we allow her in while she nurses her kittens) and she is back as quickly as possible to be with her kittens, letting them nurse as often and as much as they want.

The Bible also questions those who do not embrace their instinctive maternalness:
Lamentations 4:3: “Even the sea monsters draw out the breast, they give su.ck to their young ones: the daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.”

Job 39:13-16: “The ostrich . . . which leaveth her eggs in the earth, and warmeth them in dust, and forgetteth that the foot may crush them, or that the wild beast may break them. She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers: her labor is vain without fear; because God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her understanding.”

Isaiah 49:15: “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb?”

Surely we who are made in the image of God should embrace the inherent maternalness God has put within us.

Blessings to you today,

Nancy Campbell

P.S. A picture of Shadow with her first set of kittens. They are now bigger and can be outside.

It takes all of your energy being a mother and wife,
Requiring daily commitment and a disciplined life,
It demands all your resources of patience and love,
Long-suffering and wisdom from the Father above.

It takes self-control and continual endurance,
It needs constant faith and great perseverance,
It means total sacrifice, forgetting your self,
Sometimes you think that you’re left on the shelf!

And what about time? It’s no longer yours,
It belongs to all those who come in your doors.
Claim your own rights? No, they're all gone too,
Like your right to sleep the whole night through!

It's not so easy to crawl into bed with a book
Or go off and dream in some quiet little nook.
It seems like you're totally losing your life
To be a good mother and a submissive wife.

But oh, faithful mother, please do not despair,
In God's perfect plan you do have a share,
To fulfil your destiny planned from creation
Which is to nurture children and BUILD A NATION!

You’re walking in the footsteps of Jesus your Lord
Who sacrificed all, His life He out-poured,
He didn't cling to His rights with selfish futility
He didn’t claim any privilege but walked in humility.

He gave up His life to save millions of others,
This principle works in the lives of all mothers,
When you lose your own life you'll find it again,
A rewarding life, without guilt or shame.

So lift up your head, embrace your calling so high,
You're in God's perfect will, there’s no reason to sigh!
You may often feel worthless - don't listen to this lie,
Your influence goes higher than the clouds in the sky!

As you nurture and train your God-given seed,
As you sharpen these 'arrows' by word and by deed,
You shape the nation - you determine its course,
Your mothering’s not wasted, it’s a great mighty force!

As your children leave home and go into the world
The proof of your training will soon be unfurled
You’ll influence countries where you've never been,
And down the generations its effect will be seen.

Your work is so powerful, no wonder it's tough,
But God is behind you, He's the GOD WHO IS ENOUGH,
His strength and His wisdom He will give to you,
He stands by His promises which are totally true.

He'll always be with you right through to the end
As you follow His leading and deny the world's trend,
Each morning you wake, your strength He'll renew.
He'll fill your home with His presence and His blessed peace too.

Love from Nancy Campbell

How can you bless someone back when you feel hurt and mad at them? Only by God’s grace. Only by the power of Christ’s love and forgiveness that is in you because Christ lives in you. God’s ways are opposite to the way we feel, but they always work.

Can I encourage you to try it? Is you husband cold and indifferent to you? He says things that hurt you? Think of ways to bless him. Take time to think of words blessing to say to him. Speak kind, sweet, and loving words to him, even in the face of his indifference. You don’t feel like doing this, but let me tell you, you will be amazed at the miracles that will take place when you do it God’s way.

Proverbs 12: 25 (TLB) says: “A word of encouragement does wonders.”

Love from Nancy Campbell

He created you for His joy and pleasure
And has chosen you as a special treasure,
He has graven your name on His very own palm,
He’ll come to your aid with His mighty right arm.

He is your Source, He will fill your cup,
When you are down, He will lift you up.
You don’t have to stay sad, for He is your Joy,
He’ll help you conquer those things that annoy.

God has given you children, which are your glory
To enrich your life and help write your story.
You’re in God’s perfect will, this is your calling,
He’ll help you each day and keep you from falling.

You can’t do it alone, your strength is weak,
Trust in the Lord and things won’t seem so bleak.
Look to the Lord, not the problems you face,
And you’ll be amazed how He’ll give you His grace.

A joyful mother is what He wants you to be,
Filling your home with gladness and glee.
Counting your blessings and praising the Lord
For His daily mercies and love out-poured.

“The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart”
(Psalm 34:18).

“Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5).

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL

David confessed in Psalm 37:25: “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his children begging bread.” It all comes down to which God you worship; either a god of your own imagination or the God of the Bible who is totally faithful and totally able to provide and will never let you down.

Check out the following article that is filled with God’s promises to you as parents:
http://tinyurl.com/CanGodProvideforBaby

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

We don’t have to chop the kindling and then bring in the wood to light the fire (although that’s what we do each day); we just expect our heating system to keep us warm. We don’t have to boil the copper, scrub our clothes on the old scrubbing board, and then hang them out on the line; we just press a button on the washing machine and then the drier.

Many mothers simply cannot wait until their baby is born to find out if it will be a boy or girl. I’m not saying it’s wrong; just that we don’t have patience! Most children today have never experienced the longing and anticipation of waiting for something for months and months or even a year or more. And so we have lost the art of patience. I think it’s time we learned it, don’t you?

We forget that God lives in eternity. He is not in a hurry. He is not ruled by time, nor does He succumb to the timetables of our frenzied lives. But He always comes in the perfect time. He is Alpha and Omega.

The word Greek word “patience” in the above Scripture means longanimity. Have you have heard of that word before? It’s really another word for longsuffering and forbearance. It means that we often have to wait a LONG TIME, even though we are filled with faith, to receive the fulfillment and promise.

Take heart, dear ones. God has not forgotten you. He has you in the palm of His hand. He will deliver you in His perfect time. He will bring the answer at the right time. And as you wait, trusting in Him, He will fill you with joy and peace.

And remember, it’s not a patience of resignation. “Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to stick it out and wait.” No, it’s a patience of anticipation, always believing that God will come at the very perfect time.

Blessings to you today,

Nancy Campbell

Proverbs 18:10 says: “The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.”

Rejoice in the name of the Lord. Your circumstances may not change but your attitude will. Instead of turmoil you’ll have peace. And the atmosphere of your home will change.

Psalm 71:8: “Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thy honor ALL THE DAY.”

Be blessed.

Nancy Campbell

Did you know that women in their childbearing years are meant to be predominantly "suckling mothers" rather than "menstruating mothers"? This is far kinder to their female body and how God intended it to function.

Malcolm Gladwell quotes Drs. Coutinho and Segal when citing an anthropological work by scientist, Beverly Strassman in Mali, Africa: "Incessant ovulation serves no purpose except to increase the occurrence of abdominal pain, mood shifts, migraines, endometriosis, fibroids, and anemia." And again, "Ovarian and endometrial cancer are characteristically modern diseases, consequences, in part, of a century in which women have come to menstruate 400 times in a lifetime."

Romans 9:20: “Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell