“Each child will in the process of time be a defense, support and propagation of the eternal reproduction of man and fulfillment of the plan of God for man. The more arrows one has, the more enemies he will slay, the more powerful will he be in the earth. The more children born and saved to help God administer the affairs of the eternal plan for man, the more reward God will have.”
Dake’s comments on Psalm 127:3-5 from the Dakes’s Annotated Reference Bible.
Some time ago I asked our readers to share the little things they do to show their husbands they love them. The following are the replies I received. Each one of us are different personalities and therefore we show our love in different ways. You may not do everything written in this list, but take time to read it through. Add some extras to the list of what you already do. Never be content with a boring marriage. Always be thinking of new and exciting ways to love your husband. Surprise him with something you’ve never done before. And do it today.
If I love my husband I will...
Love to serve him.
Love to cook his meals.
Love to have a wholesome meal prepared for him when he arrives home in the evening.
Love to make and serve him breakfast.
Love to make his lunch to take to work.
Love him to come home to a clean and fresh smelling house.
Love to keep an orderly home for him.
Love to make sure he always has clean laundry.
Love to make him coffee.
Love to encourage him and affirm him.
Love to purchase special goodies for him that he loves.
Love to buy him his favorite dark chocolate.
Love to do extra nice things for him.
Love to smile at him.
Love to ravish him and satisfy him sexually.
Love to follow him even though I may not agree with him.
Love to praise him instead of criticize him.
Love to wake up and cuddle with him.
Love to greet him passionately when he comes home from work.
Love to run a bath for him.
Love to encourage and compliment him with my words.
Love to make him smile and laugh.
Love to tell him that he is the best.
Love to text him during the day to remind him how much I love and appreciate him.
Love to speak well of him to my friends and to praise him in front of others.
Love to be his BEST and closest friend.
Love to be his only confidante.
Love to pray with him.
Love to respect him and his decisions.
Love to pay attention to him when he talks to me.
Love to look at him adoringly.
Love to help the children do special things for him.
Love to give him massages.
Love to softly tickle him.
Love to rub his back, shoulders, legs, and feet.
Love to be with him while he works.
Love to do what he asks me with a smile and cheerful attitude.
Love to listen to his dreams and ideas and support them.
Love to raise the children in the way that pleases him.
Love to take an interest in his passions.
Love to do everything I can to keep him healthy.
Love to kiss him when he comes near me during the day.
Love to blow him kisses.
Love to give him surprises.
Love to appreciate him for working hard so I can stay home with our children.
Love to hold hands with him at every opportunity.
Love to admire and adore him.
Love to be faithful to him until death or we meet the Lord face to face.
Love from Nancy Campbell
Did you know that your home is meant to be a treasure house, filled with the good things of God? Proverbs 15:6 says: “In the house of the righteous is MUCH treasure.” The word “treasure” in this Scripture also means “riches, strength.”
God wants our homes filled with all the riches that are in Christ Jesus--His wisdom, knowledge, , mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering, forbearance, forgiveness, love, righteousness, peace, and joy in theHoly Ghost (Romans 14:17; Colossians 2:2, 3; 3:12-17; and James 3:17, 18). What amazing treasures. These are the riches that fill our homes with strength!
But we know that Satan is the robber. He comes to steal, kill, and destroy and he wants to rob you and your home of all these beautiful treasures. In 2 Chronicles 12:9 we read how the king of Egypt came against Jerusalem and “took away ALL the treasures of the house of the Lord; he took all.” This included the shields which were all made of gold.
What did king Rehoboam of Jerusalem do? He made brass shields. Instead of gold, he now had brass! Dear wives and mothers, be on the alert against the robber of your home. Sometimes we can be so apathetic that we don’t even notice we are being robbed. The treasures of love, kindness, peace and joy creep out the door and we settle for the inferior. We get used to the status quo of how we are living.
We can become so deceived that we are satisfied with counterfeits. We put up with the brass instead of the gold. Instead of pursuing a loving, serving, and intimate relationship with our husband, we settle for “just living together.” Instead of seeking forgiveness and peace, we settle for arguments, bickerings, and moods amongst family members. Instead of embracing and nurturing our children in our home, we take the enemy’s counterfeit of daycares. And so it goes on.
Let’s go for the treasures of gold, not the counterfeit of brass.
Don’t settle for the status quo.
Nancy Campbell.
The other night, my two Above Rubies helpers, Eliza and Stephanie, came home through the woods from Evangeline’s place when it was dark. They had flashlights with them but still lost their way (even though it is only a few minutes from our home). As they had newly arrived to our place, they realized they should have become more familiar with the path during the day time. They certainly know their way now.
We also get into dark times in our lives and we need the light of God to shine on our way. Sometimes we can have a little bit of light, but it’s not enough to show us the way out. We need to become familiar with God’s Word in the “day time,” when things are going fine. In fact, it should be the habit of our lives to get God’s Word into our hearts and into the hearts of our children every day. As we fill up with the Word, which is God’s light and guide to show us the way, we’ll be able to see our way through the dark times.
Get ready now. Get your family ready now. Seek after God’s ways and His truths now and you will have light to go through the hard times and the dark times when they come.
Isaiah 50:10 (ESV): “Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of his servant? Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God.”
God bless you today, Nancy Campbell
“During my second month of nursing school, our professor gave us a pop quiz. I was a conscientious student and had breezed through the questions, until I read the last one: "What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?" Surely this was some kind of joke. I had seen the cleaning woman
several times. She was tall, dark-haired and in her 50s, but how would I know her name? I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank.
Before class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our quiz grade. "Absolutely," said the professor."In your careers you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say 'hello'."
I've never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her name was Dorothy.”
~ Unknown
“Dear Father, please help me to remember to say a kind word to those who clean public places and toilets. They need to be encouraged in their work. Amen.”
~ Nancy
We are the only creatures who have the privilege of bearing the image of God (Genesis 1:27). In so many aspects of our parenting we show what God is like. Some of them we take for granted, but if only we realized that we were being like God Himself, we would embrace them more eagerly.
As we nurture our babies and children we unveil to the world His nurturing and mothering heart toward us. God is a feeder and loves to feed His people, both physically and spiritually. In the same way it is inherently within us to feed. We want to nurse our baby. We love to feed our children healthy food. We love to feed visitors and people who come to our home. If we don't, it is because we have been conditioned in a wrong direction.
God is our Keeper. "Behold, he that keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep" (Psalm 121:4, 5). We are also keepers of our home and children. The word is "shamar" and means "to hedge about, protect, guard." The instructions God gave for the first home were to work hard in it and to guard it (Genesis 2:15). It is a beautiful thing to be a keeper, guarding and protecting our marriage, home, and children. But above all, we reveal what God is like to our children and the world.
We constantly have to exercise justice to teach our children the way to live and to keep a sane and safe home. Once again we are showing who God is to our children, a God of true justice and mercy. Oh to be more like Him. We often find it difficult to know when to show mercy and when to show justice. But God is always just and His justice is perfect. God is always merciful and His mercy is perfect. The more we allow Him to teach us the more we will parent the way He wants us to (Genesis 18:18, 29).
God bless you today,
Nancy Campbell
In Psalm 133 it talks about the anointing oil running down from the head of the high priest to the skirts of his garments. The anointing oil was poured upon Christ (the anointed One) who is the head, but it is not stay only on Him. He wants it to run down His body, His body that is upon earth. He wants it to flow down upon you, even to the bottom of your skirts.
The main description of the anointing is that it is HOLY and never to touch the flesh. It was also made of SWEET spics (Exodus 30:22-33). It was an oil of JOY (Hebrews 1:9). It was a HEALING and RESTORING anointing (Acts 10:38). It was a DELIVERING anointing (Isaiah 61:1).
It's this anointing God wants to flow down from you, right to where you meet life, right in your kitchen, dealing with your little ones and all the challenges of your day as a mother. I remember how my little ones used to love to hang on to my skirts. Where I walked, they walked. They played in my skirts. They hid in my skirts, especially when a stranger came.
The skirts speak of the getting down to the nitty-gritty. To the lowest. The menial day to day tasks of life. Dear mother, please don't seek to accomplish these in your own strength, but let God's anointing flow down to where you are at this moment! Whatever is happening now! Ask God to pour down His anointing to the bottom of your skirts. There is where He wants to come--to the very reality of your life (Psalm 113:4-8).
God bless you in your home today,
Nancy Campbell
Where should we fight our battles? Preferably at the gate--before they come into the home! This is why we are gatekeepers. When the enemy comes to our gates, we contend with him there. We resist him and send him bouncing.
Isaiah 28:6 (ESV) says that the LORD of hosts gives "strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate." Dear mothers, seek to turn back your battles at the gate. Don't let them come into your home!
I love Proverbs 14:19 which says: "The evil bow before the good; and the wicked at the gates of the righteous." Let's keep up the standard of righteousness in our own lives and in our homes. This Scripture tells us that when evil seeks to enter our homes, it comes to a screeching halt at the gates of the righteous! Evil and deception cannot get any further than the gates, because we are guarding and holing up the standard of righteousness! The Amplified Version says "at the gates of the UNCOMPROMISINGLY righteous."
We read the same theme in Psalm 127 were God describes the blessed family who raises a quiver full of arrows and trains them to contend and speak with their enemies in the gates. Not only do we push back the enemy at the gates, but we train our children to do the same!
Be encouraged today.
Nancy Campbell
King David appointed 4,000 gatekeepers to watch over the treasures and entrances to the temple, each doing their duty in their courses. I was amazed to notice when reading 1 Chronicles 26 about the caliber of these men. They weren't wimps. Here's some of the descriptions in verses 6-8.
"mighty men of valor"
"strong men"
"able men for strength for the service"
Each one of these descriptions uses the Hebrew word "chayil" which is the same word that was used to describe David's brave soldiers who were also mighty men of valor. Chayil is used in the context of an army going out to battle and means strong, courageous, and valiant. Doorkeepers also had to be strong. They had to examine every person that came into the temple and be able to resist anyone who tried to come in by force. They couldn't be weaklings. They had to have the power of a "bouncer" if the need arose (if we could use that word in a positive way).
I remember when we were pioneering a church on the Gold Coast of Australia, a place of many nightclubs. Our church was opposite the casino. One of the first converts who came into our church was a bouncer. He was a big black guy and one punch from him and the recipient would be knocked out flat! He didn't know any other work apart from being a "bouncer" and would come to us every night before he went to work and ask us to pray for him! I trust he did his job with a little more restraint! The wonderful thing is that God worked in this man and today, thirty years down the track, he is still preaching the gospel.
However, dear ladies, did you know that this same Hebrew word, "chayil" is also used about us women? It is the same word that is used in Proverbs 31:10: "Who can find a virtuous (chayil) woman: for her price is far above rubies." To be a mother and homemaker we also need to be strong and courageous--especially strong in truth, strong in our convictions, and strong to resist the enemy.
As gatekeepers of our home, we must daily put on the armor of God and "bounce" out of our home all deception, evil, and anything that rises up "against the knowledge of God" (2 Corinthians 5:10). We guard carefully over our gates and examine everyone and everything that could defile our home. Our home is a holy temple and we have the responsibility to keep it holy.
You cannot do it in your own strength, but call upon God. Use the power of the name of Jesus as you resist the enemy. Don't be a weakling, but stand strong against all insidious plans of the enemy to defile and destroy your home.
Blessings to you today,
Nancy Campbell
Isn't it amazing to think that Jesus chose His own mother? He was the Creator of His mother. The angel who came to her called Mary "highly favored" and three times she is referred to as "blessed art thou among women" (Luke 1:28, 42, and 48).
Catholics have canonized Mary, but protestants tend to ignore her. But although she was not divine and not a saint, but human just like us, she must have been very special. Let's face it, Jesus Christ who was God chose her. Some women are just born with a nicer temperament than others (some are more sweeter and others more prickly), but I am sure Marry was one with a beautiful disposition, especially to be THE chosen one. A. W. Tozer writes of Jesus, "Was there anything lovelier than to be the Creator of His own mother, to have made the very body that gave Him protection and bore Him at last into the world?"
There must have been times when she got angry, became frustrated, and gave into the flesh, but I am sure she had a more beautiful nature than I was ever born with. I am sure she was sweet-spirited and filled with compassion, patience, and longsuffering. We know she was humble and that is the most precious attribute God looks for (Luke 1:48 52, Psalm 34:18; 51:17; Isaiah 66:2; and 1 Peter 5:5).
She was a busy mother like us with many children. No, she was not a virgin all her life. She bore the weight of raising an average large family of at least seven children, could have been ten or more (Matthew 1:25 and Mark 6:3).
I cannot say "in exactly the same way" as Mary, but it is a truth that God has also chosen you to be the mother of your children. Our Omniscient God who knows the beginning from the end, who knows not only what you are thinking right now, but what you will be thinking this time next year, and who has known from eternity every child He has given you and will give you CHOSE YOU to be their mother. Yes, even the mother of that "difficult" one.
Because God chose YOU, you are blessed by God. Because God chose YOU, your children are blessed.
Mother your children today with the awesome understanding that you have chosen by God for this greatest of all works. And because you have been chosen, God is backing you all the way. He will never leave you or forsake you.
God bless you, "chosen one."
Nancy Campbell
A GIFT FOR YOU TODAY
After reading my post above, YOU ARE CHOSEN, I am sure you will love to listen to Serene and Pearl sing their song, CHOSEN. I know you will be blessed. For a free listen, go to:http://tinyurl.com/Chosenmp3
It comes from their album, PEACE ALL OVER ME. You can download the whole album by going to:http://tinyurl.com/PeaceAllOverMeMp3
Love from Nancy
The inspirational writer, A. W. Tozer writes: "How can God continually manifest His presence to the proud and the arrogant when He is so humble and low? To the lukewarm and the carless when He is so zealous? To the hard and the vengeful when He is so forgiving? To the harsh and severe when He is so kind? To the calculating when His love led Him to die? When we are so stained, how can we have fellowship with Him?"
And yet He makes a way for us through the death of His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Not only did Jesus die and take our punishment for sin that we deserved, but He comes to dwell in our hearts. As we allow His Holy Spirit to work in our hearts, He changes us into His image and makes us more like Him.
But even though He longs to dwell with us and commune with us, He is grieved when we allow sin in our lives for He cannot fellowship with sin. We must keep short accounts with God (1 John 1:7, 9).
A. W. Tozer writes again: "I think that repentance is called for. We need to repent of unlikeness (to Him); of unholiness in the presence of the holy; of self-indulgence in the presence of the selfless Christ; of harshness in the presence of the kind Christ; of hardness in the presence of the forgiving Christ; of lukewarmness in the presence of the zealous Christ, burning like a fiery flame; of worldliness and earthliness in the presence of the heavenly Christ."
What a difference it makes in our homes and all our relationships as we allow the Holy Spirit to conform us to His image (Romans 8: 29).
May God pour out His blessings upon you in your home today, Nancy Campbell
Worry? Why worry? What can worry do?
It never keeps a trouble from overtaking you,
It gives you indigestion and sleepless hours at night,
And fills with gloom the days, however fair and bright.
It puts a frown upon the face and sharpness to the tone;
We’re unfit to live with others and unfit to live alone.
Worry? Why worry? What can worry do?
It never keeps a trouble from overtaking you.
Pray? Why pray? What can praying do?
Praying really changes things, arranges life anew,
It’s good for your digestion, gives peaceful sleep at night,
And fills the grayest, gloomiest day with rays of glowing light.
It puts a smile upon your face, the love note in your tone;
Makes you fit to live with others and fit to live alone.
Pray? Why pray? It brings God down from heaven
To live and work with you.
~Unknown
Another lady comments on my post, WHAT I WOULD HAVE MISSED which you can read below. "I am torn with allowing God to bless us with children and the call to be good stewards of our money. If we are struggling financially, I've been told it is the responsible thing to take a pill or use condoms or take some measure to make sure we don't have any more children we can't afford. I've been told if we use WIC, we shouldn't have children anymore. I've been told if we run out of money for groceries, allowing God to bless us with more children is irresponsible. So I'm torn. We are financially in dire need."
I wonder who gave this advice to this mother? It certainly does not come from God, or His Word. It is humanistic reasoning. Why do we who are God's people listen to man rather than God? Why do we think man's word is to be obeyed rather than God? I think it is because man uses human logic, whereas God's ways require faith. There is only one way we can please God and that is by faith. Hebrews 11:6 says: "Without faith it is IMPOSSIBLE to please God."
Of course it is true that every husband must be faithful to God's calling upon his life to be the provider of the home. He is to work hard to provide. And he always has a job. For if he currently doesn't have a job, he still has a full-time job of looking for a job. If he does his full time looking for a job, not just waiting for one to fall in his lap, he will soon have one.
However, if a husband is faithful to work, he can then trust God to provide far beyond what he is able to in his own ability and strength. God always provides for His children. Throughout our whole life we have lived beyond our lowly income and God has always miraculously provided. David said, "I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his children begging bread" (Psalm 37:25).
God's Word is filled with promises about providing for children. To check them out, go to this link: http://tinyurl.com/CanGodProvideforBaby
God bless you today,
Nancy Campbell
One of our readers posted a reply to the post below: WHAT I WOULD HAVE MISSED. I would like to make some comments.
"God does give us the wonderful blessing of children. But he also gave us the wonderful blessing of free will. And I think this includes being able to make a decision that you have had enough children . . . When you as a family decide that you want to focus on the children you have, on raising them up right, on listening to your body when it says 'enough,' on listening to your husband when he says 'enough,' I truly believe this is ok."
I will admit that these words sound logical and wise. But dear ladies, this is how the enemy tempts us. He does not tempt you with that which is blatantly evil for he knows you would take no notice. Instead, he tempts us with that which sounds wise and good. This was his first temptation to Eve in the Garden of Eden? How could the enemy tempt someone who personally walked and talked with God each day? He did it by sounding "good," "wise," and "pleasant" (Genesis 3:6). The above words sound so good and pleasant to our ears because they cater to how we feel. What we think is best. What fits in with our lifestyle. What fits our plans. This is humanism.
We don't know what is best for us. Only God who created us knows what is best. It is only right that we listen to Him. Job said, "For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment" (Job 9:32). Who are we to argue with God? He is the Creator, we are the created. He is the Planner; we are the planned. He is the Savior and Deliverer; we are the saved. He is Infinite; we are infinite. Isaiah 29:16 says: "Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed It He had no understanding?"
And where in Scripture do we read that we are to listen to the dictates of the body? God does not speak to us through the dictates of our body, but through His eternal word. There are those who listen to their bodies and commit fornication! Of course I know that our bodies get tired. Motherhood is a powerful and all-engaging career. But anyone who is doing a great job gets tired. That's why God gives us the night to sleep and refresh our bodies (Psalm 127:2).
And dear ladies, God created our bodies for the purpose of childbearing. Childbearing does not wear out your body, it preserves your body. 1 Timothy 2:15 (NASB) says: "Women will be PRESERVED through the bearing of children." For scientific proof, go to: http://tinyurl.com/PreservedThroughMotherhood
This lady also commented: "I think He is far more interested in the quality of your children as opposed to the quantity." I think you could only make this statement if you haven't experienced the joys, plusses, interaction, input, and loaded blessings of a larger family.
Jesus Himself was part of a family of at least seven or maybe ten or more. In Matthew 13:55, 56 it tells about Jesus' five brothers "and his sisters." That means there had to be at least two sisters, but the inference is that there were more. What if there were five? That would have been ten in the family. Do you think that God, the Potentate of the universe, the Creator of all, and the Father of His Beloved Son would allow him to live in a large family if it was not going to allow quality? Of course not. This was normal family size in God's eyes.
We must all ask this question. When does quality stop? Is it after two children? Or perhaps after three? If you were to ask parents of six or more children if their youngest child receives less quality because they are part of a larger family, they would laugh out loud!
Children of smaller families have far less attention than those in larger families. A baby coming into a large family is overloaded with love, cuddles, and constant attention--more than parents could ever give. They receive unbounded love, teaching, and interaction from all different ages, often from eight, nine, or ten people each day. They receive far more stimulation than a first or second child could ever receive.
And this is how God plans family to work. Children learn and receive so much from one another. They also learn that they are not the only one in the family to expect attention, for all are receiving love and attention. They grow up secure, and yet without selfishness and the entitlement mentality of so many today.
Plus, if we should only have so-called "quality" rather than "quantity," does that mean that younger children born into a family are not fit to be born? Well, what about a few examples of hundreds that we could write about?
President George Washington was the 5th of ten children.
President William Harrison was the youngest of seven children.
President Benjamin Harrison was the 5th child of thirteen children.
President Benjamin Franklin was the youngest son of a youngest son for five generations, although he also had two younger sisters, and was actually the 15th of seventeen children.
By the way, seven of our presidents came from families of ten or more children. Did they not have quality in their family life?
Jonathan Edwards was the 11th child of eleven children (he had 10 older sisters doting on him).
Dwight L. Moody was the 6th child of eight children.
Nate Saint, one of the missionaries who was martyred as they sought to bring the Gospel to the Auca Indians was the 7th of eight children.
Composer Johann Sebastian Bach was the youngest child of eight children.
Composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (by the way, his full name is Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart!) was the youngest child of seven children.
King David, the great king of Israel, was the youngest of eight children.
King Solomon, David's son grow up with at least twenty brothers and one sister is mentioned, but there were most probably so many more.
And so we could go on.
Another mother commented: "I thank God for every one of our nine children, 42 grandchildren, and 17 great-grands--many serving GOD FULLTIME ALREADY!" Did we read, "Many of them serving God FULL TIME? But they come from a large family where there is no "quality"! Don't you think we better re-evaluate?
God bless you today, Nancy Campbell
Below you can read a story of how a couple shared the news they were pregnant with all their friends. I know many of you have thought of unique and ingenious ways to tell your husband, your children, and your friends that you are having a baby. I would love to hear these wonderful stories. If you would like to share your story, can you please send it to me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.? Thanks.
Write PREGGIE STORY in the Subject Heading. Make sure your email is at the end of your story. I will share some of them on Facebook, but ultimately I would like to gather some for printing in the next Above Rubies. I can't wait to hear of all the original and exciting ways you thought of to tell the great news.
~ Nancy
By Bridget Welch This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Before I found out we were pregnant, my husband and I had three beautiful children--Alyssa (9), Josiah (7), and Emma (6), and they were all about to have birthdays. We had been wanting another child since our littlest Emma was a baby, but the Lord had other plans.
During these infertile years, God brought a beautiful young mother with three young children to live us for a time while she transitioned out of an abusive relationship. She became integral part of our extended family. We watched her go from a hurting lost young lady to a Jesus-loving, homeschooling mom.
Shortly after we setup our young mom in a house of her own, a precious girl named Katherine came to live with us. She had left home under some very stressful conditions, and God opened doors for her to come live with us. Four years later, she is now a full time member of the Welch family. Even though we did not have a newborn child these last six years, God gave us others to nurture.
As the years went by, I began to cry out even more fervently to the Lord, "Please Lord, Emma will be seven soon. Could You please give us another child?" One night I was at a Above Rubies Bible study group with some of my closest friends and I began to cry. I poured my heart declaring how much I really wanted a little one to hold. We petitioned God for a miracle during that time of fellowship, and a few days later I noticed that I had not had my monthly cycle in a while. I had been late before, so I did not get my hopes up until a friend of mine gave me a unused pregnancy test she had lying around the house. I had taken many tests over the last six years, but I prayed that this test would be a positive one.
I waited until the next morning after my husband had gone to work to take the pregnancy test. After he left for work, I snuck downstairs before the children were awake to take the test. With my eyes firmly shut, I waited a minute for the results to materialize. I slowly opened one eye and peered at the result. It was positive! I fell on my knees and cried out, "Thank you! Thank you, Jesus!" I felt like Hannah who cried out and the Lord heard her cries.
When the children awoke from bed, I immediately told them the exciting news. The children began brainstorming on how we could break the news to Daddy. We stuffed the pregnancy test, a rock, and a bunch of tissue paper in a box we had just received recently in the mail. It still had all the postal markings on it, so it looked very official. I then called my husband and advised him that a surprise package had arrived for him, and he needed to come home at lunch time to open it because it looked important and the children were dying to look inside. Luckily my husband only works about eight minutes away, so he was more than game to come home for lunch.
When my husband, Byron, came in, the children gave him the box and he gave it a shake. Then he cut it open and pulled everything out of the box and finally saw the test. He had a happy look on his face, but not an overly surprised one. My husband has a gift for knowing when women are pregnant, so he probably already knew in the back of his mind. After loving on me for a moment, my husband asked, " So how are we going to break the news to everyone else? "
While he was thinking about how to break the news to our friends, he swore me to secrecy to not tell anyone else until the big reveal. Now I have a big personality and I am a social butterfly. This request of his was very hard to keep, but I did! I was even at a swap meet with a friend who I consider a close sister to me. She noticed I was purchasing baby clothes, and I would like to think I was able to make a generic enough reason that would not have her suspecting anything.
My husband decided to inform all of our friends and loved ones at the upcoming Saturday House fellowship gathering. From the dollar store he purchased 20 pregnancy tests, and a large white poster board which he emblazoned with the title, "TOP SECRET EXPERIMENT.".
He asked me to take 18 pregnancy tests over the period of two days and asked Katherine, our adopted adult daughter to take the two remaining tests. He then pasted all my tests on the poster board in labeled chronological order. He labeled a small portion in the bottom corner of the board, "OTHER TEST SUBJECT" where he pasted Katherine's two negative pregnancy tests.
Saturday came around, and my husband brought out the board and told everyone he had been doing a "Top Secret Experiment" for the last few days. He explained it all to them and explained it in big words so it sounded official. The funny thing was that tests which were purchased from the dollar store were just small little sticks and no one could really make out what they really were. So everyone was squinting trying to see what he had done, because he was being very serious. After a number of perplexed looks at the board, the whole gang clued into what we announcing.
Today Jeremiah is eight months old and he has changed our lives so much! He is truly a blessing from the Lord. God has given us four blood children, one adopted child, and four very close spiritual children, and we love all of them as our own.
~ Bridget * This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Last night we popped over to Serene's to see the baby. What a joy to bask in the delight of this little newborn, although he is now three weeks already. Babies grow too quickly. But there was more than a baby. Around the room were eleven of Serene and Sam's thirteen children, plus two of her grandchildren. As we talked together it came upon us again the power of a baby. If we had decided stop another baby coming into the world at the time of Serene's conception, we would not have had our youngest biological daughter, Serene. But more than that, not one of the amazing people, each with their different personalities would be in this world or sitting in that room.
But more than that. There are still so many more to come from this one baby we gave birth to 38 years ago. As her children grow they will marry and have children and their children will have grandchildren. There are so many more godly children yet to come from this one birth many years ago.
We would be deprived. The world would be deprived. God would be deprived. Eternity would be deprived. We often forget that when we say No to one baby, we actually say No to many more people who God wants to come to earth to bless this world. We say No to a whole dynasty.
And I'm only talking about one of our children. The same applies to all of them. I don't think we truly realize the enormity of our deception about refusing the children God wants us to have. Just think of the godly dynasties that have been lost to this world because even God's people have been educated to limit their family size.
God bless you today, Nancy Campbell
P.S. The picture is of Sam and Serene with their new baby and Haven (3).
Your day is made up of little things, but all those little things add up to big things. When you do all the little, simple, even mundane and boring things with joy, it makes your family life great. Enjoy the poem:
THE SIMPLE THINGS
Oh it's just the little homely things
The unobtrusive, friendly things,
The "won't-you-let-me-help-you" things
That make our pathway light.
And it's just the jolly, joking things,
The "laugh-with-me-it's-funny" things,
The "never-mind-the-trouble" things
That make the world seem bright.
For all the countless, famous things,
The wondrous, record-breaking things,
Those "never-can-be-equaled" things
That all the papers cite
Can match the little human things,
The "just-because-I-like-you" things,
Those "Oh-it's-simply nothing" things
That make us happy quite.
So here's to all the simple things,
The everyday encountered things,
The "smile-and-face-your-troubles" things
"Trust God to put them right,"
The "done-and-then-forgotten" things,
The "can't-you-see-I-love-you" things,
The hearty "I-am-with-you" things
That make life worth the fight.
~ Grace Haines
Psalm 139:14 says: "I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: MARVELOUS ARE THY WORKS; and that my soul knoweth right well."
The word "marvelous" in the Hebrew is "pala" and means "extraordinary, wonderful, miraculous." This is how God describes the way He creates the baby in the womb. Every pregnancy and birth is miraculous. It is extraordinary.
LET'S NEVER LOSE THE WONDER!
~ Nancy
You are an extraordinary "work of the Lord." Each one of your children are an original and only one-of-its-kind "work of the Lord." Even more. God planned you before the foundation of the world. You were in His heart and His mind from the beginning. God is eternal, omnipotent, and omniscient. He knows everything from the beginning to the end. He knows everything you will think and say today and in the days to come. God wrote your whole life in His book before you were ever conceived.
Acts 15:18 says: "Known unto God are ALL his works from the beginning of the world." You are one of His divine works. Your children are His creation. Colossians 1:16 says: "ALL things were created BY HIM and FOR HIM."
This poses a question we must face. What about children whom God planned to come into this world and fulfill a certain destiny, but we have said No to them coming? How many children have been denied existence whom God intended to be born into this world and for eternity?
"Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are for signs and for wonders" (Isaiah 8:18).
We who are finite and earthly must beware that we do not hinder the plans our infinite and sovereign God.
God bless you today, Nancy Campbell
The trying days, the sighing days, the days when things go wrong,
The hurry days, the worry days, the days when you’re off song,
The busy days, the dizzy days that you go rushing madly through –
Trying to catch up on all the jobs you have to do.
The trying days, the flying days– the clock goes twice its pace,
But when you start to feel you are competing in a race–
Slow down for a moment, let your tangled thoughts unwind.
You’ll get through in half the time if you’ve a quiet mind.
~ Patience Strong
AboveRubies
Email Nancy
PO Box 681687
Franklin, TN 37068-1687
Phone : 931-729-9861
Office Hrs 9am - 5pm, M - F, CTZ
