The Bible tells us that we have a war going on in our hearts. We have our fleshly nature that wants to give in to our selfish desires. If we are born again, we also have the Holy Spirit of God dwelling in us who is totally opposed to the flesh. The question is, to which one are we going to yield? The flesh, or the Spirit?

Our continual choices make a huge difference in the way we mother and also the atmosphere of our home. When we yield to the flesh--selfishness, anger, impatience, and the pride of life, etc. it doesn't make a very happy atmosphere, does it?. However, when we yield to the Holy Spirit we have His power to walk in the fruits of the Holy Spirit--love, joy, longsuffering etc.

Isn't it wonderful that we have the power of the Holy Spirit residing within us to help us combat the desires of the flesh? We could never do it on our own, but we have no excuse when we have the Holy Spirit within us.

Here's the Scripture: "But I say, live by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. For the flesh has desires that are opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires that are opposed to the flesh, for these are in opposition to each other" (Galatians 5:16-17 NET). The Amplified version says they are "antagonistic" to one another.

May God help each one of us to yield to the Holy Spirit today.

Love from Nancy Campbell

Isn't it amazing the positions our babies and children get to sleep in, especially when they are sleeping with us, or on top of us!

My children loved to sleep in cupboards and inside tents and every imaginable place except their beds. I am sure you have pictures of the funny and strange sleeping positions of your babies and children. I'd love you to send them to me, and then I can post the best.

Send your pictures by Email attachment to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by Message Attachment on Facebook. Send endearing ones and funny ones. I'll look forward to receiving them.

Nancy

Do you like fasting? I have to confess that I never enjoy it. I love eating my three meals every day to nourish my physical body. And yet, isn't it incredible that many believers seem to enjoy fasting from food for their inner man? Paul speaks in 2 Corinthians 4:16 about the "inward man" being "RENEWED DAY BY DAY." It is difficult to keep up with a physically demanding life unless we eat good wholesome food. In the same way, we have to feed our inner man if we are going to be strong and victorious for the challenges we face each day, and whatever we may face in the future.

Some folks rely on a Sunday service message each week. Help, we'd be very weak in body if we only ate once a week. Just as our body needs renewing day by day, so our soul and spirit must be renewed each day. We renew it as we feed on God's Word. It is our life and our sustenance. We renew it as we commune with the Father and allow the Holy Spirit to work in our lives.

"But," you reply, "How can I get time to feed on God's Word with all my little children around me, needing me at every moment?" Establish Family Devotions together as a family. I couldn't think of not starting and ending our day with Family Devotions. They are feeding times for my soul and spirit.

Put a Bible in the bathroom/restroom and grab a morsel from the Psalms or Proverbs. Put a Bible on your windowsill to grab another morsel as you prepare meals and do dishes. Have a Bible near where you nurse your baby.

And what about your children? Dear mother, we have just as great a responsibility to nourish the souls and spirits of our children as their physical bodies. We'd have the CPS on our doorstep if we only fed our children once a week. And yet many don't care that the souls of their children are starving! Their spirits must be fed each new day, too. And what about your teens? They will not face the temptations of this world if their spirits are not strong and daily renewed in God's Word and bathed in prayer.

Love from Nancy Campbell

When a new baby is born and we take this precious life into our arms, we are not only overcome with awe and delight, but the enormity of the task that lies ahead. We are responsibility for keeping this little life alive. We have to nurse, nourish, love, protect, care for and train this child until they one day leave our home. Even then we'll never stop praying for them. Even then, their trials and challenges, are still our concerns. Have you felt this weight of responsibility weighing upon you? It is always there, even in the midst of the joys, isn't it?

I remember back 16 years ago when Serene's oldest son, Arden was born. A few days after birth he got RSV and we had to rush him to the hospital. As we were carrying him out the door, Sam, the new father perplexingly said, "How do we keep them alive?"

However, it is not only caring for a new life, mothers bear the weight of the managing a home and family. It's not like other careers where you clock in at a certain time and clock out at a certain time. We feel this weight upon us continually. It is huge.

Sir Winston Churchill once said, "The price of greatness is responsibility." Yes, you have great responsibility upon you, mother, but because your career is great, not because it is insignificant. Don't try to minimize the greatness of your career and do it on the sideline. Embrace it fully. Embrace the responsibility. It is the price of greatness--for the impact you will have on the world as your children come forth from your home, and for eternity.

Love from Nancy Campbell

The babe is a marvel of possibility.

• The man who will sway thousands to his will as the whirlwind sweeps the forest, lies sleeping in that babe.

• The organizer of the world's industries, or the leader of the world's thought, or the changer of the world's life, and of the map of the earth, is in that wee morsel of humanity lying in his mother's arms.

• That cooing voice may compel the whole world to listen.

• Those fat dainty fingers may pen words that a world will be eager to read.

• A Wesley or a Faraday may be there, only waiting the coming of his day of action.

• And, far more than these, the man who will re-live Jesus' life, with all its simplicity and purity and fragrance, in some humble corner, that will touch and tinge deeply the life of the crowd, may lie there all open to the impress of father and mother.

~ S. D. Gordon

God gives a description of mothers in Psalm 113:9. In fact, it is His design and plan for mothers. Do you know the description? He calls them JOYFUL mothers!

"Oh my," you retort. "How do you expect me to be joyful when I hardly have time to get one moment for myself? I'm over-work and underpaid! I've got immature and crying little ones around me all day!" Dear mother, can I let you into a secret? It's all in your attitude. If you think you could be doing something else, you'll resent you powerful role of mothering. If you think you deserve to be in some more "significant" role, you'll be frustrated.

I want to remind you today that you could not be doing anything more powerful. You are in the perfect will of God. You are fulfilling the greatest career God has given to women. You are determining the course of this nation. You are doing an eternal work. As you embrace your high calling with all your heart, the joy will come. God intends you to be filled with joy, not just because everything is perfect and esay, but because you are doing what He wants you to do.

The full understanding of the Hebrew word "JOYFUL" is that we will be glee-FULL, merry-FULL, happy-FULL, cheer-FULL, rejoicing-FULL, and of course, joy-FULL! Motherhood is not a half-measured life, but a FULL life.

And this Scripture ends with, PRAISE THE LORD!

Love from Nancy Campbell

Do not fear whatever you have to face today. The Lion of the Tribe of Judah is with you!

I was most interested to read all the comments from the MOTHERS ROCK post. So many mothers shared how instinctive it is to them. Here's just a few comments in case you missed them:

"A few months ago I ran to the store to get a few things alone which is rare for me. Standing in line I realized I was bouncing a ten pound bag of potatoes without thinking! On the plus side, at least I realized it before I started humming!"

"I do too!! I rock the shopping cart or even the basket while waiting in line. Sometimes I'm just rocking with nothing in my hands! So glad I'm not the only one!"

"I'm a grandmother and I still rock."

"I noticed I was doing this yesterday behind a woman holding a baby. It made me laugh when I caught myself."

"My youngest is 24. I often find if I am in a queue at a supermarket, I am gently rocking the trolley forward and back."

"As I sit in the balcony at church it's fun to watch women start rocking when a baby cries."

"I'm 63 and my youngest grand child is turning 11. I rock when standing in line at the bank or grocery store. That instinct never wan"

"All the time! My husband just laughs and says "Oh you are such a mom!" It's just like breathing."

"I go food shopping alone sometimes and when holding my groceries in my arms I notice I am rocking my food!"

"When standing and waiting you can always tell who the mothers are....they sway."

At checkout, a gentleman asked me if I was a mom. I said, yes, why? He had observed me rocking my grocery cart with no baby in sight."

Love from Nancy

“The home is the first and most effective place to learn the lessons of life: truth, honor, virtue, self control, the value of education, honest work, and the purpose and privilege of life. Nothing can take the place of home in rearing and teaching children, and no other success can compensate for failure in the home.”

― David O. McKay

Do you automatically rock when you hold a baby? In fact, do you rock even when you are not holding a baby? Once you have experienced motherhood it becomes part of who you are, doesn't it? It think it is built within us mothers to rock. I have always believed that every mother should have a rocking chair. It is part of mothering and should be part of every baby's life.

Even though my children have grown and I have many grandchildren, I still rock. I rock when I hold a baby and I rock when I am not holding a baby! And I have to admit I sway whenever I am standing. I'm marked for life with rocking!

Keep on rocking mothers.

Love from Nancy Campbell

A ROCKING MOM

She rocked me as a little tyke
I happily recall,
In winter, summer, autumn, spring,
And never let me fall.
I've gotten where I am ( and here's
A psychiatric shocker!)
Because I had a mother who
Was seldom off her rocker!

~ Unknown

Are you finding it hard to find peace about an issue in your life? Are you full of doubts and concerns? Maybe your stomach is tied up in knots. Dear mother, God has a way for you to have peace. Do you know what it is?

Trust Him! Oh my, how can you trust God when you are so worried and upset? You do it by faith. You confess your trust in Him. Instead of listening to all the doubts and worries in your mind, confess out loud, "Father, I trust you. This situation is bigger than me, but I thank you that you are bigger than this situation. Amen."

God has promised that when you trust Him that He will give you perfect peace. Isaiah 26:3-4 (my favorite Scriptures) says, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: BECAUSE HE TRUSTS IN THEE. trust ye in the Lord forever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength." Did you know that the word "peace" in the Hebrew is actually a plural word? It should read, "peace, peace," or "double peace."

I have proved it so many times. When I try to work things out myself, I can get into a terrible state. When I confess my trust in the Lord, peace comes.

Trust Him when dark days assail thee,
Trust Him when thy faith is small,
Trust Him when to simply trust Him
Is the hardest thing of all.

Love from Nancy Campbell

Life is like a boomerang. What we say and do will always come back to us. We can't get away with anything. What we sow into our family life we will reap, not only in this life, but in generations to come. Our attitude and the words we speak (or don't speak if it is the "silent treatment") into our husband and children's lives will reap a harvest of blessing or ultimate destruction.

We know God's Word in Galatians 6:7 which says, "Be not deceived: God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." We don't always reap immediately. Sometimes it takes years (maybe ten, twenty, or even thirty years) before the boomerang comes back, but it always does. The words of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow stand true, "Though the mills of God grind slowly; Yet they grind exceeding small; Though with patience he stands waiting, With exactness grinds he all".

We see an example of this in 2 Samuel 21 where God sent three years of famine in the time of King David. David enquired of the Lord and God told him it was because Saul slew the Gibeonites with whom Joshua had made a covenant not to destroy them. Joshua had been dead for many years. Saul was now dead and I guess no one remembered the covenant Joshua had made so many years ago. But, God remembered. and retribution had to be made.

I have watched wives sow hate and discontentment and yet they wonder why their marriage eventually crumbles. We cannot reap a harvest of love if we don't sow love and kindness.

Love from Nancy Campbell

The great preacher and author, Dwight L. Moody confessed, "If I could relive my life, I would devote my entire ministry to reaching children for God!" He understood the power of investing in a child's life. Dear mother, you are in this very ministry! Every day and all day! What a privilege. There is nothing more powerful that you could be doing. The investment you pour into your children will not only bless your own family, but the world. But, even more--future generations, and eternity!

Don't let the enemy fill you with his lies that motherhood is insignificant. You are part of the greatest work in God's kingdom. When the people brought children to Jesus, the disciples shooed them off, thinking Jesus would not have time for the children. This made Jesus angry and He let them know. He said, "Do not push these children away. Do not ever get between them and Me. These children are at the very center of life in the kingdom" (Mark 10:1315 Msg). Mother, you are at the very epicenter of life in God's kingdom!

Love from Nancy Campbell

Hebrews 1:1 tells us how God spoke in times past by the prophets, but now speaks to us through His own beloved Son. The word "prophet" is not only a foretelling as many people think of a prophet, but it is an OUT-SPEAKING! Trench explains it, "The "prophetes" is the OUTspeaker; he who speaks out the counsel of God with the clearness, energy, and authority which spring from the consciousness of speaking in God's name and having received a direct message from Him to deliver."

Christ, who lives in us is "prophet, priest, and king." I believe that every father should be a prophet to his family, seeking God for His ways and speaking God's counsel to His family. But, we as mothers also have a daily responsibility to speak the counsel of God to our children. Motherhood is even more than nurturing, feeding, and caring for our children. It is our God-given duty to feed their souls and spirits as well as their bodies. Even more so.

Let's be mothers who earnestly seek God and His Word. And then with energy and authority we will daily speak God's counsel to our children. WHAT A HIGH AND LOFTY CALLING! Don't be content to only half-mother your children. You may be a wonderful nurturer of their physical bodies, but how much are you pouring into the feeding and strengthening of their souls and spirits?

Love from Nancy Campbell

Our God is a dwelling God. He loves to dwell with His people. He dwelt with His people in the wilderness in the most sacred place, the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle (Exodus 29:45). Hebrews 9:1 (J. B. Phillips) says, "Now the first agreement had certain rules for the service of God, and it had a sanctuary, A HOLY PLACE IN THIS WORLD FOR THE ETERNAL GOD." Isn't that amazing? To think that the eternal God would presence Himself in this earthly world.

When Jesus came and died upon the cross for our sins, the thick curtain that separated the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place was torn from top to the bottom. Now Christ wants to dwell in our earthly bodies! This is even more awesome. Colossians 1:27 reminds us, "Christ in you, the hope of glory." 1 Corinthians 6:19 says, "Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you." The word "temple" in this Scripture is the Greek word "naos" which is the word for the Holy of Holies! Yes, you and I, are now the holy dwelling place for the eternal God on earth!

Not only does He want to live in our heart, but He wants to dwell in our home. God wants our home to be a holy place for Him to dwell. But, He can only dwell in holy places that are cleansed by the precious blood of Jesus.

Are your heart and home a dwelling place on earth for the Holy God?

Love from Nancy Campbell

It is winter time and everything looks stark and bare. But, as I walked outside this morning I noticed a beautiful golden glow on the tops of the bare trees. It looked delightful. I couldn't see where it was coming from but as I looked harder I noticed a little glimpse of the rising sun through the trees. I was amazed that such a little appearing of the sun could bring such beauty.

We, who have the light of the Christ within us, should also be like the sun, bringing light, warmth, and glow wherever we go. Of course, first to those in our own home. If God's light doesn't shine from us to our husband and children, we deceive ourselves to think we can shine anywhere else.

How great is our light? Even a little light helps, but a great light will bless everyone around us even more. Matthew 4:15-16 tells us that when Jesus came to the land of Zebulon and Naphtali that "the people which sat in darkness saw GREAT LIGHT." Jesus was a great light and He lives in us! How much of His light are we shining to those around us?

Judges 5:31 says, "Let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might." That means when the sun is at its brightest and full strength.

Do our family get only a tiny glimpse of the light of Jesus in us? Or, do they live in the fullness of the glowing warmth of His light that shines from us? Is our light exposing any darkness that comes into our home?

Love from Nancy Campbell

Are you as guilty as me? Whenever I would address one of my children, I would usually have to say all the names before I got to the right one!

Nancy Campbell

To enjoy looking at wonderful pictures of clothes drying on the line, go to:
http://www.pinterest.com/aboverubiesmag/i-love-clotheslines/