Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs

 

There is so much ‘light’ to be lived and so much ‘life’ to be lived under the grayest of skies and bluest of skies! Yes!

 

The skies of our brain are made up of 60,000 to 70,000 thoughts a day! Can you imagine seeing 70,000 stars twinkling and pulsing with life through an inky black sky? It would pulse our breath into sheer wonder and glory! That’s how I feel!

 

My stars are my thoughts! I must choose them! I don’t let the inky black displace the light of 70,000 twinkling light choices even though the dark night says it’s always going to be there in the background!

 

No! It’s the very war cry against the inky black that has my soul breathing the words of Light Himself: “Shine! Shine! Shine like stars in the universe! See! I have set you as a light to shine!”

 

And how? Ho do I do that?

 

In the epic revelation that ‘shining’ begins in “my own sky,” my own mind! Will I light my own backdrop to see the light, goodness, glory, and beauty of the everyday?

 

Will I realize that the mystical music of living each day is doing the little things that need doing with a smile? The things that no one gives a nod to play the music of life more beautifully than Beethoven’s greatest symphony!

 

Why should we live for those fleeting high moments when we can have the thrill of enjoying a million mundane everyday moments of time that make one love life?

 

These moments, these notes, each one supporting the best music ever played! To live nother note is thrilling!

 

Imagine sneering at the sound of a new heartbeat? Impossible! That sound brings triumphant celebrations, yet what does it do? A job that is day in and day out, year in and year out, never changing. When it begins, we give parties and when it stops, we cry!

 

Then why should we sneer at the day in and day out heartbeats of our season? Why should we cry over the mundane rituals that accompany our season?

 

When we are changing diapers and they say they are “changing the world,” you beam your smile wider! While they are standing to receive accolades and you are falling on your knees from a stray Lego, keep smiling!

 

Yes! Feed the children, get them to bed, and wake up and do it again. And what for?

 

Because it is beautiful!

 

Because this is what makes life! Our everyday moments. The ritual of the everyday! The business of breathing, bathing, work, and the hours people call mundane to live, are in fact our treasure!

 

The secret to loving life is not in pursuit of life but of loving every moment in the ritual of the everyday!

If the joyful heartbeat of daily living dies in your whining, you will live for yourself and lose your soul trying to find a purpose for life.

 

NOTHING is as dead as not realizing your season and the ritual of it! To escape the mundane is to escape the incredibly beautiful whole of life! The sheer goodness of having a work before us that is enduring, made up of scars and healing, laughter after pain, dancing after mourning! It is beautiful, utterly beautiful. To look for anything outside of that is to look for something that doesn’t exist!

 

It is a fast-paced, fleeting fame, and burnout world that offers you false highs, empty escapes, and thousands of new toys to try to make you happy.

 

But you, yes, you have the market on life! Your mind can choose its skies where the insignificant and daily duties are quite literally the bulbs of blazing life and awe!

 

Look up, my friend! Look up! There are 70,000 twinkling stars for the choosing!

 

EVANGELINE JOHNSON

 

Picture: Evangeline still healing from her broken shoulder.

 

He also wants to keep us in the dark about the blessing of having children. He really hates this truth! To bring forth the godly seed is anathema to the devil.

 

We see how the enemy became very agitated when the children of Israel multiplied in Egypt. The new Pharaoh was shaking in his boots. He said to his people: “Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we: Come on, let us deal wisely with them; LEST THEY MULTIPLY.” The devil is scared of God’s people multiplying. He does everything in his power to “rob, kill, and destroy” to stop children coming into the world.

 

Will we give in to his strategy to hide the revelation of God in the earth? Or are we on God’s side? We can be so assimilated and even mesmerized by our godless and humanistic society that we fail to recognize that when we oppose or deny life coming into the world that we are on the devil’s side. It’s a plain fact that the devil hates life but God loves life. And we are on one side or the other.

 

Each new baby is a fresh revelation of the image of God on earth. Let’s not hold back the revelation of God. Let’s not hold back the children God wants to bring into this world.

 

I am so glad you are a testimony of God’s truth and that you are shining His light in the midst of the darkness. Keep spreading the truth. Never be silent.

 

Blessings to you today from Nancy Campbell

 

Do you remember when Peter and John prayed for the man who was lame from his mother’s womb and he was immediately healed? He began walking, leaping, and praising God. All the people saw it and began to praise God. In fact, about 5,000 people believed on Jesus. This was too much for the devil.

 

The priests and Sadducees put Peter and John in custody until the next day when they met together to make their decision. Their verdict? “’We can’t deny that they have performed a miraculous sign, and everybody in Jerusalem knows about it. But to keep them from SPREADING THEIR PROPAGANDA ANY FURTHER, we must warn them not to speak to anyone in Jesus’ name again.’ So they called the apostles back in and commanded them never again to speak or teach in the name of Jesus” (Acts 4:16-18 NLT).

 

Do you notice that they called the truth PROPAGANDA? A visible miracle was performed for all to see but to the enemies of Christ it was propaganda. That is what’s happening today. Anyone who stands up against the tyranny in our nation is called a conspiracist. Unless you fall in completely with the liberal agenda, your beliefs are propaganda.

 

Did Peter and John become victims to their verdict? No. They answered: “Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:19, 20).

 

The devil wants to close our mouths. He does not want the gospel to be proclaimed. He does not want the truth to get out. He propagates lies and deception and fake news.

 

He has also used his recruits to deceive and bring fear upon the whole world during this last year for a so-called virus. Yes, a virus which has proved to be another strain of flu with a 99 percent survival rate.

 

And now they are brainwashing the masses with mandating a vaccine that has not had time to be proved. People are dying. Many more could die. But people find it easier to listen to the lies of fake news than to live and abide in God’s word. They fear the words of man rather than God. It reminds me of Nehemiah 9:36, 37: “Behold, we are servants this day . . . also they have DOMINION OVER OUR BODIES, and over our cattle, AT THEIR PLEASURE, and we are in great distress.”

 

I will never yield my body to this vaccine. You may feel differently and want to. That is your prerogative. My prayer is that it will not be made mandatory. Those who do not mind those whose goal is “the depopulation of the world” to take dominion over their bodies are free to go ahead. But there are thousands who will not.

 

“Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey?” (Romans 6:16 NLT).

 

I will not yield to tyranny.

 

Be blessed today,

 

Nancy Campbell

To do the things You've called them to.

Oh grant this mother's one desire

To light their hearts with holy fire.

 

No greater task on earth You give

Than that my children thus would live,

With hearts and ears to hear Your voice,

With lives surrendered to Your choice.

 

I do not pray for wealth or fame,

Or any other earthly gain.

No momentary, passing peace,

To live their lives in comforts' ease.

 

I only long to see them live

Prepared for You their lives to give,

That in that country far away

Together we'll all live some day.

 

What's done for selfish gain won't last,

And earthly pleasures soon will pass;

But if they'll fix their eyes above,

They'll know the joy of heaven's love.

 

I know this prayer is much to ask,

When failure marks times of the past.

Though I'm not all You'd have me be,

May they still see Your love through me.

 

And may they each forgive my falls,

That they might hear and heed Your call.

For when to glory I must pass,

May only truths I've taught them last.

 

VAL HALLORAN

 

It seems that we are prone to losing the first fire of love It happens in marriages too. What is the current temperature of love in your marriage?

 

Is it hot and passionate or getting a little cold and boring?

 

Love doesn’t automatically keep hot without action. Without doing anything, it easily slips away.

 

Jesus told the Ephesus church to “repent, and DO the FIRST works”: (Revelation 2:5). The Passion translation says: “But I have this against you: you have abandoned the passionate love you had for me at the beginning. Think about how far you have fallen! Repent and do the works of love you did at first.”

 

Jesus never rebukes us without giving an answer. And here is the answer to returning to our first love to Jesus. We do what we did in the beginning.

 

It’s the same in our marriages. If our love toward our husband is waning, we don’t let it go on that way. We DO something. First of all, we repent! Then we start doing what we did when we first fell in love.

 

You wouldn’t be married unless you fell in love with your husband. When you fell in love with him, you spoke lovingly and kindly to him You spoke endearingly to him. Begin doing this again.

 

You were sweet to him. How sweet are you now?

 

You smiled at him and looked at him adoringly. Are you doing that when he talks to you now?

 

You wanted to be with him all the time and communicate with him? Are you communicating now?

 

When love has grown really cold, it can seem impossible to get back the first love. But do it one step at a time. You take the first step. You do one little thing you used to do. And then you take the next step and the next step and as you keep doing the things that made your husband fall in love with you at the beginning, it will restore that glorious love between you again.

 

In fact, it will be more glorious Older love is even more amazing than first love. Never be satisfied with lukewarm love. Go for the ultimate. It will happen if you do what God says.

 

Blessings to you today,

 

Nancy Campbell

 

Painting by Monika Lunick

 

However, Psalm 89:16 inspires us: “IN THY NAME shall they rejoice ALL THE DAY; and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted.” Wow, God’s word never gives us any excuses or loopholes, does it?

 

It is true that you can’t always rejoice in your circumstances or what is happening in your life, but you can rejoice in the name of the Lord. His name never changes. It is always constant. His name is holy. It is awesome. It is glorious. His name is Jehovah-Jireh--the Lord who provides, Jehovah-Rapha--the Lord my Healer. The name of the Lord is a strong tower into which you can run. And on and on.

 

And never forget that God has given Jesus “a name which is ABOVE EVERY NAME, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-112). Every name bows to His name! Every demon. Every evil. Every circumstance.

 

We never have an excuse to not rejoice in the name of the Lord. No matter what your difficulty, you can rejoice in His name by faith. Praise Him for His glorious attributes Rejoice that you are called by His name.

 

“Rejoice in the LORD, and again I say, rejoice” (Philippians 4:4).

 

Encourage yourself in His name today,

 

Nancy Campbell

 

Our walk with God is a MORE AND MORE walk. We should never be stagnant. Never get in a rut. Never stay the same. Never think we have arrived. Never come to a halt.

 

Let’s look at some of the things we should experience MORE AND MORE each day.

 

Abound MORE AND MORE in loving one another (1 Thessalonians 3:12; 4:10 and 2 Thessalonians 1:3).

Abound MORE AND MORE in pleasing God (1 Thessalonians 4:1).

Abound MORE AND MORE with thanksgiving (Colossians 2:7).

Change MORE AND MORE into the image of Christ (Romans 8:29 and 2 Corinthians 3:18).

Filled with MORE AND MORE joy (Romans 14:17; Hebrews 1:9 and 1 Peter 1:8).

Gather MORE AND MORE with the saints (Hebrews 10: 25).

Increase MORE AND MORE in the knowledge of God (Colossians 1:10).

Increase MORE AND MORE in righteousness (2 Corinthians 9:10).

Increase MORE AND MORE in wisdom (Proverbs 4:5, 7; 8:11; 19:8; and Proverbs 31:26).

Learn MORE AND MORE of God’s heart for mothering (1 Timothy 2:15).

Live MORE AND MORE by faith (Luke 17:5 and 2 Thessalonians 1:3).

Praise the Lord MORE AND MORE each day (Psalm 71:14).

Shine MORE AND MORE of God’s light to others (Proverbs 4:18).

 

And what about this wonderful promise? “The Lord shall increase you MORE AND MORE, you and your children” (Psalm 115:14).

 

We certainly have no opportunity to stay stagnant, do we?

 

Let’s be families who never stay the same, but instead are always growing in the knowledge of God, shining His love and light to one another and others, and strengthening and building up our marriage and family a little more each day.

 

I needed to use the restroom before I left and could not believe my eyes when I got to the door. I was so grieved, saddened, and offended to see that they have joined with the transgender deception. It is not enough to have a male and female restroom, but they have added the picture of a half/man, half/woman!

 

Imagine little children looking at that picture! What about our young people? We cannot take this sitting down.

 

Do you shop at Aldi? If so, I would please urge you to write to the main office and state your concerns. They will be putting these restrooms in every new Aldi. Go to the internet for address and emails for Aldi.

 

Your local Aldi, like ours, may still be traditional. Please also contact, call, or write to your local manager where you shop and tell them that if they change to transgender bathrooms, they will lose your custom.

 

To not do something is to side with transgender which is a slap in the face to God who created us male and female! We must stand up for the truth.

 

Ephesians 5;11: “Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.”

 

Yours standing against all evil.

 

~ Nancy

 

Have you been blessed and uplifted by the smile of a stranger? It’s amazing, isn’t it? Sometimes I have been walking in a shop and a stanger will smile at me. I am immediately warmed and blessed inside.

 

But we don’t always feel like smiling or showing a happy face, do we? But look at this Scripture in Job 9:27 (ESV): “I will put off my sad face, and be of good cheer.”

 

NET: “I will change my expression and be cheerful.”

 

In the Hebrew it actually means to “abandon my face, or to change my expression.” Or “I will arrange my face.” We have the power to change the expression of our face. We usually allow our face to convey how we are currently feeling, whether happy or sad, don’t we? But we can move into a new realm where we determine the expression of our face.

 

Have you tried this? It truly works. There are times when I may feel despondent, but if I allow that expression on my face, it will take me into a greater depth of self-pity or despair. But if I put on a happy face and smile in the midst of my difficulty, my whole attitude changes. The expression I put on my face determines how I feel and the how others feel around me.

 

We have such power to influence the mood of others by our expression. Let’s not be wimpy mothers who give into our feelings (for feelings are deceiving and come and go like the wind) but instead be mothers of stamina and determination. Let’s put on a smiling face even if what we are going through is the opposite. We will bless ourselves and those around us.

 

I love reading Job, chapter 29 when Job reminisces of the days when God’s blessing was upon him and of how he was a blessing to many others. These were great memories in the midst of his present suffering.

 

Here is one of the things he did: “When they were discouraged, I smiled at them” (Job 29:24 NLT).

 

A greater thing is to smile at others even when we are discouraged ourselves!

 

Are you ready for a new way of living?

 

Love from Nancy

 

P.S. You can’t show a smiling face with a mask on!

 

New Century Version: “In this same way, the holy women who lived long ago and followed God made themselves BEAUTIFUL, yielding to their own husbands.”

 

 

New English Bible: “Thus it was among God’s people in days of old: the women who fixed their hopes on him adorned themselves by submission to their husbands.”

 

God never commands a husband to make his wife submit to him. God commands the husband to love his wife like his own body, as much as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it (Ephesians 5:25-33). It is something she does of her own volition, from her humble heart of submission to the Lord. Submission is an adorning. It is something we put on and it is an adorning that makes us beautiful.

 

Are you getting the picture? Let me give you one more translation where the word “beauty” is mentioned SEVEN times! It’s the Barclay version: “Your BEAUTY must not be the superficial BEAUTY which depends on elaborate hair-styles and expensive jewellery and the wearing of fashionable clothes. No! Your BEAUTY must be the BEAUTY of your inner character and personality. It must consist of the BEAUTY of a gentle; and serene character, a BEAUTY which the years cannot wither, for in God’s sight that is what is really precious. This was BEAUTY with which once upon a time consecrated women, whose hopes were set on God, adorned themselves. They accepted the authority of their husbands. It was in this that Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him master.”

 

Why is submission a beautiful thing? Because it is the same attitude of Jesus who submitted to His Father’s will. Although Jesus was God, He was willing to leave the glory of Heaven and become a man, humble Himself, even to the death of the cross (Philippians 2:5-8).

 

Do we have a submissive heart or a stubborn and rebellious heart? Are we making ourselves beautiful?

 

Blessings to you today,

 

Nancy Campbell

 

Where did that quote come from? Who wrote it? I couldn’t remember. The next day it came to me! How could I forget? It’s the words in one of my own books! It’s one of the rhymes in NANNY’S NURSERY RHYMES called LEARN TO SHARE. The last lines of the second stanza say:

 

“For each other you should care

And always be aware

Of the lovely things that you’ve been taught to do!”

 

It made me realize how powerful the lines of little rhymes are for our children. These simple lines for children came back to remind me to live a lovely life. They will remind your children too.

 

Our children need constant reminders, and so do we.

 

Do you have this nursery rhyme book for your children? I’ll post details in the next post for you in case you don’t.:

 

Love from Nancy Campbell

 

Picture: https://bronsisbestfrndz.wordpress.com/.../ill-catch-you.../

 

Each one of us face challenges in life. Difficult things. Hurtful things. But they should not determine our lifestyle. Our lifestyle depends not so much on what happens to us or what happens around us but what is happening in us. When we are born again, we receive the life of Christ. We experience the truth of the Scripture, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1 27).

 

The “Christ in me life” is the lovely life. His life is filled with love, joy, peace, longsuffering, patience, rest, sweetness, victory and so on. Oh what a lovely life! Therefore we choose to live the lovely life, the life of Christ within us, or by the dictates of our flesh which is usually rather ugly.

 

1 Peter 2:12 (Barclay) tells us: “Live a LOVELY life among the heathen.” Yes, the Greek word is “kalos” and means “beautiful (even more than lovely), good, honest, worthy.”

 

We also read this word in Matthew 5:15, 16: “A lamp is not lit to be put under a bowl. It is lit to be put on a lampstand, and then it shines for EVERYONE IN THE HOUSE TO SEE IT. Just so, your light must shine for everyone to see, so that, when they SEE THE LOVELY THINGS YOU DO, it may make them want to praise your Father who is in heaven.”

 

The lovely life starts in the home. Our light first shines for everyone in our home to see and then shines out to neighbors and people around us. How do they see this light? By the countenance upon our faces. By our smiles. By the lovely things we do and say.

 

Do you speak lovely words to your husband? Oh dear one, speaking lovely words to your husband makes a lovely marriage. And a lovely marriage is one of the most beautiful things on earth.

 

Do you speak lovely words to your children? It’s hypocritical to speak nice words to others outside the home if you are angry, shouting, and nasty in the home.

 

Let’s yield to the life of Christ who lives within us and live a lovely life today—filling our homes with lovely words and actions.

 

May God smile upon your home today,

 

Nancy Campbell

 

Painting: Box Canvas Print. Husband and wife sit holding hands Date: 1913.

Mothers, don't wish them away,

There's no greater joy on earth

Than these little ones at play.

No career can take the place

Of each precious little face,

As you savor all the love that's yours today.

 

These are the best years of your life,

Reject the lures and lies.

There's no thrill outside your door

That compares with what's inside.

The fulfillment that you seek

Is yours seven days a week

Through the children that God gave

to bless your life.

 

O turn back to the way it's meant to be,

Seek God's plan and the truth will set you free.

Death to self will bring forth life,

Joy is found in sacrifice,

Embrace the very best years of your life.

 

These are the best years of your life,

Just let contentment start.

You can touch unnumbered souls

Just by guiding your child’s heart.

To be faithful in the task

Will bring joy that really lasts,

In eternal blessings you are taking part.

 

O turn back to the way it's meant to be.

Seek God's plan and the truth will set you free.

Death to self will bring forth life,

Joy is found in sacrifice.

Embrace the very best years of your life.

Just embrace these very best years of your life.

 

C 2002, Val Halloran

 

“No,” we responded, “that’s not correct!” Colin often does this to trick us to see if we are really listening. Sometimes we may not pick up his Ploy. That means we’re not listening!

 

This Scripture does not say “year by year,” or even “month by month.” It says “day by day”! Take hold of this, dear mother. It’s DAY BY DAY. The Holy Spirit who dwells within you is alive and constantly working in you. He wants to refresh, revitalize, and renew you each new day.

 

How does it happen? Paul goes on to say, “While we look not at the things which are seen: but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal: but the things which are not seen are eternal.” When you put all your energy and focus on the problems you face at hand they wear you out and grind you down. When you concentrate on how tired or how sick you feel, the more tired and sick you feel. There’s nothing like being depressed, despondent, and full of worry and self-pity to wipe you out and make you feel lousy.

 

However, when you look up to the Lord and see beyond the temporal, to understand that your problem is only a light affliction compared with eternity, to believe that God is bigger than your problem, and that you can totally trust Him, you will be carried along by the strength and anointing of the Holy Spirit who indwells you. Your problem may not be fixed immediately, but you are no longer bogged down by it. You are renewed and lifted up in your spirit as you trust in God.

 

Don’t look past today. Jesus said in Matthew 6:34 (HCSB): “Don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Instead, trust in the “day by day” renewing of the Holy Spirit. He wants to come to you like the dew that waters and refreshes the grass each new day.

 

Live in His anointing today,

 

Nancy Campbell

 

Maybe you’ve been longing for this day. Or maybe it’s a surprise! Maybe it wasn’t the news you wanted to hear! Whatever the reason, I want to remind you that it is a MIRACLE FROM GOD. God is the author of this life. He destined this baby that is conceived in your womb. He has plans and purposes for this precious and unique child. Let’s contemplate the MIRACLE.

 

M God chose you to be the MOTHER of His child.

 

I God is INTERESTED in every minute detail of your baby, from creating every part of his/her body in the womb to His plans for his/her life in the future.

 

R God will REVEAL more of His character and His ways to you as you embrace and nurture your precious baby.

 

A God will give you His ANOINTING and ABILITY to train this child. He knows you cannot do it in your own strength. And He will AMAZINGLY provide every need for this coming baby. He doesn’t necessarily provide before the baby comes, but when your baby arrives, you will see His daily provision.

 

C God has CALLED and COMMISSIONED you for this great task.

 

L God will LAVISH you with His LOVE for this sweet baby. You will not only be overcome with love for your baby, but if you have other children, you will fall in love with them all over again too. And what about all the negative gainsayers and family members? When the baby is born, they will fall in love with the baby too.

 

E God is creating within you an ETERNAL soul that will live forever. You are embarking on an ETERNAL mission.

 

Praise God for this wonderful miracle.

 

Love from Nancy Campbell

 

Pray and look for godly friends for your children. This is even more important if there are fewer siblings in the family. Refrain from putting them into environments where they may be influenced by worldly and unbiblical lifestyles. That’s why so many concerned parents homeschool their children today. They do not want to put their children into an environment where they could be drawn into sinful habits which will wreck their lives.

 

Proverbs 13:7 was one of my favorite Scriptures in raising our children: “He that walks with wise men will be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.” Many wonderful parents cannot understand how their teenagers go astray. Most times it is because they are influenced by the wrong crowd.

 

I certainly don’t believe in keeping our children at home forever. Our children are all grown and are changing the world. We train them to send them out into this sinful and dark world to bring God’s light and truth.

 

But we don’t send them out . . .

Until they are ready.

Until they are strong.

Until they are ready to face the wolves.

Until they can “withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand” against the foe that comes against them (Ephesians 6:13).

Until they come to that place in their hearts where they love righteousness and hate evil and will say No to all temptation.

Until they are established in the truth of God’s Word and can therefore discern all the deceptive garbage that fills our society.

 

Until then we have a big job getting them ready . . .

Training their senses to understand true judgment.

Filling them with the truth of God’s Word.

Imparting godly convictions.

 

This is our responsibility as parents which we cannot take lightly.

 

Blessings to you and your children,

 

Nancy Campbell

 

“When God is a Benefactor to a people and they do not serve Him, what monstrous wickedness it is! God hath kept you all safe in the night, and yet in the morning you do not say, ‘Where is the Lord that did preserve us? Come, come, let us give joint praises to Him?’”

 

Talking about all the blessings God pours out upon us—salvation, healing from sickness, and deliverance from affliction, etc. he writes: “And yet you do not pray to nor praise this your wonderful Benefactor together. Let the very walls within which these ungrateful wretches live be astonished at this! Let the very beams and pillars of their houses tremble! And let the very girders of the floors on which they tread and walk be horribly afraid! That such as dwell in such an house together go to bed before they go to prayer together! Let the earth be amazed, that the families which the Lord doth nourish and maintain are rebellious and unthankful, being worse than the very ox that knoweth his wonder and of less understanding than the very ass (Isaiah 1:2,3).”

 

Wow, were you able to take that? Not for the faint-hearted! But it is true, isn’t it? Are we truly thankful if we don’t gather as families to praise and worship God each day? We give more importance to all the plans we have for the day than taking time to praise and worship the God who gives us our very breath.

 

We praise God that there is no longer any need for the daily sacrifices for sin. Jesus Christ, the perfect Lamb slain before the foundation of the world was slain ONCE AND FOR ALL (Hebrews 9:11-14; 25-28; 10:10-14; and 1 Peter 3:18). But just as every morning and evening sacrifice pointed to Calvary, I feel strongly in my heart to look back to the cross. I don’t like to let a day go past without thanking Him for His eternal salvation which is beyond all comprehension. I love that we meet as a family to take the time to do this.

 

And not only for our great salvation, but for all His goodness to us. We pray daily for God’s protection over all our family. I know you do too. But we also need to thank Him for His covering and protection. Oh, how many times He delivers us, many times when we don’t even know it.

 

Let’s be grateful people, not every now and then, but DAILY.

 

In His love,

 

Nancy Campbell

 

Picture: The Johnson family praising the Lord at the beach.

 

The opposite is true. To walk with God is to raise children. Two times the Bible says that “Enoch walked with God” (Genesis 5:21, 22). However, we must read the full Scripture: “Enoch walked with God . . . and begat sons and daughters.” Here is a man who had such a wonderful relationship with God that he didn’t even die. “God took him.” The NLT renders it: “Enoch lived 365 years, WALKING IN CLOSE FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD. Then one day he disappeared, because God took him.”

 

Dear mother, God wants you to walk in close fellowship with Him as you mother your children. You are not doing this great job on your own. God is with you. Every moment. When you are doing the most mundane tasks. When you are doing the same tasks repeatedly each day. Not one chore is insignificant. Each one is sacred because He is with you and abides in you.

 

But sometimes you forget. Remember the truth, no matter how you feel. God is with you. He is Emmanuel, GOD WITH US! Your feelings are not facts. They come and go and change with the wind, or whatever is happening in your life. But the real truth is that whatever is happening, good or bad, GOD IS WITH YOU!

 

Acknowledge His presence with you. Thank Him that He is with you. Thank Him that you are in His perfect will as you mother your children. Rejoice that He is with you. Thank Him for every little blessing that happens—a smile from one of your children, the adoring look of your baby as you nurse him at the breast, provision of food, your husband who provides for you, and on and on. Bring every little sigh to Him. Don’t take one burden on yourself because He is with you to carry your burdens and He is so much better at it that you. He is bigger than every problem you face.

 

And He delights to be with you in your home. He created you for the home. He created you for motherhood. And He delights in you when you embrace the way He created you. This is how you bring glory to your Creator and Redeemer.

 

Every son and daughter God gives you is a gift from Him. You didn’t plan each child. God did. And He is with you to help you raise them for His glory. He wants to walk with you and He wants you to walk with Him in close relationship just like Enoch did, all the time begetting and raising sons and daughters.

 

Be encouraged today,

 

Nancy Campbell

 

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