Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs

Through the weekly and daily devotionals you can be constantly encouraged in your great role of parenting, the highest career in the nation. You can also stay updated on what's happening with the Above Rubies ministry.
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Strengthening Families Across the World through the encouragement of women in their high calling from God as wives, mothers and homemakers.

Nancy Campbell
Women's Daily Encouragement Blog

THE HURRIEDER I GO...

Behinder

I used to find when my children were young that if I became hurried and frantic, trying to take them to too many things that not only I, but the children also would be upset and fretful. God wants our homes and our hearts to be a places of rest, even in the midst of children’s noise and chaos.

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Nancy Campbell
Women's Daily Encouragement Blog

TEN LITTLE TIPS FOR A LOVELY MARRIAGE

TenLittleTips

1. Always speak sweetly to your husband.
2. Call him loving and special names rather just his given name.
3. Smile at him each time you look at him.
4. Never forget to say “I love you” every day (or more than once a day)!
5. Always kiss goodbye, even if you are only parting for a few hours.
6. Be willing to forgive. None of us are perfect.
7. Look at him adoringly when he talks to you.
8. Go to bed at the same time each night. Make time for intimacy. Live your lives together rather than separately.
9. Pray and read God’s word together
10. Remember to embrace your roles. That’s when marriage works best. The husband is the provider, protector, guarder, and covering. You are the mother, nurturer, and homemaker.
 
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
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Nancy Campbell
Women's Daily Encouragement Blog

MARRIAGE AND CHILDREN...

ChangeYourLife

...are the blessing of the Lord.

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Nancy Campbell
Women's Daily Encouragement Blog

YOUR GLORY IS IN YOUR WOMANHOOD

GloryInWomanhood

Because God created you to be a woman, embrace your womanhood with all your heart. Embrace your womb. Embrace your God-given nurturing instincts. Embrace your femininity. Your glory is in Your womanhood.

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Nancy Campbell
Women's Daily Encouragement Blog

PICTURES OF MOTHERHOOD

PictureofMotherhood

These beautiful lines are a picture of motherhood.
For what is service but the life of Jesus,
Lived through a vessel of earth’s fragile clay,
Loving and giving and poured forth for others,
A living sacrifice from day to day.
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Nancy Campbell
Women's Daily Encouragement Blog

POINTED TOWARD HEAVEN

Pointed

I have recently finished reading STOP IN THE NAME OF GOD by Charlie Kirk, very thought provoking. Before I read a book, I am one of these people who read the back cover, the Forward, the Introduction, and even the Acknowledgments.
 
It was in the Acknowledgments at the end of this book that I read these words from Charlie: “Everything I do is pointed toward Heaven and expressing gratitude for the salvation given to me by His only Son, Jesus Christ.”
 
I loved those words. What a wonderful vision for our lives: “Everything I do is pointed toward Heaven.” Dear mother, this is a beautiful vision for you in your home. And to tell you the truth, it is a depiction of your life-work. You are mothering and preparing the children God has given you for Heaven, for the world without end. Oh, what a high and lofty career you have. No other career is as powerful.
 
But in the throes of managing your home and saving it from becoming a shambles, and homeschooling, and all the everyday tasks you have (and often can’t get through them all) you can somehow forget about Heaven! We must encourage one another. Therefore, I encourage you today. Keep your eyes heavenward. It will change the atmosphere of your home.
 
We must also teach our children about Heaven. They must also know that this life is only a vapor and the real world is the eternal world. Every day we prepare and build for the eternal world. One day, you and I, and each of our children will stand before God and give an account for all the works we have done and the words we have uttered. They will all go through the fire and only that which is gold will last. Everything superfluous will be burnt up like wood, hay, and stubble. Read 1 Corinthians 3:11-15.
 
Start each day with the confession: “Everything I do today will be pointed toward Heaven.” Remind your precious children: “Dear children, this is another day to prepare for Heaven. Keep your eyes upon Jesus.”
 
May you have a heavenly day, even in the midst of all your challenges and upsets!
 
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
 
P.S. Would you like to look up these Scriptures about how we will give an account for everything we have done and said in this life (unless it has come under the blood of Jesus): You could take a few of these Scriptures each day to read to your children.
 
O.T. Job 7:17, 18; 23:10; 31:4; 34:11, 21-23; 1 Samuel 16:7; 1 Kings 8:39; 1 Chronicles 28:9; 29:17; 2 Chronicles 32:31; Psalm 11:4, 5; 17:3; 26:2; 33:13-15; 62:12; 17:3; 62:12; 66:7, 10; 68:10; 81:7; 139:23, 24; Proverbs 5:21-23; 17:3; 24:11, 12; 25:4; Isaiah 1:25; 40:10; 48:10; 62:11; Jeremiah 9:7; 11:20; 12:3; 16:17; 17:10; 20:12; 32:19; Ezekiel 7:27; 33:20; Daniel 7:10; 11:35; 12:10; Hosea 7:2; Zechariah 9:7; 13:9; and Malachi 3-3.
 
N.T. Matthew 10:26; 12:36, 37; 16:27; Romans 2:5-11; 14:10-12; 1 Corinthians 3:8, 11-15; 4:5; 2 Corinthians 5:10; 11:15; Hebrews 4;13; Ephesians 6:8; Colossians 32:24, 25; 1 Thessalonians 2:4; 1 Peter 1:7, 17; 4:5; 2 Peter 3:10; Revelation 2:23; 20:4, 12, 13; and 22:12.
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Nancy Campbell
Women's Daily Encouragement Blog

YOUR HEAVENLY VISION

HeavenlyVision

We all know that there is only one way to Heaven and that is through Jesus. He is the way. He is the door into Heaven and there is no other. We can only come through His precious blood that was shed for us upon the cross of Calvary.
 
However, I see in God’s Word that there are two ways that we can be received into Heaven. 2 Peter 1:11 tells us about those who will be received “ABUNDANTLY into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” Wouldn’t it be amazing to be welcomed like that? To have a triumphant entrance. This entrance is for those who diligently keep walking in the ways of God, adding to their faith virtue, knowledge, self-control, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love.
 
But we also read of another scenario in 1 Corinthians 3:11-15. This passage tells us that all our works will be tried by fire. Only the works that stand the test of fire will abide. Verse 13 says: “Every man’s work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.”
 
When gold is purified, it is heated to the hottest temperature when they scoop off all the scum that arises to the top. They heat it again and more scum comes to the top. They often heat it seven times for it to become totally pure.
 
Verse 14 tells us that if our works abide the fire, we will receive a reward. All that is “wood, hay, and stubble” will be burned up. Those whose works are burned up will be saved “yet so as by fire” (verse 15). It’s the picture of a burning house. The person gets out in time and is saved from burning alive but everything he or she has accumulated in the home is gone! This person gets into Heaven if they have trusted in Jesus for their salvation, but they will take nothing with them. They get in by “the skin of their teeth.”
 
Dear precious mother, I want you to know that as you embrace with joy your high calling of motherhood and pour your life into mothering, nurturing, training, and teaching your children that you are doing a work that will abide the teste of fire. God has given you these children. He has given them to you to prepare for His eternal kingdom and therefore you are doing His work.
 
Our greatest parental vision is to prepare our children for Heaven. As you lead your children to Jesus will you take them with you into the glory of Heaven. As you pour your life into your God-given career, your work will come forth as gold. And you will receive an abundant entrance.
 
Keep your heavenly vision before you as you mother your children in your home.
 
Many blessings,
 
Nancy Campbell
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Nancy Campbell
Women's Daily Encouragement Blog

BOOKS I HAVE READ THIS YEAR

BooksRead
What have you been reading? I am amazed at how I can get through them as I don’t have as much time for reading as I would like, only when going to bed at night or when traveling in the car and Colin is driving. All these books have been wonderful reading.
 
HEAVEN by Randy Alcorn was a life-changer for me. I’d recommend it to everyone if you haven’t already read it. I’d love everyone to read it.
 
I also loved the GOD’S GENERALS books. It was inspiring to read about these great men and women of God who accomplished such great things for God. And yet it wasn’t without sacrifice, heartache, and hardship. They all suffered many trials, persecution, and even betrayal (not only by enemies but often by those who were closest to them).
 
I see there are more in the series. I’d eventually like to read more in the series, THE REVIVALISTS, THE MISSIONARIES, THE MARTYRS, and THE HEALING EVANGELISTS. And I also have waiting 50 PEOPLE EVERY CHRISTIAN SHOULD KNOW (Learning from the spiritual giants of the earth).
 
STOP IN THE NAME OF GOD by Charlie Kirk is very thought provoking and includes much revelation that you may have never thought about before. A must reading.
 
THEO OF GOLDEN is a novel but the most inspiring and delightful story. And although another novel, I loved THE FROZEN RIVER, a historical novel about a true woman, Martha Ballard who was a midwife back in the late 1700s in Maine. I was so taken by this story that I now have A MIDWIFE’S TALE (The Life of MARTHA Ballard, based on her diary 1785-1812) waiting in my next pile of books to read.
 
THE FROZEN RIVER is written by Ariel Lawhon (who is actually Sam Allison’s sister. Sam is married to Serene, my daughter). When Ariel first came to Tennessee from the back blocks of New Mexico she came to stay with us. Serene shared her bedroom with her (I think this was one of Sam’s ideas to get Serene!). Anyway, it’s rather amazing to think that Ariel is now a New York Times bestselling author and with many top selling books, and Serene (along with her sister Pearl) are top selling authors of health books! Back in those days we didn’t see into the future. Now, I’ve just heard that they are going to make a movie of THE FROZEN RIVER. It should be amazing as her book is totally captivating. She is a very good writer.
 
Many blessings,
 
Nancy Campbell
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Nancy Campbell
Women's Daily Encouragement Blog

I AM MORE DELIGHTFUL...

MoreDelightful

Is this your testimony?

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Nancy Campbell
Women's Daily Encouragement Blog

BE WITH THE PEOPLE OF GOD

CountryChurch

Whether you go to a big church, a little church, or a house church, make sure you take your family today to be with the people of God. It was the habit of Jesus as he grew up. It should be our habit too, “rain, hail, or snow”! We show our commitment to God by our commitment to God’s people (Hebrews 10:25).

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Nancy Campbell
Women's Daily Encouragement Blog

WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

dismemberit

Every day is a new day to build into our marriage and make it more special.

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Nancy Campbell
Women's Daily Encouragement Blog

WHAT IS MORE IMPORTANT?

BrethingPrayer

We cannot do without either!

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Nancy Campbell
Women's Daily Encouragement Blog

GOD CARES FOR YOU

Godcars4U

I love to think about the aseity of God, our God who is sufficient in Himself. He does not need anything or anyone. He does not need to rely on anything outside of Himself. Of course, our finite minds cannot grasp this amazing and finite and eternal God. He is beyond our wildest imagination.
 
We are totally dependent on God for our life and breath. We cannot function for very long with food or water. But the wonderful thing is that God who does not need anything outside of Himself, even food or water, thinks about feeding us. Isn’t that amazing?
 
God says in Psalm 50:12: “If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fullness thereof.” And yet think of the hundreds of different kinds of vegetables, herbs, and fruits He created for our enjoyment.
I love Acts 4:17 where it tells that God give us “fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” Notice that He not only says “food” but “food and gladness.” He created food not only for our nourishment, but to delight our taste buds and to give us happiness and enjoyment.
 
I think of that time when God saw that His servant Elijah was worn out, famished, and in need of food. What does God do? He sends an angel to make a fire of coals and bake a cake for him. The angel woke Elijah to the beautiful aroma of the cake cooking and a cruise of water waiting for him to drink. Oh, how God cares for us.
 
Be encouraged today, dear mother. Your great God is thinking about you, and He cares for you. You can cast all your care upon Him because He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7 and Psalm 55:22).
 
Have a lovely day,
 
Nancy Campbell
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Nancy Campbell
Women's Daily Encouragement Blog

THE GLORY OF WOMANHOOD

GloryWomanhood

It is sad that so many young women today do not truly know who they are as women. Yes, they know they are female, but they don’t understand the glory of womanhood. They have been brainwashed by our humanistic society and public education.

 
I find it hard to understand how any God-fearing parent can allow their children to go into our public education system today. It’s through the education system that they are changing the nation and our beautiful female population who God intends to be the life-givers, nurturers, and anchors of the nation. I was once a high school teacher myself but can no longer compare the education system of today with that time. Parents must be aware of what is happening.
 
Romans 1:26 tells us that when women turned away from their “natural function” that God gave them up to “vile affections.” Verse 27 tells us that THEN the men “began to burn in lust toward another.” This downward and destructive path first began with the women.
 
Isn’t it interesting that no one has any trouble about answering the question, “What is a man?” But if you ask, “What is a woman?” many have no answer, or more truthfully do not want to answer. Ketanji Brown Jackson, now a Supreme Court Judge couldn’t (or wouldn’t) answer that question. Where are we in our nation when a Supreme Court Judge cannot answer such a basic question!
 
I believe it is time for us to magnify our role of womanhood. And what is a woman? She is a womb man. The womb is our most distinguishing characteristic as a woman. When we embrace the gift and privilege God has given to bring forth life from the womb, we glorify God as women. God created us with breasts to nurture life, and we glorify God as we fulfil our God-given functions. It is in our womanly functions and mothering that we find our true glory and joy.
 
But I hear you say, “there are many women who are not able to give birth.” There is more to the woman than the physical. God has also created women with His anointing of compassion and nurturing that is inherently within her. Even if she cannot physically give birth and nourish from her breast, she can pour out her life to comfort and minister to the needy in society. This is our ultimate role as women.
 
We exemplify our womanhood in being feminine, nurturing, motherly, and compassionate. We also show our womanhood in the way we dress. It’s time to dress like a female and show to the world that we are different than males. If we want to turn this society back to its God-given foundation, we must turn away from blurring the sexes. Why do women try to be like men when our glory is in our womanhood?
 
To try and be something other than who God created us to be is to waste the purpose of our lives. To embrace who God created us to be is to fulfil our destiny.
 
Be blessed today,
 
Nancy Campbell
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Nancy Campbell
Women's Daily Encouragement Blog

THE PATH TO HOME

PathToHome

I am sharing with you today a poem from Edgar Allen Guest (1981 - 1959). For 40 years Guest published poems about life and family. They were simple but always positive and related to life and family. I have always loved his poems (he wrote 11,000)!
 
I love the last line of this one:
"These are all in life that matter when you’ve stripped the sham away."
 
THE PATH TO HOME
By Edgar A. Guest
 
There’s the mother at the doorway, and the children at the gate,
And the little parlor windows with the curtains white and straight.
There are shaggy asters blooming in the bed that lines the fence,
And the simplest of the blossoms seem of mighty consequence.
Oh, there isn’t any mansion underneath God’s starry dome
That can rest a weary pilgrim like the little place called home.
 
Men have sought for gold and silver, men have dreamed at night of fame,
In the heat of youth they’ve struggled for achievement’s honored name;
But the selfish crowns are tinsel, and their shining jewels paste,
And the wine of pomp and glory soon grows bitter to the taste
For there’s never any laughter, howsoever far you roam,
Like the laughter of the loved ones in the happiness of home.
 
There is nothing so important as the mother’s lullabies,
Filled with peace and sweet contentment, when the moon begins to rise—
Nothing real except the beauty and the calm upon her face
And the shouting of the children as they scamper round the place.
For the greatest of man’s duties is to keep his loved ones glad,
And to have his children glory in the father they have had.
 
So wherever a man may wander, and whatever be his care,
You’ll find his soul still stretching to the home he left somewhere.
You’ll find his dreams all tangled up with hollyhocks in bloom,
And the feet of little children that go racing through a room,
With the happy mother smiling as she watches them at play—
These are all in life that matter when you’ve stripped the sham away.
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Nancy Campbell
Women's Daily Encouragement Blog

ANY CONCERNS TOO SMALL...

AnyConcern

“Any concern too small to be turned into prayer is too small to be made into a burden.”
~ Corrie Ten Boom
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Nancy Campbell
Women's Daily Encouragement Blog

A WONDERFUL TRADITION

Nancyfriend

On my way home from speaking at the Above Rubies Ladies’ Retreat in Olympia Washington. It was a wonderful weekend. It has become a tradition now that each Sunday night I stay with Molly and Erick Lilja in Seattle as I wait to catch the plane next morning. It’s always so wonderful to be with their wonderful family and enjoy family Bible reading with them at their evening meal. And another tradition. Each time they make their special curried salmon dish which is so delicious.

 

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Nancy Campbell
Women's Daily Encouragement Blog

TAKE THIS CHILD

TakeThisChild

TAKE THIS CHILD
 
“Take this child and nurse it for me” –
So King Pharoah’s daughter spoke
To the mother, whose whole being
For her little one did ache.
 
So God speaks to every mother
At her helpless infant’s birth:
“Take this child and nurse it for Me
During all its life on earth.”
 
“Take this child, to thee I trust it;
It from thee must learn the way,
Through the earthly darkness round it,
To the light of heavenly day.”
 
“Take this child - and, Mother, ponder!
Yonder Heaven is yours and fair;
Wouldn’t thou be amidst its number
And thy little one not there?”
 
“Oh, then train it, gently, wisely,
All its Saviour’s love to feel;
And, where sin has cast its shadow,
Teach it Christ has power to heal.”
 
“Take this child, this richest blessing
Given to the earthly home;
“Take this child and nurse it for Me
Till to seek mine own I come.”
 
~ Harriet Agnes McNair, 1865
 
Painting: Pierre-Auguste Renoir: Mother and Child
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Nancy Campbell
Women's Daily Encouragement Blog

YOU ARE DOING A GREAT WORK

DoingGreatWork

Isn’t amazing that everyone wants you to do something other than motherhood? Understand what is happening. It is the ploy of the devil to woo you away from your highest calling, your God-given career of raising godly children to influence this world. There is no career that is worth more than this.

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Nancy Campbell
Women's Daily Encouragement Blog

WHERE ARE THE OLDER WOMEN?

WhereOlderWomen
As you know, I have many Prayer Boxes in our home which we use in our Prayer and Bible reading times each morning. We usually choose two different boxes each time. This morning we chose Our Above Rubies Prayer Box and Our Israel Prayer Box.
 
The card I picked out this morning said: “Pray for older women to rise up and teach the younger women to come home and embrace motherhood.”
 
This is such a needed prayer. We all know from reading Titus 2:3-5 that God has given a mandate to the older women to teach the younger women the ways of the home, marriage, and motherhood. Oh, how it grieves my heart that, on the whole, this is not happening in the body of Christ.
 
I have many older women who write to me and say: “Thank you so much for Above Rubies. It has blessed me so much as I raised our children. But now they are all grown I don’t need it anymore.” Oh how my heart grieves. I think, “Wow, I didn’t get the vision to them.” Because our mothering does not finish when our children are grown. It increases. It enlarges. We don’t move into a new career when our children leave the nest. We move into an even bigger field of ministry.
 
Our family is growing and enlarging. A new generation is coming. We have the responsibility of passing on the truth to our adult sons and daughters and to all the young moms that are in our field of life. I believe we must be faithful to our generation. If we, as older mothers, do not teach God’s ways to the next generation, we fail them. And God holds us responsible.
 
Where are the young women, even the Christian young women today? The majority are delaying childbearing because of their careers. Most are limiting their families. Even those who embrace children are putting them in daycare and public school so they can get into the workforce. As much as it is the norm in our society today, it is not the biblical worldview. And why is this the model?
Because the older mothers have not taken up their mandate from God.,
 
Acts 13:25 tells us that “David served his own generation by the will of God.” He was faithful to his generation. In Psalm 71:18 he cries out: “Now also when I am old and gray-headed, O God, forsake me not, until I have showed thy strength unto this generation, and the power to everyone that is to come.”
 
I am sure you are praying for revival. We long for a great revival in our nation. But what is revival? It is coming back to God’s truth and His Word. We are so far away from God’s plan. We need a revival of the older women to rise up and teach the young women to embrace their God-given career of motherhood, to love and submit to their husbands, and to love making their homes a holy and glorious place for their children to grow up in the ways of God.
 
We need a revival of fathers and mothers gathering their children around them each morning and evening at the “family altar,” the place where we read God’s word together and pray. This is one of the greatest weaknesses in family life today. How many families pray together daily? How many fathers read God’s word to their children daily? Our greatest need is for a revival of godly home life.
 
Will you please join me in this prayer?
 
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
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