Genesis 2:18 says that I am created to be a help-meet to my husband. I can be a helper to him by:
H Heaping love and kisses upon him.
E Excitedly preparing meals for him.
L Lovingly serving him rather than my own pursuits.
P Praying for him.
E Encouraging him daily.
R Reverencing him and submitting to him.
How often I fall short of God’s divine plan for me. May God help me, and each one of us, to be the helpers He wants us to be to our husbands.
~ Nancy Campbell
How is your soul today? Downcast? Reveling in self-pity? Or even dead? I have answer for you. It’s God’s living Word.
Psalm 19:7 says: “The law of the LORD is perfect converting the soul.” Most other translations say either: “restoring the soul.” “refreshing the soul,” “reviving the soul,” and “renewing the soul.” I love Knox translation which says: “The Lord’s perfect law, how it brings the soul back to life.” Don’t you love that? Does your soul need coming back to life? Get back into God’s Word. You cannot expect to keep your soul alive when you don’t feed it.
“But I don’t seem to get time to read the Bible,” you answer. I know it is not easy when you have little ones around you. When my children were little I used to keep a Bible beside the toilet, one on my windowsill in the kitchen, and one in the place where I nursed the baby. There are many moments when you can receive life and sustenance if you make them happen. Open your Bible to the Psalms or Proverbs where it is easy to read a few verses in context.
And it is the same for your children. We would not dream of starving our children. We faithfully feed them three meals a day, and often in-between. And yet we let their souls and spirits starve! Make sure you gather together as a family morning and evening to read God’s Word together. You’ve got to keep their souls and spirits alive too.
Blessings to you home today,
Nancy Campbell
What happens when we have a baby? We receive a child from the Lord. When Eve gave birth to Cain she exclaimed, “I have gotten a man FROM THE LORD” (Genesis 4:1). Some translations say “with the help of the Lord.” I love the Knox Version which says, “I have been ENRICHED by the Lord with a man-child.”
What an awesome privilege we have as women! Every child God gives you comes from Him. He is the giver of life. You cannot even conceive without God visiting you (Genesis 21:1, 2 and 1Samuel 2:21).
Let’s embrace the privilege and awesomeness of conception and birth--miraculous blessings from God. Because this is God’s beautiful plan, the devil hates it and tries to destroy life every way He can.
Let’s be life receivers rather than life stoppers.
Love from Nancy Campbell
Do your dreams and prayers include the generations to come?
I love the line from the delightful children’s book by George MacDonald, “At the Back of the North Wind.” He says, “For our Selves will always do pretty well If we don’t pay them too much attention.” How true are these words. It is the same principle Jesus gave us in Mark 8:35: “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.”
When we focus on ourselves--our own problems, sicknesses, and how to make ourselves happy we end up self-serving which pulls us down into the slough of self-pity and delusion. It is an eternal principle that when you forget about yourself and pour out your life for others you become fulfilled. You are happier and more relaxed, peaceful, hopeful, and content.
“But what about me? you cry. Of course we have to care for ourselves spiritually, mentally, and physically. That’s basic. But we don’t tune all our thinking on ourselves. I’ll never forgot a moment in my life years ago. My children were all little and I had just come home from purchasing the groceries. As I walked over the threshold of my home, I felt the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking strongly to my heart, “Nancy, how can I reveal to you the needs of others if you are always thinking of yourself?” I have never forgotten those words. From then on I learned to give much more room in my mind and heart for others.
Will we be forgotten when we pour out our lives for others? No, the opposite. God makes sure that our “self” as George MacDonald puts it, will be blessed and comforted. God pours into those who pour out.
Mothering is a liberating ministry into this eternal principle. Not on the odd occasion, but 24/7 we forget self as we pour out our hearts for our children--praying for them, teaching them, training them, caring for them, cooking for them, and often agonizing over them.
Let’s embrace this eternal principle and live in the fullness of the joy and life God intends for us. We teach our children how to be joyful; we need to adhere to it ourselves.
J Jesus first
O Others second
Y Yourself last
Be blessed,
Nancy Campbell
I am sure all mothers will enjoy reading this article. Here are a couple of lovely quotes:
“Becoming a parent looks—at least in the brain—a lot like falling in love.”
“The blueprint for mothering behavior exists in the brain even before a woman has children. Perhaps, then, motherhood really is like secret space in a woman's brain, waiting to be discovered.”
http://www.theatlantic.com/…/what-happens-to-a-woma…/384179/
My life touched yours for a very brief space,
And what, oh what did you see?
A hurried, a worried, an anxious face?
Or the beauty of Jesus in me?
Was I steeped so deep in the ways of the world
That you couldn't detect one thing
That would set me apart and show that my heart
Belonged to the heavenly king?
Did I carry no banner for Jesus my Lord?
Not one thing at all that could show
Whose side I am on in the glorious fight?
I am his. But you wouldn't know.
Forgive me! and if we should e'er meet again
Upon earth, oh I pray you will see
No mark of this world, but his banner unfurled,
And the beauty of Jesus in me!
~ A. H. Mortenson
Home based upon Christian marriage is so evidently an institution of God, that a man must become profane before he can deny it . . . Of this realm woman is queen. It takes its cue and its hue from her. If she is in the best sense womanly--if she is true and tender, loving and heroic, patient and self-devoted--she consciously or unconsciously organizes and puts in operation a set of influences that do more to mould the destiny of the nation than any man, uncrowned by power or eloquence, can possibly effect.
~ Dr. J. G. Holland
Words have power. God gave us the gift of speech to communicate to one another with words. Jesus Himself is THE WORD! John 1: 1, 2, 14 says: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. . . . And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” God gives words of truth.
However, words can also deceive. Words can lie. Words are misleading the majority of this nation. By euphemisms-- nice sounding words to cover up the true meaning of something so it no longer sounds offensive. Our humanistic society and the political left use euphemisms to cover up their agenda. To change your thinking! Hide the real truth.
Let’s not be fooled. Don’t allow your children to be fooled either. If they grow up accepting these words they will be brainwashed and imbibe falsity. They will hook into an anti-biblical mindset and become self-deceived.
Let’s look at just some of the examples. Please forgive me, the list got a little longer than I intended:
Abortion mentality. Currently accepted as the “right to choose,” “pro-choice," "women's health," or "reproductive freedom." The real truth is: “I choose to murder my own flesh and blood baby.”
Abortion act is called the “termination of pregnancy, “removal of fetal matter.” Would abortion clinics have as many clients if they posted the sign: “Come in here to have your baby murdered”?
Abortioner. The evil act of the abortioner which kills a live human being is called “Embryo Reduction Procedure” (ERP).
Adultery which breaks sacred vows proclaimed before God and betrays the marriage partner is called “temporary marriage,” “extra marital affair,” or just “an affair.”
Assisted Suicide by physicians giving a lethal overdose to kill a person is called the nice sounding phrase of “Death with Dignity.” No matter how nice it sounds, it’s still murder.
Baby in the womb is called everything but a human baby. Instead it is called “uterine contents,” “birth matter,” “products of conception,” etc.
Bad debts are called “under-performing assets.”
Bums. The accepted word is “homeless.”
Charity is called “entitlement.”
Child sexual abuse is watered down by the words “intergenerational sex.”
Collapse of American society. Our president calls it “fundamental transformation.”
Confiscation by threat of what belongs to others is called “social justice.” It’s really injustice.
Contraception is advocated by “Every child a wanted child.” Sounds lovely, but does that mean that a mother who does not find the timeframe convenient to have a baby can abort?
Fornication which is sexual intercourse before marriage is accepted as “pre-marital sex.” God calls it sin and says that no fornicator (along with other listed sins) will enter the kingdom of heaven (1 Corinthians 5:9, 10). Of course, God gives total forgiveness when someone repents (1 John 1:7, 9).
Downright lies are called “inoperative statements” or “terminological inexactitude.”
Drug abuse is called “substance abuse.”
Gangs are called “youth groups.”
Expecting people to accept lifestyles that are contrary to the Bible is called “tolerance.”
Government spending is called “investment.”
Homosexuals are called “gay.” How can it be gay when it is an abomination in God’s eyes?
Illegal aliens are called “undocumented immigrants,” or Obama’s favorite term, “Americans-in-waiting.” My husband and I came from a different country and had to pay thousands of dollars and work hard to receive our Green Card on which was printed “Resident Alien.” Even though we were here legally we were stilled called “alien.” Today people are no longer called alien even when they are illegal! We later went on to become US citizens.
Liberal Left are called “progressives” or “progressive change agents.” They are not progressive and it is more correct to call them “leftists” or “statists.”
Marxism (which is really socialism, communism, or collectivism) currently practiced by many in government is covered up by the misleading names of “fairness,” “economic justice,” “redistribution,” “progressivism,” and “spreading the wealth around.”
Southern American children from infants to 18 years, arranged by gangs and drug cartels and welcomed by Obama into this nation, are called “unaccompanied minors.”
Micromanagement of our daily lives, thoughts, and businesses by self-appointed elitists is called “socialism.”
Pedophiles who prey on young children are called “minor-attracted persons” (MAPs).
Perverts are called “sexual variants.”
Porn movies are called “adult movies.”
Prostitutes are called “sex workers” or engaging in “social activity.”
Wasteful spending is called by our government “legislative directive.”
Rejecting the female role is called “feminism.” This term is devious because it sounds so much like the word feminine which gives the picture of a gentle, submissive, and nurturing woman. Instead, they want to annihilate motherhood and the family.
Sex change is called “Gender Assignment Surgery.” Everything that is against God and His creation is changed to a misleading word or phrase.
Twenty-four hour government-funded child care is called “flexible child care.” That doesn’t sound like a takeover, does it? But that it is the eventual plan.
Taxes. Obama, the professional euphemizer calls tax increase “Revenue enhancement,” “shared sacrifices,” or “advanced approach.” And yet he has already spent, using the people’s taxes, over $40 million on his vacations alone while in office. It will be over $50 million by the time his term ends.
We dare not be fooled by these euphemisms. The political left tells us like it’s not. Let’s not be afraid to tell it like it is!
We will not be seduced!
~ Nancy Campbell
No children in the house to play-
It must be hard to live that way!
I wonder what the people do
When night comes on and the work is through,
With no glad little folks to shout,
No eager feet to race about,
No youthful tongues to chatter on
About the joy that’s been and gone?
The house might be a castle fine,
But what a lonely place to dine!
No children in the house at all,
No finger marks upon the wall,
No corner where the toys are pile—
Sure indication of a child.
No little lips to breathe the prayer
That God shall keep you in His care,
No glad caress and welcome sweet
When night returns you to your street;
No little lips a kiss to give—
Oh, what a lonely way to live!
No children in the house! I fear
We could not stand it half a year.
Would we talk about at night,
Plan for and work with all our might,
Hold common dreams about and find
True union of heart and mind,
If we two had no greater care
Than what we both should eat and wear?
We never knew love’s brightest flame
Until the day the baby came.
And now we could not get along
Without their laughter and their song,
Joy is not bottled on a shelf,
It cannot feed upon itself;
And even love, if it shall wear,
Must find its happiness in care;
Dull we’d become of mind and speech
Had we no little ones to teach.
No children in the house to play!
Oh, we could never live that way!
~ Edgar Guest.
Today is the first day of another year. The word filling my mind is AWAKE. In the midst of our busy lives and trying to keep up with everything we can still be asleep.
Asleep to the dangers of the changes happening to our communities and country. Asleep to the insidious plan of the enemy to keep us slumbering while he sows his deceptions into the minds of our children and this generation. Asleep to the plan of the progressives (the new word for socialists and Marxists) who are redirecting our nation from its core Judeo/Christian values to socialist and humanist ideology--opposite to our fundamental belief in God and family. Asleep to the plan to reeducate the children of our public schools to reject God, morality, the authority of their parents and instead embrace multiculturalism and political correctness (and everything that goes along with that word and which is also a form of Marxism). Asleep to our own materialism, half-heartedness, luke-warmnness, worldliness, and apathy. Asleep to the needs of others, the hurting world, and the persecuted church.
It’s time to AWAKE. This is what the Scripture says in 1 Corinthians 15:34: “Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.”
This word “awake” is not used anywhere else in the Bible. It means to “awake immediately from a drunken sleep.”
I believe this is God’s Word to us for this year. Awake to what is going on around us. Awake from our sleep of tolerance and turn back to God’s way. Back to righteousness. The majority of Christians are totally oblivious to the total reeducating of the minds of this nation. No wonder the Scripture exhorts us to be “transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2). We will either be propagandized by leftist ideology or transformed by God’s living truth.
The Jerusalem Bible says: “Come to your senses, behave properly.”
Let’s wake up.
Blessings to you and your family,
Nancy Campbell
Good morning, dear ladies. Today begins another New Year. I pray God’s richest blessings upon you, your husband and your children. May we each come closer and closer to our wonderful Redeemer this coming year. May we seek to know Him MORE AND MORE, not according to our own imagination of what we want Him to be, but Who He is--our Savior from our sins, the Mighty God of the universe, King of kings, Lord of lords, and the Potentate of all.
Let’s seek Him MORE, pray MORE urgently and intensely, compromise less and stand MORE strongly for righteousness, and shine our lights MORE brightly (personally and as families) for God in this coming year.
As we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us.
Many blessings, Nancy Campbell
“Christian parents who don’t have daily family devotions and don’t make time to build a solid Christian foundation to their children’s impressionable years should not be mystified when the children, in their teenage years, turn from the things of God.”
~ The Evidence Bible, Compiled by Ray Comfort
Children love to have friends. As they get older they love to have more friends. They love to get in the groove with their friends. In fact, many times peer pressure from friends becomes a greater influence than parent pressure! That’s why it is imperative to guard your children’s friends. Pray and look for godly friends for your children. Refrain from putting them into environments where they can be influenced by worldly and unbiblical influences.
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 have got in with the wrong crowd.
Guard your children’s souls and minds. Guard their friends. That’s why so many concerned parents homeschool their children today. They do not want to put their children into an environment where they can be led astray by ungodly children.
Of course many will immediately respond with the comment that they send their children to school to be a witness. Dear young parents, our young children are not ready to be sent among the wolves. They are only lambs. Many teenagers are still not strong enough.
I certainly don’t believe in keeping our children at home forever. We train them to send 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 therefore 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. This is our responsibility as parents which we cannot take lightly.
Blessings to you and your children,
Nancy Campbell
When raising our children, I tried to do something different at the meal table one night a week. One of the things the children loved was COLOR NIGHTS. For example, I would choose a color and put up a notice:
“Tonight is RED Night
No admittance unless wearing something Red.
Supper at 6.00 p.m. Please knock before entering.”
While they rummaged through drawers to find red clothes, I set the table with a red tablecloth, adding red candles, napkins, and centerpiece (red flowers if I could find them). I prepared red foods. There are plenty of foods from which to choose, e.g. beets, radishes, red beans, red hot dogs with tomato sauce, tomato soup, potatoes or rice colored with red food coloring, etc.
For dessert you can choose red fruits such as pomegranates (when in season), blood oranges, cherries, strawberries, watermelon, or red grapes, etc.
You can also purchase red paper plates and knives and forks, etc. I would often wrap a little gift (something inexpensive) in red paper and put it beside their plate. The children loved these nights and over the years we tried every color of the rainbow!
Have fun with your family,
Nancy Campbell
She . . .
adds to his happiness,
subtracts from his cares,
multiplies his joys,
divides his sorrows, and
practices reduction in the
expenditure of his household.
~ Unknown
Painting: William Kay Blacklock (1872-1922) British Painter
Nowhere is Christianity more beautifully displayed, than in the home. It changes the home of wickedness, strife, and contention into a peaceful and delightful Eden. It converts the home of the wicked into a palace. It drives away discontentment, uneasiness, fear, and darkness and showers contentment, peace, and sunlight into every heart.
Christianity in home life makes all love and kindness between brothers and sisters; love and dutifulness between parents and children; love, peace, harmony, honesty, and faithfulness between husband and wife.
Christianity makes a home a Heaven! A Christian home where all is love and tenderness and devotion is the sweetest and most sacred spot on earth! A home where Christianity is crowned a queen in every heart is an Eden. The heart of God is filled with delight as He looks down upon such a home! His presence dwells there, and causes this home to be a beautiful oasis in this wilderness world of sin.
Alas, that such homes are so few! Sin destroys the happiness of man, and makes many a home a hotbed of contention, strife, and confusion!
When the husband and wife are kind, loving, and gentle toward each other; when she in her weakness feels her dependence upon him, and lovingly, trustingly looks unto him as her defense; and he in his strength and delight enfolds her in his strong arms of protection with a feeling of responsibility to nourish and cherish her then they can testify that they have a Heaven in their home!
Unless we have attained unto such a life we have not attained to Bible Christianity, nor to domestic joy and happiness.
~ Charles Orr from "Christianity in Home Life."
Home is the true wife's kingdom. Very largely does the wife hold in her hands, as a sacred trust, the happiness and the highest good of the hearts that nestle there. In the last analysis, home happiness depends on the wife.
Her spirit gives the home its atmosphere.
Her hands fashion its beauty.
Her heart makes its love.
And the end is so worthy, so noble, so divine, that no woman who has been called to be a wife, and has listened to the call, should consider any price too great to pay, to be the light, the joy, the blessing, the inspiration of a home.
The woman who makes a sweet, beautiful home, filling it with love and prayer and purity, is doing something better than anything else her hands could find to do beneath the skies.
A true mother is one of the holiest secrets of home happiness. God sends many beautiful things to this world, many noble gifts; but no blessing is richer than that which He bestows in a mother who has learned love's lessons well, and has realized something of the meaning of her sacred calling.
~ James Russell Miller (1840 - 1912)
...to each one of you today. May you and your husband and families be blessed as you enjoy one another and give praise to God for the coming of our Savior to this world.
We look forward to a wonderful family gathering, about 75 for a sit-down meal (although not as meany as Thanksgiving). The aroma in the home is delightful. I have lamb cooking in the upstairs oven and a turkey in the downstairs oven. Wherever you walk the smell is delightful and the carols are playing. More of the family will arrive tonight for dessert.
I must now get upstairs and start peeling the potatoes and sweet potatoes.
Blessings and love from Nancy Campbell
I just had to share this picture with you. Isn't it wonderful? May we all have the same AWE AND WONDER of God's incomprehensible plan of salvation to send our Savior, Deliverer, and King into the world as a little baby.
Here's the story of Simeon:
Luke 2:25-35
25 And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him.
26 And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ.
27 And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law,
28 Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,
29 Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word:
30 For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
31 Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;
32 A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.
33 And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him.
34 And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against;
35 (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.
Blessings from Nancy
AboveRubies
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