What attitude are you showing to your family?
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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.
In the midst of your daily routine and challenges of mothering you can often forget the awesomeness of what you are doing. Do you realize, mother, that your children are not only a gift from God to you but a gift from God to the world? Motherhood is so far-reaching. It's not confined to your little home. Each one of your children have been destined by God and have been in His heart from the foundation of the world. God has a special purpose for each one of them to fulfill. What a privilege to raise a child who is "a gift to the world"!God said to Jeremiah: "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I sanctified you. I have appointed you a prophet to the nations" (Jeremiah 1:5 WEB). The word "appointed" in the Hebrew means "a gift" and in other Scriptures is mostly translated "give."
Rejoice in the greatness of your calling today. You are nurturing and preparing children who have been appointed as a "gift to the world." As you nurture, teach, pray over them, and prepare them for God’s destiny for their life you will get to see the exploits God will do in their lives to bless many people.
This is the power of motherhood. It is not something you are doing for yourself.
You are blessing the world! Do you ant to say Hallelujah?
Blessings today from Nancy Campbell
Painting by Lindsay Frost
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Dear mother, can I ask you what voices you listen to? There are many voices in this world, all vying for your attention. Humanistic voices lure you away from the heart of your home, the place God divinely provided for you to raise your children. Deceptive voices tempt you to get involved in more and more outside activities that take your time away from your home and family.God has innately put in you what He wants you to do. Listen to your heart, dear mother. Listen to God's voice. Your children need YOU, not daycare or a caregiver. No one else can ever love and care for your children like you do. No one else can as aware and sensitive to their physical needs, and especially their innermost needs.
Someone else can replace you in your career, your organization, or even extra-church activities, but no one can adequately replace you as the mother of your children. You were born for this mission, It is your destiny.
Embrace you high calling today,
Nancy Campbell
Painting: Giochi materni by Giuseppe Magni
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...the things that God loves and what He hates? We won’t fully know these things unless we are daily in his Word.
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Do you like waiting? Well, in the natural world it is hard to wait, isn’t it? We like things to happen just when we want them. However, the Bible talks a lot of about waiting.
I remember growing up as a child. I didn’t think we were poor. We had everything we needed but we didn’t have excess. We didn’t expect to get what we wanted each time we went to town with our mother. We received gifts for birthdays and Christmases and that was it. To get an orange in our Christmas stocking was a gift from Heaven. A little packet of raisins was heavenly!
I can remember waiting with agony for Christmas to come each year. It seemed like an eternity to wait. But with the waiting was incredible expectation.
My husband was sharing this morning how he received a bottle of pop for his birthday. He remembers it being called Orange Crush. He said he thought he had gone to Heaven. It was so precious that he would take two sips each day and put it back on the shelf to make it last. It didn’t even bother him that all the bubbles depleted as the days wore on.
This is unheard of today. An orange or a bottle of pop is like nothing! Most children get what they want when they want it. They have never learned the expectation of w a i t i n g!
In many ways, this is sad. I think that if children do not learn to experience this emotion of waiting when they are young, how are they ever going to learn to wait on God and wait for His timing when they are older? The Bible says, “First that which is natural, and then that which is spiritual.” Nature prepares us for the spiritual.
It is sad when I hear someone say, “OH, I prayed, but God didn’t answer, so I don’t believe in Him!” I wonder how many times they prayed. I wondered how long they waited. I am sure it wasn’t long. They have not learned this very important quality. Don’t deprive your children of learning it.
And let’s all learn to wait on God. He is not in a hurry. He does not live in time. He will work when it is the right time.
Lamentations 3:26: “It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.”
Psalm 37:7: “Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself . . .”
Many blessings,
Nancy Campbell
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Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers: "I will very gladly spend and be spent for you" (2 Corinthians 12:15). The adding of "and be spent" to his affirmation means "vehemently, heartily, and exceedingly." This was Paul's attitude to the new believers in Christ.What about us mothers and homemakers? We have precious lives in our care that God has given us to disciple. They are more than acquaintances. They are our flesh and blood. What is our attitude towards them? Are we willing to "spend and be spent," or do we resent the fact that motherhood takes all our energy and time? Read 1 Thessalonians 2:8, 9 for a little more understanding.
Paul did not do this because it was his duty. He did it "VERY GLADLY." I often see mothers with attitudes of "VERY complaining," "VERY resentful," or "VERY unhappy." Do you think we could change it to “VERY gladly”?
Come on now, dear mothers. You are in full time ministry for the Lord. You are disciplining precious souls.
What's your attitude today?
Be blessed,
Nancy Campbell
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God is a covenant-keeping God and He wants us to be covenant-keeping people.
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The great preacher and author, Dwight L. Moody said, "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! Fulltime! Every day and all day! What a privilege. There is nothing greater work you can do. The investment you pour into your children not only blesses them, but the world. 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: "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 10:13, 15 MSG).
Mother, you are at the very epicenter of life in God's kingdom!
Enjoy it today,
Nancy Campbell
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“The most extraordinary thing in the world is an ordinary man and an ordinary woman and their ordinary children.”- G. K. Chesterton
Dear mother, I wonder if you realize the impact you are having as a mother! Godly mothers in the home raising godly and truth-filled children can bring this nation back to God. Mankind began in the home and the strength of the home life will determine the strength of the nation. The greatest weakness of the nation is mothers abdicating their home life.
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This is where many mothers have a hang up. They love their children but they don’t love motherhood. They have one foot in one world and one in another. To live in the joy and fullness of motherhood the secret is to embrace with all your heart your career of motherhood. To not only love your children but love motherhood makes all the difference. Begin confessing that you love motherhood.
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I am not languishing. I am not deceived.I have a vision. I know who I am and who God created me to be. I know my purpose. I am walking in the perfect will of God.
I know it’s not easy, but I’ve counted the cost. My goal is set. How could my career be easy when I am influencing a nation for God, generations to come, and eternity? How could it be easy when I am destroying the plans of the devil?
Such is the power of my God-mandated career, the highest calling ever given to women—motherhood.
I have embraced my calling. I am not intimidated by my antagonists. I will not be moved. My heart is fixed. I may be hidden in my home but look out world! I am sharpening my arrows. I am getting them ready to shoot forth and destroy the adversary.
In the power and anointing of God, I am advancing God’s Kingdom.
Love from Nancy Campbell
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Oh yes, we fail and fall so many times. But we don’t have to stay down. In the strength of the Lord we can get up again.Rise up and shine, dear mother!
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God GAVE the land of Israel to His people for an EVERLASTING POSSESSION (Genesis 13:15 and 17:8). He calls it their OWN LAND (Ezekiel 34:13; 36:24; and 37:21).And guess what? What they have now is only a fraction of the land God promised to them. Read Genesis 15:18-21 and Joshua 1:3,4, where we see that the land GOD GAVE to Israel includes everything from Nile River in Egypt to Lebanon (south to north) and everything from the Mediterranean Sea to the Euphrates River. This includes the West Bank and Gaza, (they gave away Gaza for peace but it certainly didn’t bring them peace), some of Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq, plus all of Jordan!
To read more of the hundreds of promises about the land go to:
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We all know that God created women to be a “help meet” to her husband. The Hebrew words are “ezer kenegdo.” We understand the “ezer,” the help part which means “to do for someone what he or she cannot do for himself or herself.” It’s the same word that is used to describe God as our Help. God comes to our aid when we have no way of helping ourselves. What’s amazing is that God used this word to describe women before we read it as a description of God. To be a help to our husband is a divine mission. It is one of the attributes of God.But what about the “kenegdo” part? This is the only time this word is used in the Bible and it is only used to describe the woman. It means “counterpart or part opposite.” Read that again. Did you notice that God did not create us to be the same as our husband? He created us differently. He created us to complement our husband in things that he cannot do himself.
God’s divine and glorious plan is to bring two people together and make them one—a man and a woman. Not two males. Not two females. Each are different, so they can accomplish the ultimate purposes of God.
God has created us with a womb to conceive and nurture life in our womb. Our husbands cannot do this. He created us to nourish a babe at our breast. Our husbands cannot do this. He created us to love home and make a nest and a safe sanctuary for our husbands and family. Our husband cannot do this. Without a wife in the home it looks and feels like a “bachelor pad.” No ambiance. No feminine touches. No hominess
This is God’s glorious plan for women. But because it is God’s plan, the devil hates it. He hates everything that is of God. Therefore, he seeks to destroy marriages. He woos women out of the home. He deceives them to take on their husband’s role and vacate the role God ordained for them.
Dear wives and mothers, let’s not be betrayed by the devil who is a liar and a deceiver. He has already two-timed thousands of women. Don’t be another one of his statistics. Let’s be who God created us to be—with all our hearts and beings.
I was reading a commentary by Matthew Henry the other morning. He described the wife as a “companion to her husband, manager of domestic concerns, trusted to form the minds of children.” A very influential role.
It’s time to stop joining the devil’s plan (while he laughs up his sleeve), and instead embrace God’s eternal purpose.
Loads of love to you in your home today,
Nancy Campbell
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Dear mother, if Jesus Christ dwells in your heart, in the midst of all your challenges and the things that tend to send you crazy, you can live in victory and patience and joy. You are an overcomer in Christ.
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Yes, I was shocked as I recently read a commentary on 1 Timothy 2:15 that speaks of women being saved and delivered through embracing the lifestyle of motherhood. This commentary stated: “This deliverance was from some of the devastating effects of the ROLE REVERSAL that took place in Eden. The idea of childbearing, then is a metonymy of part for the whole that encompasses the woman’s submission again to the leadership of the man . . . “
I must confess that I had never thought of the sin in the Garden of Eden as a role reversal. It arrested me. But it is true. This was the first sin! Eve took charge! She did not discuss with Adam about the idea of taking the fruit or talk about it with him. She made the decision without him. Adam himself became a wimp and followed her instead of taking his leadership.
The devil continues to challenge and tempt every married couple the same way. He wants us to role reverse—in our marriage relationship and in the role God has given to us as as women and mothers. Satan hates every ordinance and plan of God and continually tries to subvert them and entice us in the opposite direction.
We must guard against it. 1 Peter 5:8 says: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist steadfast in the faith.”
This doesn’t mean that we can’t make a decision without talking to our husbands. God has given to women the management of their homes. We make decisions constantly in managing our homes and dealing with and teaching our children. However, in big decisions, we should not take charge without first checking with our husbands. God has placed them as the head of the home. It’s God’s plan and His plan is always best.
When we keep to God’s plan, we’ll have harmony and His blessings.
God be with you today,
Nancy Campbell
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Do we allow our emotions and attitudes to be dictated by our circumstances? That’s so easy to let happen, isn’t it?Habakkuk 3:17, 18 (NLT) is always such a challenge to me: “EVEN THOUGH the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are grapes on the vines; EVEN THOUGH the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; EVEN THOUGH the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!”
The situation was total devastation and destruction. This guy had nothing left but God Himself. And yet he is still rejoicing.
What about us?
Have you been up all night with the baby? And you’re feeling lousy, tired, and overwhelmed? Can you still say, “Even though . . . God is good. I will rejoice.”
You wonder how on earth you can pay next month’s rent! “Even though . . . I will rejoice in the Lord. I know that God will not fail us.”
You are burdened with a sick parent or child. “Even though . . . I will rejoice. I will trust my God.”
Your house is so small and you long for more room for the children. “Even though . . . I know God is with us and we are blessed.”
I think it all comes back to putting our trust in God and knowing that He is a God who cannot fail. Let’s trust Him more.
Let’s confess the right confession. Let’s be those who can say “Even though . . . “
The Lord abundantly bless you today,
Nancy Campbell
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This is what makes strong homes and families and consequently strong nations.
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Yesterday we talked about what to call a baby growing in the womb. We discovered that God’s Word often uses the phrase “with child.”There is another word that God uses. It’s actually a Hebrew word but it reveals great truth. We know that life begins at conception, but it is amazing to understand that God sees life even before it is conceived. Did you know that He uses the same word for the word sperm as He does to describe people? Let’s look at it, shall we?
The Hebrew word for sperm is “zera” and it is the same word that is used to describe people at different stages of life.
Genesis 46:6, 7 tells how Jacob and all his family came down from Canaan to Egypt: “And they took their cattle, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob, and all his seed with him: His sons, and his son’s sons with him, his daughters, and his son’s daughters, and all his seed brought he with him into Egypt.” This Scripture is talking about sons and daughters of all ages, and grandsons and granddaughters of all ages—babies, little ones, teens, and adults! And they are all called “zera,” the same word for sperm!
In Numbers 14:24 God says that because Caleb “followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed (zera) shall possess it.” Imagine if Caleb lived in our society today. There would be many people who God intended to be born, but were not born, and would therefore miss out on the blessings of possessing the land.
Because Phinehas was zealous for the Lord and stood against the adultery that was happening amongst the people at that time, God said: “Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace: And he shall have it, and his seed (zera) after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God” (Numbers 25:12, 13). The blessing God gave him was also for his coming descendants. If they were contracepted as so many Christian parents are doing today, they would not have been born to inherit the blessings God gave to his future posterity.
Let’s go to the New Testament. Hebrews 7:9, 10 tells us how Levi paid tithes to Melchisedec while he “was yet in the loins” of Abraham who was his great-grandfather! He wouldn’t have even been a twinkle in Abraham’s eyes and yet God knew him before he was conceived. The Bible states that he literally paid tithes as Abraham paid tithes! Wow, God’s understanding is far beyond ours, isn’t it?
My daughter, Serene and I were talking about life on one of my podcasts. Solly (her one-year-old) at the time, was sitting on her knee, and she said, “Oh my goodness, imagine if I didn't have her! It's just too incredible and too amazing. And look at her personality! Imagine if I had said, ‘No, God, I don't want her, I don't care for Your desire to have her in eternity with You.”
What a powerful revelation! This is something to think about. When we say No to a child that God has planned before the foundation of the world to spend eternity with Him, we deprive that child of life. Not only of life in this world but of the opportunity to enjoy the glories of the eternal world forever—glories that are beyond the scope of our human minds to comprehend! How dreadful to deprive someone of eternal glory.
Our minds are so puny. I constantly ask God to open my mind to think His thoughts. To understand His ways. To save me from putting Him in a box, from bringing Him down to the level of my puny thinking, of making myself a god instead of allowing Him to be God!
Oh, let’s begin to think like God thinks. If we belong to the kingdom of God, let’s be on His side. God is a God of life, and His kingdom is a kingdom of life.
Blessings and love from Nancy Campbell
Picture: Janelle Bass and her precious children.
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What word do you use to describe your pregnancy? We usually say, “I’m pregnant.” Some say, “I’m expecting.” You sometimes hear, “I’m in the family way” which is a phrase dating back to the 17th century. Polish words for pregnant can mean “with hope” or “blessed state.”
I remember reading about a mother who was asked to get involved in a church project, but she answered, “Sorry, I am full-time gestating.” Now, there’s a good excuse for you. It is true. You couldn’t be doing anything more important than growing a child in your womb, an eternal soul that will live forever.
There are other words, some negative and some slang. We don’t want to use them. I think we should use the most beautiful words possible to describe the awesome wonder of God creating a child in the womb, don’t you?
The Bible tells it plainly and truthfully. It states that the woman is “with child.” Ecclesiastes 11:5 talks about “how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child.” The Hebrew for “with child” in this passage is male and means “full, filling, fullness.” It is the picture of the womb filled with a growing child. If this phrase was more popular, society would become aware of the truth that the baby is not a blob of tissue, but an actual human being growing and filling the womb—a human being that has the same DNA it will have when he or she is 70 years of age or more.
The Hebrew word hareh is also translated “with child.” This word is used for conception as well as the child growing in the womb. It’s the language of angels. When the angel of the Lord came to Hagar he said, “Behold thou art with child and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael” (Genesis 16:11).
In Genesis 21:2 the same word is used when it says: “Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age.” The Bible makes it clear that life begins at conception. This word is used for the moment of conception, the child growing in the womb, when the baby is “great” and ready to be born, and then coming into the world. A similar word, harah, is also used for both conception and being “with child.”
Here’s another thought-provoking point. Exodus 21:22 says: “If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her . . .” “With child” is hareh. But what is the word for fruit? It is the Hebrew word yeled which means, “something born, a child, a young man.” That’s talking about a person who is alive and walking around. But God uses that word for the baby in the womb, confirming that the babe in the womb is just as much the person they will be when they are a child or even older.
Let’s go to the New Testament. Jesus speaks of Mary being “with child” when Jesus, the Son of God was growing in her womb (Matthew 1:18, 23 and Luke 1:31). It is the Greek word “brephos” and is used five other times such as2 Timothy 3:15.
Don’t you think it is time we understood God’s truth rather than listening to human reasoning?
By the way, what words do you use to tell people you are pregnant?
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
Other hareh (“with child”) references: Genesis 38:24, 25; Exodus 21;22; Judges 13:5, 7; 1 Samuel 4;19; 2 Samuel 11:5; Isaiah 7:14; 26:7; Jeremiah 20:17; 31:8; Amos 1;13; and 2 Kings 8:12.
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