PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 406: A HEAVENLY VISION
LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell
EPISODE 406: A HEAVENLY VISION
We interrupt our series to interview Connie Lanford from Louisiana. Connie shares stories about raising their eight children and also the difference in raising girls and boys. Her ultimate goal was to raise them to be prepared for the eternal world.
Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to the Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies, a magazine bringing strength and encouragement to families across the world.
Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! Well, today, I’m interrupting our series about “More and More” because I have a visitor staying with me and I want her to share with you today. Her name is Connie Lanford. Say “hi.”
Connie Lanford: Hello! Welcome!
Nancy: Before I get talking with Connie, I just wanted to tell you about something else. This is especially for all our wonderful ladies listening in the UK— England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and continental Europe. We are coming over your way in the month of May 15th to 17th of May. We have a family conference in Wales (NOW POSTPONED TO OCTOBER).
So, we hope all you wonderful families can come and be part of that. It’s going to be a beautiful time together. For more information, contact Beverly, who looks after Above Rubies in the UK. Beverly England, and her email is aboverubies.uk@outlook.com. I’ll give it to you again, aboverubies.uk@outlook.com. Don’t forget to contact Beverly. Find out all the details. I hope you can come. It’s coming up soon (now in October).
Well, we also have another family camp to tell you about here in the USA. We have another one coming up in August in the Smokey Mountains. We’re sharing about that today because Connie and her husband, Les Lanford, and their wonderful family of eight grown children organize this retreat. Connie has been coming to Above Rubies retreats for so many years. What was the first one you came to, Connie?
Connie: It was in Mobile, Alabama at the Gulf Shores. It’s no longer there because a hurricane wiped it out. But we had a wonderful time. When we came, it was a mother’s retreat.
Nancy: Yes, this hurricane came through, so, no longer is it there. But then, Connie continued to come to the Above Rubies Ladies’ Retreats in Louisiana. Then we began to have family camps also, down there in Louisiana. I remember Angela Decoteau was the organizer, along with the wonderful Jane Lukachick family and the Bergeron family.
I think they both had about ten children each. They used to do all the cooking and cook wonderful Louisiana food because there’s nothing in the world like Louisiana food! So, we had some wonderful family camps there.
Then, when they moved on, Les and Connie took over. They have been organizing family retreats now for us, I think for about the last 14 years?
Connie: Yes.
Nancy: First in Louisiana, and then they did some in Alabama. Now they’ve come to Tennessee in the Smoky Mountains. [Music in the background] Oh, goodness me. You’ll have to turn that off for me. Thank you so much. I did have it turned off. Actually, we’re doing this podcast for the second time because somehow my dog came in and then some people came in and then the dog barked. Oh goodness me! So, we had to start again.
So, this retreat in the Smokies is near Gatlinburg. It will be from August 21st to the 24th. We hope that you can come. Put it on your calendar and start planning. That would be wonderful.
All right, well now, Connie and her husband have all these wonderful children who help them in organizing this retreat. They are now in their 20’s. In fact, tell us the names of your children, Connie.
Connie: OK, we have Joshua, Daniel, Stephen, Nicole, Sarah, Anna Joy, Rachel, and Jonathan.
Nancy: They are all wonderful young people in their early, mid, and late 20’s. Actually, none are married yet. Wow, there are four beautiful daughters waiting for godly young men. But they’d better be godly, because these girls are the most beautiful, beautiful, and pure, and lovely God-fearing girls. Wow! Anyone who gets them will be blessed out of their socks.
So, your days of mothering started many years ago with Joshua, who’s 32 now. Tell us about that. When you first started, you were longing for children, but your husband came from a different sort of culture, didn’t he? Tell us about that.
Connie: Yes, he was influenced by the zero-population growth theory in college. He thought, “Well, maybe I won’t have any children or maybe just one or two.” I thought, “God, are you sure You want me to marry him?” And God said, “Yes.” I said, “Oh God, you have some work to do!” I wanted all the children that God would give me.
But I would not ever recommend that to anybody because I would like to see that matter is settled before you marry.
What ended up happening with us is that my husband put me on the birth control pill. He had asked me to go on it, and I said, “OK.” I went on it for the first couple of years and didn’t have any children. I actually circumvented what God was doing because He wanted to give me the children, but through birth control, I aborted them.
The reason I know that is because, later on, my husband was praying, and God gave him a vision. He saw the children that were not born, that we had aborted through the abortifacient of birth control. He wept, and he really repented. But it wasn’t really until we went to an Above Rubies retreat that God really gave my husband a different vision. He said, “Oh, we need to be faithful. We would be really ridiculous to not keep all the blessings that God wants to give us.”
So, he really changed his heart. Now, he has been putting on this retreat with us for all these years. He really, really teaches men to embrace all the children that God would have for their wives and their families and raise them up in the fear and admonition of the Lord.
Nancy: I think, at that time, you read a couple of books. A Full Quiver is out of print now, but it was an amazing book. Then, of course, Be Fruitful and Multiply which kind of changed his heart.
Connie: Yes, and that’s why Nancy and Colin Campbell’s book, Be Fruitful and Multiply, changed his heart. Yes.
Nancy: We still have that book available. It’s a book that goes into the Scriptures to see what God says. The Lord has used this book to change so many hearts and to bring so many children into the world, which is so wonderful.
Anyway, eventually you were able to start having children but it’s amazing how the Lord blessed you with eight children because you were 34 when you were able to start having children. And then the Lord gave you eight before your fertility was all gone. Tell us about those wonderful days of raising your precious children.
Connie: Oh, yes. Well, my goal in in having children was that my children would tell their children one day that all my treasure was in Heaven and that Jesus meant everything to me, that we would raise up children for whom the world was not worthy.
Nancy: So, you had a Heavenly vision. How did that Heavenly vision work out in the practical day-to-day life?
Connie: Well, my children were taught the Word from early on. My husband would even have the baby come to the family devotions in the morning. Even if the baby was sleeping, I would have to get the baby and bring the baby out and nurse the baby. My husband and I were teaching the Word of God to our children from an early age.
Nancy: I think that’s amazing, you know, because I love that Scripture in 2 Timothy 3:15 where it says: “From a child, thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise unto salvation.” That word “child” in the Greek is brephos.
We see other Scriptures where that word is used. That word is used when the angel came to Mary and said that “You will conceive in your womb, and bear a child.” It’s brephos. So, it’s talking about a baby in the womb, and then it’s talking about a baby that’s just born. When the angels came and told the shepherds that they were to go and they would “find a babe, lying in a manger.” The word “babe” is brephos. Once again, a little baby.
So, your husband was getting the baby there to hear the Word. That’s very scriptural because that Word, even though the baby doesn’t understand the Word, that Word is going into them. And that’s the beautiful thing about a godly home where the Scriptures are being read, morning and evening. The little baby is there and the mother’s nursing the baby, but that baby is hearing the Word.
And then they’re growing and they’re hearing it as a little toddler, and then as they’re getting a little older. So, a child in a godly home, where the Scriptures are being read, can be ready to receive Jesus, to receive salvation at a very early age, because what does it say? “The Scriptures, you have known them.” They didn’t just sort of hear about them. They actually knew them. They were so part of their lives. “From a child, thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation.”
So, in having a Heavenly vision for your children, of course, to have a Heavenly vision you want them to be ready for Heaven. Did they come to know Jesus when they were young?
Connie: Yes, they all came to know Jesus when they were young.
Nancy: What would be round about their ages?
Connie: Four to six. One of them wanted to rededicate. The oldest one actually wanted to rededicate his heart when he was 13.
Nancy: Well, that was the same with our children. One of ours was older but the others all actually had a real encounter with the Lord when they were only four years of age. And here they are today, in their 50’s and their 60’s and it is still as real to them.
And then, I behold your children, because I behold them every year when we see you, and sometimes in between—how they have grown up, not just Christians, but young people who love the Lord, who love to spend time with the Lord. They love the Word. Following God is the passion of their lives. So, God has answered your prayers. They are certainly being prepared for their Heavenly realm.
In fact, they are, what would you say? They’re putting up a lot of treasures in Heaven already because their whole lives are to serve the Lord, and to love Him, and to worship Him. It is so beautiful to see such wonderful young people.
But I think you were also telling me, Connie, how that one of the biggest things was not so much, OK, we did this, or we did that, but making sure that your heart was right and pure with God, because you felt that your example was the most important. Tell me about that.
WE MUST BE THE EXAMPLE
Connie: What I felt was that first His commandments must be in my heart and then we can teach them. So, I needed to have the scriptures in my heart. I also wanted to raise up children who would be not worthy of this world, children who God would not be ashamed to be called their God.
And also, in 2 Timothy 2:3-4, the Bible says “to endure suffering along with me as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Soldiers don’t get tied up in the affairs of civilian life, for then they can’t please the officer who enlisted them.” We wanted to not get entangled with the things of this world and also to have sincere faith.
“Sincere” means “without hypocrisy.” I didn’t want to say, “This is what the Word says, but this is what I practice in my own life,” and not have a sincere faithfulness for gratitude, joy, or have hypocrisy in that I’m saying God is love, but I’m actually holding onto bitterness and unforgiveness toward any person.
We did not want to give them a diluted message. We did not want to give them a mixture of toxicity or muddied water but the pure water of the Word. The only way to give them the pure water of the Word is that we would live out the pure water of the Word in front of them, and they would see by our example that Jesus really was everything, and He was everything to us.
Nancy: That’s so wonderful. We’ve seen that in the fruit of your children’s lives. It’s just a beautiful thing to see.
Connie: But there is a daily struggle in this way to just let go of any bitterness and unforgiveness. I often pray, “God, I ask You to take it away from me now because I feel it welling up.” I have to say, “God, I’m going to be choosing to be joyful and put a smile on my face.” The children will respond to the image they see on your face. So, we want to show them the joy of the Lord by our countenance.
Nancy: Yes, that’s a big thing, isn’t it? Because they look at us all day long, so they are going to grow into the image, just as we, as it says in 2 Corinthians 3:18, that: “As we behold the Lord, we are changed into His image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” But in a very similar way, our children are looking at us all day long, even when things go wrong, and even when they’re not doing so well.
What is our attitude? And what do they see on our faces? Do they see a frown? Do they see you worried? Do they see this long face? Or, as you were saying, do they see the joy of the Lord, smiling? Our children will be what they see on our face. It’s a big thing, isn’t it?
Tell me also, that little story of your grandmother and how you were getting involved in doing something, and how it spoke to you?
Connie: I had four small children, and I asked my grandmother to come and watch them because I was going to go do worship dance. She came up, and she watched the children, and I went and did my thing. I came back, and the children were all fussing. The baby needed me to nurse. I was just going and doing my own thing.
My grandmother really talked to me. She said, “You know, I’ve seen this over and over again. The mothers think they can do it all during this season, but it doesn’t ever turn out well for their children. They don’t appreciate it much.” She said, “There’s no substitute for the mother in the home.” I thought of that, and I said, “You know what? I’m bagging it. This is my career.”
WE LOVED DOING EVERYTHING TOGETHER
When I look at my children, I want them to say I gave it all. I really embraced motherhood. I quit the worship dance, and I danced with my children around the home and brought them to church and we danced together. I am so grateful. Everything we did, we did together.
Even later on, we were raising chickens. We still have chickens. My son was trying to breed them and incubate them with the hens. He separated the hens with her eggs, but the hen kept getting off the nest. I said, “Stephen, I’m not sure why the hen keeps getting off the nest.” He said, “What do I do?” I said, “I’ll call my grandmother. She’ll tell me, because she had chickens in Italy.”
So, I called her, and I said, “Nona, this hen keeps getting off the nest. Stephen’s trying to incubate these eggs, but the hen won’t stay on the eggs.” My grandmother said, “Huh. In Italy, you can’t get the hen to get off her nest for anything! Huh. Must have been an American mother!” [laughter]
Nancy: That is so true. I can remember way back in the early days of my mothering. You’re learning, too, how to be a mother. You’ve still got that feeling, ooh, you want to get out and do this and that. You’re learning how to nest. I found that when I would go out, just like you, and come back, it makes mothering harder.
Connie: Oh, yes.
Nancy: You don’t realize how much the children miss Mother. And they all need you as well. They may be perfect for the babysitter, but the moment Mother comes, oh, out come all their needs, and all their wants, and all their desires. They’re all crying at once. They all need you because they really missed you. We’re meant to be there.
Connie: That’s right. Total mothering.
Nancy: It’s a beautiful thing to see.
Connie: Beautiful.
CHOOSE TO BE A NESTING MOTHER
Nancy: That’s part of mothering. It’s so good to be a nesting mother. Never be afraid to be a nesting mother. That’s what a mother is. She nests. She’s there with her babies and her little ones. There will come a time . . . it actually comes too quickly. There are seasons.
Connie: There are seasons. They go so quickly, mothers, so quickly. The season of having your little ones in the home flies by. Believe me, even though I had eight, it flew by.
Nancy: Oh, yes. So, make the most of these beautiful nesting days. They are so blessed, because there will come a time, there will be new seasons ahead and these precious little ones in your nest will be grown and they will be flying away.
Another question I have for you, Connie. You have four girls and four boys. How did your mothering differ? Did you mother them differently? Or what did you do? Did you make it all the same or did you parent them differently?
WE WORKED WITH OUR CHILDREN
Connie: Well, we did many things together as a family. I remember Mondays we would clean the bedrooms, and then on Tuesdays, the bathrooms. That was something. Wednesdays we did the master bathroom and the sunroom. Thursdays we cleaned the kitchen all together, and Fridays we cleaned the big room all together.
Nancy: You did it all together.
Connie: We did that all together when they were young. Each of them had their own area of jurisdiction. Some of them would go out and get the eggs in the morning before breakfast while I would take care of the baby. Then one of them would be setting the table. I involved them all in everything.
We also gardened all together. We would check our gardens once a day and then we would garden together on Saturdays, or one day where we could all be together. We tried to do the things that would pertain to maintenance. We had an old starter home, so my husband would have my sons help him remodel and actually sometimes gut out and start all over from scratch on different parts of the house.
It was a really good learning experience for the guys on how to drywall, how to do construction. They would paint the house together and they would paint on the same side of the wall so they could fellowship along with it.
It’s not just telling your children, “Work harder, do this, do that.” But it’s teaching them as you're going to do this. I would tell my children, “Sweep harder,” but God said, “No, sweep harder with them.” So, it’s not just telling them to go and do something, but working with them, to show them how to do it. But also, to fellowship with them.
A lot of us are having trouble motivating our children to work because we’re not doing it with them and having a grateful attitude as we do it. But I think what motivates children the most is not just telling them, “OK, you need to clean, not just the top of the toilet seat, but let’s clean the whole thing, and let’s do it together. Let’s do it with a joyful attitude.”
Nancy: That’s great. You’re not only teaching them how to do it, how to do it properly, and how to work with all your might. Whatever you do, do it with all your might. But you're also teaching them the attitude. Some may have a groaning attitude . . . “why do I have to clean the toilet.” No! We do it with a joyful attitude and you are doing it with them with a joyful attitude. So, they are learning that.
Talking about Les teaching them building and teaching them construction, they also built a big tree house, didn’t they?
Connie: Yes. My son, Stephen, and my husband built a tree house. Stephen lives in the tree house now.
Nancy: It must be pretty big.
Connie: It’s pretty big. It’s a tree house that you can live in.
Nancy: It would be like one day you could make it an Airbnb or something.
Connie: That would be a good thing to do with that tree house, but Stephen lives there.
Nancy: People would love to do that with an Airbnb. They like to go to one that’s a cave under the earth, a tree house, and do something different. So, it has all the amenities in it, does it?
Connie: It does. Yes.
Nancy: Wow! That’s amazing. I’ve always been amazed too, how your husband takes your sons every year to walk the Appalachian Trail. They walk 100 miles every time, don’t they?
Connie: Right, they do. They started in Georgia when my youngest son, I think, I’m sorry, the third son was 12, but it might have been younger. They have been doing segment hiking, 100 miles a year on the Appalachian Trail. They will end up in Maine.
This year, they’re already in Pennsylvania. They look forward to it. It’s one of their favorite things to do every year as a family. It’s bonded them together, but it’s also been a great, rigorous time for them to grow into manhood. Now, my daughters are joining them, so they are really growing into being really ready for a rigorous life. I’m so grateful for my husband, for teaching them how to be men and women of God.
Nancy: Yes, they go for five days?
Connie: Yes, five days. They do 100 miles in five days, which is quite a lot of miles.
Nancy: Yes, they must be getting fit. But I know the Appalachian Trail is 2197 miles. When they eventually get to the end, they will have accomplished something so amazing. To think that they’ve done it with their father. That’s a beautiful thing.
Connie: Oh, yes. And they do also make it a time of intercession for the country. That was one of my husband’s goals. When they were at the highest heights, they would pray over the nation and over each state as they went through it.
Nancy: That’s great. And then you have a little family farm, don’t you?
Connie: Yes. We’ve sold honey and raised beef. We’ve had a farm.
Nancy: Honey! I can’t live without Lanford honey. Loveliest honey, and we’ve got it from you at different Above Rubies retreats where you brought it for people. It’s so amazing.
Connie: We’ve had a farm and we’ve grown our own produce. That’s also taught them the basic skills of life. It’s never wasted all these life skills that you can teach your children. They will never be wasted. They can grow healthy food for themselves. If ever the supermarket is not there one day, if ever we go through a crisis, they will be able to grow their own food one day.
Nancy: Oh, yes. So, OK, the girls were doing some of those too. What were some of the things you especially taught the girls?
Connie: We loved to worship as a family, actually. Each of my children plays a different instrument, so it’s not just the girls. We also sing together and we play at various places around the city. God spoke to me and said, “A house of praise, if we became a house of praise, He would send down His dew from Heaven and bless it.”
And the dew in Israel is more copious than even rain sometimes. It waters the plants. It’s necessary, so God has really sent down so much abundance of grace upon us as we learned to worship as a family.
WE LOVE DOING TEA PARTIES TOGETHER
Then my oldest daughter and one of my younger ones are going to do the work. They actually help with babies. My daughters and I cook together. We clean together.
We’ve done many teas where we have women in. Mothers and widows . . . we’ve done widows teas. Homeschool family teas. It’s been a wonderful time for us to teach younger mothers how to raise their children and how to love their husbands through the teas.
WE LOVE SHOWING HOSPITALITY TOGETHER
Then we love practicing hospitality. My children just gave my husband and I the most amazing 35th anniversary celebration. It was a surprise to me, a celebration. We renewed our vows there. That was just on Saturday. But they did it and did a big surprise for us. It was amazing. They are really taking on the hospitality mantle and bringing it to a whole new level.
They love to redecorate my house.
WE LOVE TO SEW
My daughter Sarah and I have a sewing business. It’s called Taphar Sewing Co. Taphar is the Hebrew word meaning “to sew.” We do alterations. We even do reupholstering of furniture. We can sew anything you put on your body. It’s called Taphar, so look us up.
WE LOVE TO PRODUCE DRAMAS
Then my daughter Rachel and I and our family have put on . . . most years we have been doing a family play. This year it will be “Esther.” It will be at Bethany Church in Baton Rouge. We did it four years ago as well. My daughter and I will sew all the costumes. My daughter sewed the costumes a few years ago for our other plays. We have been enjoying doing things together as a family just to bless other moms who have needs and other families.
Nancy: Oh, that is lovely.
Connie: We put on the retreats together.
WE LOVE HOSTING ABOVE RUBIES FAMILY RETREATS
Nancy: Oh, yes, that’s just a beautiful thing to do. We used to have such a gorgeous family who put on retreats for us in Wisconsin. The parents had their children working with them to help them. Then they all gradually got married and went off. And then she said, “Oh, we can’t do it now. We haven’t got the children with us.”
Connie: Oh, we’re going to keep on with it, Nancy.
Nancy: It’s so great. And I love your Heavenly vision, Connie. It’s so beautiful, pointing your children toward Heaven. Do you believe that this is something that we should do? If we really believe, parents, moms, that we are going to Heaven, how much do we talk about it in our homes? Do we really talk about it much with our family? Do our children have a wonderful understanding of Heaven?
I think there are many Christians who don’t really understand what Heaven’s going to be like. Therefore, they’re not really planning on going there because they don’t understand all about it. In fact, a good book to read is Heaven, by Randy Alcorn. If you haven’t read it, I would encourage you to read it. They even have a children’s version, I believe, so you can look into that.
I think to just get a vision of Heaven, and to get our children a vision of Heaven, and that this life, it’s only a vapor. It’s so quick, and our whole life here is preparing for the eternal world. Everything that we do will be preparing for that world. Even the Word of God, Jesus said, “My Word will never pass away . . . Heaven and earth will pass away, but My Word will not pass away.” That means that His words are going to go in Heaven, into eternity with us.
I believe the more that we have of God’s Word in us now, the more we will be prepared, even in the eternal world because there’s so much in this Word that we do not yet understand. There are layers. There are depths. There are heights of understanding that we will never even understand in this world. But we will in the other world. And the more we have of it in our hearts and minds and lives, the more we will be prepared.
I was just thinking recently, now there’s only one way to get to Heaven. We all know that. Jesus is the Way. He is the Door into Heaven. Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” There is no way into Heaven except coming through Jesus and His blood that was shed for our sin. In fact, we see the type, even in the tabernacle where there was only one entrance to go in.
TWO WAYS – ABUNDANDTLY OR BY THE SKIN OF YOUR TEETH
But the Bible does speak of two different ways we can enter that kingdom. We’ll only enter through Jesus, but there are two different ways we can get in.
It’s very interesting. In 2 Peter 1:5, it talks about how we are to “give all diligence to add to our faith.” We don’t just get saved, and say, “OK, that’s it. I’m ready to go to Heaven.” No, we are preparing.
We cannot get salvation by works. It’s from Jesus. He did it all. But when we are saved, then the Holy Spirit wants to work in us, and God wants to work in us. He wants us to do works, and He wants us to “add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge self-control; and to self-control patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity” which is agape love.
It goes on to say that if we have these things: “Give diligence to make your calling and election sure: (and verse 11 says) If ye do these things, ye shall never fall: for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you ABUNDANTLY into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” And so, we can get into Heaven with an abundance entrance, an abundant welcome into this everlasting kingdom.
Or there’s another way we can get in. 1 Corinthians 3. Let me read these verses to you as we close. Verse 11: “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation.” So, we can only come through Jesus, who is the foundation.
But then we build on Him, and it says: “Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;” Wow. We’re either going to be building things that will go through the test of fire because all our works are going to be tested by fire, just like the gold is tested and tried.
This is what they do to purify the gold. They bring it up to this incredible heat so that all this scum comes to the top. And then they take it off. They scoop it off. Then they heat it again. They often heat it seven times until it’s pure. But if we are building with wood, hay, and stubble, it’s going to burn up.
So, it goes on to say, I’ll close quickly. 1 Corinthians 3:13: “Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day (that coming 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. (That’s a challenge!) If any man's work abide (his gold, silver, precious stones) he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.”
It’s a picture of a burning building. Everything’s being burned up. But the person gets out of the house. They’re saved! But everything they saved, everything they put into their own plan, everything they’ve done is burned up. And the Bible says that our souls will get into Heaven the same, because they trusted in the blood of Jesus, but there are no works. There is nothing. They get into Heaven by the skin of their teeth. Well, I hope I can get in with an abundant entrance. I don’t want to get in just by the skin of my teeth.
So, precious ladies, we must constantly bring these things before our children, raising them for that world, the real world, which is going to be the heavenly world, the new Heaven and new earth that is one day coming, which will never pass away, which will never be destroyed, which has no end (Daniel 7:14 and Luke 1:33). This is the world for which we are preparing our children. Amen?
OK, Connie, you pray. I always pray for the ladies. Would you like to pray for them?
Connie: “God, we thank You so much for these mothers in their homes with their children. God, I thank You, God, for them. I ask Jesus, that they would be the most thankful and most blessed of all mothers, God. That they would raise their children to be mighty upon the earth, children of whom this world is not worthy, God. Thank You, God, that they will love their husbands, and God, that they will embrace every child that You would give them, and realize that this is a brief moment in all of eternity, and that they would fashion these children for Heaven.
I thank You, God, for these mothers, God, in these wonderful gifts that You’ve given them. God, thank You that signs and wonders would follow. God, I thank You that they will be mighty upon the earth themselves. And God, I thank You that You will give them a voice like Esther, to speak the Word of God, and that they will impart these truths to other mothers, and to their children. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”
Nancy: Amen!
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
Transcribed by Darlene Norris
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SCRIPTURES ABOUT HOW WE WILL HAVE TO GIVE AN ACCOUNT FOR ALL OUR ACTIONS:
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; 66:7, 10; 81:7; 139:23, 24; Proverbs 5:21-23; 17:3; 24:12; 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 13:9; and Malachi 3:3.
N.T. Matthew 10:26; 12:36, 37; 16:27; John 12:48; Acts 17:31; Romans 2:5-11; 14:10-12; 1 Corinthians 3:8, 11-15; 4:5; 2 Corinthians 5:10; 11:15; Ephesians 6:8; Colossians 3:24, 25; 1 Thessalonians 2:4; Hebrews 4;13; 1 Peter 1:7, 17; 4:5; 2 Peter 3:10; Revelation 2:23; 11:18; 20:4, 12, 13; and 22:12.
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The production of the Lanford family: If you are anywhere near this area, here are the details:
ESTHER, THE CROWN IS YOURS
June 19th, at 2 pm and 7 pm
Bethany Church, Baker Campus
13855 Plank Rd, Baker, LA 70714
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SAVE THE DATE and register now for the . . .
ABOVE RUBIES FAMILY RETREAT
IN THE SMOKY MOUNTAINS
August 21 – 24 2026, Gatlinburg, Tennessee
Wafloy Retreat Center
3610 East Parkway, Gatlinburg TN 37738
For all enquiries contact:
Les and Connie Lanford: 225 335 3959
lanfordlegacy.com/family-camp
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THE ABOVE RUBIES FAMILY RETREAT FOR THE UNITED KINGDOM AND EUROPE IS NOW POSTPONED TO:
OCTOBER 2 – 4, FIRST WEEKEND OF OCTOBER
This gives families more time to save and prepare.
VENUE: Cefn Lea, Newtown, Wales.
For booking and all details contact:
Beverley England: (+44) 07955 701 588
The other meetings for UK and Europe are also postponed until October.
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BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY (mentioned in the podcast)
What the Bible says about having Children!
By Nancy Campbell
Every couple, without exception, should read this book. We owe it to God, to ourselves, and to our future children to know what the Scripture says about this subject. This book goes into God’s Word to dig out the truths.
"I will never be the same! BFM brings the Bible to light in a shining, warm, enlightening way."
"BFM is a light in the darkness."
“For a long time, I have had so many questions that I could not find answers to. Thanks for making it all clear!”
“This is the best book I've read on this subject.”
“I cannot even express how intrigued I was with BFM--the research, the statistics, the credibility, and the Scriptural truth.”
To purchase, go to: Be Fruitful and Multiply (www.aboverubies.org).
BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY AUDIO BOOK
Does your husband not like to read?
Don’t worry. We have this book on Audio!
Listen when traveling or working.
Narrated by Jake Shanks, third generation radio broadcaster.
To purchase, go to:
BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY AUDIO BOOK (BFMAudio) (www.aboverubies.org).