Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs

 

Take time, dear Mother, to kneel and pray,

To ask the Father for strength today,

Take time to enjoy the morning sunrise,

And lift your mind beyond the skies.

 

Take time, dear Mother, for each little thing

That only babies and children bring,

Take time to go when your child says,

“Come, see dear Mama what I have done."

 

Take time to teach them faith in God,

And when it's needed to use the rod,

Take time to teach each child to pray,

And meet their Maker every day.

 

Take time to teach each child to share,

And patient be, to love, to care,

Take time to show them how to work,

To do their tasks and never shirk.

 

Help each child be prompt and neat,

And do a job till it's complete,

Be sure that "No" means only "No"

For they can tell if it's not so.

 

Take time to teach each child to sing,

For song real joy in life can bring,

Take time to tell another story

That points the way to home in glory.

 

~ Unknown

Are you currently nursing your precious baby? What a beautiful season of your life. I know there are many older moms like me who would long for the joy of nursing a baby again. For moms who have been nursing babies for years, it is so much part of your life. However, there may be new moms who are still conquering the challenges of nursing. Be encouraged, dear young mommy. You’ll soon get the hang of it, and it will be like breathing. If you are having a few challenges, don’t give up. Keep pressing through. It will be worth it all for the joy of nursing your baby.

 

Remember, this is who you are. You are a nursing mother. When Jesus answered the challenge of the Pharisees in Matthew 19, He said to them: “Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female” (Matthew 9:3). The word Jesus used for female was different from the usual word that is used for women in the New Testament. It was a word that means “to su.ckle a babe at the breast, a su.ckling mother.” This was God’s plan from the very beginning of time. Your body was created for this very purpose to feed your baby at the breast.

 

Embrace who you are, lovely young mom. Nurse freely. There is a big difference between mothers who bottle feed and those who nurse from the breast. Formula forms a hard curd in the baby’s stomach and takes longer to digest and therefore the baby can wait longer before the next feeding. But breastmilk forms a very soft curd and your baby is often ready for another feed sooner than you think.

 

Please understand this most important point. Nursing a baby is not only for the purpose of giving food to your baby. Nursing your baby is life-giving to the body, soul, and spirit. You not only nurse your baby for food, but for comfort, satisfaction, and solace. Read Isaiah 66:10-13.

 

You may wonder why your baby wants to su.ck all the time. It’s not to drive you crazy. It’s not even for the purpose of a pacifier. The su.cking instinct that God gives to your baby has many purposes.

 

1. It keeps your milk supply going. The more your baby su.cks at the breast, the more milk you will make. Some young mothers are very concerned they will run out of milk. No, you will never run out of milk if you nurse frequently, and that means during the night as well. That’s normal breastfeeding. The only way you will run out of milk is if you lessen the amount of nursing.

 

2. Your baby will be comforted. You are satisfying much more than a physical hunger. Your baby su.cks for soul comfort too. Instead of pacifiers, cuddlies, and even headbanging, your baby will be totally satisfied.

 

3. You will have natural amenorrhea. The more your baby su.cks at the breast the more likelihood it will hold back your cycle. In countries where mothers have no idea of our western way of life, they mother instinctively. They nurse their babies often during the day and sleep with them at night and consequently often have up to three years’ spacing between their babies.

 

4. And the greatest blessing of all. You will be filled with oxytocin and prolactin, the hormones God gives to the nursing mother. Oxytocin is the bliss hormone, the hormone that calms you and eases stress. Prolactin causes you to become more and more motherly and a powerful protector over your baby. Don’t try to wean your baby too soon. Make the most of these glorious hormones. Feed your baby as long as your baby wants you. Enjoy your calming hormone for as long as you can. It maybe two years. It may even be three years or more. That’s normal.

 

So, lovely mommies, sit back or lie back and relax. Nurse your baby whenever he or she needs you. It’s such relaxing motherhood. It’s glory. It’s delight. And that’s just what the Bible calls it in Isaiah 66:11.

 

Be blessed abundantly as you live in the glory God intends for you,

 

Nancy Campbell

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. Ketangi 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. We must show to the world 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 a woman. 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 you will be saying, “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 nurture form 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

 

Painting: Edna Hibel

When writing to you yesterday (you will see below INTRODUCING NEW FRIENDS TO ABOVE RUBIES) about sending me names of anyone you would like to share Above Rubies with, I forgot to give you my email.

 

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Help me get this magazine out to every mother you know. Every mother, young, middling, and older needs the encouragement and inspiration of this magazine. People are loving this issue.

 

“This issue is phenomenal!”

 

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Blessings from Nancy

Philippians 4:6: “In EVERY THING by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” Read also Psalm 16; Luke 18;1; 21:36; Romans 1:9; Ephesians 6:18; Philippians 1:4; Colossians 4:12; and 2 Thessalonians 1:11.

 

It’s easy to get despondent, complain, and grumble, isn’t it? But can you imagine what it would be like in your home if you prayed about everything? Every little thing?

 

ALWAYS GIVE THANKS FOR EVERYTHING

1 Thessalonians 5:8 reminds us: “In EVERY THING give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” Read also Ephesians 5:20 and Colossians 2:7.

 

Are things getting you upset in your home? God wants you to give thanks. Do you feel your home is too small? And yes, you need a bigger car? Give thanks anyway. Give thanks in all situations. You are in His perfect will when you give thanks!

 

Oh, can you just imagine what will happen in your home? Your heart will change. You will make your husband so happy. Your children will be happier. The peace and presence of God will fill your home instead of tenseness and gloom.

 

ALWAYS REJOICE IN THE LORD

Philippians 4:4: “Rejoice I the Lord ALWAYS: and again I say, Rejoice.”

 

What’s happening in your home? Are you living God’s way or giving into your own fleshly feelings?

 

ALWAYS DO THOSE THINGS THAT PLEASE THE LORD

John 8:29: “I do ALWAYS those things that please Him.”

 

ALWAYS ABOUNDING IN THE WORK OF THE LORD

The greatest work that God has given you to do is mothering. When God give you children, He gives them to you to mother and nurture, not to someone else. Therefore, do it with zeal. Do it with all your heart. 1 Corinthians 15:58 encourages us: “ALWAYS abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”

 

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

My husband and I met, fell in love, and got married. I was 27 and ready to become a mom. I had been working at our church as a graphic designer enjoying putting the gospel message on tracts, postcards, and bulletins. He was a pastoral intern at the time.

 

The Lord gave us a baby almost right away and we began life as a family. We both found there were a lot of ministry related things we were used to doing that we didn’t have the time and energy for anymore. It was difficult to keep our priorities straight.

 

After a few years the Lord led us to a small town in NH. My husband began his own business as a coffee roaster to support our growing family. Our long-term goal was to see people get saved, grow in their knowledge of God’s word, and hopefully start a church. Years passed and our family continued to grow. After 15 years, we are expecting our 10th child. And our ministry looked very different from what it did before had our first baby.

 

But today I want to take a minute to share with you how saying “Yes” to the Lord for 10 children has multiplied our joy and usefulness for him in SO many ways. Yes, there are things we had to say no to, but looking back there are so many doors He opened. What has the Lord done?

 

Seeing our family and love for our children has brought many opportunities. Ladies come to me who have experienced the loss of a dear baby they were carrying. Their unsaved families don’t recognize the little one as a life. We do! We love them, cry with them, and pray with them.

 

Ladies come to vent when it is their due date and their baby isn’t born yet. We hug them, we love them, we pray for them. Families have come that have a great many children and are glad to be able to spend time with another family who loves children, especially when their own relatives don’t like their big family. Couples have come who met the Lord later in life. They now realize that God’s plan for the family is different and better than the plan they had. They ask for prayer that the Lord will give them a child. We have cried, we have prayed, and we have seen wombs open and babies born!

 

Our church is still very small. Most of the children in it are ours. Recently we began two children’s ministries. We started a scouting group for boys to teach men to disciple their sons and teach them practical skills. We started a girls’ group to help moms disciple their daughters and teach them homemaking skills. These groups have been full and growing.

 

We look at each other in surprise. Where did these families come from? We began to realize that they are all parents who came to Christ as adults. They are looking at the world and desperately wanting to point their children away from it. However, their families are not Christian and they do not know now to raise godly children. Then they realize this “crazy” family on the other side of town who has nine children and children’s clubs that might help them. They come, they try it, they learn, they read, and they grow. This would not happen if we didn’t stand out so much.

 

As our children grow, the impact they have individually on our family ministry grows too! My oldest child makes friends everywhere he goes—at the park, at the lake, at the library. Moms and grandmothers will come to me (that I have never met) and ask to get their sons to my house to play. They can see our home is a safe place. Our children are different in a good way.

 

I often get the joy of talking to and praying with ladies because I can trust that my children will carefully entertain the visitor’s children. They play games, they make cookies, and they patiently come up with ideas that the children like. All because they know this opens doors for eternity.

 

We have had the great joy of listening to our children pray for their friends from the lake, the library, and the park. We have seen them give Bibles to their friends. We did not ask them to do this. They just watch what we are doing, and they desire to do the same thing on their level. They experience the joys and frustrations of ministry even at age 10 that will strengthen them for the future.

 

Once, my daughter purchased and monogramed a Bible for a girl that visited our church occasionally. About a year later the girl’s mother gave me a bag of craft supplies that she didn’t want any more. At the bottom of the bag was the Bible. I was so saddened. For one that they would be so hard as to give it back and two because I was concerned that my daughter might not want to give a Bible away again.

 

I put it on the counter, not sure what to do. My daughter found it and took it to her room. A few months later that girl came back to church. My daughter had the courage to tell her she found her Bible and would she want it back? The girl did take it back. About six months later, I happened to see the girl’s mother, and she told me that her daughter really liked “that Bible” that my daughter gave her and she reads it sometimes at night. What a surprise! Then she followed it up by saying that she was getting her other daughter one for her birthday. Oh, the surprising things that God does!

 

Yes, I no longer make 20,000 post cards for a bulk mailer for church invitations or hundreds of flyers for a church event. Today the Lord has replaced that with people, families, lives, and eternity. I am so thankful!

 

CHARITY PARKER

Greenfield, New Hampshire, USA

 

Picture: Mason and Charity with their beautiful children: George (13), Eleanor (12), Amos (10), Stewart (9), Carolyn (7), Jane (5), Lydia (4), William (2), Faith (1) and coming baby.

Two thousand years ago in a stable all forlorn,

Wise men brought to Jesus precious gifts when He was born.

“What precious gifts do I have that are worthy of a King?

For I’m a lowly mother, Lord, what treasure can I bring?

 

I know that You seek hearts, Lord, that will trust You and obey,

So I give You mine, Lord Jesus, take it, Lord, I pray.

But, I cannot seem to find the time to give You of myself,

These little ones do drain me and deplete my store of wealth.

 

My days are full of diapers and feeding hungry mouths,

Of washing, cleaning, ironing—this work, it takes me hours,

And when at last there’s quiet and all are asleep in bed,

I think that I might serve You, but nod off to sleep instead!"

 

But, as I dream in slumber, Your voice to me does speak . . .

“If you were like the wise men, you’d know the gift I seek,

For these men in their wisdom knew gifts cannot be used

If they are always hidden with tinsel and subterfuge.

 

They unwrapped their treasures, you too must do the same,

Removing all self-consciousness, even sin and needless blame,

For the wondrous gift of motherhood is given by God above,

And when you mother children, you show My greater love.

 

So let not your heart be troubled, weary mother, for you see,

When you are building children, then you are serving Me.

This gift from every mother whether she be great or small

Is a very special gift, one I treasure from you all.

 

For I too had a mother who suffered shame for me,

She nurtured and clothed me, wept, and mourned like thee.

I know to have a mother who will give her very best

Is a very worthy treasure, so come to Me, dear mother, and

I will give you rest!”

 

~ VAL STARES, Above Rubies Director in Australia

 

Painting: Marie Sandholt, "The Joy of Children"

CHRISTMAS DAY

There is no one higher than our God and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is he MOST HIGH God. And yet when God sent His Son into the world, He sent Him to the lowest. He was the creator of the world. John 1:3 says: “All things were made by him; nd without him as not any thing made that was made.” And yet He came in the womb of a young woman who was regarded as a woman of “low estate” (Luke 1:48).

 

He came to the lowest room on earth, a stable. He came to the most insignificant town in Isarael. Micah 5:2 states: “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be LITTLE among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel.”

 

He is the One who is THE GOD WHO IS ENOUGH who “richly gives us all things to enjoy” and who “owns the cattle on a thousand hills” and yet He came helpless, needy. He had to be held. He could not do anything for Himself. He had to be suckled at the breast to receive sustenance. What humility. What lowliness. As we remember the birth of Christ, we had better do away with all our pride for it shows how God loves humility.

 

And yet it is amazing that in most of the prophetic Scriptures that tell of Christ’s coming, they speak of His lowliness in coming through the womb of a lowly woman but they don’t end there! I have been amazed anew to see that they also speak of the ultimate end of the world when Christ Jesus will rule over the new and resurrected earth and we will reign with Him in our resurrected bodies. What hope we have because Jesus came. What wonder. What glory.

 

The angel came to Mary and said to her: “Behold, thou shalt conceived in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and OF HIS KINGDOM THERE SHALL BE NO END” (Luke 1:31-33).

 

We see the same messaged in Isaiah 9:6: ”For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder . . . Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth EVEN FOREVER.”

 

The birth of Jesus brought in the hope of our eternal destiny. One day Jesus Christ will sit on the throne of David (but it will be His throne) and rule over Israel and all the Gentiles who have put their trust in Him.

 

As we turn our hearts back to that amazing night that Jesus was born, we also must turn out minds to the eternal kingdom that is to come. Are we ready to be included in this eternal kingdom? If we are, are thinking about it, dreaming about it, learning more about it, looking for it? This life is only a preparation for the real life, the eternal kingdom to come. Preparing for it should be our greatest goal in life.

 

Be blessed today as we remember His glorious birth.

 

NANCY CAMPBELL

I am meditating on the awesomeness of Christ coming into this world. Bible commentators agree that Jesus was not born at this Christmas time when the world remembers His birth. He would most probably have been born about the month of September during the Feast of Tabernacles. However, this is most probably that time that He was divinely conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost. Incredible. God coming to the earth as a "seed" from the Father.

 

Yes, He came as a “seed” and yet He was the King of kings.

 

Although it happened without the world knowing, it was the most powerful event in history. Christ, the Son of God, growing inside a mother's womb, becoming flesh, dying, and shedding His blood for our sins, and bruising the head of Satan. Although it was all prophesied, it was not how the Jews expected their Messiah to come.

 

But from the womb of a lowly woman God brought forth His Son to fulfill His plan for the ages. He came as a baby, but it was to deal a death blow to the enemy, to bruise his head (Colossians 2:14 and Hebrews 2:14-18). This is a time to remember that we are in a battle, a battle between the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light.

 

God spoke to the serpent in Genesis 3:15 (NET): "I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel." Satan still tries to bruise our heel, but Christ has bruised his head and He will have the final victory when all nations and all people will be brought into subjection to His power and authority.

 

One translation of Genesis 3:15states: "There will be war." There is still a war against the womb of the woman. Satan tried to prevent Jesus, the Holy Son of God, being born into this world. Because he hates life, and especially the godly seed, he continues to stop children being born into this world. He brings his deception to women to deny the fruit of their womb. So many women today do not value their womb even though it is their most distinguishing feature as a woman. So of course, they cannot even answer the question, “What is a woman?”

 

Let's not be tricked by the devil's plan.

 

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

We are currently in the season of Hanukkah which is also called the “Festival of Lights” because of the rededicating and relightng of the Menorah and also the season of Christmas remembering the birth of Jesus. How amazing to ponder that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, “born to be King, came to this earth as a little baby. We know that this was not the actual time of his birth, but it could have been the time of His miraculous conception.

 

God spoke through the prophecy of Zacharias that He would send His Beloved Son into the world "TO GIVE LIGHT TO THEM THAT SIT IN DARKNESS and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace" (Luke 1:79). This is not the light of Christmas lights, but the light of Jesus Christ that fills are hearts and which He wants us to shine to everyone around us.

 

They had no room for the Light of the World in Bethlehem. Do we make room for Him in our lives? Do we allow Him to expose the darkness and flood our lives with His light? Every time we respond to the moving of the Holy Spirit in our lives and say Yes to God we open to His light. When we are stubborn, want our own way and say No to the convicting of the Holy Spirit, we choose darkness.

 

Dear mother, we must teach our children this powerful principle too. Every time they say Yes to you and Yes to the Holy Spirit, they receive more light into their lives. When they disobey you and say No to the voice of their conscience, they allow darkness into their lives.

 

Let’s be those who open up MORE AND MORE to the Light and less and less to the darkness. Proverbs 4:18 says: "But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth MORE AND MORE unto the perfect day."

 

Each new day, individually and as a family, ask God to FLOOD YOU WITH HIS LIGHT.

 

Love from Nancy Campbell

 

The picture is the famous painting by William Holman Hunt called The Light of the World (1851–1853). It is an allegorical painting representing Jesus knocking on our heart’s door. Revelation 3:20: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.” The door in the painting has no handle, and can therefore be opened only from the inside, representing "the obstinately shut mind.”

Motherhood is God's BEAUTIFUL DESIGN. How blessed we are to be part of it.

Dear mother, your mothering (which is your work for the Lord) is not in vain. Be encouraged from 1 Corinthians 15:58: "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." Mothering is an eternal work and your eternal reward is coming.

~ Love from Nancy

I know you will be blessed by this beautiful testimony of marriage from Laura Dill.

 

Delighting in God’s Glorious Gift of Marriage

 

A million reasons flood my mind every morning as I look through my large open window toward a beautiful landscape of magnificent mountaintops and forest trees, rose bushes and wildflowers. There is so much beauty, so much to bask in. Yes, everything is enchanting to me. Not only outside my window but in everything that makes up life.

 

I awe in the wonder of prayer (how we have access to Almighty God!), the wonder of His Word (God speaks to us!), the wonder of the gospel (Christ really did that for me!), the wonder of being created at all, of the universe, of nature, biology, mathematics, literature, history, even geology (yes, the study of rocks fascinates me!) The wonder of the covenant of marriage and child- bearing—tiny humans growing inside a mother’s womb. There is beauty in it all if only we have eyes to see.

 

But we have grown dull. Surrounded by so much noise and technology and fast-paced distractions, we have lost the wondrous ability to see the enchanted wonder in the reality of life that is all around us—the very story that we are a part of. But I would like to narrow in on the glorious covenant of marriage.

 

It doesn’t take much to look out into society and see that something that was created with such intentional beauty and divine purpose has been sadly corrupted and decayed into something self-centered and misplaced. What was meant for mutual sanctification and supreme love and joy has turned into tragic frustration, bitterness, heartache, and far too often, divorce.

 

What has happened? How has something so beautiful—meant to reflect Christ and His church—turned into something so messy, frustrating, and if nothing else, dull? There are many contributing factors, but I believe there are two main reasons. We have lost our childlike wonder (and therefore our gratitude), and we have been deceived by society about God’s design for marriage (and therefore lost the art of selflessness).

 

A TRANSCENDENT PICTURE

 

These two factors go hand in hand. I have always resonated with Kate Greenaway’s words, “Living in that childish wonder—I can so well remember it. There was always something more—behind and beyond everything—to me.” This is certainly true with the mystery of marriage. What society depicts as a mere replaceable relationship is in reality a spiritual covenant created to mirror the relationship between Christ and His church. Regardless of what popular society says, God has created specific roles for the husband and wife, and when we see the beauty in these roles and embrace them with joyful hearts, we reflect a transcendent picture of selfless love. It is a marvelous mystery, this reflection of Christ and His church, and one that we have the honor of living out.

 

How beautiful for a man to lay down his life for his bride, just as Christ laid down His life for His church. How beautiful to honor God’s instruction to wives to submit to and respect our husbands as the church submits to Christ. Is it not enchanted, this reality that we get to reflect? The world may mock it and call it oppressive, but it is glorious! Keeping this wonder in our hearts allows us to love and serve our husband, not out of sheer duty, but with genuine delight and desire. I firmly believe it is our sense of wonder and gratitude for what God has given us and has allowed us to be a part of that causes us to overflow with joy and give ourselves away to another in marriage.

 

ISN’T IT MORE BEAUTIFUL?

 

It is stated that feelings come and go and that spouses need to have a determined and committed sense of loyalty regardless of how they feel. And sure, that is true. But I do not believe it is ideal. Isn’t it more beautiful to maintain a true genuine affection for our spouse so that it is not a mere obligation to be faithful to them, but it is actually a delight to do so? And I insist that we do so by not losing sight of the wonder of the gift of marriage—that God created marriage at all, that we’ve been given a spouse at all, that we’ve been given a person to love and support and be best friends with for a lifetime.

 

This is an extraordinary wonder that sadly few have eyes to see. G.K. Chesterton, one of my favorite philosophical authors who had an ability to maintain a sense of wonder in living, observes the beauty of monogamy when he writes: “Keeping to one woman is a small price for so much as seeing one woman. To complain that I could only be married once was like complaining that I had only been born once.”

 

ISN’T IT A PRIVILEGE?

 

Rather than becoming bored with a gift we’ve been given—in this instance, a spouse—Chesterton saw the wonder of being given one woman for himself at all. And as women, we need to maintain our wonder and gratitude for being given our husbands. Our husbands were once little boys with big dreams and have grown into men who only get one wife to share life with. Wouldn’t we want to give them the best possible love and support and friendship that we possibly can? Isn’t that such a precious privilege we’ve been given?

 

And intimacy! How could we ever neglect the gift of intimacy! Becoming one flesh with our beloved—this is a most exciting and fun thrill in itself (not to mention necessary) that should never be neglected. How could we ever deny our body to our husband? We get to take part in this mysterious union of becoming one flesh with our very best friend on earth. This is such a vital part of keeping a marriage healthy. It is only to our detriment that we should neglect such a gift.

 

Although it is unfortunately observed in human life that familiarity breeds contempt, it doesn’t have to be this way. Humans become bored with the familiar, because they have lost their sense of wonder of the gift that is before them. If we could only be like children, not losing our “eternal appetite of infancy,” how much more beautiful life would be? How much more gratitude would we have in our hearts for all the gracious gifts God gives us? And how much easier would it be to naturally pour out love from an overflow of the heart, rather than with an obligatory sigh?

 

Society has lied to us about many things, but it is no light matter to be a devoted wife, committing ourselves to helping our husbands succeed in life and bringing as much joy and delight as possible to his days under the sun. Our culture insists on seeking to please ourselves—building our own careers and empires away from men and children—devoting our lives to ourselves rather than giving ourselves away for others. But this leads to the most unhappy life.

 

Boris Pasternak once said: “The object of a masterpiece is to give oneself away,” and it is a beautiful life lived when we give ourselves away in the very manner God has instructed us to do so in His Word—to be a helpmeet to our husbands, devoted mothers to our children (if He gives us these gifts) and live each day joyfully unto the Lord with gratitude for all He’s done.

 

What a tragedy to overlook the extraordinary blessings God gives in our children, our marriages, our health, our homes. The world is constantly telling us that we need more. But we do not need anything more than what God has placed right in front of us. “Godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Timothy 6:6).

 

Ingratitude for all God has given to us is, I believe, what often leads us to sin. When we ignore the beauty and blessings with which God has adorned our lives we may then look elsewhere for satisfaction and fulfillment for our souls. We see this happening in society all around us and the devastating destruction of all things beautiful as a result.

 

But this is what is beautiful: To wake up to the same face every day, year after year, seeing our spouse’s face change and their body change and loving them unconditionally. How beautiful to have meant it when we said, “for better or for worse,” and to be there, lovingly and faithfully in the hard times and in the really hard times. To gain houses and to lose houses, to have children together and watch them grow, to sacrifice our own meals, if need be, to see our children eat, and to go cold so they can be warm, and to do all this together.

 

How beautiful to see someone at their very best and at their very worst, and to love them the same—to be their support, their rock, the warm smile and tender kiss they need. Such faithfulness is near impossible to find in this world, apart from Christ Himself. But in marriage, we can experience it. In marriage, we can (and ought!) to give ourselves away so freely and faithfully—in the way God has designed for our relational roles—and know that we are mirroring the glorious image of Christ and His church. There is so much mysterious awe in that, and it is a true reality!

 

THE REMARKABLE PRIVILEGE

 

May we never grow dull in our love for our husbands, in the precious friendship that we’ve been given with them. May we never lose sight of the wonder of God’s beautiful and perfect design of marriage—with our husband as our head and protector and provider, and we, their loving helpmate and homemaker. May we never forget the remarkable privilege it is to be given one man to love and support, to become one flesh with, to make little lives with, and to be faithful to all the days of our life, till death do us part.

 

Chesterton wrote: “What was wonderful about childhood is that anything in it was a wonder . . . It was a miraculous world.” A child does not grow bored at the repetition of the same game or seeing the same flower every day. Rather, children “exult in monotony” because “mere life is interesting enough” for them. Oh how we can learn from children! To see things with wonder is to see things as they truly are because everything is truly wonderful!

 

Can we regain the joy of living with a daily sense of surprise and excitement for all that is around us? Can we maintain this childlike sense of wonder, to receive everything as a gift?

 

LAURA DILL

Wrightwood, California, USA

Picture: David and Laura with their darling children: Knox (7), Lenya (5), Bruce (3), and Layla (1).

WHAT IS MARRIAGE?

~ A formidable force!

 

One man, one woman,

Fused into one.

God's plan! Is there a better?

There is none.

 

One body, one flesh—

Indescribable!

One purpose, one vision—

Unconquerable!

One soul, one spirit—

Invincible!

 

What is the foundation?

Praying together daily—

High priority.

Reading God's Word together daily—

Paramount for success.

 

What does it take?

Sacrificial love.

Yielding and submissiveness.

No longer “me,” but “you.”

Laying down my life.

Delighting to serve.

Sticking together through thick and thin.

 

What is the fruit?

A union that cannot be broken.

A union that survives the storms of life.

A union that forges a path for God in this world.

A union that builds a godly generation

for now and for generations to come.

 

What is the power?

A God-fearing family that is formidable to the enemy.

 

~ Nancy Campbell

I read this morning in Ephesians 2:3 about “the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh AND OF THE MIND . . .” The things we do in our flesh begin in the mind. Therefore, we must learn to have mastery over our minds. That is not an easy thing to do, is it? Our minds can run away on us. They can go to places where they should never go. They can think low thoughts of God that are not acceptable of our Most High God. They can slink down into the depths of self-pity.

 

What can we do about it?

 

1) We can push back and resist these thoughts in the powerful name of Jesus. “In the name of Jesus Christ, I resist these evil and unbelieving thoughts.” We take our stand in the name of Jesus. The devil flees when we resist him in the name of Jesus (James 4:4).

 

2) We must fill our minds with God’s word. His powerful, eternal word is the answer for keeping our minds in check. But it’s not enough to fill to only our minds. We must speak God’s word out loud. The devil hates to hear God’s words spoken out loud. It’s not enough to say them in your mind. You must speak them out.

 

This is exactly how Jesus overcame the devil when he was tempted in the desert. Every time the devil came to him, he said: “It is written” and quoted God’s word. And he won the victory every time.

 

If you are battling a certain area in your mind, search the Bible for Scriptures that apply to your problem. Write or type them and print them out. Put them in your Bible. Pin them on your walls. Memorize them. Say them out loud every day. You will be amazed how the Word will win the victory in your life.

 

I know you know 2 Corinthians 10:4, 5 but we need to read it frequently: “For the weapons on our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; Casting down imaginations (all the crazy and unbelieving thoughts that come to our minds) and every thigh thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God (our intellectual arrogance) and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”

 

We cannot be passive. We must take our thoughts captive and bring them into the obedience of Christ. And dear mothers, we must teach our children these principles. They face temptations in their thoughts even while they are young. They will face it more as they are older and living out in this evil and deceptive world—unless we teach them NOW how to have the victory.

 

Teach them how to resist the devil. When you see an area where your children are struggling, go to the Scriptures. Find every Scripture relating to that subject. And do the same as I have mentioned above. Get your children to memorize these Scriptures. Pin them up in big bold and colored letters on their bedroom walls, in the restroom. Make them into place mats at the table. Say them out loud when you come together for family Bible reading. These eternal words will have their impact and bring victory.

 

Teach your children how to be overcomers in their thought life from a young age.

 

1 John 2:14: “I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.”

 

Be blessed today,

 

Nancy Campbell

The words of this hymn remind me of one of my favorite Scriptures in the Bible, a needed one for every mother:

 

Isaiah 26:3, 4: "Thou wilt keep in PERFECT PEACE, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusts in thee.

 

Trust ye in the LORD forever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength."

 

These words keep me focused. No matter what situation I am facing, when I look up and keep my mind upon the Lord, trusting in Him, I have peace. When we look at the circumstances we may have turmoil, but when we look to the Lord, we will have peace.

 

Keep your eyes upon the Lord, today, dear mother.

 

Love from Nancy Campbell

I have often shared with mothers over the years. that I believe it is not enough to love our children; we must also love motherhood. Of course, all mothers love their children, but not every mother loves her career of motherhood. Perhaps the majority don’t. Especially in our humanistic society young women have been brainwashed negatively about the career of motherhood and have been programmed instead for careers outside of the home.

 

However, it is not until we get the revelation that motherhood is the most powerful career in the nation and the career for which God has created us (physically and innately) and we embrace it with all our hearts that we live in the joy of it—and walk in the fullness of it.

 

Lately I have been thinking that this same principle applies to marriage. Yes, we may love our husband, but if we don’t love marriage itself, we will not enjoy the fulness of marriage as God intends. I believe it is important to embrace and love marriage as God designed it.

 

Young couples marry because they are madly in love. But it’s a new level to also be madly in love with marriage. Marriage is embracing our role and not our husband’s role. It is honoring our husband, and the role God has given him. It is laying down our life to serve. It is giving our life to make a sweet and peaceful home for our husband and our children. And yes, part of marriage is embracing the children God wants to give us. It’s no longer a “me” life. And of course, the greatest vision is that we are to be a picture to our children and to the world around of the relationship of Christ and His church the bride.

 

May you walk in the fullness of joy and blessing that God wants for your marriage—loving your husband and loving marriage too.

 

Love from Nancy Campbell