WARM IS LOVELY BUT . . .
You are going to love today’s podcast (posted below). Erin and I talk about three things a man needs to make him happy when he comes home—a warm welcome, a warm meal, and a warm bed (meaning more than an electric blanket!). These are very basic but wonderful things and will bless your husband.

However, I think you can notch it up further and make it a . . .

HOT AND SPICY WELCOME
Don’t just yell Hi from the kitchen when your husband comes home. Get up from what you are doing. Go to the door or walk toward your husband and welcome him with open arms and a loving and lingering kiss. Tell him how happy you are to see him. A warm welcome is nice, but a hot spicy welcome is even nicer!

HOT AND SPICY MEAL
Make a lovely nutritious meal for your husband and family but make it spicy and full of flavor too. Bland food is boring. Spice up your food with herbs and spices and if you are up to it, hot peppers too. Basic, wholesome food changes from satisfying to scrumptious when you make it flavorful. God gave us tastebuds. Tantalize those tastebuds. Try out new things.

And spice up your family mealtimes with good conversation. Mealtimes can be terribly boring if there is no purposeful conversation. As I raised our children, I found that it was just as important to think about what we would talk about as what I would cook for the meal. Things don’t just happen. You have to make them happen. Think of a subject to bring to the table to discuss with your husband and family—political, biblical, historical, or geographical. Ask a question and get each one in the family to share their thoughts. Think of ideas to make your mealtimes exciting.

HOT AND SPICY BED
Always be ready to love your husband passionately. Forget being passive and pour out your hot spicy love on him. He is waiting for it. As you give to him, you will be blessed beyond measure. Proverbs 5:20 tells us that the wife is to “satisfy” and “ravish” her husband. Yes, that’s King James language. Other translations say “captivate, intoxicate, exhilarate, rapture” I can’t let you off the hook, ladies. It’s Bible!

Your husband will love coming home to you!

Love from Nancy Campbell

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WONDERS WITHOUT NUMBER
Job exclaims that God does “great things past finding out; yea, and wonders without number” (Job 9:10 and 5:9). How true this is. We see God’s wonders every day—in creation, in His workings in our lives, and in our children (the beautiful miracles He has given us.) Every new baby is a miracle from God, a unique new person who has never lived on the earth before and there will never be another one like him or her. How amazing.

Take time to look at your children and appreciate the miracles they are. Thank God for them. Embrace them as miracles and joy in them.

The word “wonders” is the Hebrew word “pala” and means “astonishing, extraordinary, marvelous, miraculous, wondrous, to accomplish.” It reveals God doing things beyond the powers of human powers or expectations.

It is used in Genesis 18:14 about the miraculous conception of Isaac: “Is (pala) any thing too hard (pala) for the Lord? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life and Sarah shall have a son.” God miraculously restored Sarah’s womanly cycle and she conceived during the “time of life,” the time of the month when the womb is ready for conception and a miracle of God.

Although this was a very special miracle to an older woman, every married woman has this opportunity for a miracle during her “time of life.”

This word is used of God creating each new life in the womb (Psalm 139:13-16). The psalmist exclaims: “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous (pala) are thy works.”

God uses this word when describing a couple falling in love (Proverbs 30:18, 19). God calls it marvelous and wonderful. I’m sure it makes His heart smile for it is His plan and design.

Each night as I am going off to sleep, I like to think of all the wonders around me for which I can thank God and then I like to do it again as I wake in the morning.

We can easily get bogged down with all the pressures and complexities of life. But look up today, dear mother. Rejoice in the miracles all around you. You have wonders without number if you will only open your eyes.

Be filled with thanksgiving today, Nancy Campbell

P.S.
MORE SCRIPTURES ABOUT GOD’S WONDERFUL WORKS
We are to show to our children, and all people, God’s marvelous works. We must not keep them hidden: 1 Chronicles 16:9, 12, 24; Psalm 9:1; 26:7; 71:17; 78:4 (specifically); 96:3; 105:2, 5; 107:8, 15, 21, 31; 119:27; and 145:5.

God loves to do wonderful and marvelous things: Exodus 3:20; 34:10; Job 5:9; 37:5, 14; Joshua 3:5; Psalm 31:21; 40:5; 72:18; 75:1; 78:32; 86:10; 98:1; 106:7, 21, 22; 111:4; 118:23; 119:18; 136:4; Isaiah 28:19; 29:14; Jeremiah 32:17, 27; Joel 2:26; and Zechariah 8:6-8.
~ Nancy

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HOME IS BEST
Stay, stay at home, my heart, and rest;
Home-keeping hearts are happiest,
For those that wander they know not where
Are full of trouble and full of care;
To stay at home is best.

Weary and homesick and distressed,
They wander east, they wander west,
And are baffled and beaten and blown about
By the winds of the wilderness of doubt;
To stay at home is best.

Then stay at home, my heart, and rest;
The bird is safest in its nest;
O'er all that flutter their wings and fly
A hawk is hovering in the sky;
To stay at home is best.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Painting by Janet Kruskamp: Summer Front Porch.

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Today’s podcast:
WE LOVE OUR KITCHENS, Part 2
Erin and I continue sharing the wonderful joys of preparing meals for our families. And how to turn every meal into a love affair. You’ll receive practical tips and a new vision for your kitchen. I know you’ll be blessed and encouraged.
https://www.buzzsprout.com/183665/9906312

P.S. Some of you may have already received your new Above Rubies magazine, #99. In this issue I publish the amazing story of Erin adopting two special needs children (pages 16 - 18). This picture is little Kathryn, their Down syndrome little girl, helping Erin with the dishes.

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BRASS INSTEAD OF GOLD
Did you know that your home is meant to be a treasure house, filled with the good things of God? Proverbs 15:6 says: “In the house of the righteous is MUCH treasure.” The word “treasure” in this Scripture also means “riches, strength.”

God wants our homes filled with all the riches that are in Christ Jesus--His wisdom, knowledge, mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering, forbearance, forgiveness, love, righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost (Romans 14:17; Colossians 2:2, 3; 3:12-17; and James 3:17, 18). What amazing treasures. These are the riches that fill our homes with strength!

But we know that Satan is the robber. He comes to steal, kill, and destroy and he wants to rob you and your home of all these beautiful treasures. In 2 Chronicles 12:9 we read how the king of Egypt came against Jerusalem and “took away ALL the treasures of the house of the Lord; he took all.” This included the shields which were all made of gold.

What did king Rehoboam of Jerusalem do? He made brass shields. Instead of gold, he now had brass! Dear mother, be on the alert against the robber of your home. Sometimes we can be so apathetic that we don’t even notice we are being robbed. The treasures of love, kindness, peace and joy creep out the door and we settle for the inferior. We get used to the status quo of how we are living.

We can become so deceived that we are satisfied with counterfeits. We put up with the brass instead of the gold.

Instead of pursuing a loving, serving, and intimate relationship with our husband, we settle for “just living together.”

Instead of seeking forgiveness and peace, we settle for arguments, bickerings, and moods amongst family members.

Instead of embracing and nurturing our children in our home, we take the enemy’s counterfeit of daycares. And so it goes on.

Let’s go for the treasures of gold, not the counterfeit of brass.

Don’t settle for the status quo.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell.

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