Prodigal: Need to spend time with The Most Holy.
Me: Yes, that is something that is good for us everyday.
Purge from our hearts the stains so deep and foul,
Of wrath and pride and care;
Send Thine own holy calm upon the soul,
And bid it settle there!
by Anon
The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it. Psalms 68:11 (KJV)
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Me: You brought cookies!
Prodigal: Of course I did.
Me: A get together with no dessert is as scare as grass ’round a hog trough.
Prodigal: Amen.
This is from the book Joseph: A Man of Integrity and Forgiveness by Charles Swindoll
Behind changes, I repeat, must be a solid foundation. The first and highest priority must be our commitment to sound biblical truth and principles. When we fudge on truth or principles, we don’t even start to succeed. Rather, a subtle erosion occurs and we begin to lose. If our plan requires deception, if it means lying, if it calls for mistreatment of others, or if, in any way, it requires us to soften our theology, it’s spurious. My advice? Dump it now, not later.
God uses love, patience, self control and truth. You will be surprised at how much all that can accomplish.
Genesis 45:14-15
Then he fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept; and Benjamin wept on his neck. And he kissed all his brothers and wept on them, and afterward his brothers talked with him.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Me: Where are you going?
Prodigal: Ain’t no tellin’
This is a short video devotion on Proverbs.
Proverbs 11:14 Where there is no counsel, the people fall; But in the multitude of counselors there is safety. (NKJV)
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: I am about to have a fit over this ole vacum.
Me: Hold your horses. Let’s look at that anger for a second.
This is from the book Reclaiming Your Heart by Denise Hildreth Jones
It wasn’t hard for me to recognize I was angry at that moment. (It isn’t always quite that clear to me.) But I still needed to get honest with God and myself about what was going on. So I went upstairs to my little boy’s room, where I often like to pray when it is too cold to walk outside, and began to tell God everything I was feeling–the hurt, the fear, the disappointment, but especially the anger. I was so angry.
Do you know what God did in response? Nothing like what I used to think he would do. There was no lightning bolt. He didn’t scream down from his throne and say, “How dare you do anything but praise me!”
No, it was like he pulled up a chair at the table over a batch of hot biscuits and said, “Okay, let’s talk. I’m listening.” And he gave me freedom to be honest. I wasn’t disrespectful. I wasn’t demanding. I was simply broken–and desperate to understand what my heart felt was such extreme injustice.
Reclaiming the angry heart begins by giving ourselves the freedom to be angry. Remember, feeling anger is not a sin. Feeling anger is an unavoidable human response to a perceived threat. So it’s okay to feel angry. Our responsibility is to refuse to let the anger settle in us.
Psalms 90:2
Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: That song that I played, sounded good.
Me: Yes you have a talent, but you must take that to the Lord also!
This is from the book Filled with the Spirit…Then What? by R. Mabel Francis
Beloved, here is something that is very hard for us to see on our path to spiritual victory:
Even out seeming good traits must go to the cross!
Many people thought they were being kind when they would say, “Miss Francis is such a loving person” –and I believed it, too!
It is true that I did may pleasant things. But God said, “Yes, you are very loving, but the trouble is you love yourself.”
I was astonished. What did He mean? At that time three girls lived with me. They should have been strong Christians, but they were spoiled. The Lord said to me: “You are like a mother who is spoiling her child. She thinks she loves the child if she gives her everything she wants. It is not that she loves the child but that it pleases her to do this.” This vivid portrayal pierced my inner being like an arrow. I pleaded earnestly, “Lord, what can I do?”
He said, “Consign it to the cross.”
From that moment on there was a tremendous difference in my life. This trait seemed to be the center of my self-life. So I learned that my self-life was not always some ugly thing, some mean thing. With true insight into my human spirit, God knew that I had been brought up in a loving home an that it pleased me to do nice things. He had put His finger on the root of my weakness–myself!
Psalms 130:5
I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: You want to play?
Me: Sure, but I will probably win!
This is a short video devotion on Proverbs
Proverbs 11:13
Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing covered. (ESV)
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Me: What a blessing to live where you do.
Prodigal: Yes, Do not take for granted what you have.
This is from the book The Applause of Heaven by Max Lucado
“We have prayed for healing. God has not given it. But he has blessed us.” Glyn spoke slowly. Partly because of her conviction. Partly because of her disease. Her husband, Don, sat in the chair next to her. The three of us had come together to plan a funeral–hers. And now, with that task done, with the hymns selected and the direction given, Glyn spoke.
“He has given us strength and we did not know.
He gave it when we needed it and not before.” Her words slurred, but clear. Her eyes moist, but confident.
I wondered what it would be like to have my life taken from my at age forty-five. I wondered what it would be like to say good-bye to my children and spouse. I wondered what it would be like to be a witness to my own death.
“God has given us peace in our pain. He covers us all the time. Even when we are out of control, he is still there.”
It had been a year since Glyn and Don had learned of Glyn’s condition–amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease). The cause and the cure remain a mystery. But the result doesn’t. Muscle strength and mobility steadily deteriorate, leaving only the mind and the faith.
And it was coming together of Glyn’s mind and faith that caused me to realize I was doing more than planning a funeral. I was beholding holy jewels she had quarried out of the mine of despair.
“We can use any tragedy as a stumbling block or a stepping stone….
“I hope this will not cause my family to be bitter. I hope I can be an example that God is wanting to trust in the good times and the bad. For if we don’t trust when times or tough, we don’t trust at all.”
Don held her hand. He wiped her tears. He wiped his own.
“Who are these two?” I asked myself as I watched him touch a tissue to her cheek. “Who are these, who, on the edge of life’s river, can look across with such faith?”
The moment was solemn and sweet. I said little. One is not bold in the presence of the sacred.
Psalms 50:14-15
Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Me: Were at the ole log cabin
Prodigal: Yes, we are.
Me: Reminds me of a prayer
The Valley of Vision
Lord, High and Holy, Meek and Lowly,
Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision,
where I live in the depths but see thee in the heights;
hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold thy glory.
Let me learn by paradox
that the way down is the way up,
that to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,
that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
that to have nothing is to possess all,
that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
that to give is to receive,
that the valley is the place of vision.
Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen form deepest wells,
and the deeper the wells the brighter thy stars shine;
Let me find thy light in my darkness,
thy life in my death,
thy joy in my sorrow,
thy grace in my sin,
thy riches in my poverty,
thy glory in my valley.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me: Psalm 51:10
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: Beach time!
Me: No Clouds today!
This is a short video devotion.
click here to watch the video
Proverbs 11:12 Whoever belittles his neighbor lacks sense, but a man of understanding remains silent. (ESV)
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Me: The grass looks freshly mowed.
Prodigal: Yes, I wanted it to look good.
Me: I have a story about grass today.
This is from C.S. Lewis
The almost impossible hard thing is to hand over your whole self to Christ. But it is far easier than what we are all trying to do instead. For what are we trying to do is remain what we call “ourselves”–our personal happiness centered on money or pleasure or ambition–and hoping, despite this, to behave honestly and chastely and humbly. And that is exactly what Christ warned us you cannot do. If I am a grass field–all the cutting will keep the grass less but won’t produce wheat. If I want wheat….I must be plowed up and re-sown.
Ephesians 6:6
Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
