Author Archives: Jennifer Van Allen

Just Suppose

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

Me: I think you are getting photo bombed.

Prodigal: I reckon, I might be.

Me: It is ok, it is fun.

This is a poem from Phil

Just suppose, when I pray, there really is someone listening who cares about me and wants to know what is on my mind.

Just suppose, when I pray, it changes me and my view of how the universe operates and who is involved.

Just suppose I put my doubts aside for a minute and consider the possibility that someone who knew me before I was born loves me, warts and all, without condition or reservation, no matter how badly I have behaved in the past.

Just suppose a prayer was my first response instead of my last resort when facing a new challenge or an old temptation.

Just suppose I lived each day knowing that there is an inexhaustible supply of love for me to pass along to others.

Just suppose.

We believe all of these just suppose things are true. Just suppose they are true for you too.

Psalms 31:24

Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the LORD!

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Women Lovin’ Jesus

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

Prodigal: How ’bout fetchin’ me a drink o’ water?

Me: Sure thing.

This is a short video devotion on Proverbs.

Click here to watch

Proverbs 12:18 There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. (ESV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

The Very Few

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

Prodigal: Look at this well!

Me: I love it!

Prodigal: There are very few of those around.

Me: Yes, that is true of other things also.

This is from the book The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

What Dietrich Bonhoeffer and others did cannot be expected from the many. The future in modern society depends much more on the quiet heroism of the very few who are inspired by God. These few will greatly enjoy the divine inspiration and will be prepared to stand for the dignity of man and true freedom and to keep the law of God, even if it means martyrdom or death. These few perform the law because they “look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are unseen: for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”

2 Thessalonians 3:5

May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

One Step At A Time

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

Prodigal: I am tired.

Me: Take it one step at a time.

This is from God will Make a Way

One migration season, three whales captured the headlines of the world when they became entrapped in a rapidly forming ice flow. Would-be rescuers were stumped as to what they might do to free the whales from their captivity within the “fence of ice”. The ice was forming rapidly around the whales, and soon scientists predicted there would be no way for the whales to surface and breathe the oxygen they needed to survive.

Finally one naturalist suggested that the whales might be lured to a breathing hole drilled just a few yards away, and then lured to yet another breathing hole even farther away. As new breathing holes were drilled, old ones were covered over, leaving the whales with no alternative–they had to move under the ice flow or die. Over the next several days, dozen of such breathing holes were drilled short distances apart to lead the whales step by step out of their problem and into the open waters.

The way God makes for us through a difficult time is often a step-by-step process. We must walk out the solution, step by step, day by day, decision by decision. It may seem that we take one step backward for every two steps forward, but if we could see the bigger picture of what God is doing, we would conclude, “Things are getting better.”

Sometimes God delivers His children overnight, in a single, dramatic act. But other times, a slow and gradual leading, requiring deliberate and steady obedience on our part, may be His way.

Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. (KJV)

Psalm 61:2

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Women Lovin’ Jesus

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

Prodigal: Couldn’t tell a nickel’s worth of difference after that.

Me: Well, glad we tried.

This is a short video devotion on Proverbs.

click here to watch the video

Proverbs 12:17 He who speaks truth declares righteousness, But a false witness, deceit. (NKJV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Know Our Own Weakness

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

Me: Baseball is not my strength.

Prodigal: But Brady is good at it!

Me: I love to watch him play.

This is from the book Pure Desire by Ted Roberts

First, we need to know our own weaknesses very clearly. We all have weakness, because there are no perfect families. Here is where the Christian perspective differs radically from much of the popular perspective of today. Understanding the points of weaknesses that may have been passes on to us from our family backgrounds is not an investigation to fix blame. It is, instead, a discovery of the points where God’s power can be released in our lives where we are weak, we have to work at listening to God carefully, because our ingrained habit patterns can lead us astray.

You are not stuck. God has a way!

1 Peter 2:2-3

Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by you may grow up into salvation. if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Courage In Your Convictions

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

Prodigal: I think we should go that way.

Me: There is more than one way to skin a cat.

Prodigal: I am sure you might be right.

This is from the book My Heart’s Cry: Longing For More of Jesus by Anne Graham Lotz

Philip, who would be tied to a pillar and stoned to death?

Matthew, who would be nailed to the ground with spikes and beheaded?

Jude, His own half-brother, who would be beaten to death with sticks and clubs?

Simon, who would be tortured and crucified?

John, son of Zebedee, who would be tortured and exiled?

James, brother of John, who would be beheaded?

James, another of His half-brothers, who would be pushed from the top of a building, then his broken body beaten to death?

Peter, who would be crucified upside down?

Andrew, Peter’s brother, who would hang on a cross for three days before dying?

Bartholomew, who would be beaten, crucified, and skinned alive before dying?

Thomas, who would be thrown into a fiery furnace then speared with a javelin?

Every single one of His beloved disciples except John would die a greusome death for standing out and speaking up–for Him? How was it that these rough, untrained, mostly uneducated men would speak out with such power that the authorities would consider them a threat to the security and economy of the Roman empire? Their competency would come from the Spirit within them.

John 6:51

I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Women Lovin’ Jesus

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

Prodigal: I’m sharp as a tack.

Me: Praise God! That is a good thing.

This is a short video devotion on Proverbs.

click here to watch the video

Proverbs 12:16

A fool’s wrath is known at once, But a prudent man covers shame. (NKJV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

A Word of Caution

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

Me: Wait for me, you might have trouble navigating without me.

Prodigal: I could use some help.

This is from the book The Dynamics of Worship by James P. Gills, M.d.

A word of caution: we can get pretty adept at counterfeit ministry. In order to further our own selfish ambitions, we can even fool ourselves. Our efforts to serve God lead us to put up a façade, a kind of whitewashed fence for others to see. We slip on an attractive covering to camouflage our old, hateful selves. No inner change of heart occurs daily. We lack sincerity, one could say.

Guard your heart today. The Lord is really the only one that matters. That is where the root of our desire. Do not let that desire burn out. Feed the desire by turning to the relationship with the Lord in a quiet place of remembering.

Proverbs 10:12

Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses. (ESV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Good Men

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

Prodigal: I reckon, I have to go.

Me: That is what God wants.

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” said Edmund Burke. How that wins the spiritual battle more often then we would care to know. For it is complacency that has lead others to say this is not for me to get involved in. I would rather have fun or relax. I do not want conflict or others to disapprove of me. We tell ourselves this, while the Holy Spirit convicts us to take that step in obedience. The Lord wants us to interfere with evil. He knows the plans for other and for you. He wants you to be an intercessory for the Lord’s works on this day. He will give you strength and give you words. He will protect you from the onslaught of negative words, but He does require you agree to take action in obedience. You can choose to say no, but you will never be part of a battle that has victory with Jesus. You will not participate in the blessings that will be given, and you will not get to shout the victory cry!

Luke 6:38

Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org