Prodigal: The weather doesn’t look to inviting today.
Me: No, might be an inside day today.
This is a short video on Proverbs.
Proverbs 14:13 Even in laughter the heart may ache, and the end of joy may be grief. (ESV)
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Me: This is a great game!
Prodigal: I am enjoying it.
This is from the book The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart by Charles Swindoll
True sports fans have an amazing ability to remember details, statistics, a little technicality of a rule….you know, stuff nobody really cares to hear about except another sports fan. Another characteristic of a fan is an indomitable sense of commitment or determination. Against incredible odds, sound logic, and even medical advice, sports fans will persevere to the dying end!
I’ve often wondered what would happen if people were as intense and committed and determined about church as they are about sports–or a number of other pastimes. This was reinforced some years back in a Moody Monthly piece which illustrated twelve excuses a fella might use for “quitting sports.” The analogy isn’t hard to figure out.
Every time I went, they asked me for money.
The people with whom I had to sit didn’t seem very friendly.
The seats were too hard and uncomfortable.
The coach never came to see me.
The referee made a decision with which I could not agree.
I was sitting with some hypocrites–they only came to see what others were wearing.
Some games went into overtime, and I was late getting home.
The band played numbers I had never heard before.
The games are scheduled when I want to do other things.
My parents took me to too many games when I was growing up.
Since I read a book on sports, I feel that I know more than the coaches any how.
I don’t want to take my children, because I want them to choose for themselves what sport they like best.
O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! Psalm 8:9 (KJV)
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: Sometimes we just need a prayer.
Me: Yes, a prayer is the only thing that will bring comfort.
This is from the book Praying Through Life’s Problems featuring Stormie Omartian
Lord, I give thanks to You in all things because I know that You reign in the midst of them. I know that when I pass through the waters, You will be with me and the river will not flow over me. When I walk through the fire, I will not be burned. Nor will the flame touch me (Isaiah 43:1-2). That’s because You are a good God and have sent Your Holy Spirit to be my Comforter and Helper in the midst of difficult times.
Lord, I wait for You today. I put my hope in Your Word and ask that You would fill me afresh with Your Holy Spirit and wash away all anxiety or doubt. Shine Your light into any dark corner of my soul that needs to be exposed. I don’t want my impatience or lack of trust to stand in the way of all You desire to do in my life at this time. I realize that no matter how difficult life gets, as long as I cling to You I am moving forward on the path you have for me. Help me to wait on You and not grown impatient with my circumstances simply because my timetable does not coincide with Yours. Help me to understand Your ways and not give in to discouragement. Strengthen my faith to depend on Your perfect timing for my life. Help me to rest in You and be content with where I am right now. At the same time, I ask you to heal, restore, redeem, transform, and bring new life to my situation. Teach me what I need to learn and help me get beyond this time successfully so I can rise above the storm to Your place of perfect peace. Amen.
Be joyful always; pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: Little chilly today.
Me: Yep, time to sit by the fire.
This is a short video devotion on Proverbs
Proverbs 14:11 The house of the wicked will be overthrown, But the tent of the upright will flourish. (NKJV)
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Me: Y’all are two peas in a pod.
Prodigal: I agree with that.
This is from the book Celebration of Discipline by Richard J. Foster
Human beings seem to have a perpetual tendency to have somebody else talk to God for them. We are content to have the message second hand. One of Israel’s fatal mistakes was their insistence upon having a human king rather than resting in the theocratic rule of God over them. We can detect a note of sadness in the word of the Lord, “They have rejected me from being king over them” (1 Sam. 8:7). The history of history of religion is the story of an almost desperate scramble to have a king, a mediator, a priest, a pastor, a go-between. In this way we do not need to go to God ourselves. Such an approach saves us from the need to change, for to be in the presence of God is to change.
Right now there is someone who is fighting going to the Lord. They are in fear. They fear the answer, they fear no answer. They fear how they will look when they approach the Lord. If only that person could see the love of God. If that person understood the truth of the word that says I will never leave you or forsake you. I pray for that person. I pray.
Proverbs 17:22
A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
wwwfaithincounseling.org
Me: Are you having fun?
Prodigal: Yes!
Me: Here is something else to make you laugh.
This is from Laugh Again by Charles Swindoll
I have become a little older since I saw you last, and a few changes have come into my life since then. Frankly, I become quite a frivolous old gal. I am seeing five gentleman every day.
As soon as I wake up, Will Power helps me get out of bed. Then I go to see John. Then Charlie Horse comes along, and when he is here he takes a lot of my time and attention. When he leaves Arthur Ritis shows up and stays the rest of the day. He doesn’t like to stay in one place very long, so he takes me from joint to joint. After such a busy day I’m really tired and glad to go to bed with Ben Gay. What a life!
P.S. The preacher came to call the other day. He said at my age I should be thinking about the hearafter. I told him, “Oh, I do all the time. No matter where I am–in the parlor, upstairs, in the kitchen, or down in the basement–I ask myself what am I here after?”
Micah 6:1
Hear ye now what the LORD saith; Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.co
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: What a great day it is to be in the presence of the Lord.
Me: Amen!
This is a short video devotion on Proverbs.
Proverbs 14:10 The heart knows its own bitterness, and a stranger does not share its joy. (NKJV)
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.com
Prodigal: I LOVE my friend.
Me; Do you love them because they are a pig.
Prodigal: It is one of the reasons, but there are many more.
This is from The Magnificent Defeat by Frederick Buechner
The love for equals is a human thing–of friend for friend, brother for brother. It is to love what is loving and lovely. The world smiles. The love for the less fortunate is a beautiful thing–the love for those who suffer, for those who are poor, the sick, the failures, the unlovely. This is compassion, and it touches the heart of the world. The love for the more fortunate is a rare thing–to love those who succeed were we fail, to rejoice without envy with those who rejoice, the love of the poor for the rich, of the black man for the white man. The world is always bewildered by its saints. And then there is the love for the enemy–love for the one who does not love you but mocks, threatens, and inflicts pain. The tortured’s love for the torturer. This is God’s love. It conquers the world.
By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. Hebrews 11:5 (KJV)
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Me: I love your taste in decorations!
Prodigal: It is getting closer to Christmas and a time to share love.
This is from the book No Man Is an Island by Thomas Merton
True happiness is found in unselfish love, a love which increases in proportion as it is shared. There is no end to the sharing of love, and, therefore, the potential happiness of such love is without limit. Infinite sharing is the law of God’s inner life. He has made the sharing of ourselves the law of our own being, so that it is in loving others that we best love ourselves.
He made a way to his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence; Psalm 78:50 (KJV)
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: Two peas in a pod.
Me: Ain’t that the truth.
This is a short video devotion on Proverbs.
Proverbs 14:9 Fools mock at sin: but among the righteous there is favour. (KJV)
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
