Me: I love that song you are singing.

Prodigal: Singing while working helps the time go by faster.

This is from the book Heaven Your Real Home by Joni Eareckson Tada

Loved with everlasting love,

Led by grace that love to know;

Gracious Spirit from above,

Thou hast taught me it is so!

O, this full and perfect peace!

O, this transport all divine!

In a love which cannot cease,

I am His, and He is mine.

Things that once were wild alarms

Cannot now disturb my rest;

Closed in everlasting arms,

Pillowed on the loving breast.

O, to lie forever here,

Doubt and care and self resign,

While He whispers in my ear,

I am His and He is mine.

And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute.

GENESIS 49 : 15

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Prodigal: I am wore out!

Me: Rest while I share about Jesus.

This is from the book The Greatest Life Of All: Jesus by Charles Swindoll

When we presume to know the right course of action, we believe we are as smart or as able as God. When we panic, we instinctively turn to our own internal resources because we doubt Him. And when we feel adequate for a task, our belief in self has diminished our view of the Almighty.

On the other hand, if we see God as He is–omnipotent, unfailingly good, and interested in us-we will not hesitate to take every matter to Him, no matter how trifling. And the degree to which we have entered God’s rest can be measured by the shrinking size of the issues we release into His capable hands.

This was God’s timing. So knowing it is God’s timing you can rest. We live knowing that we cannot see the whole picture, but God will allow us to see some of what is taking place. God’s timing is always important and we know we can rely on that as a way to encourage us today.

And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off anymore by the waters of the flood; neither shall there anymore be a flood to destroy the earth.

GENESIS 9 : 11

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Me: Nice place!

Prodigal: It is so far out in the country that the sun sets between this place and town.

Me: Haha. Good one.

This is a short video devotion on proverbs.

click here to watch the video

Proverbs 7:23

till an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare, little knowing it will cost him his life. (NIV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalgpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Me: What a beautiful bird!

Prodigal: Yes, God makes us all beautiful!

This is from the book Christian Caregiving A Way of Life by Kenneth Haugk

Everyone’s life has a spiritual dimension. God persists in revealing this dimension wherever and whenever he can, despite society’s continual efforts to thwart him. As one who seeks to care for others as a Christian, you need to be ready to relate to the deep spiritual needs of others. Your readiness to do so will be communicated to others by the climate of acceptance and encouragement you create, by your sensitivity to opportunities to raise the issue, and by our willingness to take whatever time is necessary. The person you are caring for will find you trustworthy because you do not respond with cliches or behave in a lofty, superior manner, and you listen as well as talk. Thus, the door will be open for providing care that is deeply and distinctively Christian.

God may have allowed this relationship as an opportunity for you to speak about Christ. Don’t panic or feel overwhelmed with the figuring out what you can say and how you can say it. Pray daily about this relationship. Then the Holy Spirit will show up and give you the right words at the right time. You don’t have to be perfect or figure it all out right now.

1 Timothy 1:17

To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Me: Tis the season to be jolly.

Prodigal: Also to remember what the season is about.

This is from the book The Cross of Christ by John R.W. Stott

For according to verse 10 the death of Christ was ‘the death of his Son’. If God has sent a man to us, as he had sent the prophets to Israel, we would have been grateful. If he had sent an angel, as he did to Mary at the annunciation, we would have counted it a great privilege. Yet in either case he would have sent us a third party, since men and angels are creatures of his making. But in sending his own Son, eternally begotten from his own Being, he was not sending a creature, a third party, but giving himself.

When you care, and when you love deeply. You go yourself. You address that person as intimately as you can. You want to be as close as you can to them. It means a great deal so you handle it yourself. This is what God did for us! God loved us on a personal level starting thousands of years ago. He has never stopped. He still loves you on a personal level today. Make this Christmas personal and about love.

Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

JOHN 3 : 7

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Prodigal: I like your Christmas Tree!

Me: Thanks, I’m getting ready for the season.

This is a video devotion on Proverbs.

Click here to watch the video

Proverbs 7:22

All at once he followed her like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer stepping into a noose. (NIV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Prodigal: It has been a difficult week.

Me: We need support during those difficult weeks.

This is from Warren Wiersbe

The best way to help people who are hurting is just to be with them saying little or nothing, and letting them know you care. Don’t try to explain everything; explanations never heal a broken heart. If his (Job) friends had listened to him, accepted his feelings, and not argued with him, they would have helped him greatly; but they chose to be prosecuting attorneys instead of witnesses.

No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

I JOHN 4 : 12

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Prodigal: This may not taste good.

Me: I am sure you will do fine.

Prodigal: I am praying.

This is from the book God Works the Night Shift from Ron Mehl

Do you hear what the apostle is saying? I can almost hear him say, “Weakness? Hey, it’s the best thing I have going for me! Listen, I’m going to RUN into these areas of weakness if it means I’m running into the strength of Jesus Christ! I’m HAPPY to admit my inadequacies and shortcomings, if it means I get to exchange my puny abilities for His!”

Frankly, I’m familiar with this concept because it’s been my experience for many years. I’m the most insecure person in the world, but I admit it. I think of so many times on my knees when I say, “Lord why do you make me do this? You know I’m not capable of doing this. You’ve made me the pastor of this church and it’s bigger than me! You’ve given me these huge responsibilities and it’s just ridiculous. If You don’t step in now, I’m a flattened possum.”

You may feel totally weak and inadequate to accomplish the task God has given you. If you will admit that fact before the Lord, He’ll cover you! God will say, “While I work in and through this insufficiency of yours, I’m going to make you look good.” But if, on the other hand, you refuse to admit your inadequacies, then- in His love–He’ll expose you. He’ll expose you for what you are. He’ll expose your weakness for what it is. Frightening thought!

I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. (Luke 18:11-14).

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Me: The journey of a thousand miles starts with one step.

Prodigal: Yes, I have already taken many.

Me: Me too.

This is a video devotion about proverbs.

click here to watch the video

Proverbs 7:21

With her enticing speech she caused him to yield, with her flattering lips she seduced him. (NKJV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Prodigal: I hope you eat too much and enjoy it!

Me: That is the plan!

That spring, for the first time in a year, Mother couldn’t to mushrooming. After surgery, she was recuperating at our home. No scurrying off to the moist Hoosier woodlands. No hunting for morels, the rare coneshaped mushrooms that grow for a short time every spring.

For Mother that was a real hardship; mushrooming was her gift. Every year we kids would go into the woods with her; we’d fan out in different directions, searching in proven morel breeding grounds such as patches of mayapple, rotting stumps, and fallen elm trees. But it was always Mother who would call out suddenly, “Come quick! Look what I’ve found,” And there, in an unpromising pile of decaying leaves, half-hidden, would be the precious honeycomb spikes of morels we’d been seeking.

“These mushrooms are like the manna that God sent the children of Israel in the wilderness,” Mother would say. “He chooses when and were He wants them to appear.”

That spring, Mother longed to go again to the woods when the morels grew, but forced to stay near home, she puttered listlessly in the garden.

Then one Saturday, Mother was watering the tulips outside the living room window when I hear her cry, “Come quick! Look what I’ve found.”

There among the yellow tulips I spotted something familiar–a cone shaped morel. We scanned the ground to find another one, and another, growing where they never had grown before—and never since.

by Sandra Fischer

But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.

PROVERBS 1 : 33

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org