A Safe Place

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

Me: This looks like a safe place.

Prodigal: Yes, we all need a safe place.

This is from the book Reaching for the Invisible God by Philip Yancey

When I read the Psalms and Job and Jeremiah, I sense something of the same pattern at work. Notice the angry outbursts, the complaints, the wild accusations against God contained in those books. God offers a “safe place” to express ourselves, even the worst parts of ourselves. I hear little of that blunt honesty in church growing up, which I now see as a spiritual defect, not a strength. Christians, I have noticed, are not immune from the kinds of circumstances that provoked the outburst in Job and Psalms. Why attempt to hide deep emotions from a God who dwells within, a Spirit who has promised to express on our behalf “groans” for which words fail us?

We do not have to hide who we are or what we feel. There is no shame in our emotions. There is no shame in who we are on the outside or the inside. We are loved. We are cherished. We are uniquely made. God can handle those emotions and those truths. The love will stay the same after.

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

REVELATION 22 : 13

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Women Lovin’ Jesus

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

Prodigal: Good game?

Me: Yeah, he could shoot the wings off a fly.

Today we have a short video devotion.

click here to watch the video

Proverbs 14:19

The evil bow before the good; and the wicked at the gates of the righteous. (KJV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Good Conversations

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

Me: Now that is a conversation starter!

Prodigal: I know, it might turn out good or bad.

This is from the book Open Heart Open Home by Karen Burton Mains

Good conversation is a matter of listening. When a Christian, filled with the Holy Spirit, listens, he listens on three levels. He listens to what words are being said. He listens to what the person really means by those words, and he listens to the voice of the Spirit within who is giving illumination to his hearing.

And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, Behold, he calleth Elias. Mark 13:35 (KJV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Are You Listening?

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

Me: Can you hear the train whistle?

Prodigal: No…

Me: Maybe listen a little closer.

This is from the book God Will Make a Way: Stories of Hope

A Bible translator was having difficulty finding a word for “obedience” in the native language of the people he was serving as a missionary. Obedience was a virtue that seldom seemed to be practiced among the people with whom he wanted to share the Gospel. Then one day as he was returning home, he whistled for his dog and it came running to him at full speed. An old native, observing the dog’s quick reaction, and admiringly in the native tongue, “Your dog is all ear.” The missionary knew immediately that he had his word for obedience.

Are you “all ear” to the Good Shepherd today? Are you listening intently for the command Jesus will give that will be the way out of your present difficulty? Are you being attentive at all times, waiting for His instructions on how and when to go? Or are you being distracted by the things of this world, such as television, movies, video games, overwork, or spending too much time on a sport or hobby?

We are in danger of missing God’s way out of any period of distress or danger if we fail to be “all ears” to His Word and His Spirit. Being “all ears” means continuously listening for God’s counsel and direction and then, when He tells us to do something, to do it immediately–no matter how strange it may be! If Naaman had only washed in the Jordan River six times, he would not have been healed.

The keys to God’s deliverance include faith and obedience, and they keys to obedience are a willing heart and a listening ear.

He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Matthew 11:15 (KJV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Women Lovin’ Jesus

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

Prodigal: I won!

Me: That can be a long game, but fun!

This is a short video devotion on Proverbs

click here to watch the video

Proverbs 14:18

The simple inherit folly: But the prudent are crowned with knowledge. (KJV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Knowing the Shepherd’s Voice

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

Me: Sheep are interesting.

Prodigal: These sheep certainly are.

This is from the book God Will Make a Way: Stories of Hope

A man who had lived in the Middle East for quite some time and was very well acquainted with the shepherds in the nearby hills was out riding his horse one day when he came to a spring of water. He stopped to rest and shortly, a shepherd came down a steep mountain path near him, his flock of sheep following behind. Not long after, another shepherd with another flock came down to the water by another path, and after awhile a third. The three flocks mingled together, so that the man began to wonder how each shepherd was ever going to find his own sheep again.

At last one of the shepherds arose and called, “Men-ah”-which is Arabic for “follow”–and his sheep came out from the larger flock and followed him back into the mountains. The man noticed that the shepherd didn’t even turn around to count those that followed. Then the second shepherd got up and called out to this sheep, “Men-ah!” and those that belonged to his flock left that others and followed him back up the path.

The man was intrigued by what he saw and he said to the third shepherd, “I think I could make your sheep follow me.”

“I doubt it,” the shepherd replied.

“Give me your turban, your cloak, and your crook,” the man challenged,” and we’ll see.” He put on the shepherd’s clothing, took the crook in his hand, stood up where the sheep could see him and called out in his best Arabic, “Men-ah! Men-ah!” Not one sheep took any notice of him.

The man asked the shepherd if the sheep ever followed anybody but him. The shepherd replied, “The only time a sheep will make a mistake and follow a stranger is when it gets sick.”

It is only when we become sick with sin in our souls that we fall prey to the enemy’s call. As long as we are following the voice of the Lord, we are safe and blessed.

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. John 10:27-28 NKJV

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Focus

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

Prodigal: Bon Voyage! I am ready to leave.

Me: Have a great time!

This is from A testament of Devotion by Thomas Kelly

The outer distractions of our interests reflects an inner lack of integration in our own selves. We are trying to be several selves at once without all ourselves being organized by a single, mastering Life within us.

A man shall be commended according to his wisdom: but he that is of a perverse heart shall be despised. Proverb12:8 (KJV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodiglapig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

The Runner

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

Prodigal: You have been running!

Me: Yes, He has, now for a rest and a true story.

This is from Quote Magazine, July 1991

Hours behind the runner in front of him, the last marathoner finally entered the Olympic stadium. By that time, the drama of the day’s events were almost over and most of the spectators had gone home. This athlete’s story, however, was still being played out.

Limping into the arena, the Tanzanian runner grimaced with every step, his knee bleeding and bandaged from an earlier fall. His ragged appearance immediately caught the attention of the remaining crowd, who cheered him on to the finish line.

Why did he stay in the race? What made him endure his injuries to the end? When asked these questions later, he replied, “My country did not send me 7,000 miles away to start the race. They sent me 7,000 miles to finish it.”

For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. Hebrews 5:12 (KJV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Softballs

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

Prodigal: Time to play, where are the softballs?

Me: I don’t know, but that reminds me of a story.

This is from Charles R. Swindoll

I remember stealing six softballs when I was working as a stock boy in a five-and-dime store in my early years in high school. And I remember trying to find a place to hide them when I got home. I don’t know what in the world I planned to do with six softballs. To this day it just baffles me, the logic of it. But I stuck them in the back of my drawer and my mother found them. My father presented himself to me and told me that we were going to make a trip back to the store where I was going to talk to the owner and I was going to confess.

I will never forget his instructions on the way, I mean, I was sitting there just dying thinking about it. It was just like passing razor blades to think about standing in front of my employer. Well, I stood there and told him what I had done. My dad was waiting in the car. He didn’t go in with me. And I heard my boss say, “You’re fired.”

I stumbled back out to the car and sat down. I was as low as I could remember ever being. On the way, I remember my dad beginning to rebuild my emotions. I had done wrong, and I had learned in incredible lesson. He didn’t overdo it, but he drilled into me that when you steal, you get fired. And if you don’t get fired at the moment, you lose something that can’t be bought with any price, and that’s your self-respect. I remember, too, we go on the subject of what in the world I was gonna do with those six softballs.

But there was something about the ornament of grace that came around my neck from my father who before we went in the house took the time to put his arms around me and to understand. This teenage kid was most concerned about my father’s not telling my friends. And as far as I know, he took that story to his grave and never told on me.

Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; Genesis 19:24 (KJV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

No Matter

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

Prodigal: Amazing book right there.

Me: Amen!

This is from Dwight L. Moody

No matter how low down you are; no matter what your disposition has been; you may be low in your thoughts, words, and actions; you may be selfish; your heart may be overflowing with corruption and wickedness; yet Jesus will have compassion upon you. He will speak comforting words to you; not treat you coldly or spurn you, as perhaps those of earth would, but will speak tender words, and words of love and affection and kindness. Just come at once.

Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. Be clean!” Mark 1:41 NIV

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org