Prodigal: Harvest day!
Me: Nice cucumber.
This is a short video devotion on Proverbs.
Proverbs 15:11 Hell and destruction are before the LORD; so how much more the hearts of the sons of men. (NKJV).
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: Making sure I get everyone!
Me: That’s right.
This is from the book The Entitlement Cure by Dr. John Townsend
You have to learn the difference between a need, which should be met, and an entitled desire, which should be starved. Meeting a need leads to life, and feeding an entitlement leads to destruction. It comes down to this: that which creates love, growth, and ownership vs. that which creates superiority or a demand for special treatment. Praising the real person inside–her character–can never go wrong. Praising her false and grandiose attitudes and behaviors is like throwing your money down a hole. Don’t waste your love and support. Place it where it bears good fruit.
He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy. Proverbs 29:1 (KJV)
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Me: You are amazing!
Prodigal: Praise God for His faithfulness!
This is from J.I. Packer in Knowing God
What matters supremely, therefore, is not, in the last analysis, the fact that I know God, but the larger fact which underlies it–that He knows me. I am graven on the palms of His hands. I am never out of His mind. All my knowledge of Him depends on His sustained initiative in knowing me. I know Him because He first knew me, and continues to know me. He knows me as a friend, one who loves me; and there is no moment, therefore, when His care falters. This is momentous knowledge. There is unspeakable comfort…in knowing that God is constantly taking knowledge of me in love and watching over me for my good. There is tremendous relief in knowing that His love is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery now can disillusion Him about me, in the way I am so often disillusioned about myself, and quench His determination to bless me.
And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation. Isaiah 25:9 (KJV)
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Me: That is small.
Prodigal: What?
Me: I just told it like it was the gospel truth.
This is a short video devotion on Proverbs.
Proverbs 15:10 Harsh discipline is for him who forsakes the way, And he who hates correction will die. (NKJV)
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: We’re idle as jackdaws.
Me: Well, here is a story.
This is from Ronna Rowlette
He was born six and a half weeks prematurely on a hot, August day in 1967 and was quickly whisked away to a waiting incubator. At a mere four pounds, eleven ounces, and looking like a partially inflated doll, he was still the most beautiful baby she had ever seen.
The baby’s father, Dr. Carter, tried to tell his wife, Donna, not to expect too much–their baby was severely jaundiced. More than anything in the world, he had wanted to tell her their little baby was just fine, especially after three miscarriages, and all the sadness they’d felt and tears they shed. But their baby wasn’t fine.
In spite of all his medical training and experience, Dr. Carter chocked on the words. But he knew he’d have to tell her that the baby they had wanted so badly for years was probably not going to live–maybe forty-eight hours at the most. He had to prepare her for what was to come.
She immediately named the baby Jeffrey, after her husband. As the baby’s jaundice grew worse, fellow physicians came by to console them. They shook their heads and tried their best to offer some encouragement. But they knew the odds were not good. Even if he lived, unless little Jeffrey’s liver began functioning soon, the jaundice would produce permanent brain damage.
Donna told everyone eh was going to be all right. She knew her baby was going to live. The nurses felt sorry for her since her baby was probably going to die anyway, and so they let her hold him. When she touched his tiny, fragile body and whispered that he was going to grow up to be a strong, healthy man, little Jeffrey smiled. She told the nurses what had happened, and they looked at her sadly and said that babies have involuntary smiles and she needed rest. They did not have the heart to tell her more.
The extended family discussed burial arrangements with her husband and the parish priest. They finally came in to speak with Donna. She started crying and asked everyone to leave the hospital room. Her baby was not going to be buried. He was going to go home, jaundiced or not. She would not even think of burial!
At sixty-two hours, the baby’s blood count was checked again. The jaundice was considerably better! Little Jeffrey began eating every two hours. Donna asked to hold him as much as possible, and she talked to him. Since he didn’t need oxygen, the nurses humored her. At the next check, the count dropped another two points. Donna began planning his homecoming party.
Jeffrey did go home almost three weeks after birth. That, however, was not the end of the story.
Six weeks later, at his first checkup, the pediatrician told Donna he thought the baby was possible blind or had eye damage. She said this was nonsense since he followed her with his eyes. After a few tests, it proved to be a false scare. Yet, the first year, the baby did not do much. He had routine checkups, but Donna knew he seemed far behind in his development. Had he suffered severe brain damage from the jaundice?
At thirteen months, Jeffrey suddenly had a small seizure. They rushed him to the hospital, and he was diagnosed with a possible brain tumor. After several tests and X-rays the neurologist said Jeffrey was hydrocephalic (water on brain), and they would have to operate immediately to put a permanent shunt inside his head. At this time, a shunt operation was still rather experimental. It was the only procedure known to keep these children alive.
Once again, Donna did not fully accept the diagnosis. If he was hydrocephalic, why did it just now develop? Her friends told her she was in denial. She’d better listen to the doctors.
Of course, she would do whatever was necessary to help her son, but she also made her own plan of action. Three days before the operation, she called everyone she knew in several states and asked them to pray at 7:00pm each night before the operation. She asked them to ask others to join them if they could.
When the operation day arrived, she felt calm. Friends in seven states had been praying for their son. Later, to her astonishment she learned that her friends had called people, who then called other people, and that ultimately hundreds of people had been gathered to pray at 7:00pm. on three successive nights. Even a group of people in Israel were among those praying! And all for a tiny child none of them even knew!
The operation started very early. Donna and her husband paced the floors of the hospital. After what seemed only a short time, the neurosurgeon came running out, wildly waving X-rays. He was grinning from ear to ear. “It’s a miracle! We didn’t have to do anything. We did the last test through the baby’s soft spot, and there was nothing there. He is not hydrocephalic!”
They all started to cry and laugh at the same time. The neurosurgeon said he did not know what to think. He had no explanation for it.
So, Jeffrey came home once again to a jubilant crowd of friends and family. All the people who prayed for him were notified of the results and thanked for their prayers. He never had another seizure again.
Still, according to everyone else’s timetable, his development was very slow. At Jeffrey’s three-year pediatric checkup, the doctor looked sternly at Donna and asked if she and her husband had given thought to institutionalizing him. Donna was stunned. Institutionalize him? How could anyone do that? She refused, and it was never discussed again.
Instead, Donna set up the family basement playroom like a Montessori school. Jeffrey wasn’t really learning language, so she worked with him by engaging learning techniques that involved all his senses–sight, smell, touch, taste and hearing. Donna believed Jeffrey was normal and just didn’t follow other people’s timetables.
She taught him colors using M&Ms. He quickly learned the name of colors and of other things, too. And, while not speaking much more than a few words here and there until he was three and a half years old, his first full sentence was “Pass the ketchup!” He progressed quickly when he learned anything new–not little by little as his sister did, but in giant spurts, all-at-once kind of steps. This became a pattern in his life.
When Jeffrey was four, Donna wanted him to go to real preschool just like his sister. The first year he played with the water fountain–all year. He turned the water off and on, endlessly. The teachers said it was a waste of money to send him to school. He would be better off in “special school.” They said he was “slow,” and one teacher in exasperation said that Jeffrey was retarded and she ought to know–she’d been teaching for twenty-five years!
Donna remained firm. Would they mind as long as she was paying for it, to keep him another year? They reluctantly agreed but only if he was not allowed to play with the water fountain. She agreed to the terms.
The next fall, he began preschool again. This time he began building intricate architectural structures. He also began examining all the plastic dinosaurs and knew their names, classifying them by types. He found new interests in doing the math blocks, talking and asking question after question after question. He was more social and didn’t play with the water fountain. The teachers couldn’t believe it. He actually seemed bright!
However, at his pediatric checkup, his new doctor said he thought Jeffrey needed testing. He felt he had developmental delays. After testing, the pediatrician, who is now distinguished nationally in his field, said Jeffrey was autistic. Donna decided she’d had enough! Since birth, Jeffrey had been “diagnosed” as possible (1) blind, (2) hydrocephalic, (3) epileptic, (4) retarded and now finally (5) autistic. If she and her husband had listened to experts, well-meaning friends and even some family members, Jeffrey would be in an institution. Donna was polite but said that she did not think Jeffrey was autistic at all. He was in preschool and was going to start first grade on time.
Other than being very uncoordinated, and not having well developed motor skills, Jeffrey’s elementary years were not unusual. His learning ability was completely on track. He became an Eagle Scout, an honor student, a presidential scholar in his senior year, won two academic scholarships for college and was in all gifted classes. His SAT scores shocked everyone.
But even this is not the end of the story.
After graduating from college with honors, Jeffrey was encouraged to go to medical school. Donna always told him she had faith that his life had a special purpose and that he was here to help people. After graduating medical school, Jeffrey was accepted at a prestigious clinic for his residency program.
One day, while he was doing a rotation in the emergency room, an older man burst in. He was suicidal and, as a last-ditch effort, one of his friends had brought him in to talk to someone. Jeffrey saw him and asked about his life. The man told him about how sad he was about his recent divorce and being downsized out of a job he had held for years. He felt hopeless, that his life was over and nothing he had done had mattered. Jeffrey talked to him for a while and, after giving him some tests, gave him a prescription that would help him for the next few days. Jeffrey also got him approved for a caseworker to follow him up for the next month.
Suddenly the patient looked at the doctor’s badge and said, “Jeffrey Carter? Is your mom’s name Donna?”
Jeffrey answered, “Why, yes. How did you know?”
“You’re the miracle baby! You’re the miracle baby!” the man cried excitedly. “I prayed for you when you were in the hospital, and now you’re a doctor!”
Jeffrey confirmed that he had been born in Minnesota and now he’d returned “home” to complete his medical training.
The old man smiled and just gazed at his new doctor as if examining every inch. Then he told Jeffrey the story.
“Were you really one of the people who prayed for me?” Jeffrey asked him.
“Oh yes, three nights a week at 7:00pm for years. We were only supposed to do it until the operation, but some of us just kept going for a while.”
“You prayed for me all that time?”
As the man nodded, tears began to form in his eyes. Jeffrey reached out to embrace his patient–a man who only hours before had thought of taking his own life because he had lost all faith.
“Thank you, for praying for me….for caring about me. You see, I’m here because of you.”
Faith had come full circle for both men.
Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord [is] gracious. 1 Peter 2:1-3 (KJV)
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: Nice walk on the beach.
Me: I agree.
This is from Guideposts Magazine, July 1992 by Margaret Rose Powers
One night I had a dream. I was walking along the beach with the Lord, and across the skies flashed scenes from my life. In each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand. One was mine, and one was the Lord’s. When the last scene of my life appeared before me, I looked back at the footprints in the sand, and to my surprise, I noticed that many times along the path of my life there was only one set of footprints. And I noticed that it was at the lowest and saddest times in my life. I asked the Lord about it, “Lord, You said that once I decided to follow You, You would walk with me all the way. But I noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, there is only one set of footprints. I do not understand why You left my side when I needed You the most.” The Lord said, “My precious child, I never left you during your time of trial. Where you see only one set of footprints, I was carrying you.”
Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. Corinthians 10:14 (KJV)
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: This is a nice summer treat!
Me: Yes, I agree.
This is a short video devotion on Proverbs.
Proverbs 15:9 The way of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, But He loves him who follows righteousness. (NKJV)
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: I think we need a good laugh.
Me: Here, God, I pray for a fat bank account and a thin body (and please don’t mix them up again.)
This is from The Soul Winner by C.H. Spurgeon
Elisha was no common man when God’s Spirit was upon him, calling him to God’s work and aiding him in it. And you, devoted, earnest, prayerful teacher, remain no longer a common being. You have become, in a special manner, the temple of the Holy Spirit. God dwells in you, and you, by faith, have entered into the career of a wonder-worker. You are sent into the world not to do things that are possible to man, but those impossibilities that God works by His Spirit, by the means of His believing people.
O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou didst march through the wilderness; Selah: Psalm 68:7 (KJV)
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: I have some words of wisdom for you.
Me: Please share.
Prodigal: Lord, make my words gracious and tender, for tomorrow I may have to eat them!
This is from Romans by Donald Barnhouse
Robert Dick Wilson taught Hebrew at Princton Theological Seminary and one of his students was Donald Barnhouse. Barnhouse tells of his going back to seminary to preach after having graduated from there twelve years earlier. Dr. Wilson came into Miller Chapel and sat down near the front. There is something rather intimidating about going back to the school where you were trained and you teach Scripture to those who taught you.
At the close of the meeting Dr. Wilson came up to Donald Barnhouse and said, “If you come back again, I will not come to hear you preach. I only came once. I am glad that you are a big-godder. When my boys come back, I come to see if they are big-godders or little-godders, and then I know what their ministry will be.” Barnhouse asked him to explain.
“Well, some men have a little God and they are always in trouble with Him. He can’t do any miracles. He can’t take care of the inspiration and transmission of the Scripture to us. He doesn’t intervene on behalf of His people. They have a little God and I call them little-godders. Then there are those who have a great God. He speaks and it is done. He commands and it stands fast. He knows how to show Himself strong on behalf of them that fear Him. You, Donald, have a great God; and he will bless your ministry.” He paused a moment, smiled, said, “God bless you,” and walked out.
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. Psalms 100:4 (KJV)
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: I got a notion for a melon and it was very good!
Me: That is a good thing!
Today is a video devotion on Proverbs
Proverbs 15:8 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight. (KJV)
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
