Prodigal: Nothing is too Great for God.
Me: Amen!
This is a short video devotion on Proverbs.
Proverbs 10:24 What the wicked dreads will come upon him, but the desire of the righteous will be granted. (ESV)
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: The quilt is looking good!
Me: You can keep that kinda talk coming!
This is from the book Lead Like Jesus by Ken Blanchard, Phil Hodges, Phyllis Hendry
Maybe you often receive feedback graciously, but in some situations it may not be helpful or it may be out of alignment with your purpose and mission. Everyone likes positive feedback, but you may have a difficult time with negative feedback–especially if your security and self-worth are based on public image, reputation, position, competitive performance, possessions, or personal relationships. If you sense a threat to any of those things you cherish, you may react to criticism in a fearful, defensive way. You may also wrongly conclude that negative feedback means people don’t won’t you to lead anymore. That’s not always the case. Sometimes the biggest fear is not failure; it is the fear of losing your power and position. The fear is intensified if you have based your self-worth and security on your leadership position and power.
God is you self-worth and security. Just a reminder to keep it that way. The enemy wants you to forget.
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.
Matthew 16:24-25
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: You black hearted buzzard!
Me: I know your mad, revenge is the Lord’s!
This comes from the book The Power of a Woman’s Words by Sharon Jaynes
Paul wrote, “Let us consider and give attentive, continuous care to watching one over one another, studying how we may stir (stimulate and incite) to love and helpful deeds and noble activities” (Hebrews 10:24 AMP). This was not a flippant command. Notice the action words: give attentive care, continuous care, watching over, studying how, stimulate, incite. Notice at the beginning of Paul’s exhortation that he instructs us to observe and then to speak. Not every person needs the same word of encouragement. We watch, we pray, and then we speak the words that will refresh the most effectively.
If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. James 1:5
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: I’m not going to worry, unless the animals start lining up two by two for the next space shuttle.
Me: God’s got this!
This is a short video devotion on Proverbs.
Proverbs 10:23 To do evil is like sport to a fool, But a man of understanding has wisdom. (NKJV)
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: That just frosted me!
Me: Don’t forget to forgive at some point…
This is from the book The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism by Timothy Keller
Everyone gets their identity, their sense of being distinct and valuable, from somewhere or something. Kierkegaard asserts that human beings were made not only to believe in God in some general way, but to love him supremely, center their lives on him above anything else, and build their very identities on him. Anything other that this is sin.
Having fear what people think of you, is also putting your identity away from Christ. Remember to focus on the Lord. Remember that He will not disappoint you.
Luke 18:27
But he said, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.”
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Me: You look comfortable.
Prodigal: I am very comfortable.
Me: I will tell a story but don’t fall asleep til the end.
Prodigal: I won’t!
This is from the book Small Miracles for Women by Yitta Halberstam & Judith Leventhal
Everybody who knew Hazel Davis knew about her rings. There were four–all beautiful diamonds given to her by her late husband for anniversaries and birthdays.
I’m starved,” Irma said, pulling into a Cracker Barrel parking lot. The women were going to Virginia to visit Hazel’s mom and had traveled 100 miles from their North Carolina homes.
As Hazel scanned the menu, she reached into her pocket–and felt only a hole!
“Irma!” she choked.
The women scoured the parking lot and the van–in vain. As they drove along Route 40, Irma tried to console her friend.
But tears ran down Hazel’s face. “I bet someone saw them and realized they were valuable,” Hazel cried.
Little did she know how right she was. Minutes after Hazel and Irma left, the Reverend Jim Diehl and his wife Karen pulled into the Cracker Barrel on their way home from a trip with their boys. When they saw something glinting in the sun, they stopped–and found themselves staring at diamonds!
These mean a lot to someone, Karen knew, looking at the ring from Jim she wore on her left hand. “We have to find the owner,” she said.
Over the next week, they spoke with the restaurant and police, hoping someone had reported them missing. But Hazel hadn’t. She was too upset and shaken that day to think straight and had left without notifying the restaurant of her loss. And once home, she figured whoever had found the rings had probably kept them.
The Diehls had indeed kept the rings–in a safe deposit box.
Five weeks later, Jim was at a hospital visiting a congregation member and his wife Linda. While chatting, Linda mentioned that her mother’s friend had lost some valuable rings in a parking lot. Jim was shaken. It can’t be, he told himself. He had found the rings 100 miles away. Yet he had to ask where the woman had lost them.
“At a Cracker Barrel in Statesville,” Linda replied.
It seemed unbelievable, even to a man in the miracle business. But he asked for the woman’s number.
When her phone rang and Jim’s wife Karen gave her the news, Hazel wept with joy. And when she learned that her good Samaritans lived only miles away, she had to laugh.
“It’s a miracle,” she told the Diehls when they delivered her rings. “It just goes to prove that there are amazing, lovely people out there.”
2 Timonthy 4:14
But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and firmly believe, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: Looks amazing!
Me: Taste good too!
This is a short video devotion on Proverbs.
Proverbs 10:22 The blessing of the LORD makes one rich, And He adds no sorrow with it. (NKJV)
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: Do you have all your equipment?
Me: You need good equipment.
This is from Saint Patrick’s Breastplate
I arise today
Through a mighty strength….
God’s might to uphold me,
God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s eye to look before me,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me,
God’s hand to guard me,
God’s shield to protect me,
God’s host to save me.
Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment: Exodus 23::2 (KJV)
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: Sometimes people are misguided.
Me: Yes, they are and they do not realize how much hurt they are causing others.
Prodigal: May the Lord open their eyes.
Me: Maybe.
This is from the book Bold Love by Dr. Dan Allender & Dr. Tremper Longman III
Vengeance sought today shifts the offense from the one who committed the sin to the one who is handling the sin with even greater sin. The work of exposure, reflection, dialogue, and prayer is hindered and change made more difficult. How many believers are blinded to their own sin because of another’s inopportune pursuit of revenge? How many unbelievers have been given greater grounds to dismiss the gospel on the basis of petty, almost absurdly small, grudges held by one believer against another? When the gospel is hindered by illicit revenge, Satan smiles. It is a small but significant victory for the devouring lion. Our choice to seek or not withhold vengeance brings sorrow to our Father and, in turn, tears our hearts away from the joy of our reconciliation with Him.
James 4:11
Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but it thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: It’s getting warmer out there.
Me: Yep, nice days to be outside.
This is a short video devotion on Proverbs.
Proverbs 10:21 The lips of the righteous feed many, But fools die for lack of wisdom. (NKJV)
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
