Author Archives: Jennifer Van Allen

Oatmeal Days

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

Prodigal: Time to start the day with some good ole breakfast.

Me: I agree.

This is from source unknown

It’s not always the red-flag crisis days that are hardest to take. It’s the “oatmeal days.” The ordinary, “zero” days of little or no consequence. The ho-hum days filled with nothing of any particular interest. Colorless. Uninteresting. Unfascinating. Unspectacular. And unfun. The days everyone deals with.

We cope. We wend our way through the tangle of tedious activity and sandpaper people scattered through our day and get no applause, because coping is expected.

Not so during the red-flag crisis times. People tend to rally behind us with loving support. We’re lifted above the crisis and enabled beyond human comprehension at times.

On oatmeal days, after a crisis has peaked, it may seem as if friends have forsaken us, as if God doesn’t care. But the reality will be that life has merely pushed us and our friends one step further in the Christian growth walk.

The God of the crisis times is the God of the oatmeal days, too. Because He said He is. Because He keeps His promises–always. Because we can’t get along without Him. And because we wouldn’t want to if we could.

And prayed unto him: and he was intreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD he was God. 2 Chronicles 33:13 (KJV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodialpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Women Lovin’ Jesus

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

Prodigal: Now, don’t go stirring a hornets nest.

Me: I wont.

This is a short video devotion on Proverbs.

click here to watch the video

Proverbs 16:14

The wrath of a king is as messengers of death: but a wise man will pacify it. (KJV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Perfectly Free

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

Me: I want you to remember something today.

Prodigal: Am all ears.

Me: God never tires of forgiving, but we often tire of seeking his mercy.

This is from the book No Man Is An Island by Thomas Merton

We are not perfectly free until we live in pure hope. For when our hope is pure, it no longer trusts exclusively in human and visible means, nor rests in any visible end. He who hopes in God trusts God, Whom he never sees, to bring him to the possession of things that are beyond imagination.

Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. Romans 11:19 (KJV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Diligent Watcher

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

Me: Now that beats all, that get up.

Prodigal: I like it though!

Me: I agree!

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

If I am a diligent watcher, if I have spoken and concretely demonstrated the love of God to another, and if in spite of all that, the other will not receive the love of God, then I have done all I can. I have communicated God’s love, and good evangelism has taken place. The criterion for good evangelism is my communicating God’s love as best I can, regardless of whether the other person receives it.

And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living. Genesis 3:20 (KJV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Women Lovin’ Jesus

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

Prodigal: Eating out.

Me: I do once in a blue moon.

This is a short video devotion on Proverbs.

click here to watch the video

Proverbs 16:13 Righteous lips are the delight of kings, And they love him who speaks what is right. (NKJV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Abuse Discipline

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

Prodigal: Carrying this is abuse.

Me: I don’t think so…….

This is from The Strong Family by Charles Swindoll

Since ours is a day of extremism, it is necessary to clarify a few distinctions for there to be complete understanding. First there is a distinction between abuse and discipline.

ABUSE DISCIPLINE

Unfair and unexpected Fair and expected

Degrading and demoralizing Upholds dignity

Extreme–too harsh, brutal Balanced–within limits

Torturous–leaves scars Painful–but leaves no scars

Results from hatred and resentment Prompted by love and concern

Creates terror, emotional damage, Leads to healthy respect of and

and resentment of authority for authority

Destroys self-esteem; leads to horrifying, Strengthens self-esteem; leads to the

damage and the inability, later in life, to individual’s ability to later discipline himself.

maintain responsibilities.

A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones (Proverbs 17:22)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Look to Him

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

Me: I got some wisdom for you.

Prodigal: I’m all ears.

Me: Make sure you taste your words before you spit them out.

This is from the book The Soul Winner by C.H. Spurgeon

It is not our way of putting the Gospel, or even our method of illustrating it, that wins souls, but the Gospel itself does the work in the hands of the Holy Spirit. We must look to Him for the thorough conversion of men. A miracle is to be worked, by which our hearers will become the products of the mighty power that God worked in “Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power” (Ephesians 1:20-21). For this glorious power, we must look outside of ourselves to the living God, must we not? We desire thorough conversion, and therefore we must rely upon the power of the Holy Spirit. If it is a miracle, God must work it, that is clear. It is not accomplished by our reasoning, persuasion, or warning. I can come only from the Lord.

A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction. Jeremiah 50:22

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Women Lovin’ Jesus

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

Prodigal: I’m starved as a barn cat.

Me: Let’s finish the game first.

This is a short video devotion on proverbs.

click here to watch the video

Proverbs 16:12 It is an abomination to kings to commit wickedness: for the throne is established by righteousness. (KJV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

A Mountain

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

Prodigal: I still have a ways to go.

Me: One step at a time.

This is from the book God’s Psychiatry by Charles L. Allen

There is a good story of four men who climbed a mountain. The first complained that his feet hurt. The second had a greedy eye and kept wishing for each house and farm he could see. The third saw clouds and was worried for fear that it might rain. But the fourth fixed his eyes on the marvelous view. In looking away from himself and from the valley below, the little worries which made the others so unhappy were unnoticed.

Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD! Isaiah 31:1 (KJV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

One With God

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

Prodigal: That one has a keen mind.

Me: Yes, Mam, she does.

This is from Imagine Heaven by John Burke

The intimacy of love God has for us is hard to comprehend. The only comparison comes by analogy-the connection we feel with a best friend, the oneness we want with a spouse, our tender love and desire for our children–and yet there’s an intimacy that we seek with each other that always eludes us. We can never be as close, as intimate, or as one with another person as our souls crave. That’s because the oneness we crave will only be found when we are united by God with God.

And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus. Acts 9:19 (KJV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org