Category Archives: Uncategorized

Lasting Beyond Your Life

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

Prodigal: What can our prayers do?

Me: They can do more than you think.

This is from the book Stories of the Heart and Home by Dr. James Dobson

I’m told that George McCluskey, my great-grandfather on the maternal side, carried a similar burden for his children through the final decades of his life. He invested the hour from eleven to twelve o’clock each morning to intercessory prayer for his family. However, he was not only asking God to bless his children, he extended his request to generations not yet born! In effect, my great-grandfather was praying for me.

Toward the end of his life, the old man announced that God had made a very unusual promise to him. He was given the assurance that every member of four generations of our family would be Christians, including those yet to be born. He then died and the promise became part of the spiritual heritage that was passed to those of us in George McCluskey’s bloodline. As members of his family not only know the Lord but serve the Lord.

Numbers 12:7

My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house.

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Thank You, Billie

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

Me: What a great pair you are!

Prodigal: I heard something I wanted to share. A happy marriage is the union of two good forgivers.

This is from Grayce Shapiro

How much of a married couple’s time together is spent in quiet pleasures, such as eating breakfast in the morning sun or enjoying an evening walk! Even late at night, when my husband was asleep, I enjoyed reading and writing and thinking, knowing he was there.

But when Billie died, those simple pleasures died with him. I was too tense to sleep. Each moment that I was awake and each tick of the clock reminded me that he wasn’t there. I’d fall asleep only as dawn was breaking, and be wakened moments later by my alarm.

On one such morning I drowsily stumbled into the kitchen, put on the tea kettle, then wandered back into the bedroom and lay down on the bed. Instantly I was fast asleep, the deep exhausted sleep that finally comes, but never when I wanted it to. I had a dream. Billie and I were in the kitchen preparing coffee and toast. I saw him taking bread out of the bag and putting it in the toaster. I could hear him asking me if the water was boiling yet. Suddenly he became stern, saying, “Darling, you have the kettle on the wrong burner.” And he repeated himself. Then he yelled, “Darling, you have it on the wrong burner!”

I jumped to my feet. There was an overpowering smell of gas in the room. The stove! The pilot light that I hadn’t repaired! I dashed to the kitchen, turned off the stove, threw open the windows.

“Oh, thank You, God!” I cried out. And then I added the words that changed my life, “Thank you, Billie.”

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus. Acts 4:13 (KJV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Women Lovin’ Jesus

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

Prodigal: Just hanging around today.

Me: Yep, that is a good thing.

This is a short video devotion on Proverbs.

click here to watch the video

Proverbs 14:30 A sound heart is life to the body, But envy is rottenness to the bones. (NKJV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Our Will

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

Me: I kept my head to the grindstone on this one.

Prodigal: It shows.

This is from the book Something More: In Search of Deeper Faith by Catherine Marshall

I was learning about the part the will plays in our relationship with God. First, there is that period of initial struggle of the will when we know full well that a decision has to be made. God won’t force it on us; it must be entirely our choice.

God will not force it, but it longs to hear you say yes in obedience. This will grow you, but growth means a season of something new. It will good, but it all starts with a yes on your part.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. John 13:20 (KJV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Batteries Not Included

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

Me: I think you got to get your ducks in a row.

Prodigal: I am trying, but a lot of toys are here.

This is from Nan Closson

Merle was always coming up with ways to entertain our grandsons when they visited town. This time he put his hands on quite a contraption: a mechanical dog. He loaded the batteries, and we tested it before the boys arrived. The dog walked and barked and moved its head. Merle pressed a button to make its tail spin like a propeller. You couldn’t help but laugh.

The boys played with the dog every single day, but nobody could get that tail to way the way Merle could. I caught him fooling with the dog even after the boys had gone back home. “Merle!” I said. “You’re a grown man!” Merle’s hearty laugh made me think he’d live forever. But that wasn’t to be. His health started to fail, and he died on an afternoon in March.

All of us struggled in the days after. One night I roamed the house, utterly joyless. Lord, will I ever laugh again? Suddenly I heard a whirring noise in the bedroom. I crept down the hall to the closet. Holding my breath, I opened the door.

Merle’s little dog was spinning its tail a mile a minute. I burst out laughing. Oh, Merle, I thought. Ever the entertainer. I picked up the control box. The batteries weren’t even inserted.

O praise the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people. Psalm 117:1 (KJV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Women Lovin’ Jesus

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

Prodigal: Just started on this.

Me: I wonder the end result.

This is a short video devotion on Proverbs.

click here to watch the video

Proverbs 14:29 He who is slow to wrath has great understanding, But he who is impulsive exalts folly. (NKJV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Sin

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

Prodigal: God made a pretty world didn’t he.

Me: Amen!

This is from Imaginations by James P. Gills.

Sin is not ultimately against other people; it is against God. Sin is preferring the world to God. Sin is when we are not satisfied with God; we need the world to satisfy us. Such behavior is the outgrowth of a deceitful heart; a heart not truly focused on the pure and perfect imaginations of God.

The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 2 Corinthians 4:4

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Transition to a Living Faith

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

Me: How encouraging!

Prodigal: I hope you have something encouraging to say also!

This is from the book Overcoming Spiritual Blindness by James P. Gills, M.D.

The transition to a living faith is found in understanding and acknowledging justification: we are justified before God–instantly, when we believe–by Christ’s work on the cross. Then, sanctification is the power of the Holy Spirit working in our lives to release us from bondage and change our lives. When we embrace God, seek the Holy Spirit, and abandon ourselves, we come to know Him personally and His grace becomes more and more a part of us. Then, in unification, change becomes corporate as well as individual–within one person and the church. We are on Body in Jesus Christ and are called to work together through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit must work within us; without the Holy Spirit there is no life in Christ and no vision.

And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. Luke 22:14 (KJV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Women Lovin’ Jesus

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

Prodigal: Not a lot going on.

Me: Nope, sure isn’t.

This is a short video devotion on Proverbs.

click here to watch the video

Proverbs 14:28 In the multitude of people is the king’s honour: but the want of the people is the destruction of the prince. (KJV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

In God’s Plan

Posted on by Jennifer Van Allen

Me: Thinking of a plan for this.

Prodigal: God has a plan.

This is from the book Overcoming Spiritual Blindness by James P. Gills, M.D.

You were created to do something–individually created for a time such as this. Your purpose, in God’s plan, is the most important aspect of your life now and in the future. But it can only be realized by walking in faith: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Heb 11:1). It is your salvation in Jesus, sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, and abiding faith in God that open your eyes to the truth. It is God’s truth of seeking intimacy with the Lord and submitting yourself unreservedly at His feet—loving and serving in His name–which is your meaning, purpose, and desire. It is when God reveals His glory and truth to you that you truly see. God has a glorious purpose for you. Have you embraced it?


See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; Deuteronomy 30:15 (KJV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org