Lottie

Posted on December 9, 2017 by Jennifer Van Allen

Me: Merry Christmas!

Prodigal: Merry Christmas!

Me: Now is a time to here from Lottie Moon

This is from the book Great Women of the Christian Faith by Edith Deen

For forty years Lottie moon dedicated her life to Christian service among the women of North China. The gifted, well-educated, attractive daughter of an old Virginia family, she could have chosen a comfortable life in her plantation home. Instead, she chose privation, hardship and sacrifice among people who worshiped the mud idols of their ancestors.

Lottie received her early schooling from a governess at home. In 1854 she was sent to the Albermarle Female Institute in Virginia, and later entered Hollins College, where she achieved the highest grades in her class. She was one of the first Southern women to receive a Master’s Degree, awarded to her in 1861 by Hollins.

In the spring of 1873 when Lottie heard a sermon on the est, “Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest,” She made up her mind to go to China as a missionary.

Psalm 18:45

Foreigners lost heart and came trembling out of their fortresses.

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org.

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Challenging

Posted on December 8, 2017 by Jennifer Van Allen

Me: Who were you talking to Prodigal?

Prodigal: Someone who is very critical of me.

Me: Glad that wasn’t my conversation.

Prodigal: Yeah, I’d sooner dive into a bed of poison ivy than to do that again.

This is from the book Beyond OurSelves by Catherine Marshall

If the idea of Christ living at the center of life frightens us, it may be because we fear that by handling over self-will we would then become spineless creatures, colorless carbon-copy personalities. We need not be afraid on either count. Actually, it’s when selfishness and self-will progressively take over in our society that we become carbon copies of one another. When an adolescent is still unsure of his selfhood, he has a horror of being in any way different from his friends. When adults are not in the least concerned about pleasing God, they are desperately concerned about pleasing each other. When we have few inner resources, we hold up masks to hide our poverty. And all the masks seem to be turned out by the same factory—suburbia, the “organization man,” “the man in the gray flannel suit,” all aided by mass advertising, extended by the media of mass communication.

Proverbs 16:9

The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD established his steps.

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

It’s Messy

Posted on December 5, 2017 by Jennifer Van Allen

Me: How was fellowship today?

Prodigal: Well someone was throwin’ words out of my song.

Me: We are all misunderstood at times.

Prodigal: Some encouragement would be helpful

This is from the book You Can Change by Tim Chester

Someone asked me how things were going recently. It’s not really a “yes” or “no” (“good” or “bad”) question. Life in our congregation is messy. People have a wide variety of problems and many of those problems are out on the table. Are things going well when one of your members has been hauled out of pub in a drunken state? When people admit problems in their marriage? When people are struggling with depression? Actually I think the answer can be, “Yes, things are going well.” A key verse for me in recent years has been the first beatitude, which I paraphase as: “Blessed are the broken people for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” God’s blessing is found among the broken people. I don’t rejoice in people’s problems, but I do rejoice to be part of a community of broken people. I sometimes describe our church as a group of messy people led by messy people. It’s proved a context in which I’ve been able to address my own struggles.

What’s the alternative? One alternative is to be a church in which there’s a lot of pretending–where people have problems, but the culture doesn’t allow them to be open. Churches like this are very neat and respectable. But I know I’d rather be in a messy church! Mess reflects I think, a culture of grace. We pretend because either we don’t trust God’s grace for ourselves or we don’t trust others to show us grace.

Welcome to our mess, which God makes beautiful!

Psalm 29:11

May the LORD give strength to his people. May the LORD bless his people with peace,

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

I will Give It to You

Posted on December 2, 2017 by Jennifer Van Allen

Me: How is your day look?

Prodigal: I got to slop the hogs, dig the well, and plow the north forty before dinner.

Me: Busy day! But remember to work unto the Lord!

Prodigal: Thanks for encouragement!

This is from the book God’s Little Devotional Book for Women

Janette Oke, best-selling novelist with more than 40 books to her credit, is considered the modern “pioneer author” for Christian fiction. Her books have sold millions of copies since her first novel was published in 1979.

When she first decided to write, she said to God, “Lord, I’m going to write this book. If it works, and if I discover I have talent, I’ll give it all to You.”

Janette sensed God was not pleased with the bargain she was trying to strike with Him. She felt in her heart as if He were responding, “If you’re serious about this, then I want everything before you start.” Thus she gave Him her ambitions and dreams, and trusted Him to teach her, whether she was successful or not.

Out of that resolve came a second resolve. She refused to compromise her principles. Although she would write realistically, her stories would be “wholesome and good and encouraging.” Many thought that approach was doomed to failure at the outset, but a shelf of novels later…Janette Oke has proven “God can teach spiritual truths through fictional characters.

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

Matthew 22:37

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org