Women Lovin’ Jesus

Prodigal: There is a whole crowd gathered today.

Me: I don’t have a problem with that.

Here is a short of video on my proverbs series. Today is the video discussing Proverbs 4:7

click here to watch my video on proverbs

Proverbs 4:7

The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

I Choose Love

Prodigal:  We are having fun!

Me:  It looks like it.

Prodigal:  Fun with those you love.

This is from the book Let the Journey Begin by Max Lucado

It’s quiet.  It’s early.  My coffee is hot.  The sky is still black.  The world is still asleep.  The day is coming.

In a few minutes the day will arrive.  It will roar down the track with the rising of the sun.  The stillness of the dawn will be exchanged for the noise of the day.  The calm of solitude will be replaced by the pounding pace of the human race.  The refuge of the early morning will be invaded by decisions to be made and deadlines to be met.

For the next twelve hours I will be exposed to the day’s demands.  It is now that I must make a choice.  Because of Calvary, I’m free to choose.  And so I choose.

I choose love…

No occasion justifies hatred; no injustice warrants bitterness.  I choose love.  Today I will love God and what God loves.

I choose joy…

I will invite my God to be the God of circumstance.  I will refuse the temptation to be cynical… the tool of the lazy thinker.  I will refuse to see people as anything less than human beings, created by God.  I will refuse to see any problem as anything less than an opportunity to see God.

I choose peace…

I will live forgiven.  I will forgive so that I may live.

I choose patience…

I will overlook the inconveniences of the world.  Instead of cursing the one who takes my place, I’ll invite him to do so.  Rather than complain that the wait is too long, I will thank God for a moment to pray.  Instead of clinching my fist at new assignments, I will face them with joy and courage.

I choose kindness…

I will be kind to the poor, for they are alone.  Kind to the rich, for they are afraid.  And kind to the unkind, for such is how God has treated me.

I choose goodness…

I will go without a dollar before I take a dishonest one.  I will be overlooked before I will boast.  I will confess before I will accuse.  I choose goodness.

I choose faithfulness…

Today I will keep my promises.  My debtors will not regret their trust.  My associates will not question my word.  My wife will not question my love.  And my children will never fear that their father will not come home.

I choose gentleness…

Nothing is won by force.  I choose to be gently.  If I raise my voice may it be only in praise.  If I clench my fist, may it be only in prayer.  If I make a demand, may it be only of myself.

I choose self-control…

I am a spiritual being.  After this body is dead, my spirit will soar.  I refuse to let what will rot, rule the eternal.  I choose self-control.   I will be drunk only by joy.  I will be impressed only by my faith.  I will be influenced only by God.  I will be taught only by Christ.  I choose self-control.

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  To these I commit my day.  If I succeed, I will give thanks.  If I fail, I will seek grace.  And then, when this day is done, I will place my head on my pillow and rest.

That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

2 Timothy 3:17

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

O Lord

Me:  That looks like a place to say something important.

Prodigal:  Well, now there is pressure.

Me:  How about I help out.

Prodigal:   I would love that!

This is from Out Live Your Life by Max Lucado

O Lord, I have been called to be part of a holy community.  You did not call me in isolation but placed me in the body of Christ, along with every other believer in Jesus through out the world in every age.  Let us grow as a team, work as a team, worship as a team, weep, laugh, and live as a team.   Grant me the wisdom and the strength to partner with you and with my brothers and sisters in Christ.  For Jesus, sake and in his name I pray, amen.

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

1 Corinthians 13:1

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Women Lovin’ Jesus

Me: We must love God, and love others.

Prodigal: Amen, that is straight talkin’

click here to watch my video on Proverbs

Proverbs 4:6

Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you.

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Greatest Secret

Prodigal:  This use to be a house.

Me:  Yes, nothing much left of it now.

Prodigal:  No, there isn’t

This is from Viktor Frankl who was in a Nazi Concentration camp.

….as we stumbled on for miles, slipping on icy spots, supporting each other tie and again, dragging one another up and onward, nothing was said, but we both knew; each of us was thinking of his wife.  Occasionally I looked at the sky, where the stars were fading and the pink light of the morning was beginning to spread behind a dark bank of clouds.  But my mind clung to my wife’s image, imagining it with an uncanny acuteness.  I heard her answering me, saw her smile, her frank and encouraging look.  Real or not, her look was the more luminous than the sun which was beginning to rise.

A thought transfixed me:  For the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers.  The truth–that love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which men can aspire.  Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart:  The salvation of man is through love and in love……

That which is altogether just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee

Deuteronomy 16:20

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org