Prodigal: I like your Christmas Tree!
Me: Thanks, I’m getting ready for the season.
This is a video devotion on Proverbs.
Proverbs 7:22
All at once he followed her like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer stepping into a noose. (NIV)
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: It has been a difficult week.
Me: We need support during those difficult weeks.
This is from Warren Wiersbe
The best way to help people who are hurting is just to be with them saying little or nothing, and letting them know you care. Don’t try to explain everything; explanations never heal a broken heart. If his (Job) friends had listened to him, accepted his feelings, and not argued with him, they would have helped him greatly; but they chose to be prosecuting attorneys instead of witnesses.
No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.
I JOHN 4 : 12
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: This may not taste good.
Me: I am sure you will do fine.
Prodigal: I am praying.
This is from the book God Works the Night Shift from Ron Mehl
Do you hear what the apostle is saying? I can almost hear him say, “Weakness? Hey, it’s the best thing I have going for me! Listen, I’m going to RUN into these areas of weakness if it means I’m running into the strength of Jesus Christ! I’m HAPPY to admit my inadequacies and shortcomings, if it means I get to exchange my puny abilities for His!”
Frankly, I’m familiar with this concept because it’s been my experience for many years. I’m the most insecure person in the world, but I admit it. I think of so many times on my knees when I say, “Lord why do you make me do this? You know I’m not capable of doing this. You’ve made me the pastor of this church and it’s bigger than me! You’ve given me these huge responsibilities and it’s just ridiculous. If You don’t step in now, I’m a flattened possum.”
You may feel totally weak and inadequate to accomplish the task God has given you. If you will admit that fact before the Lord, He’ll cover you! God will say, “While I work in and through this insufficiency of yours, I’m going to make you look good.” But if, on the other hand, you refuse to admit your inadequacies, then- in His love–He’ll expose you. He’ll expose you for what you are. He’ll expose your weakness for what it is. Frightening thought!
I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. (Luke 18:11-14).
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Me: The journey of a thousand miles starts with one step.
Prodigal: Yes, I have already taken many.
Me: Me too.
This is a video devotion about proverbs.
Proverbs 7:21
With her enticing speech she caused him to yield, with her flattering lips she seduced him. (NKJV)
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: I hope you eat too much and enjoy it!
Me: That is the plan!
That spring, for the first time in a year, Mother couldn’t to mushrooming. After surgery, she was recuperating at our home. No scurrying off to the moist Hoosier woodlands. No hunting for morels, the rare coneshaped mushrooms that grow for a short time every spring.
For Mother that was a real hardship; mushrooming was her gift. Every year we kids would go into the woods with her; we’d fan out in different directions, searching in proven morel breeding grounds such as patches of mayapple, rotting stumps, and fallen elm trees. But it was always Mother who would call out suddenly, “Come quick! Look what I’ve found,” And there, in an unpromising pile of decaying leaves, half-hidden, would be the precious honeycomb spikes of morels we’d been seeking.
“These mushrooms are like the manna that God sent the children of Israel in the wilderness,” Mother would say. “He chooses when and were He wants them to appear.”
That spring, Mother longed to go again to the woods when the morels grew, but forced to stay near home, she puttered listlessly in the garden.
Then one Saturday, Mother was watering the tulips outside the living room window when I hear her cry, “Come quick! Look what I’ve found.”
There among the yellow tulips I spotted something familiar–a cone shaped morel. We scanned the ground to find another one, and another, growing where they never had grown before—and never since.
by Sandra Fischer
But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.
PROVERBS 1 : 33
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: Well dab burn it!
Me: What?
Prodigal: I forgot to get cash.
Me: I can help you.
This is from the book Joy in Christ’s Presence by Charles Spurgeon
“Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?” (Mark 4:40). Faith and calm go together. If you believe, you will rest; if you will simply cast yourself upon your God, surrendering absolutely to His will, you will have mercy, joy, and light. Even if we have no faith, the Lord will sometimes give us the blessing that we need, for He delights to do more for us than we have any right to expect of Him. However, usually the rule of His kingdom is, “According to your faith be it unto you’ (Matthew 9:29)
Do not be afraid just because you do not understand what is happening. The plan will unfold step by step and you will see the Lord’s hand in it. You will see the people that will be involved and what you will have to do. Right now it is more about a stillness. Right now is more about some rest and quiet.
1 Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marveous light.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: These have turned out well.
Me: Yes, I like how they look.
This is a short video devotion on Proverbs
Proverbs 7:20
He has taken a bag of money with him, And will come home on the appointed day. (NKJV)
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: Sometimes the day is good and sometime the day is way too busy.
Me: Yes, and we need help when we are overwhelmed.
This is from the book Vocabulary of Faith by Hampton Adams
Man’s redemption cannot come from what man can do for God but by way of what man, though faith in Jesus Christ, will allow God to do to him.
Right now in this moment you cannot understand all that God would like to do for you. There has been hurt and mistrust from people in your family. There has been suffering because they have been hurt and with out realizing it have hurt you. God wants healing to take place. He does not want you withdrawing so that you try to avoid the emotions and hurts. He wants to expose them so that He can heal them. The Lord Jesus is a good, good Father and He wants to show you what that means.
Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.
PHILIPPIANS 4 : 5
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Me: I was just going to talk with you about that book!
Prodigal: Let’s dive right in.
This is from the book Joy in Christ’s Presence by Charles Spurgeon
I think I have known some of Christ’s disciples who have appeared to doubt the wisdom or the love of their Lord. They did not quite say that He was mistaken, but they said that He moved in mysterious way. They did not quite complain that He was unkind to them, but they whispered that they could not reconcile His dealings with His finite love. Alas, Jesus has endured much from our unbelief! May this illustration help us to see our spots, and may the love of our dear Lord remove them!
It is difficult for me. I know the Lord loves me and He has put this desire in my heart. I know He has confirmed over and over again it will happen. As the days, months and even years go by, nothing has changed. The world would say I have been forgotten. The word says He will never leave me. The world says give up hope. The word says that all things are possible with God. As time goes on sometimes it gets harder. I know as I seek God, though He wants to grow my faith. He wants me to walk by faith. Lord help my unbelief today and do not let me believe with the faith of the world. Help me believe with the faith of a mustard seed!
Hebrews 13:1-2
Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
Prodigal: Looks at the path in front of us.
Me: Yes, there is light shinning the way.
This is a short video devotion on Proverbs
Proverbs 7:19
For my husband is not at home; He has gone on a long journey.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
