{"id":6648,"date":"2025-03-03T07:49:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-03T12:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=6648"},"modified":"2025-02-28T19:40:36","modified_gmt":"2025-03-01T00:40:36","slug":"a-safe-place","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=6648","title":{"rendered":"A Safe Place"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/20190705_153215-e1568731896437-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6358\" style=\"width:299px;height:399px\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/20190705_153215-e1568731896437-768x1024.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/20190705_153215-e1568731896437-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Me:  This looks like a safe place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Prodigal:  Yes, we all need a safe place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is from the book Reaching for the Invisible God by Philip Yancey<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When I read the Psalms and Job and Jeremiah, I sense something of the same pattern at work.  Notice the angry outbursts, the complaints, the wild accusations against God contained in those books.  God offers a &#8220;safe place&#8221; to express ourselves, even the worst parts of ourselves.  I hear little of that blunt honesty in church growing up, which I now see as a spiritual defect, not a strength.  Christians, I have noticed,  are not immune from the kinds of circumstances that provoked the outburst in Job and Psalms.  Why attempt to hide deep emotions from a God who dwells within, a Spirit who has promised to express on our behalf &#8220;groans&#8221; for which words fail us?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We do not have to hide who we are or what we feel. There is no shame in our emotions. There is no shame in who we are on the outside or the inside. We are loved. We are cherished. We are uniquely made. God can handle those emotions and those truths. The love will stay the same after.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">REVELATION 22 : 13<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jennifer Van Allen<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">www.theprodigalpig.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">www.faithincounseling.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Me: This looks like a safe place. Prodigal: Yes, we all need a safe place. This is from the book Reaching for the Invisible God by Philip Yancey When I read the Psalms and Job and Jeremiah, I sense something of the same pattern at work. Notice the angry outbursts, the complaints, the wild accusations &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=6648\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A Safe Place - The Prodigal Pig<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Today&#039;s devotion has words from Philip Yancey. He talks about our emotions and how it is ok to express our emotions to God.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=6648\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Safe Place - The Prodigal Pig\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today&#039;s devotion has words from Philip Yancey. He talks about our emotions and how it is ok to express our emotions to God.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=6648\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Prodigal Pig\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-03T12:49:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/20190705_153215-e1568731896437-768x1024.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jennifer Van Allen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jennifer Van Allen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=6648#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=6648\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jennifer Van Allen\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2274d6e5dc07c0258ba4ee1a19c917f4\"},\"headline\":\"A Safe Place\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-03T12:49:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=6648\"},\"wordCount\":232,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=6648#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/20190705_153215-e1568731896437-768x1024.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=6648#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=6648\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=6648\",\"name\":\"A Safe Place - The Prodigal Pig\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=6648#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=6648#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/20190705_153215-e1568731896437-768x1024.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-03T12:49:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2274d6e5dc07c0258ba4ee1a19c917f4\"},\"description\":\"Today's devotion has words from Philip Yancey. 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