{"id":9698,"date":"2025-07-20T08:38:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-20T12:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=9698"},"modified":"2025-07-18T07:53:34","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T11:53:34","slug":"through-the-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=9698","title":{"rendered":"Through The Fire"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/20191224_112536-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/20191224_112536-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6934\" width=\"404\" height=\"539\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/20191224_112536-768x1024.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/20191224_112536-225x300.jpg 225w, http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/20191224_112536-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/20191224_112536-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/20191224_112536-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 404px) 100vw, 404px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Me:  Before you take off, I have a question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Prodigal:  Great question!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is from Nellia B. Garber<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Bible was a gift from Bob, my husband, but it seemed to belong as much to our son, Doug, as it did to me.  Doug and I read it together.  We shared it in Bible study groups.  Together we underlined God&#8217;s promises.  So when I received a new Bible, this familiar one became Doug&#8217;s own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Doug married, and eventually he and his family moved into a house not far from ours.  Driving an eighteen-wheeler, he spent long hours away from home.  He kept a little leather pocket Bible with him in the rig, but he made sure that &#8220;our&#8221; Bible stayed safely at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then one bitter winter afternoon, there was a fire.  He and Marla and the three boys were in despair.  &#8220;The whole house burned down,&#8221; Doug told us.  &#8220;We lost everything.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For a week, neighbors, family, and friends tried to help them.  They supplied clothes, money, food, furniture, and many prayers.  Then one day Marla came over, smiling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Mom,&#8221; she said, &#8220;look what I found in the rubble.&#8221;  Into my hands she laid and old Bible, soaking wet, its leather cover shriveled and brittle, but with all the pages intact.  Doug&#8217;s Bible-our Bible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Immediately I began to dry it, first with a towel, then in the oven at 150 degrees.  Slowly it became supple enough for me to turn its pages.  When Doug came home, I said excitedly, &#8220;Open it up.  Just let it fall open.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Good Book opened and Doug read a passage we had underlined:  When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee&#8230;.when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee (Isaiah 43:2).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">God&#8217;s promises. God&#8217;s precious promises.<\/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: Before you take off, I have a question. Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire? Prodigal: Great question! This is from Nellia B. Garber The Bible was a gift from Bob, my husband, but it seemed to belong as much to our son, Doug, as it did to me. Doug and I &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=9698\">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-9698","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>Through The Fire - The Prodigal Pig<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Today&#039;s devotion has a story from Nellia Garber. 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