Couple Praises God After Finding Bible After House Fire
A Tennessee couple is praising God after they found an intact Bible in their home that recently burned down.
Justin and Cynthia Wagner of Newport are now looking to their faith after losing most of their possessions, including their cars, in a fire that started in their garage.
But amid the ashes, the couple found a charred yet readable Bible.
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Justin told local station WNDU-TV that while the Bible's cover was burned and its pages charred, the Holy Book had been opened to a page with John 3:16 that reads: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life," (NIV).
"That tells you right there that God is still here with us, He's still here for us," Justin said.
The homeowner went on to suggest that he and his wife have taken this discovery as a sign that God wants them to do more on Earth.
"Maybe God let this happen to us so we could get a new start in life," he said. "After I had seen the Word of God and I seen it on that, I felt like God was reassuring me, I saved your life through all this. I brought you guys through this for a reason."
Christians from around the U.S. have shared similar stories of finding a Bible fully intact in times of despair and destruction.
When a deadly tornado struck Shawnee, Oklahoma, in May 2013, it left behind a trail of destruction that totaled the home of Lance Carter.
What was discovered in the wreckage of Carter's home was a fully intact Bible that belonged to neighbors nearby. The Bible was opened to Isaiah, Chapter 32, that reads, "A man will be as a hiding place from the wind, and a cover from the tempest."
"The Lord must be with us, I guess," Gage Ross, a family friend of the Carter's who discovered the Bible in the home's debris, told KFOR News in 2013.
More recently, a motorist in Southern California discovered a worn-down Bible on a local highway.
The Bible ended up belonging to Pastor Mike Humphrey of the Rock Church. The pastor had been taking notes in the Bible's margins and planned to give it to his son on his 13th birthday.
Humphrey had put the Bible on the top of his car and then forgot about it and drive off. The Bible was later discovered on the side of the road by fellow driver Kim McMillan.
McMillan eventually found Humphrey and returned the Bible to him. The pastor told Fox 5 TV in December that he's thankful his family heirloom has been successfully recovered.
