Coals of Fire (A Serial)

https://ihave.spoken.press/p/jAuUr3b2ho3

If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink; For you will heap burning coals on his head, And the Lord will reward you.

- Proverbs 25: 21-22

After a whirlwind high school romance, Savvi Wright had married her sweetheart, Wes Thomas, fresh out of college. Their church had joined them together from their first moments, and their church joined their hands in matrimony - "till death do us part."

Savvi had always held doubts, especially with his fast and loose use of the Bible to justify his personal preferences, but he knew how to talk the talk. And though Savvi tried to break it off, his utter despondency drew her back. What was her rationale, anyway? she asked herself. She was bored? He stressed her out? Those were her problems - her weakness - and marrying him would solve the problem of his increasing sexual pressure.

Someone as smart as Wes must be right and she must be wrong.

After all, Wes didn't just talk the talk: he also walked the walk just enough to get in with the church leadership, including the pastor's son and all his friends. He served as a deacon, he had the pastor over to watch sporting events, he created a tight inner circle where he pulled the strings - though they believed they did.

Wes also knew how to make money - and everyone admired that.

He outsmarted taxes, leveraged net worth, and sold his services to the rich and famous. In fact, he became a sort of Nostradamus to billionaires, sharing life-altering advice for millions of dollars.

Savvi had admired his brilliance.

She had also questioned his tactics.

Some women would have left him.

Some women would have spent his money.

But Savvi was a Christian.

Divorce wasn't an option. It was an abomination, and the church made sure to preach submission - right up there with tithing - as an absolute.

At home, Wes's perfect image cracked with frequency, and Savvi and the kids suffered the consequences. For over a decade, though, he held it together enough that he and Savvi had five kids - childbearing was a moral imperative, after all - and Savvi poured herself into the church as an escape from his pretend world.

Church, after all, was God's house.

Church was real.

Church was safe.

Until it wasn't.

When the wolves moved in for the slaughter, Savvi found out just how helpless she really was, and she cried out to God:

Where are you? Why do You let a man commit evil in Your name? Why don't he do something?

And what did Yo mean when you promise to unleash Coals of Fire on Your enemies' head?

Coals of Fire by Carmi Cason