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    The Prodigal's Perspective
    The Prodigal's Perspective
    The Prodigal's Perspective
    Ebook180 pages2 hours

    The Prodigal's Perspective

    By Bob Steinkamp

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    About this ebook

    Bob, a returned prodigal, has been asked most often, "What is it like for my prodigal spouse?" In The Prodigal's Perspective, Bob gives answers from his heart to dozens of questions that are on the hearts of men and women standing with God for marriage restoration.

    Are you seeking marriage restoration? This book will open your eyes to your spouse’s present way of life. If you are a prodigal, you will be amazed how Bob will encourage you that there is a way out of your present lifestyle. Both prodigals and standers will rejoice that our Lord God wants to show the way out of the "far country’s pigpen."

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRejoice Marriage Ministries, Inc.
    Release dateJul 31, 2012
    ISBN9781452484457
    The Prodigal's Perspective

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      Amazing! So helpful & encouraging as a stander! Thankyou so much!

    Book preview

    The Prodigal's Perspective - Bob Steinkamp

    ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

    Our deepest appreciation is extended to the standers who proofread this manuscript for us. Their encouraging words and prayers are making this book a reality.

    Don W. Hardin of Image House, Coconut Creek, Florida designed and prepared the cover for this book. Not only does Don prepare beautiful covers for our books, he also has a heart for the ministry the Lord has called our family to do.

    There are others we need to acknowledge, but the Lord has not yet revealed who those people might be. Let me explain.

    Although this page will appear near the front of The Prodigal's Perspective, it is the last page being written. Today I can relate to your stand for a restored marriage. We have three book projects underway, and do not have the funds for printing. By faith, we have printing time reserved with the large company we use for books. They require a down payment when the manuscript is delivered to them.

    Isn't that just like your stand? Nothing seems to be happening, yet you continue to pray and stand. You stand, and I type, in faith that God will do precisely what He has promised to each of us.

    Our miracle will be too late to acknowledge in print, but when we meet, ask us how God paid for this book. I am more than confident that He has miracles waiting for each of us. He has never failed us yet.

    Bob (and Charlyne) Steinkamp

    Back To Table Of Contents

    ABOUT THE COVER

    Several years ago Karen Bruning Lewis, a stander from California, came to Pompano Beach to attend a weekend Rejoice retreat. When Karen was picked up at the airport, she carried with her a large carefully-wrapped package.

    Karen, an artist for Disney, had created for us a beautiful charcoal drawing of the prodigal son, complete with his father holding a lantern and watching down the path. She had framed her artwork and had hand carried the gift on her cross-country flight from California to Florida. Since that time Karen's drawing has been proudly displayed on the wall of our family room.

    It was in that room that Charlyne and I sat with Don Hardin when decisions were being made regarding the cover for this book. Don mentioned that we needed artwork of the prodigal son. Suddenly our attention went to Karen's art displayed on the wall.

    We do not understand how he did it, but Don was able to reproduce that drawing for the cover of The Prodigal's Perspective. He has captured every detail and even the colors of our treasured artwork.

    This book is personal, as I share my heart with you. May wrapping it in a scene from our home help to give you the sense that we are sitting in our family room, talking about life in the far country.

    Thank You, Lord, for everything You arranged over many years to make this cover a reality for such a time as this.

    Back To Table Of Contents

    THE PRODIGAL SON

    When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. Luke 15:17-20

    Back To Table Of Contents

    INTRODUCTION

    You may know that the early morning, before dawn, is my time for being alone with the Lord and for writing. Approximately six weeks ago, I awoke with a burden to share with standers a prodigal's perspective on what their prodigal mate is experiencing. Two or three paragraphs were prepared that morning and added as a footnote to my wife's Charlyne Cares email devotional for the following day.

    That second day we received an almost immediate response to this perspective. The following morning I awoke with another topic on my heart, and a second topic was addressed. This continued for over a month. Each day I thought I had done all God had for me to do, but the next morning another topic was flowing inside me almost faster than I could type.

    The positive response has been encouraging, but it pales when compared to a few responses received from another group: prodigals. We are hearing, It is uncanny how close his life comes to mine, and This sounds like me. Although written to standers, Charlyne and I are asking God to use this book in the lives of prodigals seeking the way home.

    If you are a stander, this book is written just for you. If you are what we lovingly call a prodigal, based on Luke 15, my prayers go out to you.

    I have opened my prodigal life up to you. May you be encouraged that our Lord Jesus Christ knows the way home for you.

    Bob Steinkamp

    Back To Table Of Contents

    CHAPTER 1

    WHEN DID YOU FIRST THINK ABOUT GOING HOME?

    Was it when I was driving away from our home, with my possessions crammed in the old blue Dodge, en route to a motel 20 miles away? My sobbing wife could not see it, nor could you, but the pull homeward for a prodigal spouse becomes stronger with each trip we make to our vehicle, removing our possessions from the home where they should be. Nevertheless, like a determined swimmer working against the tide, we push on.

    Was it when I witnessed an accident on that same trip to the motel? Traffic was light on Stirling Road, and no one else had stopped, so I pulled over to render aid. Was it when the victim asked for someone to call his wife, and I realized that I would have no wife to call? Was it when the investigating officer asked for my address, and I had to dig out the motel's card? Was it a week later when I received a thank you card from the wife of that recovering victim?

    Did I first think about going home after I had moved into room 104 at Cavey's Motel when I moved the bed so that light at night would come through the window, just like it did in our bedroom at home?

    Was my first thought about going home later that same day when I called the female coworker with whom I had become too close and discovered she had other plans that night? Was it when I ate alone? Was it when I tossed and turned, attempting to fall asleep, alone in a strange place?

    Did I first think about going home when I became involved in sin? Fun for a moment, but then I had to endure hearing the Holy Spirit call my name.

    And these are but the outer fringe of his works; how faint the whisper we hear of him! Who then can understand the thunder of his power? Job 26:14

    Did I consider going home that next morning when the thought of where I was living and the family I had rejected hit me like a dull thud as I awoke? Did I think about home while I was searching for the least wrinkled white shirt, since I had no iron?

    Did I first think about going home that day when something happened at work and my first reaction was to call Charlyne and share it with her until I realized less than 24 hours before I had said there would be no more Charlyne?

    Did I think about going home that day at lunch when that female coworker reminded me how different we were and that we had no long term future together?

    Did I think about going home that evening when I exited I-95 and headed for my motel where a darkened room awaited me, instead of continuing on north to a home with dinner in the oven and where a loving and faithful wife and three great kids could be found?

    Yes, my friend, I thought about going home at each of these times, and I suspect many more that I cannot recall. These examples were all in the first 24 hours of a two-year-plus journey of separation and divorce through the far country. Yes, your absent mate is also thinking about going home.

    The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks and make your home on the heights, you who say to yourself, 'Who can bring me down to the ground?' Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down,' declares the Lord. Obadiah 1:3 4

    There are some bad words in marriage ministry that you need to learn to avoid. One of these is should. No one except Jesus Christ can tell you precisely what you should or should not do.

    Two other words are looks and seems. Your prodigal is not nearly as happy and content as it looks to you. Do you know the innermost thoughts of the one you love? Only the Lord does. So let's leave how things look and seem up to Him. Do not base your stand for marriage restoration on how things look or seem.

    O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord. Psalm 139:1 4

    Another no word for standers might be say. Do not base your stand on what you hear your prodigal say. Yes, the defense of the one you love is to say they are happy or to say that the other person has you beat by a mile. They may say divorce is on the way, and things may even go that way, but weekly we

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