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Okla. woman flees house fire with dogs — and Bible

Posted at 2:05 PM, Dec 04, 2014
and last updated 2014-12-04 14:09:27-05

OWASSO, Okla. -- An Oklahoma woman is praising God after she escaped a house fire with her three most cherished possessions.

KOTV reports that cell phone video captured the intense flames engulfing Marilyn Jones' home Monday might.

Jones said she was in her living room with her two dogs, Abbey and Lola, when she heard a noise in her master bedroom. When her smoke detectors started beeping , she went to investigate.

"I went in my room and I was like, 'Oh my gosh,  the flames are starting to go up the side of my bed,'" Jones explained. "And I debated on what to do.  And I thought, 'Ya know I think I can put that out real quick.'  And then I was like, 'I understand mattresses go up real fast.'"

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As a result, she dialed 911 and ran out the house with what she says are her three most precious possessions: her dogs and her Bible.

"Our lives cannot be replaced.  Our dogs cannot be replaced.  So I'm really grateful and thankful that God got me out of here and kept me peaceful during all of this," Jones said.

Everything in Jones' bedroom was destroyed, but  in the darkness of her charred home, she said the Lord's word is shining a new light on her life.

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"You have a choice.  It's all about choices and I'm still gonna deal with it. Am I gonna get mad?  At who and why?  And then it's gonna steal my peace," she said. "So I'm gonna stay peaceful in the midst of all this because I think God is gonna do something in the midst of all this. It's like a purification."

Jones also thanked the strangers on Facebook who posted kind words of encouragement and offered to help.

"And the comments were really overwhelming and that's when it hit me, to see the community pulling together like they did," she said. "That right there filled my heart to see the outreach of people and what they were doing."

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Firefighters said the cause of the blaze is under investigation, but it was likely an electrical issue.

Jones has insurance. While it will take some time, her house will be restored.