They're Praying

A week or so ago I received a letter from a family of 5 children in the country of Jordan who received some of our Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts. They wrote, "We'd like to thank you so much for your prayers and gifts. We pray for you, too, may God pay you back all the happiness and peace."

One of the most humbling things about Operation Christmas Child has been receiving letters such as this in which fellow-believers around the world say they are praying for me (us) and for the project here. I think of that often as I wend my way along in Shoebox World.

Today, for example, I was excited to be able to buy 976 pairs of high-quality children's socks in various sizes for only 20 cents per pair. I was also elated about getting two vehicles full of boxes moved from a warehouse to our storage area. God has been blessing us in amazing ways with stuffed animals and our storage container (which should be renamed the ARK) now holds 7,000 of them.

Then, I thought about the thousands of school supplies I still need for our boxes and the doubts swarmed like mayflies in June. Also, I finally got an empty Operation Christmas Child carton and found that no matter how hard I try I can only get 18 of these Crest Spinbrush boxes we're using at the packing party to fit into a carton (as opposed to 22 of the deco boxes that we can't use). My husband and I worked on the puzzle for some time with no better luck.

In the ebb and flow of Shoebox World I need to keep reminding myself of the prayers of the saints around the world being offered on our behalf. I need to keep reminding myself that Jesus Himself is interceding for me, too.

No matter how many roadblocks seem to come up, no matter how big the pile of crayons and notebooks we need to amass, God has a plan and His power is released because....

they're praying!