Too Good To Be True

I'm always looking for good deals for items to fill our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. In fact, the only way we can hope to get enough items to fill 15,000 boxes is by trusting God to provide us with deals that are "too good to be true".

I found another one of those this week when www.dollardays.com --an online wholesale website where I've often bought such items as soap and toothbrushes--had a deal for free shipping on school supplies and also had a coupon code for $20 off. I was able to buy 1000 mini pencils with erasers for only 16 cents! And, using Facebook, I was able to have several others order some for our boxes too. Now, this MAY be too good to be true, since we haven't received the pencils yet but my order's been processed and my 16 cent payment made. This is just another example of God's great provision. I can't wait to see what He'll do to bring in all the other items we need.

We have an Operation Christmas Child Area Team meeting at my home tonight and I've been thinking that the impact God has allowed our team to make around the world is also almost too good to be true. Along with supporting a number of Christian ministries, I also believe it's important to support non-profit organizations to better my community. So I give to the United Way and to other non-profits that work in our area. It takes a lot of resources for these organizations to make a difference.

Then I think about our little Operation Christmas Child team. By God's grace we worked together with NO operating budget and NO paid employees to make a difference in the lives of 27,444 children in 2010 (not to mention the difference those boxes may have made in their families and their communities.) For 2011 we are prayerfully asking God to allow us to collect 32011 boxes to make a difference for even more. Only in God's economy is this possible.

At the OCC Connect Conference we learned about the 12-lesson discipleship course offered to children after they receive their shoeboxes called The Greatest Journey. By the end of this course each child is taught how to share the gospel and encouraged to choose 9 persons to pray for and share with. Can you imagine how this ministry THROUGH these well-trained children can multiply?

God, we stand amazed. What You do through Operation Christmas Child is, quite simply, too good to be true.

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