Bling

I was just watching a TV show called "Secret Millionaire" where a very rich guy was investigating three charities in a city with the goal of deciding how much money to donate to each.  One charity was blessed to receive $50,000.

My first thought was, "Wow, I could sure pack a lot of Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes with $50,000."  But then I realized that I have as my benefactor the God of the universe who owns everything and lacks nothing and promises, "Ask and you will receive and your joy will be complete." (John 16:24)  Who needs a secret millionaire?

Case in point.  Our Operation Christmas Child Mid-Atlantic region area coordinators have been praying for one another.  We each stated "by faith" requests that we're trusting God to provide.

By the end of June (that would be 6 days from now) I've been trusting God for 5,000 more stuffed animals, 2 team members and 1 new relay center.

This weekend I was concerned about the stuffed animal safari because one of my usual hunters was out of town and another was also unavailable.  There weren't as many sales as usual and I also needed to be at my mother's house by 10:00 am to care for her.  I was praying for 824 animals to make the week's goal of 1250 and it seemed impossible.

God, however, allowed my out-of-town safari hunter, Terri, to get 330 stuffed animals and I got 331 in only a few hours of hunting.   Also, because I went to sales near my mother's home--further east than I usually would travel--I made contact with a woman who works at a local university.  She took my card and said she'd make some contacts for us with student groups there.  The weekend ended with 1121 animals--just 129 away from our goal.  Another 1100 in the next week and our June "by faith" goal will be met.

Then today I interviewed and added a new member to our prayer team and spoke with another potential team member who promised to complete her application soon.  I'm praying that will happen in the next 6 days.   Next I need to get busy and make some calls to potential new relay centers.

I've also been praying for good filler items for our Operation Christmas Child boxes and yesterday my daughter came home for a visit and presented me with two huge shopping bags full of new tangled jewelry that had been donated to the Christian non-profit organization she works for and could not be used by them.

I'm now in the fun process of untangling them and have 150 items so far and I'm only half-way through the first bag.

Leave it to God to answer our prayers and throw in some bling just because He can.