Prayed-For Paper

In my last post I established that angels sometimes use US mail.  Well, today I learned they also use pick-up trucks.

I've been praying for months for paper for our Operation Christmas Child shoebox packing party.  We needed 400 reams to be able to put a packet of 10 sheets of paper in each of our 20,000 boxes.

For the past month or so I still needed 180 more reams (18 cases) of paper.  And I've been praying.

About two weeks ago I got a message from a Facebook friend who said her husband's work might be willing to donate paper but he needed to get the donation approved by one more person.  Our prayer team went to work and the prayer request was sent out.

I received joyous news that the request was granted and we'd be getting "18 boxes" of paper.  I didn't really ask specifically if that meant 18 cases and I was afraid to believe that we really had all the needed paper until I actually saw it.

Well, I now believe.

We made arrangements to meet at the storage container at 9:30 this morning and Lorelei and her husband Chuck were a bit early.  "We have more than 18 cases," Chuck said.  "You might not have room for all we brought."

When he unsnapped the cover on the truck bed and I gazed on all those beautiful cases of paper my heart nearly stopped.

Chuck glanced inside the almost-full container and said, "We can take some back if you don't have room for it."

"Oh, no," I replied, "we'll find a place for it.  I'm not letting you take any of this back."  And I wasn't kidding.  We moved things around and my husband showed up just in time to help us load what turned out to be 30 cases of pristine paper into the container.

Chuck blessed us with a testimony of how he views his job as his mission field and we talked of the possibility of inviting his boss to the packing party.  Then we all gathered in the container, laid our hands on those cases of paper, and through my tears I thanked God for answering our prayers for paper and asked Him to prepare the hearts of the children who will receive it to know His love.
I prayed a blessing on Chuck's ministry at his work, too, and Lorelei and I wiped our tears and exchanged hugs before they left.

In the past week God's covered our need for pencils and given us almost twice as much paper as we needed.

Even 30 cases of paper isn't enough to record all His amazing blessings.