God is Devising Ways

This week I read a verse in 2 Samuel 14:14 that I love. "Like water spilled on the ground which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But God does not take away life; instead, He devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from Him."

I love to think about God devising ways to bring His lost children back to Himself and as I meditated on this verse I realized that Operation Christmas Child is one of those ways. God is using these seemingly simple gift-filled shoeboxes to bring eternal hope to millions of children and adults in more than 100 countries around the world every year.

And as part of that plan, He's devising ways for us here in Northwestern PA to send more of those 'gospel opportunities'. Last weekend before I left for yard sales I asked God to bless me with 300 stuffed animals; instead He granted me 390.

In the last two weeks I received two more applications from persons who feel God is calling them to join our OCC team. This is a huge answer to prayer.

Every week brings new revelations of God's plan--like socks on sale for 25 cents a pair at Target and trigger-powered flashlights on sale at the K-Mart that's going out of business. God knows how He will provide every item to pack into our 12,000 boxes this year. And God knows who He will move to donate the rest of the boxes to meet the goal of 30,333 we're praying for in our area.

I need to remember that especially tonight. I just found out that we cannot use the pre-printed OCC 'deco boxes' for the 12,000 boxes we're praying to pack for special countries. I have 5,000 plain boxes so I need to trust God for about 7,000 more. I'm glad I found out in May instead of August but I wish I'd known this in January. But, by God's grace, He's reminding me that this isn't a surprise to Him and that He has a plan devised for this, too.

We'll keep trusting and praying and waiting as God devises His ways to reconcile people to Himself. What joy!

Loaded

Last Thursday my husband Jim and a dear servant of Christ named Bob Boynton drove from Erie to Hagerstown, MD to pick up a truckload of boxes to be used for Operation Christmas Child. Including all the loading and unloading it took 15 hours and 71 gallons of gas to pick up 10,080 boxes. Half of the boxes they dropped off to Jim Urban's North Pittsburgh OCC team. This is a picture of my husband with the boxes in the truck.

This was a great blessing and so I should be still floating on air. But instead I'm loaded with yucky feelings. I spent a lot of time this weekend trying to reorganize bags of clothing and take a few loads to the storage container. Things I'd already counted and packed into bags now needed to be taken out and put into boxes so they won't get crushed when piled in the container. Last year at this time I was breaking down lots of cardboard cartons every week as I was picking up shoeboxes at TJ Maxx. Now, when I need them, I don't have any cartons.

I'm trying to figure out how to load stuff into the container. Are there things I'll need before the packing party? One of our goals is to have some smaller packing parties in the community but nothing's set yet. Not packing boxes throughout the year this year is throwing me for a loop. Instead of spending time packing, I'm spending time wondering how it'll all work out.

I feel like I just can't get the help I need. I need to find someone to take over as project leader at Grace Church and to help with the major packing party. I don't feel as though I have anyone to share in these decisions about how to store things and what to buy and when.

I've given applications to several people who expressed interest in being on our area team, but none of them have been returned. Over a month ago I sent out applications (at the request of my regional manager) to last year's relay center coordinators who are out of my area and had somehow missed being taken through the application process. None of them have been returned either. These are the things I think about when I try to sleep at night.

Satan is beguiling me with his whispers that say, "You're all alone in this. No one wants to help you. No one really cares. You might as well quit. No one would notice anyway." Those lies are all a load of, well--you know what. But the sad thing is that I'm hearing him.

Cinderella & The Stuffie Saga

When it comes to Operation Christmas Child, some things make me pray harder. Last week I found 25 pairs of these adorable little girls' patent leather dressy shoes for $1.00 a pair at Gabriels. There have to be 25 little Cinderellas out there just waiting for a pair of party shoes, so I'm praying that God will get each of them to just the right child.

The clothing count is progressing nicely but I'm starting to pray more diligently for stuffed animals. According to my count I've bought 1,436 this year so that means we need 10,564 more to put one in each of our boxes. Sometimes as I walk or run through my neighborhood I think of all the homes that must have unwanted stuffed animals just waiting to be adopted. I think of all the children I see every day who probably have dozens in neglected corners of their bedrooms. What joy they would bring to children who've never had a gift of their own.

God is answering prayer, though. This weekend's rummage sales and yard sales netted 261 more lovable stuffies. If I could just get 106 people to each commit to providing 100 stuffed animals we'd be all set. That shouldn't be so hard, right?

I'm putting Prince Charming to work on that right away.

The Least of These

Near the end of His ministry Jesus told His followers that when He returns in His glory there will be a great separation of those who know Him and those who don't and somehow which group you're in will be reflected in how you treated others. The point is that how we treat others shows our love for Jesus--especially how we treat "the least of these".

In most of the world you can't get much lower than being a child. So to clothe a child in Jesus' name is like doing it for Jesus Himself. I'm again astounded at the ways God is providing clothing for our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes this year.

This weekend took me to several K-Mart stores where they offered their winter clearance clothing items for 99 cents each. God gave me quite a haul.

In 2008 at this time I had 1,528 clothing items and last year at this time I had 3,321 (more than twice as many.) But I added up the total this year and it's already 9,338 and when you add in the items that others have purchased for our packing party the total of clothing items must be well over 9,500. That's close to THREE TIMES as many as we had at this point last year.

Just picture thousands of children, each with a new shirt or shoes or pants or a hat given to let them know that God loves them.

What a blessing these will be to 'the least of these' from a God who loves to give. I am seeing once again God keeping the promise He makes in what have become my life verses in IICorinthians 9:10,11 "Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God."

Happy Feet

Today Toms Shoes is celebrating "One Day Without Shoes" and encouraging supporters to go barefoot as a means of raising awareness for the millions around the world who have no shoes to wear. Shoes are a great cause. Even in warm climates shoes protect feet from injury and from worms and other parasites. In some places children are not permitted to attend school unless they have proper footwear, so receiving a pair of shoes can be the means to an education.

I'm glad for this business/ministry that is willing to provide a new pair of shoes to be sent to a needy child somewhere in the world for every pair purchased on its website. The problem is that buying a pair of canvas shoes from their website costs $48.00.

On the other hand, last week I was able to buy 60 pairs of nice quality sandals on sale at Wal-Mart for 50 cents a pair. All together so far this year I've been able to buy 2,431 pairs of shoes and sandals to put into Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes and none of them cost over $1.00 per pair. By owning only a few pairs of shoes myself that I buy at rock-bottom sale prices I can finance the purchase of a lot more shoes to distribute to needy children than I could if I bought shoes regularly from Tom's site.

Think what it would mean to kids around the world if all of us gave up buying one pair of shoes this year and used that money to buy at least one pair to put in an Operation Christmas Child shoebox.

We could make a lot of happy feet.

(to learn more about OCC go to www.samaritanspurse.org You can search the website for 'Lejla Allison' to watch a video about a girl who learned about Jesus when she got a pair of white sneakers in her Operation Christmas Child shoebox in 1993.)

Nighttime Nudgings

Easter ended over an hour ago and I still can't sleep. In the hour before I went to bed I was reading over my journal entries from last summer and thinking of all the wondering I was doing then about how God would provide for our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. The goal of 10,000 boxes seemed so far away a year ago, yet by the end of September, 2009 God had allowed us to pack 10,131 boxes and get them loaded on a truck for shipping.

This year I'm praying for 12,000 and knowing how God's provided in the past should make that easy to anticipate, right? But it's not. As always, every year seems different. By this time last year I'd already packed 1,256 boxes. This year I've packed none. Not one. Last year by this time I'd been picking up empty boxes at TJ Maxx and DSW Shoe Warehouse for weeks. This year I've picked up none. Not one. This concerns me because I'm not sure how God will provide 12,000 boxes for us. On the other hand I haven't had anywhere to store boxes.

Hopefully, a storage unit will arrive at Grace Church on Tuesday. So should I start collecting boxes now? I just don't know.

The one thing I do know is that God continues to provide items. I'm up to over 8,600 clothing items whereas last year at this time I had about 3,000. But once again the details that I'm in the dark about seem overwhelming.

As I read through last year's journal I saw the theme being repeated again. Nighttime wonderings and tossing and turning. Is this a lack of faith or a nudging to continued prayer and a ramped-up level of faith?

I think my faith muscles are being stretched and causing nighttime soul cramps that keep me from sleep. In eight months when I'm on the victory side it'll all seem so easy again.

Toothbrushes and T-Shirts

This little girl in the Dominican Republic is delighted with her new toothbrush. I put a toothbrush in every box and the ones I've been using are fair but not great and cost 12 cents each with shipping. I've always wished I could put a higher quality toothbrush in each box, but so far the cost was prohibitive. On Saturday God provided as only He can. A Christian guy who runs a resale business and buys large lots of items offered to sell me beautiful Oral-B toothbrushes. I was able to get 12,000 of them for this year's boxes for 12.5 cents each--just a bit over what I usually pay for cheap ones. God cares about the teeth of all those little ones who may have never even owned a toothbrush.

Speaking of toothbrushes, giving a child his or her own toothbrush may help to save his or her life. In some developing countries (where the HIV rate of infection in the population may be more than 50%) whole families share one toothbrush. Not having to share can save a child from contracting a deadly illness.

God just keeps bringing in a harvest of items to pack boxes. Our clothing item total is now up to 7,416! I found that Dollar General has a lot of short-sleeve T-shirts that are 90% off that some stores still have in with their regular summer clothing. If you're near a Dollar General, check in the boys' clothing and if you find any T-shirts that have a $5.00 price tag (no blue dot on them) they will probably ring up at 50 cents. The new ones in stock are $6.00 so they must be clearing out the $5.00 ones. If an employee tells you they're not on sale, politely ask them to check the price on the cash register to make sure. You may net yourself some nice shirts. Since last week I went back to stores I'd already been to and got several hundred more items.

The winter gloves and hats at Dollar General are 70% off right now so that's a pretty good deal, but I'm holding out to see if they go to 90% off soon.

I praise You, God, for the blessings of this week--for T-shirts and toothbrushes--and for your promise of total provision. You are always more than enough.