KIDS PRAY FOR THE FUNDING OF A CONTAINER
One of the things we have been privileged to do, because of the love and concern of so many others, is to ship Christmas Joy Boxes to children and Christmas Joy Bags to the elderly in Romania for Christmas each year.
We try to load this container on the first Saturday in November in order to assure that it will be in Romania in plenty of time for our coworkers to deliver all of these before Christmas.
I tell people that one of the benefits of the Lord allowing us to help others is that it gives the children here at Fairhaven a chance to be on on the “giving end” instead of always on the “receiving end”. Also, it enables them to see the Lord work firsthand.
One year, we were getting ready to ship our “Christmas Container”, of which the shipping cost was $10,368. Now, we have to confirm our shipping date a few weeks ahead in order to be sure that our container has a place on the ship.
It was about the first Monday morning in October and I was having devotion with the kids before they went to school. After devotion, I told them what the cost was going to be for the container and that we only had $3.000. I told them that we needed $7,368 in the next 7 days in order to be able to confirm shipping.
Well, they prayed, off and on, for that container all week. Nothing happened. Then, the following Sunday afternoon, a friend of mine came by for he needed me to help him move some livestock. As we sat and talked, he asked me when we would be loading the Christmas Container, for he always enjoys coming and helping. I told him that I was not sure and explained the situation to him and that the kids and I had been praying about it all week. He asked me how much we needed and I told him. He thought for a moment and said, “I can do that.” And he did.
As soon as he left, I went down to the house where the kids were in the kitchen with Sissie, making sandwiches before church. I walked in and said “Hey kids, guess what the Lord just did?” Allie, who was about 9 at the time, said “He gave us the money for the container?!” I told them that He had.
It is always great when they can see His faithfulness in these things and I pray that it will be something that will stay with them all their lives.