Monday, January 23, 2012

A Special Gift

Each year Trish and Allen Sparks give us a special financial gift in memory of their granddaughter, Caden. I never know how God will use this gift. This year, He used it in a very special way, to give a family hope. God had me at locations where I wasn’t supposed to be. To meet people who were part of His plan. To be standing in the pantry warehouse so I could hear the phone ring. When I answered the phone, a young mom asked if we were still giving out Christmas. I had told her that our Christmas project had ended on the Saturday before. She told me we had helped her friend yesterday. We did help a mom through the Beech Grove School system. She pleaded that she had a special needs little girl age 5 ½ and a little boy, age 4. Could we please help? God knew these two families were connected. So, I got the mom’s name and address. I headed out on a fact finding mission. Little did I know that God had sent me on another life changing mission.

When I arrived at the home, Jessica answered the door. I got to meet her little girl, Kaylianna. My heart just sunk. I was expecting a family that was working the system. I saw a little girl who has a terminal birth defect, Trisomy 13 syndrome. Most children don’t live to see their first birthday and she is 5 ½. I gathered information on the kid’s sizes and I told Jessica that we would return with Christmas for her kids. Before I left, I asked where her little boy was. She told me he was at grandma’s house. He didn’t think Santa would come to their house because they had no Christmas tree. “I’ll see if we have one at the pantry” I told her. I set off on this task.

I went to South Grove and told the staff what I had discovered. How it just tugged on my heart that this could be this little girl’s last Christmas. When I shared about the little boy and the Christmas tree, they had the staff pack up the tree in the school lobby. The gals got on their coats and off to Wal-Mart we went. They asked me what their limit was. I said there was no limit. They quickly filled the shopping cart with beautiful things for Kaylianna and Atwain. We also got a sleeve of unbreakable balls for the Christmas tree, so Kaylianna could enjoy them.

They headed back to the school to start wrapping the gifts. Before I could get there to pick them up, I got a call from KFC on Emerson Ave. The manager told me that they had a food drive and had two frozen turkeys. Could we use them for a family for Christmas dinner? I told her I would be right over.
I picked up the gifts and tree at the school and thanked them for helping minister to this special family.

That evening, Paula, our son Mike and I delivered the gifts to Jessica and her kids. Kaylianna loved the sleeve of Christmas tree balls. She was so excited with the bright colors. Jessica just wept. She couldn’t believe that strangers would help her. We all gave her a big hug and prayed with her before we left. We told her that is what we do is to share God’s love.

It started with the Sparks gift; God knew where that gift was going. He knew who He was going to use to connect all the dots. He knew we would reach out to a single mom and her kids to give them hope.

What a blessing to be used each month in miraculous ways to serve our Savior as His hands and feet

No comments: