While I watch the videos, pictures of children around the world parade across the screen: an orphanage filled with children in tattered winter clothes. A village somewhere in Africa where boys and girls flash beautiful, broad smiles at the camera. A church floor somewhere in Latin America where a little girl with sad eyes holds her box as her most prized possession.

No – certainly not all orphans on the screen have Elena, Irinia and Ted’s happy ending. Yes – most children in the African village go back to a life of poverty. But as they hold the toy-filled shoe boxes, their sorrow pauses, if only for a moment, as their hearts grasp this message, loud and clear: “Somewhere, out there, someone cares about me.”

I’ve been writing columns about Operation Christmas Child for the past five years right before collection week. As an ambassador for this organization, I have had the privilege to hear countless stories, as well as meet adults who were once recipients of one of the boxes delivered across the globe. Each story shares a common thread: A simple shoe box brought new hope to a child’s heart.

This is the season when our children fill their Christmas list with toys and gadgets, which often end up at the bottom of a closet within a month or two. It’s the season for companies to spend millions of dollars in advertisements, designed to entice our cravings for more and better. Indeed, consumerism can easily turn our hearts from the true meaning of the season.

Several years ago, however, my husband and I made the decision to use the holiday season as an opportunity to teach our children about the joy of giving. We receive the Samaritan’s Purse catalog, which contains the wonderful projects sponsored by this organization across the globe. From purchasing a chick to help feed a family, to raising funds to build wells in places where drinkable water is a rare commodity, the catalog offers various opportunities to help people in need.

On an account in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus had left the temple in Jerusalem with his disciples, when he started teaching through parables, as he often did. In one of them, he talked about separating the sheep from the goats, in a reference to differentiate those who are truly his followers. He then used words that puzzled his disciples: “I was hungry and you gave me to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came visit me.”

The disciples were confused, for they did not remember helping the master in any such instance. Jesus then explained: “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

What a challenge to those of us who boldly claim to love God! His words remind me that self-gratifying religion is no religion at all. At this age of entitlement, when children complain when they don’t have the latest smart phone, or throw a tantrum when they don’t get what they want when they want it, caring and giving to those in need can become the perfect antidote to a self-centered society.

May we heed Jesus’ words as we draw near the time to celebrate his birth, for giving to the “least of these” is giving him the perfect birthday gift.

You can find out more about Operation Christmas Child and other projects at www.samaritanspurse.org. Shoe box collection week starts this Monday, Nov. 13.

This article was originally published in Patricia’s column for The Atlanta Journal Constitution on Saturday – November 11, 2017.

Whatever you do for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of Mine, you do for Me.
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Not long ago, I had a conversation with a lady in her 70s, who is suffering from depression because one of her daughters is absent from her life. This daughter is alive and well, but she chooses not to participate in her mother’s life, even though she lives close.

Almost every time I talk to this mother, the conversation turns to the pain and suffering that she is experiencing with her daughter’s absence. And every single time, my advice to my friend is the same.

“You cannot help other people’s choices. If you concentrate on one person who, by their own choice, prefers not to be around you, you will end up becoming bitter and distancing others who love you. You need to find a new purpose. Give your love to people who are hurting. Bless someone with your gifts and talents.”

I thought about my advice while browsing some of the videos that I received from one of the local representatives of Operation Christmas Child. My ministry supports Franklin Graham’s organization every year around the holidays, by promoting their efforts to bring the gift of Christmas and the Gospel to needy communities around the globe.

It always fills my heart with joy to learn how Samaritan’s Purse International, Operation Christmas Child’s parent organization, tirelessly works across the world to ensure that poor communities experience God’s love through disaster relief projects, community outreach and gifts.

The videos I watch every year tell stories of children whose lives have been impacted, and often drastically changed, by the seed that is planted with a simple shoe box.

While browsing this year’s DVD, however, I came across the stories of people who are on the other side of Operation Christmas Child’s initiatives. The clips told the stories of common people, who work diligently to ensure that poor children who often have never received a personal gift, are blessed by a simple shoe box filled with toys each year.

My favorite story was about 9-year-old Faith from Tennessee, who ran a 5K to raise funds, while energizing her small community church to pack 300 boxes this year.

The story would not be very different than several others, were it not for Faith’s physical limitations.

Faith was born prematurely with spinal bifida, a birth defect in which a developing baby’s spinal cord fails to develop properly, creating serious developmental issues. She has already had several surgeries, including bladder and bowel reconstruction. Her parents were told that their little girl would probably never walk.

But Faith showed them from the beginning that there is no limit of what God can do with a willing and determined heart. She walks, dances and is a bundle of joy to her family and friends.

When she told her mom last year that she wanted to run a 5K to raise funds for Operation Christmas Child, her mother felt uneasy and concerned. But as her mother prayed, she heard God whisper: “Do not try to limit me.”

The video ends with Faith crossing the finish line, cheered by a community of friends who came out to support her. “I really want to say that we could do 20,000 boxes. That’s what I wanted to pack,” she said. “But next year, we will do 500!” she shouted with a beaming smile.

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Purpose. Faith and her family found new purpose in their suffering.

Her great example of determination, overcoming limitations and doing the impossible, is a lesson for each one of us who think that we cannot make a difference in the world, or who allow our problems and disappointments to paralyze us.

Amid our pain or emptiness, we can allow God to redirect our focus, thus using us to bless someone who is hurting much more than we are. That is how God makes beauty out of our ashes, filling our lives with new purpose and joy. Sometimes, all it takes is filling up a shoe box with toys, prayers and selfless love. Find more information about Operation Christmas Child at www.samaritanspurse.org

Amid our pain, we can allow God to redirect our focus, using us to bless someone who is hurting.#OCC
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This article was published in Patricia’s column for the Atlanta Journal Constitution’s Faith & Value Section on Saturday, November 12.

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My family and I have been packing shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child for a decade. Since our oldest was a little toddler, the Christmas shoe boxes have become a holiday tradition at our house. Sometime in October, I take our girls shopping for children around their age, and we pack the boxes with toys and some essential items like toothbrushes, toothpaste and hair brushes. I watch them pack them, their eyes sparkling with excitement. As we close the boxes, we pray for the children who will receive them, and include a letter with our address and pictures, just in case they decide to write to us one day. At a time when our society tries to shift our attention from the true meaning of Christmas, I find it important to point my children’s hearts to the truth: We give, because God gave himself for us. We celebrate, because love came down and brought us true hope. And we wish to share it with the world.

There are several organizations offering special projects during the holidays, but there is a very specific reason why I wholeheartedly support Samaritan’s Purse’s Operation Christmas Child. This group doesn’t end their operation with the delivery of Christmas gifts to children. They stay. They have programs following their shoe box deliveries, where they share about Jesus and the love of God with the children and their families. Their projects include, among others, disaster relief and adoption support programs, and I have been privileged to hear several stories of children from all over the world who were adopted by American families following the delivery of a shoe box. It’s one small, inexpensive gesture that has been changing people’s lives and eternity for decades, by sharing God’s love and the hope that remains.  That’s the intangible, however true gift, packed inside that small box.

The contents of those shoe boxes, as exciting as they may be, will perish, break, or empty out over time. But the message within remains forever: there is a God who sees your pain and suffering. He hasn’t forgotten you. And he put in the hearts of millions of Americans the desire to send you a little bit of love packed inside one small shoe box.

The world is indeed filled with hatred, wars and persecution. But it fills my heart with hope for tomorrow when I think that God’s love still shines through the good deeds of mankind. Join the Operation Christmas Child movement by going to www.samaritanspurse.org and find out how you can get involved.

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I could barely lift the bags and carry them down the stairs. The time for my yearly toy clean-up had come and I was determined to organize and clean my girls’ bedrooms from anything they didn’t use. As I dug into the toy bins, drawers and baskets, the toys seemed to be multiplying. I was overwhelmed by the quantity of dolls, games and gadgets.

After hours of cleaning, I had four 30-gallon garbage bags filled with toys galore for donation. Enough to entertain an orphanage. It’s sad to say, but the truth is, the two little girls who owned the toys don’t realize how blessed they really are. Most toys were untouched since the day they got them.

I bet many of you can relate to my experience. Most of the children I know have more toys than time to play with them. They get new toys on Christmas or birthdays, play with them for a while and lose interest at the blink of an eye. On to newer, bigger, better things.

And so we fill garbage bags and donation bins with stashes of dollar bills translated into entertainment that some children in the world will never experience.

So when my children started talking about Christmas this year, my husband and I turned their attention to the Samaritan’s Purse Christmas Catalog and to the Operation Christmas Child, an organization which Soaring with Him Ministries partners with since last year.

We told our children to pray about focusing on giving, instead of receiving this year.

We gave them two catalogs. We told them some of the stories, showed videos. And we suggested that they ask for one Christmas gift this year… and use the rest of Santa’s money to give to others.

I confess that the looks we got from them at first were not very affirming. They were not too pleased about not contributing to the American Girl Doll store’s bottom line this Christmas. That’s quite understandable. But we asked them to pray about it… and let us know.

This morning my heart sang, as I watched our girls giggle with joy while marking the catalogs with an X beside the gifts they’re choosing to give.

They’ve decided to bless people around the world with the gift of love in the Name of Jesus.

That’s the kind of extraordinary love I wrote about last week. That’s the kind of love I want my children to have: Not love for things… but love for people.

As we browsed the catalog this morning, their eyes sparkled with the thought of making Christmas special for someone they’ll probably never meet.

So they’re giving Baby Chicks to help feed children… “They can also become their pet”, my oldest said.

They’re giving Emergency Shelters for victims of natural disasters…

They’re giving Life Saving Food for starving families…

They’re giving shoes and clothing for children…

They’re giving Loving Care For Orphans…

And the Jesus Loves Me lambs for little ones…

They’re giving “The Greatest Journey”, a monthly gift to help volunteers teach children around the world about Jesus…

We are also organizing a packing party for Operations Christmas Child, where we hope to fill many boxes with gifts and prayers for children around the globe.

In each of these gifts that we are purchasing this year, our children understand that they’re giving much more than the much needed food, shelter… or the toy. Because we are partnering with Samaritan’s Purse International, we know we are giving Christ to the nations.

I’m not writing this to brag on my babies (although I am proud of them, indeed). I’m writing to challenge you to inspire your family to give extraordinarily this year. I’m writing to inspire you to give a gift that will never perish…

The gift of Extraordinary Love: The life-giving message of the Gospel, wrapped around a life-saving water well, or nourishing food, or sheep for poor families.

It is an honor to partner with Samaritan’s Purse International. I invite you to join the Soaring with Him team and help us make this Christmas one that will count for eternity.

Shop their Christmas Catalog (Here) ! Pack a shoe box (Here)! Give Hope. Give Life.

Help us Share Jesus with the world!

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