His Hands; His Feet

Here is the story I promised you yesterday. It’s a beautiful illustration of why we should pray and how God uses His people to meet the needs of others. You might want to grab a box of tissues.

Oranges for Christmas by Deborah Wuehler

It was Christmas, 1975, and I was in the sixth grade. Two of my very favorite childhood things were Christmas and oranges! What do oranges and Christmas have in common? To this young girl, they spoke of a faithful and loving God who answered prayer. Let me tell you my favorite true Christmas story.

Our family was very poor; 1975 was the worst year we had ever had. We were selling everything out of our garage; living from day to day.

On Sundays we attended church at the Rescue Mission and served food to the homeless. We also ate our meal there. We especially liked the stale and sticky, day-old donuts. They were delicious to those of us who had to eat turnip soup regularly.

At Thanksgiving, we helped serve the meal at the mission as usual, but my Mom began to pray and ask God if He would allow us to have Christmas dinner in our own home. A financial impossibility, but she had great faith, until Christmas Eve.

That night, Mom went into her bedroom and prayed while we watched football. She wondered how she could make the macaroni and cheese and hot dogs special, but to no avail. Hot dogs were hot dogs, and this was Christmas!

Not much was under our artificial tree except a few small trinkets Dad and Mom found at the thrift store. I can still remember the little box that opened with a snap and held a little Indian and his maiden dressed in leather and beads. But, I can't remember which football team was winning when the doorbell rang.

Standing at the door was a timid man and his wife, "Does Suzanne live here?" Dad answered in the affirmative as Mom came out. "We found you!" They said they had no idea where we lived, but they prayed and were directed to our house. They were as amazed as we were that they had found us.

Then it happened. . .in came boxes of food. There was the biggest turkey you ever saw, ham, candy, nuts, fruit and all the trimmings for the finest Christmas meal! Dad was laughing, Mom was crying, and my sisters and I were smiling from ear to ear. God had not forgotten us, but had found a family that would be His hands that Christmas Eve and bring a meal in His Name.

What spoke of God's love for that sixth grade, red-haired, little girl, and what I remember most in all those boxes, were the biggest, brightest oranges I had ever seen! I knew that those oranges were a gift straight from God to me, and ever since then I have been a firm believer that God answered mother's prayers and that He loves His red-haired little girl.

This was originally posted in the December 24, 08 issue of The Homeschool Minute . I highly recommend subscribing to the Homeschool Minute it will bless you.