Three Days Before Christmas...

I feel like I celebrated Christmas today... We took some more Christmas baggies around the neighborhood - hope to finish tomorrow. For some reason I was really tired and as David and I headed out the door this afternoon, I just really didn't feel up to it. On top of that, it was drizzling rain. But we've already made up the baggies and I want to distribute them before Christmas is over. So I told myself we could at least finish the trailer park area. We prayed and then headed out.

There is something energizing about meeting people. I love seeing their startled looks when they realize we aren't trying to get them to spend their money on something. And I love how their expressions go from wary to pleasantly surprised. ANd I love it when kid's faces light up and they yell, "Merry Christmas!!"

And I am grateful that God transcends language and culture. One lady opened the door and I could see she was crying. I didn't know if she was in pain or upset. Via pantomime and pigeon English, she indicated she was sad. That was the extent of our verbal communication - we could go no further. I felt helpless - because I was... I didn't even know what was wrong.

And then I put my hands together as if praying and asked her if I could pray with her. She looked at my hands, said, "Yes", and grabbed one of my hands. The prayer was very, very short and very general in nature. She thanked me and I went back to my car.

I hated to leave her like that so I got another baggie, wrote my name on the Christmas letter in it as well as the name of a couple of churches in this area. I also hated to turn right around and knock on her door again, like an idiot. But I did and when she understood that my name was in the second baggie, she thanked me.

But this is the deal: when she opened the door the first time, she looked upset and was crying. When she opened it the second time, she wasn't crying and she looked happy. And I thought, "Okay... God just answered that prayer!"

God did something good for both of us today by letting us meet for a short time and showing us how He can cut through language and culture to go straight to the heart. And I am grateful because He could have met her need without ever letting us meet at all.