The Bag Under The Tree Was Not From Santa!	< Back to the Blessing Bowl
Submitted On: December 10, 2009 / By: Trish / Church Affiliation: St. Joseph's Church  / Somers Point , New Jersey
I live in the Atlantic City, NJ area, and here is a wonderful experience I'd like to share. I just returned from The Atlantic City Rescue Mission where were Christmas Caroling with a group of singers. The AC Rescue Mission is well known in our area. They help the homeless in our city and they do a wonderful job of being Jesus to everybody who walks through the doors. What a Joy for me to be there with Christ on this occasion, and to be functioning in the role of a leader, helping people who are in dark places in this season of Light. Being in the role of a leader in this particular outreach, I did find myself called to walk in places where others (like me) are normally afraid to trod, yet I kept hearing "Do not be afraid, I am with you"... singing in my head, so I put a big smile on my face and held my head up high, saying hello and Merry Christmas to many..., looking into their eyes and going for the biggest smiles "we" (me and Jesus) could get! Walking with Christ never ceases to amaze me. For example, in the family life room, people had donated gifts for the children and we had the honor of distributing them, but it happened that after a time, there were no gifts left to give out, and one boy Christopher, age 8, was left without a toy. I was praying to God for a wonderful answer for Christopher and saw a bag rolled up under the Christmas tree. We had put some gifts further back under the tree for some (God's) reason, and I was inspired to see what was in it. Guess what it was? Matchbox cars....a perfect BOYS gift! I ran to his Mom with the cars to find Christopher, and she took me to his room. When we open the door, there he is, playing with matchbox cars on the floor. There are no coincidences; this was not Santa Claus leaving this present… It was an answered prayer! Oh... and then one of our volunteer families came late and had bought specific gifts for the older girls, with name tags on them. Thank God she did because there were two older girls who left without receiving any gifts. Because their names were on these presents they were saved for them. They showed up just as we were leaving their area and received their presents. I left knowing all the children received gifts of love from many of us through HeartsAfire4God and through the St. Joseph's Choir. Thank You Jesus for that Christmas gift! Thank You Jesus for shining through us and through those we visited.