The Little Red Shoebox Anabel Never Forgot
When Anabelle Rosario told me she still has the letter and two pictures from the Christmas shoebox she received at ten, I wanted to sit a little longer and hear more. Some of you heard her share part of it Monday morning at the SBC Women’s Expo. I’m so glad we got to visit again at the SBC for a podcast and now on Coffee Chats. As she talked, I kept thinking about a woman named Brittany who tucked a letter into a box and sent it off, with no idea how many years a little girl would hold on to it.
Anabel grew up in the Dominican Republic, where her daddy pastored a church and worked two jobs to support both the church and his family. When it rained, her mama set plastic buckets to catch the leaks. In that house, her parents taught her to talk to God about whatever was on her heart. Her daddy often told her that God was faithful.
When Anabel was about eight, she wanted a pair of Hush Puppies. Her daddy said, “Anna, why don’t you pray?” So she did. A visiting missionary named Lynette Garcia took her to a store and told her to pick any shoes she wanted. Anabel could hardly believe that included the Hush Puppies! When she got home, her mama asked if she’d said thank you. Of course she had thanked Lynette. Her mama wanted to know if she’d thanked the Lord, too.
A couple of years later, Anabel asked God for a Christmas gift. There was no extra money for one at home, and Christmas Day came and went. Then on January 6, at the church’s celebration for children, she saw shoeboxes lined up across the altar. Someone told the children that each box had been packed especially for the child who would receive it. Anabel opened hers and found things for her hair, a notebook, a letter, and two pictures she still keeps. Someone far away had thought about a child she’d never met. Annabelle felt loved, and she believed God had heard her.
Several years later, that memory became an anchor of hope. Annabelle’s parents had dropped her off for a training program in Punta Cana. On their way home, her mother, father, and older sister died in a car accident. Anabel learned they had died when the people driving her passed the hospital and told her they were going to the funeral home.
She told me she went quiet. Everyone was grieving, and she hardly knew what to say to God. Then a woman came from the United States to the Dominican Republic and told Anabel she had come to pray for her. In those days, Anabel remembered the shoebox and the way God had shown her His love when she was ten. The God she’d talked to about shoes and a Christmas gift was the same God she could talk to now, even when all she could tell Him was that she had no words.
Before the accident, Anabel’s mama had prayed from Psalm 121, a passage she often turned to. I keep coming back to those words as I think about Anabel and her surviving sister. “My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth” (Psalm 121:2, KJV). I’m grateful that, in a season when Anabel could barely pray, someone came and prayed for her.
Years later, after moving to the United States, Anabel spotted the Operation Christmas Child logo at an event and recognized it from her box. She hoped she’d found Brittany so she could thank her. Instead, she discovered how many people were part of sending those boxes. She wanted to be one of them. Now when Anabel packs a shoebox, she makes sure to include a letter and a picture.
I’m grateful that Operation Christmas Child, a ministry of Samaritan’s Purse, sponsored our Women’s Expo. I’ve had the joy of handing out shoeboxes in Lima, Peru, and I love that children can now learn more about following Jesus through The Greatest Journey. A gift can open the door for a child to hear the gospel and discover the hope we have in Christ.
So my challenge to you is to pack a shoebox, write a little note, and pray for the child who will open it. You have the weekend to shop and pray over it; collection week is November 16th – 23rd. Click here to find drop off locations
Ask the Lord to help that child know Jesus and remember His love when life gets hard. As Anabel reminded me, you may never know whose hands will open that box. God knows that child by name.
Praying for you as we celebrate Thanksgiving and this Holiday season!
Love, Diane
