What Happens beyond the (Shoe)box?

Claire Black: Welcome to True Girl, a podcast for girls and their moms. I’m Claire Black. Together, we’ll explore God’s truth for us one drive at a time. Buckle up! You’re about to grow closer to each other and closer to Jesus!

Have you ever done something kind for someone and then wondered what happened afterward?

Maybe you left an encouraging note for a friend, gave money to someone in need, or prayed for someone who was having a hard time. You did your part . . . but you never got to see the rest of the story.

Sometimes that’s how serving works. We do one small thing, and then we have to trust God with what happens next.

Last time, Dannah Gresh and Suzy Weibel were on a plane headed for Romania, with one very important Operation Christmas Child shoebox. They learned that the girl waiting for it, 13-year-old Izabella, doesn’t know Jesus personally yet, but she’s been coming to church, and the pastor has encouraged her to learn to pray. So, she has been praying for something very specific: snow! 

For three months, Izabella prayed and prayed and prayed. But it never snowed. So . . . did God hear her?

Well, Dannah and Suzy have finally made it to Romania. And if they can figure out where they’re going, we might just find out.

[city noises]

Suzy Weibel: Dannah, I would just like to point out that I have successfully gotten us all the way to Romania without losing the shoebox.

Dannah Gresh: You carried it through the airport like it contained the crown jewels.

Suzy: This box has survived an international flight, two airports, customs, and that man on the plane who tried to put his backpack on it. I am emotionally invested now.

Dannah: I noticed.

Suzy: Also, I think my wearing my fishing vest was an excellent travel decision. Passport pocket. Phone pocket. Snack pocket. Emergency snack pocket.

Dannah: Meanwhile, you made fun of me for bringing four pairs of shoes.

Suzy: I stand by that.

Dannah: As I said, different shoes have different jobs, Suzy. And unlike your fishing vest, mine don’t make people wonder if I’m about to wade into the nearest river.

Suzy: Speaking of which, did you know Romania has trout?

Dannah: We are not fishing.

Suzy: I’m just saying Earl may have international relatives.

Dannah: Oh, I think we’re almost there. 

[car pulling in]

Yes. The driver’s pulling into this church parking lot. We’re here.

Suzy: Wait! I know a Romanian word.

Dannah: Please don’t practice it on our taxi driver.

Suzy: Too late.

[car door opens]

Suzy: Bună ziua! 

Dannah: Oh! That was actually pretty good. What’d you say?

Suzy: Good day! 

Dannah: Know anything else?

Suzy: No.

Dannah: Great. Well, I’m sure we can get by with “Buna ziua” and our friendly faces.

Suzy: Exactly! I can smile and point with tremendous confidence.

Dannah: Then smile, point, and please find Izabella.

Suzy: You know, I keep thinking about her prayer. Three months of asking God for snow and nothing. I wonder what she thought about that.

Dannah: I wonder if she started to think God wasn’t listening.

Suzy: I might have.

Dannah: Yeah. Me too.

Suzy: And somewhere along the way, somebody packed this box. They didn’t know Izabella. They didn’t know about the Bible she and her brother found hidden under a floor. They didn’t know she was going to church and learning how to pray. And they definitely didn’t know she was asking God for snow.

Dannah: But God did.

Suzy: Which makes me very curious about what happens when we give her this box! Well, here we are.

Dannah: Open the door!

[door opens and sounds of children]

Suzy: Okay, this is amazing!

Dannah: Look at them! Everywhere you look, there’s another shoebox being opened.

Suzy: That little boy is holding up a toy car like he just won an actual car and has a license to drive it.

Dannah: And look at that girl over there. I think she likes her new hair clips.

Suzy: You know what’s funny? After everything we talked about on the plane, I keep noticing how ordinary some of these things are—a jump rope, a little ball, pencils. Things we might walk right past in a store.

Dannah: But look at their faces.

Suzy: Yeah. They’re treasures to these kids!

Dannah: Which means somewhere, someone packed each one of these boxes without knowing this moment was going to happen.

Suzy: They just offered what they had.

Dannah: And trusted God with the rest of the story.

Suzy: Speaking of stories, we still have one box that needs an ending.

Romanian Pastor: Excuse me, ladies. Can I help you?

Dannah: Oh, you speak English?

Pastor: I do! How can I help?

Suzy: We’re looking for Izabella? She’s 13, and we brought . . .

Pastor: Oh! You must be the women Operation Christmas Child told us about. You actually flew here to bring the box that we needed for a 13 year-old girl.

Dannah: Izabella.

Pastor: She’s over there. 

Suzy/Dannah: Oh!!

Pastor: Uh, perhaps I should deliver it?

Suzy: Okay, but guard it with your life!

[footsteps]

Dannah . . . look.

That’s her. That’s Izabella!

Dannah: Wow!

Suzy: After two airports, one very long flight, and an extremely protective fishing vest . . . it made it.

Dannah: And there, he’s delivered it. She has it!

Suzy: Oh, look at her face.

Dannah: She’s taking everything out one piece at a time.

Suzy: And no rubber chicken! I was worried there might be one.

Dannah: I told you there was no rubber chicken in there. (laughing)

You know what I keep thinking about? The person who packed this box probably had no idea who would receive it.

Suzy: They might not know her name.

Dannah: Or that she had been learning to talk to God.

Suzy: Or that for months she’d been praying one very specific prayer. Praying for snow!

Wait.

Dannah: What?

Suzy: There’s something else in there.

Dannah: Is that what I think it is?

Suzy: It’s a . . . no way . . . Dannah . . . it couldn’t be . . . a snow globe!

Dannah: Someone packed a snow globe in Izabella’s shoebox?!

Suzy: Someone who had no idea she had been praying for snow.

Dannah: Look at her. She’s crying.

Suzy: Happy tears.

All those little white flakes are swirling around inside.

Dannah: She prayed for snow.

Suzy: And God heard her.

Dannah: He knew exactly where Izabella was. He knew what she had been asking Him. He knew what was inside this box before we ever picked it up in Boone yesterday.

Suzy: And the person who packed it didn’t know any of that.

Dannah: No. They just packed a shoebox.

Suzy: But God knew the rest of the story.

Dannah: God knew.

Suzy: Wow!

Pastor: Thank you, my friends. You’ll never know what that means to Isabella!

Dannah: We have an idea.

Pastor: You’re welcome to have some lunch. You must be hungry. I’m going to share the truth of Jesus with the children now. We do that every time we share the Operation Christmas Child boxes with the little ones. You’re free to listen. Have a seat. The cook is about to serve the food. Enjoy! And thank you for this special delivery.

Dannah: Well, I guess our work is done.

Suzy: My work is about to be lunch. Dannah, it looks like they have the famous Romanian sour meatball soup I was telling you about.

Dannah: Yum! I am hungry. Let’s get in line.

Well, I think our trip answers a pretty important question: Does God hear the prayers of just one person?

Suzy: After what we just saw? I’d say yes.

Dannah: Me too. And there’s a story in Acts that shows us just how much one person matters to God. Let’s turn to Acts 8:26–35.

[pages turning]

Suzy: Okay, I’ve got it. 

As for Philip, an angel of the Lord said to him, “Go south down the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza.” So he started out, and he met the treasurer of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under the Kandake, the queen of Ethiopia. The eunuch had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and he was now returning. Seated in his carriage, he was reading aloud from the book of the prophet Isaiah.

The Holy Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and walk along beside the carriage.”

Philip ran over and heard the man reading from the prophet Isaiah. Philip asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

The man replied, “How can I, unless someone instructs me?” And he urged Philip to come up into the carriage and sit with him.

The passage of Scripture he had been reading was this:

“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter.
And as a lamb is silent before the shearers,
he did not open his mouth.
He was humiliated and received no justice.
Who can speak of his descendants?
For his life was taken from the earth.”

The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, was the prophet talking about himself or someone else?” So beginning with this same Scripture, Philip told him the Good News about Jesus.

Dannah: Okay, I love this. Philip is already serving God, and then an angel tells him to go down this particular road. And when Philip gets close to the eunuch, he discovers that this man is reading from the book of Isaiah but doesn’t understand what he’s reading. So Philip sits down with him and explains the good news about Jesus.

Suzy: All because Philip was willing to go where God sent him and notice the one person God put in front of him.

Dannah: Exactly. God cared about that one man on that one road. And God cared about one 13 year-old girl here in Romania.

Suzy: And that makes me think about whoever packed Izabella’s shoebox. They probably didn’t stand in a store holding that snow globe and think, God is going to use this to answer a girl’s prayer on the other side of the world.

Dannah: Probably not! They simply did the part God gave them to do. They packed a box. Someone else collected it. Someone transported it. Someone helped get it into Izabella’s hands.

Suzy: That was us!

And God was working through all of it.

Dannah: That’s something I don’t want us to miss. Serving Jesus doesn’t mean we have to know how the whole story is going to turn out. Most of the time, we won’t.

Suzy: Philip didn’t know what was waiting for him down that road.

Dannah: And the person who packed this box didn’t know Izabella.

Suzy: But God knew both sides of the story.

Dannah: Suzy, look! I think the pastor just finished his message sharing the love of Jesus. And some of the children are coming forward to pray with the volunteers.

Suzy: They’re surrendering their hearts to Jesus! 

Dannah: Suzy!

Suzy: Is that Izabella?

Dannah: It is.

Suzy: She’s going forward to pray with the pastor!

Dannah: Are you kidding me?

Suzy: That, my friend, is something I would never  kid about. The most beautiful sight in the world is even just one heart coming into the kingdom of heaven. 

You know, Dannah, I think I’m going to remember that snow globe for a very long time.

Dannah: Me too!

Claire: That Operation Christmas Child shoebox traveled a really long way, didn’t it? Dannah and Suzy’s adventure may have been our fun way of taking you along for the journey, but Izabella’s story is real. 

Izabella is an adult now. And thankfully, Romania is open to the gospel. We’d like you to hear the whole story from Izabella herself. 

Isabella: My name is Isabella, and I am one of the millions of children who received an Operation Christmas Child shoebox gift.

These shoeboxes are more than just toys or gifts; they are a tangible expression of God's love. I have experienced firsthand that every shoebox is truly a gospel opportunity that can fit in our hands, taking the gospel to the ends of the earth.

God's unconditional love showed up for me unexpectedly through a colorful shoebox. I grew up in communist Romania, where we were not allowed to worship or even say the name of God out loud. Owning a Bible could have easily cost our lives, and while the spiritual darkness was raging, severe poverty was also a big challenge for my family.

Our small two-bedroom apartment was our safe haven, where Mom and Dad strategized daily on how to put food on the table and how to buy shoes for us kids who were growing so fast. But God reached into our world and started shaping me in a very unique way.

When I was 7 years old, my brother and I found the hidden Bible in the floorboard of a little apartment, and this was the first time we ever heard the name of God. The stories in this Book captured our hearts, and we became hungry to know more. And despite the potential harm, we began to read the Bible and fell in love with its stories. God started working on my heart and shaping me through this small Bible.

And then, as an 11-year-old, I started attending a small underground church. I still remember the first time I learned how to pray. I was 13 years old, and I wanted to see snow outside so that we could make the best of the cold and dark winter days.

My prayers were simple, but expectant. I read much about God and knew many stories, but I wanted God to prove to me that He exists by giving me snow, but He did not answer that prayer for three months.

And just as I was ready to give up on Him, my answer came in an unexpected way: a colorful, wrapped shoebox. And within this box, I found a snow globe that brought snow to life like never before. I understood through that little globe that God knows me and the desires of my heart, and He knew I was ready to give up on Him, but He was not ready to give up on me.

I learned that He is a God who answers prayers. His answer can just look differently than what I imagine. On that day, a simple silver and blue snow globe shaped my future in unexpected ways. And for that, I am so grateful.

It was on that day that I decided to follow Jesus for the rest of my life.

Now looking back, I see God's hand all over my story—how He was shepherding me, leading me by still waters.

When children like me receive a shoebox, they have the opportunity to be discipled through the greatest journey, a 12-lesson discipleship program, and are coming to know the Lord as their personal Savior.

Psalm 23 tells us that God leads us beside still waters, just as a good shepherd leads his sheep to calm, clear water to drink. The Lord leads us to drink from the living water that restores us in our times of darkness, and it all starts with a simple shoebox.

Claire: If Izabella’s story has made you want to pack your own Operation Christmas Child shoebox, grab your mom and get started! If you get the True Girl Subscription boxes, use one of those! If you don’t have any, use any shoebox. You only have a couple more weeks to pack your box, so don’t wait. To learn more, visit SamaritansPurse.org/occ.

Now, the next True Girl Subscription Box ships soon and comes with our very practical “No-Grumble November” challenge. The box has sixty days’ worth of devos written by Dannah, Suzy, and other True Girl friends, and a mom-daughter conversation guide to talk about Philippians 2:14–15. It’ll show how even the everyday words and attitudes you choose can help you shine for Jesus. Go to MyTrueGirl.com to subscribe. But don’t wait! You need to subscribe by October 31 to receive the No-Grumble November Box. So, sign up before the deadline!

See you next time! Dannah and Suzy are going to visit a HUGE tree. Find out what lesson it can teach you!

The True Girl podcast is a production of Revive Our Hearts, calling women of all ages to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

 

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