Dania and a Radio

Dania and a Radio
Operation Christmas Child

A few weeks ago our Sunday School children watched a powerful Operation Christmas Child video called, “Dania and a Radio.”  We learned about a little girl, Dania, from the Middle East who was raised in a Christian home with very few material possessions.  Here is how Dania described it, “The room we lived in was empty except for a few pieces of cloth we had to eat and sleep on. My dad worked two jobs, but it was still hard for him to provide for our family. Many nights I went to bed without food, or if there was some, it was raw onions and bread.”  Dania longed to have something new that she could call her own.  Her family wanted and even prayed for a radio so that they could listen to news from their home country. One day when Dania went to church, she was surprised to see that they were giving away shoeboxes.  Dania, filled with excitement, took her shoebox and walked the hour trip back to her home.  Her eyes lit up as when she opened the box and saw that it was filled with brand new items – just for her! Dania went on to describe something more, “Inside the shoebox was another surprise—a tiny radio! Out of a million shoeboxes, this one came to my family the year we prayed for a radio. We all knew this could not happen apart from God.”

He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.
Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.”
Psalm 147:4-5

Dania’s story is a powerful reminder that our God is in control.  He weaves millions of tiny details into His perfect, beautiful, and complex Plan.  Today Dania is a 2017 graduate of Salem College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina with a degree in Education. God used the gift of a simple shoebox to reassure young Dania and her family that they were loved and cared for by our Almighty God.  (You may read Dania’s whole story on the website for Samaritan’s Purse.)

Even as you are reading this article, our Sunday School students are preparing to fill more than 150 shoeboxes in our gym.  We thank you for your generous gifts and donations to Operation Christmas Child.  (We thank Bonnie Bruesewitz and Sara Rasmussen for organizing Christ Lutheran’s OCC efforts this year.)  We trust that God will use these boxes to touch the lives of the children who receive them.  We know that needs will be fulfilled and prayers will be answered.  Great is our Lord and mighty in power.  His understanding has no limit.

God’s Blessings,
Tammy