Blessings,

***THIS GIVEAWAY HAS NOW ENDED. AFTER THE WINNER HAS BEEN REACHED, I WILL ANNOUNCE HIM OR HER IN A SEPARATE POST.***

UPDATED to change giveaway end date from December 12th to December 7th. I realized I have something going on every day next weekend and that might not work out so well.

Well, it’s that time of year. Lysa TerKeurst is again doing the Cool Christmas Giveaway, and I am signing on to participate. If you would like to sponsor a giveaway, go to Lysa’s site at the link posted above for more information. Or, if you haven’t already visited her site and are interested in the chance to win great prizes just in time for Christmas, well then, click away. Now on to my giveaway.

When I read earlier in the week that Lysa was going to do this and that lots of people had already posted about some of the great giveaways they were going to do, I admit I got a little panicked. I was feeling somewhat stymied about what I should offer. I started thinking about it…and thought…and thought. And, finally it hit me.

I was sitting at my computer looking around our study when my eyes landed on my brand spanking new New Living Translation Chronological Bible that I ordered special to participate in Wendy Pope’s reading through the Bible in a year that begins on January 1, 2009. You can read more about that here.

As I sat there staring at the Bible, I wondered if maybe there were those out there who wanted to participate but didn’t feel they could afford the cost of the Bible. Maybe you aren’t one of those people. Maybe you already have your Bible and are anxiously anticipating the thrill of participating in this journey next year. Do you know someone who needs to come along for the ride?

If you win the Bible, please keep it for yourself as my gift to you, or, if you feel led to do so, pass it on with an invitation to join us as we read through the Bible in a year.

Whether it’s you or someone you know, I pray that this Bible will find its way into the hands of the person who needs it. A picture of the Bible can be seen below. It is a hardback version.

I will run the giveaway through Sunday, December 7th, at 12:00pm EST. All you need do to enter is leave a comment. Please include your email or blog address so that I can contact you if you are the winner. If I have not heard from the winner by Monday, December 8th, I will select a new winner.

Thank you for participating, and Merry Christmas!

Blessings,

I received this in my email today, and it touched me so deeply. It was too wonderful not to share.

Then Jesus called for the children and said to the disciples, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I assure you, anyone who doesn’t have their kind of faith will never get into the Kingdom of God.” Luke 18:16-17 (NLT)

This beautiful story was written by a doctor who worked in South Africa.

One night I had worked hard to help a mother in the labor ward; but in spite of all we could do, she died, leaving us with a tiny, premature baby and a crying two-year-old daughter. We would have difficulty keeping the baby alive; as we had no incubator (we had no electricity to run an incubator). We also had no special feeding facilities.

Although we lived on the equator, nights were often chilly with treacherous drafts. One student midwife went for the box we had for such babies and the cotton wool that the baby would be wrapped in. Another went to stoke up the fire and fill a hot water bottle. She came back shortly in distress to tell me that in filling the bottle, it had burst (rubber perishes easily in tropical climates). ‘And it is our last hot water bottle!’ she exclaimed.

As in the West, it is no good crying over spilled milk, so in Central Africa it might be considered no good crying over burst water bottles. They do not grow on trees, and there are no drugstores down forest pathways.

‘All right,’ I said, ‘put the baby as near the fire as you safely can, and sleep between the baby and the door to keep it free from drafts. Your job is to keep the baby warm.’

The following noon, as I did most days, I went to have prayers with any of the orphanage children who chose to gather with me. I gave the youngsters various suggestions of things to pray about and told them about the tiny baby. I explained our problem about keeping the baby warm enough, mentioning the hot water bottle, and that the baby could so easily die if it got chills. I also told them of the two-year-old sister, crying because her mother had died.

During prayer time, one ten-year-old girl, Ruth, prayed with the usual blunt conciseness of our African children.

‘Please, God’ she prayed, ‘Send us a hot water bottle today. It’ll be no good tomorrow, God, as the baby will be dead, so please send it this afternoon.’

While I gasped inwardly at the audacity of the prayer, she added, ‘And while You are about it, would You please send a dolly for the little girl so she’ll know You really love her?’

As often with children’s prayers, I was put on the spot. Could I honestly say ‘Amen?’ I just did not believe that God could do this. Oh, yes, I know that He can do everything; the Bible says so. But there are limits, aren’t there? The only way God could answer this particular prayer would be by sending me a parcel from the homeland. I had been in Africa for almost four years at that time, and I had never, ever, received a parcel from home. Anyway, if anyone did send me a parcel, who would put in a hot water bottle? I lived on the equator!

Halfway through the afternoon, while I was teaching in the nurses’ training school, a message was sent that there was a car at my front door. By the time I reached home, the car had gone, but there on the veranda was a large 22-pound parcel. I felt tears pricking my eyes.

I could not open the parcel alone, so I sent for the orphanage children. Together we pulled off the string, carefully undoing each knot. We folded the paper, taking care not to tear it unduly. Excitement was mounting. Some thirty or forty pairs of eyes were focused on the large cardboard box.

From the top, I lifted out brightly-colored, knitted jerseys. Eyes sparkled as I gave them out. Then there were the knitted bandages for the leprosy patients, and the children looked a little bored. Then came a box of mixed raisins and sultanas – that would make a batch of buns for the weekend.

Then, as I put my hand in again, I felt the….could it really be? I grasped it and pulled it out. Yes, a brand new, rubber hot water bottle. I cried. I had not asked God to send it; I had not truly believed that He could.

Ruth was in the front row of the children. She rushed forward, crying out, ‘If God has sent the bottle, He must have sent the dolly, too!’ Rummaging down to the bottom of the box, she pulled out the small, beautifully-dressed dolly. Her eyes shone! She had never doubted! Looking up at me, she asked, ‘Can I go over with you and give this dolly to that little girl, so she’ll know that Jesus really loves her?’

‘Of course,’ I replied. That parcel had been on the way for five whole months, packed up by my former Sunday school class, whose leader had heard and obeyed God’s prompting to send a hot water bottle, even to the equator. And one of the girls had put in a dolly for an African child five months before, in answer to the believing prayer of a ten-year-old to bring it ‘that afternoon.’

‘Before they call, I will answer.’ (Isaiah 65:24)

Sweet Blessings,