Springdale Lady Lifeliners: Operation Christmas Child, November 2011

The following is written by Erin Wiltse, Springdale Ozone Director.

WOW!  The experience began with a night of snacks, games, dance parties and movies until the girls fell asleep one by one tucked snugly into their own sleeping bags.
 
After sharing breakfast together, we got the girls rounded-up to watch a video from “Samaritan’s Purse: Operation Christmas Child.”  The video outlined the vision, goal and hope of packing boxes to give & bless children in need all over the world.

 Leaders Hannah Posey and Kelsey Maynard, shared with the girls how we can do our part in serving girls like them all over the world.  Pointing them to John 3:16 & Matthew 28, they outlined the love God has for each of them individually and the love God has for people all over the world.  As girls who are aware of His love, we have a responsibility to take and share His love with others.  The message of Christ is too important to keep to ourselves, so we look for opportunities to share it.

Going through an assembly line, the girls were able to pick out gifts and items consisting of toys, candy, soap and school supplies for the boxes young girls would receive.  The girls wrote a Christmas card and “John 3:16” verse card to put in the boxes with the items.

As a group, we sat with our boxes and took some time to pray over them, wanting to help the girls understand that the gifts will be a blessing but the greater blessing is to intercede and ask God’s favor over the lives of the girls who'll receive them.  During our next Lady Lifeliner event, we will take time again to ask God’s providence over our efforts as the boxes will not be received until Christmas time. 

A crazy sleepover and packing a box full of good, fun stuff is great to do together, but our hope is to allow our girls to see the greater vision, to understand the heart of God to know, to believe and to be compelled by the truth that:

"…God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

John 3:16

May each of us be motivated by this truth to love: with a box, with speech, with action.  May we never tire of doing good.