Hover Car

You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing. The LORD is righteous in all his ways and loving toward all he has made. Psalm 145: 16-17 (NIV)

Each Christmas, our family sponsors a foster child and buys their Christmas gifts. It is a way to give back to our community, but also a good reminder to us that not all are as fortunate as we are. Last year, we chose an eighteen year old girl. She was a senior in High School, on the cusp of leaving the foster care system and being on her own. She had hopes of college and dreams for the future, and I found her difficult to buy for. How to decide what to purchase for an eighteen year old you have never met? Particularly challenging was her request for undergarments. So many choices. Underwire, no underwire, padded, plain, colored, white. How to know what was best? Through my search for the right gifts, I could not help but be struck by how sad it was that she had to depend on strangers to buy her bras. I cannot buy underwear for myself any more without a grateful heart that I can afford to do so. This year, it was also difficult to know what to buy. I picked up the tag for a three year old girl. She likes Disney Princesses and Barbies, and her favorite color is pink. Remember I am a mother of two boys. I love to buy pink and oh, was it hard to restrain myself. I found a lot of cute clothes on the clearance rack, as well as Princess Pajamas and slippers, a Princess dress up gown complete with a tiara, a Ballerina Barbie with several outfits and a Sleeping Beauty doll whose dress changes colors when you wave a magic wand over her. My husband, not knowing that I had already picked a child, also chose one, a ten year old boy. He asked for a hover car. What in the world is a hover car, we wondered? We asked friends with boys, no one knew. Husband went on the Internet, no ideas. So, I stood in the toy aisle for almost an hour searching for a hover car or something that would substitute. Nothing seemed right. I asked a couple of little boys for their help. They ran the other way. Oh, I guess I was a stranger after all. Finally, I prayed. I told God I had no clue what this boy wanted, but acknowledged that He did. I asked Him to show me what to buy. I stood in the remote control car section as I prayed. As I finished praying, I looked up in front of me. There was a lone box turned backward on the top shelf. I stood on my tiptoes and pulled it down. It was a remote control airplane that hovered over the ground and turned into, you guessed it, a car. Answered prayer at its best. God cares about the needs of those children and of you and me as well. Just ask for help, then, open your eyes to see what He supplies.