Customer Reviews

Miracle in a Shoebox: A Christmas Gift of Wonder

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This is a great christmas book! My son is 7 and we read this together. It's about a family who shares the true meaning of chirstmas with a family over seas. This is made possible through a special project called Operation Christmas child. My family takes part in this project and this book helped my son to understand how important it is to share God's love and Christmas time and everyday.

I am a school librarian and former teacher, and I read this book every year in October or November. The staff and students join the community in participating in the shoe box ministry of Samaritan's Purse. My family joins in the effort as well--and has for years. This is a poignant story of the power of a shoe box gift to change a life. While the story is fiction, it is based on the experiences of workers and volunteers at Samaritan's Purse who get the shoe box gifts into the hands of children around the world. Along with the shoe box gifts, the gospel is preached and the Christmas story is given to each child in his/her own language. In this story, one boy's determination to pack a shoe box spurs his church and community to join in the ministry. Ultimately, his shoe box reaches a boy living in war-torn Bosnia. Through the kindness of an American family (led from the beginning by a young boy), a family in Bosnia is taught the saving love of Christ. Near the end, the father of the child who receives the shoe box gift tells his wife and children of a prayer he had prayed while a POW. The shoe boxes his children receive along with the story included answer his prayer. It never fails to touch my heart. Even now, having read the story dozens of times at school and at home, I can't read it without fighting the tears. To anyone who wants to teach a child how to help change a life, this is the story. For any adult who wants to know how to make a difference, this is the story. It's worth the cost. It's worth the time. It's one of the best books I've ever read.