If I remember right, the box contained a calculator, a notebook, pencils, a toothbrush and toothpaste, a white t-shirt, a couple washcloths, soap, a ball and candy.

Nothing amazing. Just some things the boys picked out.

Each year since Carter and Owen were toddlers, we have been taking part in the Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child ministry. I take them on a little shopping trip and we pick out items to be sent to a needy child somewhere in the world. (The first few years this was a quite painful experience, and more than one Harms child has left the store in tears, but I won’t go into the selfishness of my offspring right now.)

Over the course of time, filling those shoe-boxes  has been a great exercise in teaching my children to think beyond themselves.

But this year one of those shoe-boxes turned into so much more than the items that filled it.

Namusubo Kulusumu is a 12 year old girl from Uganda.

She has a pet cat.

She likes to play netball.

When she grows up she wants to be a doctor.

And because Carter sent her a shoebox, she learned about Jesus.

We received a handwritten letter from Namusubo months after the shoeboxes were sent. At the bottom of the letter was the email address of a woman named Florence, the wife of the Pastor of the church through whom the boxes were distributed.

I have since been in contact with Florence, and through her have also received more info and photos.

Through our correspondence, I have realized that 500 Dresses has an opportunity to bless this Ugandan village in a tangible way.  I am now in the process of figuring out how to most economically ship dresses and possibly some sewing supplies to the African country.

How amazing is that?!? Seriously, it was just a shoe-box.  It was a few minutes of our time and a few of our dollars. But in God’s plan it was more.

Thank you Jesus for showing me over and over again that you use our simple acts of obedience to do amazing things.  All we have to do is focus on you and watch you work.

(I plan to get the spring shipment off to Haiti before focusing on Uganda, but I just wanted to share what’s on the horizon.)