At last! I had finally escaped my little brother. I glanced around my own little space. “Whew!” I breathed a sigh of relief. There was no sight of him nearby. Quickly I shut and locked the door to keep him out. I had come to my special place to retreat, recharge, and refresh myself. Just like electronics need working batteries, so I need my quiet time and place to help me energize myself.
The pretend kitchen area set up in one corner. In that corner was my great-grandmother’s old oven and refrigerator. It was not out of the ordinary for large stones to become “bread” in my imagination. Similarly, other sized stones would represent various types of food. I had a kitchen table made out of an old door laying on top of a pile of dirt and stones at either end of the table.
After about 30 minutes, I heard a tentative knock on the door. Then, a small voice floated through the door, “Sissy, can I come in? I’m really sorry I destroyed your craft!”.
I tried so hard to remain angry at him; I really did. But, he was my baby brother. How could I stay mad at him for long? So, I opened the door and let him in. He even suggested that we play house!
After we played house, we decided to go to our house for a snack. When we opened the door, we were shocked to discover that the field was full of snow! Imagine, 2 feet of snow….in July!!!! I had always heard of a Christmas in July, but never experienced it. What caused the snow?
Then, I remembered. At Christmas time, our family couldn’t pay our bills. Therefore, my siblings and I only received a candy bar for Christmas because that was all my parents could afford. That night, when I went to bed, I begged the Lord to give us a Christmas in July so that we could go through the Christmas celebrations and this time have money to help out others instead of being the ones that everyone helped out.
It was a miracle!!! God had heard my prayers and sent us a Christmas in July!!!! Then, I got to thinking back in my long line of 12 years. Everytime I prayed for something specific and went to my hiding place the next day, God would answer my prayers.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that when I was in my happy room, I realized that the entire time I was in the house, I was pleading with the Lord to fulfill His promises of answering all my requests that I asked in the name of Jesus.
This miracle could not have come at a better time! My dad has finally found a job, and my mom was able to increase her babysitting kids from 3 kids to 5 kids. I have to help Mom out with her babysittind, but I do not mind.
As my brother and I, walked up to the house, we began discussing all the possible meanings of this snow. We weren’t sure what would happen because Santa only left the North Pole on Christmas Eve. So, we discussed how we might get our gifts from him.
Just I said, “I hope he is able to leave me a bunch of gifts!!!”, my heart was pricked by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit said to me, “Is it really more important to you to receive gifts for Christmas from an Earthly family than it is to receive the gift of my Son’s sacrifice as a substitute for condemnation in your place?”.
I stopped in my tracks and nudged my brother. I explained to him what the Lord had just said to me. Instantly, he sobered down and we knelt in the snow and praised the Lord for the Sacrifice of His Son in our place and asked him to make our hearts holy and clean. We closed by asking God to purify our hearts and make us a sincere follower of Jesus Christ.