As a follower of Jesus Christ I have been fortunate to experience situations I will describe as instances of hearing from God. No I did not hear a loud booming voice from Heaven or see a bush on fire, not being consumed by the flames, as Moses did. It’s generally much more subtle. The expression “God’s still small voice” is common when expressing having heard from God. For me it generally begins as an impression that continues to come to mind over and over, growing stronger as it does. When this happens it may be the Holy Spirit connecting with my spirit to tell or show me something God wants me to know or see. There are other times when something occurs in which it is very apparent and undeniable God is involved. Such is the case with this story.

Our dear friends Steve and Holly Taft are Missionaries in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. In Mexico there is a national holiday celebration known as Three Kings Day. It occurs in January each year. The church Steve and Holly founded there holds a community outreach for the area each year on Three Kings Day. Part of that celebration includes preparing gift bags to give each child. Several years ago they began putting a Beanie Baby in the bags. We have participated by purchasing some Beanie Babies to send down for the outreach. It became interesting and exciting for me to search for and purchase these little creatures. When it became time to begin the search each year, interestingly, I would find an ad usually on Craigslist and be able to purchase what we needed at a reasonable price. A kind and generous lady who travels back and forth from Playa and Bend has been transporting the cargo on her trips. We secured the needed amount for the January 2024 outreach, which left us needing to begin our search for next year. Sometime in October I was looking on Craigslist and the thought came to me to check “Collectibles” to see if perhaps there were some for sale. When the site opened, I could not believe what I was seeing! There was an ad for a large collection, in the same city where we live, at a very reasonable price! When I say a large collection, it was a three year supply of what we needed to purchase! I contacted the seller and made arrangements to purchase the collection. I asked the seller what was the best price they were willing to accept, having explained what we intended to do with them. Some collectors perhaps would have ideas of how they would like the collection to be used. The response was a price $100. lower than on the ad. It would be about a week until the seller would be available for us to pick them up. During this time I began to be impressed I needed to give the seller $50. more than they said they would accept. I determined that was what I would do. When it came time to meet for the exchange, at the end of my conversation, I told the seller I was going to give them $50. more. There was silence for a few moments and then I heard, “You won’t believe this”. He went on to tell me the collection belonged to his mother and he was selling it for her. When he told her there was a buyer she told him not to accept less than a specific amount. The amount she told him was the exact amount I was impressed to give them! He had been planning to make up the difference out of his own pocket. The ad had been running for over a month. They had started at a higher price, then lowered the price, and lowered it again to the price I saw when I saw the ad. No one else had responded! God speaks to us and cares about every detail, even the smallest, of our lives. Many children will receive a Beanie Baby in their gift bag because of this collection we were able to purchase. My prayer is the lady who owned the collection, along with her son and grandson, will be blessed knowing the collection will touch and enhance the lives of over 600 children!  The children will hear God loves them and they will have a tangible expression of that in their gift bag to take home!