"It's the heart that goes into the shoeboxes"

I love this post from Operation Christmas Child FB page, so I had to share it on the blog. 

In 1995, Divine and her family fled Rwanda to find a safe-haven and start a new life. A refugee with nothing to call her own, Divine received a shoe box gift at 10-years-old. She recalls the letter inside, telling her that the donor was praying for her. Divine could not believe that there was someone, somewhere who was praying for her.

A year later, her family was asked to help distribute shoe box gifts to refugee children in Carton City, a town made of cardboard boxes. She watched the children open shoe boxes filled with crayons, candy and Gospel booklets written in their own language. The joy on those children’s faces was more thrilling for Divine than opening her own box.

Now Divine lives in the U.S. and hopes to gain her Masters’ Degree in International Public Health so she can move to Burundi to work with HIV/AIDS patients. Every year when Divine packs her shoe boxes, she includes a letter saying she is praying for the children who receive them. In her own words, “It’s not the gesture that makes a difference; it’s the heart that goes into the shoe boxes.”