The Christmas Spirit

A Greensboro NC family recently took a tough situation and used it to share the Christmas spirit.  The family had reserved a local ballroom and meals for 90 people for their son's wedding.  However, the wedding was called off leaving the family with a giant room and a meal for 90 people.  The father of the would be groom called the Salvation Army Center of Hope and offered to donate the room and meal to the homeless for a Christmas party.  The center provides emergency and transitional housing for families in need.

The Center of Hope normally holds Christmas parties in its cafeteria, but last weekend 84 residents and six staffers sat down to a first class meal in a swanky ballroom thanks to the anonymous donor who took a disappointing situation and used it for good.  However that's not the end of the story.  When the father met the center's director to tour the ballroom he was prompted to do even more.  His family took donation barrels to their church and collected toiletries, supplies and toys for the center's residents!

This family may have lost $5,000 on the reservations, but they were the recipients of something even greater because of their generosity.  Grace filled that ballroom and the joy of Christmas became a reality.  And somewhere in Greensboro a family smiled knowing they were God's instruments of grace!

How can God use us this season to help others?