I am a single mother who was working out of my home for the

past year for a company over the Internet. I had left my job of 10 years so I could stay home and home school my then 13 year old son.

The company I was working for gradually changed there format and my pay checks were getting smaller and smaller, until finally in the middle of November, I found myself without a job, and without any source of income. The way the company was set up, I couldn’t even collect unemployment.

I had one pay check still coming from the company, and when it arrived I was amazed to see I had a little extra money from work I had forgotten about…it was exactly the amount to buy something that my son had wanted for Christmas!

About the middle of Dec. I still had no job, and no prospects, although I was praying every day for the Lord to guide me as to what I should do. I was becoming VERY concerned. Our food was getting thin, I was trying to stretch things out by baking muffins, which is what I would eat, so my son could have the meat and vegetables. Not that I was self-sacrificing in any way, it was plenty for me. My son and I were learning a great lesson on just what it is that people truly need, and what it is that they THINK they need.

We had become accustomed to some luxuries in our lives, as do most people who live in a society as prosperous as ours. I had ten dollars left to my name, they had repossessed my car a month ago, it was 12 degrees outside and I was preparing to bundle up and walk to the store, to see what I could buy for food, when the doorbell rang.

I looked out to see who it was, it was my brother! I have to tell you that I have been estranged from my family for some years now, both my parents have passed on, so I was very surprised to see him at the door! He had brought a Christmas gift for my son. I asked him if he would mind giving me a ride to the store in his car? Of course he gave me a ride, and when he saw that I only could buy a few items, he filled up the cart and paid for it all! We now have enough food to last us into January.

I don’t know what God has planned for us, I still don’t have a job or an income. But we received the BEST gift this holiday season, the renewed faith in the fact that God is our Father and will ALWAYS look out for us, and it is this faith that is the true wealth that we possess, not our money or what we can buy with our money.”

Joni Larson ShayQuinn@aol.com (Received on Sunday December 26, 1999)