Home for Christmas

Many years ago, when I was a graduate student at Wheaton College in Illinois, I worked as a waitress at a restaurant, paying for my tuition and apartment out of my job so that when I graduated, I wouldn’t have any debt. With that arrangement, there wasn’t a lot of extra money. In fact, one year, it was coming up on Christmas and I had no way to get home to Massachusetts to be with my family. I had a car, but it was not in good enough shape to get all the way home. I didn’t have a ride either, but there was a bus going to Boston from Wheaton in a couple of days.

I worked all the shifts that I could get at the restaurant, saving up my tips, and hoping to get enough for that bus fare. The night before the payment was due for the bus to reserve my seat, I paid my bills and ended up with no extra money at all. In fact, I got down to the point, literally, where I had one dollar. It looked like I was going to have to spend Christmas by myself in my apartment.

I was praying about it a lot before that, but that night, as I was getting ready for bed, my clock radio, which I had set to a Christian radio station, started playing someone singing the 23^rd Psalm. It was calming and I thought, “Oh, that is just what I need to hear. He’s going to take care of me, no matter what happens.” I turned the radio off as soon as the song was over and kept thinking, “the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”

The next morning when I woke up, my alarm went off, and it was set to click on the Christian radio station. Again, someone was singing the 23^rd Psalm. I thought, “Wow. That’s amazing. I went to bed hearing it and woke up hearing it. God’s really trying to tell me something here.”

I got up, got ready for class, and left the apartment. Sitting down in class we were greeted by the professor announcing that we would begin with a collection for a missionary the school was sponsoring. My immediate reaction was, “Okay, Lord. I have one dollar. That’s all I have.  But it is yours.” So, I put the dollar in the basket as it came around and thought, “Okay. I’m down to nothing, but that’s okay.” 

After class I went directly over to grad chapel. As chapel began, someone stood up to do the special worship music and sang the 23^rd Psalm. As I listened, a sense of overwhelming peace and gratitude at God’s kindness and personal care washed over me and I thought, “You are with me, no matter what happens over Christmas, and I have nothing to fear.”

When chapel finished, I stopped by the student union to check my mail. I opened my mailbox and found two envelopes in there. I took out the first one and opened it. There was one dollar in it. I quickly ripped open the second envelope. And there was the exact amount of money I needed for the bus fare! I made it home for Christmas, literally thanks to God.

It was so impressive to me how that all got orchestrated. The Lord had kept saying to me, “I’m going to take care of you. Don’t worry about it. I’m going to take care of you.”

And He did.

Krystal N.