Do you ever feel invisible, like no one really knows or understands you? Do you feel forced to wear a mask to hide your pain or circumstances, which further pushes you toward feeling alone?

I serve as a chaplain with Operation Christmas Child (OCC) at the Dallas-Ft. Worth Processing Center (PC), one of eight PCs nationwide. Every season at the DFW PC, we process over one million shoeboxes filled with gifts for children worldwide, and collectively, approximately 10 million are distributed annually. Every child who receives a shoebox also receives the good news that Jesus loves them and died for their sins.

We regularly hear miraculous stories of children needing or wanting something specific and receiving them in their shoeboxes. It’s God’s way of saying, “I see you!” This season, something equally miraculous happened at our PC.

A small church of about 50 people from San Angelo, Texas, packed 500 shoeboxes. Every shoebox included a colored pencil set … except one. They packed 499 shoeboxes and were one pencil set short. This frustrated the woman in charge (I’ll call her Margie), and she was obsessed with it, but she could do nothing as the truckload of shoeboxes were sent to our PC.

Margie brought a group of volunteers from her church to our PC to process shoeboxes and was assigned to one of our 26 stations. While there, the container truck carrying their 500 shoeboxes was unloaded. With a one-in-a-million-plus chance, their station received THE carton that contained THE shoebox without the pencil set! Margie was able to add a pencil set we provided to the shoebox. Now, that’s a miracle!

Obsessing over a missing pencil set seems like an unreasonable waste of emotional energy. We don’t know the root cause of Margie’s struggle, but God does, and He showed up in a miraculous way! Just as He sees the needs and desires of every child receiving a shoebox, His miracle said to Margie, “I see you!”

Jesus said, “Even the hairs of your head are all numbered” (Matt 10:30). For some of us, that number is dwindling, but the point is well taken. God knows, and He cares about every detail of our lives. Times when we feel like no one cares or understands, or God is indifferent to our pain or circumstances, know that He cares. He sees you!

Merry Christmas!