A Christmas Gift Mystery

Christmas had passed, and I still had one gift to deliver. The recipient was one of my prayer partners, but circumstances in both of our lives had delayed our exchange. I had planned to give Holly a daily devotion book written by Christian women writers. I had purchased one the previous year and had thoroughly enjoyed its messages. In fact, when I had been notified of the new upcoming edition, I pre-ordered one for myself. When I received it, I thought of Holly so when I paid for my copy, I ordered one for her, expecting it to arrive in plenty of time for Christmas since this transaction took place the last of October.  However, when December arrived, the book had not.

Disappointed about not receiving the second copy, I decided to give my copy to Holly.  I assumed that my order had not been fulfilled; afterall, I hadn’t paid for it and neither had I received a bill so nothing was lost, except my copy. But that didn’t bother me. I wanted Holly to have it so when we were finally able to meet, she was excited to get the book.

About two weeks had passed since our visit when I received a bill from the publisher for the devotion book. Now, I was totally confused. Locating a telephone number to the publisher, I called to inquire about the billing. As it turned out, I had written Holly’s address on the book order form so they had sent the book directly to her address in November. To say the least, I felt foolish because I didn’t remember putting her address on the form. I had expected to receive the book myself. With this discovery, another strange thought crossed my mind. What if Holly had received the book but was too polite to tell me she already had it. I had to find out.

Sheepishly, I called her and explained my dilemma. At first, she said that she hadn’t received the book, but the more we visited, the more her memory was jarred. She remembered she had received a book, but due to her busy schedule at the time, she didn’t pay much attention. In fact, she thought it was a free book that she might have won unknowingly. She had put it away on her closet shelf with intentions of giving it to her mom for Christmas but had forgotten about it until our conversation. When I explained what had happened, we both laughed.

Then, with the reference to the book, Holly shared that her mom was experiencing some difficult life trials, and the book might be a source of encouragement for her. Hearing her words brought a sense of joy to my heart. Apparently, God was waiting for the perfect time to reveal the mystery of the missing book, and this was the time.

“As for God, His way is perfect;”    Psalm 18:30a