Shoebox Love Story

Even before we came to know God, because of His great care for us, He provided a way for us to come to know Him through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus. Romans 5 tells us:
5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
6 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

God knew us even before we came to know Him, and we can be confident that our lives are in His hands.  There are no surprises with Him, and we are under His watchful eye.  We can rejoice as we reflect on how we have seen Him work in and around us: bringing us in to salvation, guiding us in our decisions, bringing our spouses into our lives and other people, as well.  There are ample opportunities to praise God for His hand at work.

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We can acknowledge how God has worked in our lives, even before we came to know Him, and be confident that He is still at work by His Spirit. 2nd Peter chapter 1 says:
(3) His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,
4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

In the year 2000, a 7-year-old boy from Idaho participated in Operation Christmas Child, the shoebox ministry of Samaritan's Purse, in which these shoebox gifts filled with toys, school supplies, and more, are sent to needy children around the world in the name of the Lord.

His name is Tyrel Wolfe.  The God Reports website related that it was sent to a young girl his age. Now, some families choose to include a picture or even a letter in their shoebox.  Ty included "a photo of himself wearing cowboy attire, holding a lariat." He also passed along his address.

The box ended up in the Philippines, where it was opened by Joana Marchan at a Vacation Bible School event near Manila.  She sent Tyrel a letter of appreciation, but he never got it - the article says it was "lost in the mail."

So, the article says:

Eleven years later Joana decided to use Facebook to see if she could find the boy who packed her box. She searched for his name and got one hit in Idaho. She took a chance and submitted a friend request.

But Tyrel had never heard of Joana Marchan, so he ignored the request.

Two years later, Joana sent another friend request.

This time, Tyrel sent Joana a message asking how she knew him. She replied, telling him that he was the one who sent her a shoebox in 2000.

They began to correspond and they "discovered they shared a common faith in Christ and even enjoyed some of the same music."  

So, Tyrel was now about to graduate from high school, and he decided he wanted to go to Manila to meet Joana - he worked in order to buy a plane ticket.  When he arrived and they met, according to the God Reports article, "she burst into tears." A quote from Tyrel from People Magazine was included in the piece; he said: “When I finally got there and saw her, I had to punch myself a couple times because I thought it was a dream,” adding, “I was immediately attracted to her.” He also said, "I wanted to spend every moment I could with Joana while I was there, because once I left I didn’t know what would happen next..."

God Reports notes:

Tyrel sensed that Joana was the one for him. After he got back to Idaho, he began to work and save so he could go back to visit.

They stayed in touch via Facebook, and Skyped with each other often before Tyrel returned to the Philippines again in November. This time he stayed for a month.

On his second trip, he asked her father for permission to marry Joana.

The couple held an engagement party in the Philippines and obtained a fiancée visa for Joana.

On October 5, 2014 they got married outdoors on Tyrel’s parents’ 400-acre cattle ranch in Midvale, Idaho. The groom wore a traditional shirt often worn by Filipino grooms.

Guests were also asked to pack OCC shoeboxes and bring them to the wedding. 

Ty and Joana now have two children, and I found their page on Facebook. They also do a Vlog - a video blog - their love story is actually prominently featured on their YouTube channel.

Our lives are in His hands.  We can recognize that God in the mix - even when you don't see Him.  In this case, 22 years ago, two people had a divine appointment with one another through a shoebox gift. It's incredibly gratifying and praiseworthy to look back and see how God has worked in our lives and give Him the glory!  

We can even see how God was working in our lives to bring us into a saving knowledge of Christ. We found Him because He knew and loved us.  Now, there are those that reject the invitation, but that doesn't negate that the invitation is being given.  And, we can continue to pray to God that those divine invitations are received. 

We can also recognize how God is using so many churches and ministries to work in people's lives.  From the local church that is involved in proclamation of the truth of Scripture and the work of missions to the missions organization that is demonstrating the love and truth of God, we can seek how God would use us to further His Kingdom by being involved in His work.  And, please remember to pray for Faith Radio that God would continue to make His truth known through our sound Bible teaching and uplifting music; and pray about being involved in supporting us financially, as well.