The Shoe Box
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The Shoe Box
Copyright © 1995, 2010 by Francine Rivers. All rights reserved.
First printing by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., in 1999 under ISBN 978-0-8423-1901-0.
Cover illustration of shoebox and interior illustrations copyright © 2005 by Linda Graves. All rights reserved.
Cover frame art copyright © by RoselynCarr/iStockphoto. All rights reserved.
Interior illustration of red ornaments copyright © by Hakan Dogan/iStockphoto. All rights reserved. Interior illustration of holly ornaments copyright © by Maljuk/iStockphoto. All rights reserved.
Interior illustration of frames copyright © by RoselynCarr/iStockphoto. All rights reserved.
Author photo copyright © 2003 by Phil Fewsmith. All rights reserved.
Designed by Beth Sparkman
Published in association with the literary agency of Browne & Miller Literary Associates, LLC, 410 Michigan Avenue, Suite 460, Chicago, IL 60605.
“The Shoe Box” was originally published in the anthology
Christmas by the Hearth
, under ISBN 978-0-8423-0239-5, copyright © 1996 by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois.
Scripture quotations are taken from the
Holy Bible
, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of either the author or the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rivers, Francine, date
   Â
The shoe box / Francine Rivers.
      p. cm.
    “The shoe box” was originally published in the anthology “Christmas by the Hearth,” copyright © 1996 by Tyndale House Publishers.
    ISBN 0-8423-1901-8
    I. Christmas by the hearth. II Title.
    PS3568.I83165S46      1999
813â².54âdc21Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 99-34161
Revision first published in 2010 under ISBN 978-1-4143-3888-0.
Printed in the United States of America
16Â Â Â Â 15Â Â Â Â 14Â Â Â Â 13Â Â Â Â 12Â Â Â Â 11Â Â Â Â 10
7Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 6Â Â Â Â Â Â 5Â Â Â Â Â Â 4Â Â Â Â Â Â 3Â Â Â Â Â Â 2Â Â Â Â Â Â 1
Contents
(Selected from Matthew 1â2 and Luke 1â2)
When I first became a Christian, one of the hardest things for me to do was give my burdens to the Lord. I would worry over all kinds of things. I remember a friend talking about putting prayers in a lunch bag, and that got me thinking. One of the many jobs I had held was that of a secretary, and I remembered the in- and out-boxes. From that memory came the idea of a “God box.” I took an ordinary cardboard container with a lid and covered it with beautiful wrapping paper. Then I cut a slot in the top. Whenever something was
bothering me greatly and I couldn't let it go, I would write out a prayer about it. Then I would tuck the written prayer into the God box. Sometimes my husband and my children would write prayers and tuck them into the box as well. It was amazing to me how this physical exercise helped me give up
worries and burdens to the Lord. Every few months I would open the box and read the prayers. What I found was a source of great joy and comfort, for many of the prayers were answered, often in completely unexpected ways.
My God box gave me the idea for “The Shoe Box.” While I put
and burdens in my box, I wanted Timmy to put blessings and praises in his box as well. It reminded me that there are all kinds of prayersâworship and praise as well as cries for help. Scripture says the prayers of
are the sweet scent of incense to the Lord.
T
immy O'Neil came to live with Mary and David Holmes on a cloudy day in the middle of September, two weeks after school started. He was a quiet little six-year-old boy with sorrowful eyes. Not very long afterward, they wondered about the box he carried with him all the time. It was an ordinary shoe box with a red lid and the words
Running Shoes
printed on one side.
Timmy carried it everywhere he went. When he put it down, it was always where he could see it.
“Should we ask him about it?” Mary said to her husband.
“No. He'll talk to us about it when he's ready,” David said, but he was as curious as she was.
Even Mrs. Iverson, the social worker, was curious about the shoe box. She told Mary and David that Timmy had the box when the policeman brought him to the Youth Authority offices. Timmy's dad was put in prison. His mom had a job, but she didn't make enough to take proper care of Timmy. A lady in the apartment house where he lived found out he was by himself all day and reported it to the police.
“They brought him to me with one small suitcase of clothes and that shoe box,” Mrs. Iverson said. “I asked him what was inside it, and he said, âThings.' But what things he wouldn't tell me.”
Even the children at Timmy's new school were curious about the box. He didn't put it in his cubbyhole like things the other children brought. He would put it on top of his desk while he did his work.
His first-grade teacher, Mrs. King, was curious, too. “What do you have there, Timmy?”
“My box,” he said.
“What's in your box?”
“Things,” he said and went on with his arithmetic.
Mrs. King didn't ask him about the box again. She liked Timmy, and she didn't want to pry. She told Mary and David that Timmy was a good student. He wasn't the brightest by far, but he always did his best work. Mrs. King admired that about Timmy. She wrote a note to him about it on one of his math papers.
Other students will learn by your example,
the note said, and she drew a big smiling face on his paper and gave him a pretty, sparkly star sticker.
M
ary Holmes learned that Timmy liked chocolate chip cookies, so she kept the cookie jar full. Timmy would come home from school on the yellow bus and sit at the kitchen table, the box under his chair. Mary always sat with him and asked him about his day while he had milk and cookies.
Timmy asked Mary one day why she and David didn't have any children of their own. Mary said she had asked God the same question over and over. She said while she waited for an answer, she was thankful to have him.
Every evening when he came home from work, David played catch with Timmy in the backyard. Timmy always brought the box outside with him and set it on the lawn chair where he could see it.