THEY DON'T NEED SANTA CLAUS 3

Now on the open streets, their Christmas evangelism had begun in earnest. They dispersed themselves in the locality. Michael went to the police station, Emmanuel headed to an area where many young people usually hung out due to clubs and pubs in the area; Shade went to the general hospital to her left and Grace decided to stick to the open streets where she already sighted a beggar by the road side.

His clothes were haggard, torn and dirty and he looked like he hadn't had a bath in days. His lips were chapped and he shivered in the harmattan cold. Grace wondered if he was mentally stable to approach and tell about Jesus, the man who died for him so he didn't have to be this way, didn't have to spend Christmas alone, tired and hopeless.

She approached him anyway and sat beside him. He kept looking straight ahead of him as if oblivious to what was going on around him, too captured in his thoughts.

"Good afternoon," she greeted and his eyes shifted to her, but the faraway look still lingered.

She felt the Holy Spirit nudge her to continue, to preach, to say something, even though the boy looked as if he was half present, half absent.

So she began, forgetting the food that was in her laps or the gift she had brought him...

Unknown to her, the boy was both deaf and dumb. But as she began to talk about God and the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross of Calvary to reconcile mankind back to the best kind of relationship with God, his ears began to open. The more her voice filtered into his ears, the more he began to pick some sounds. Halfway through her message, he jumped up all of a sudden.

He looked her straight in the eyes and demonstrated for her to continue talking to him. Grace was confused and discouraged at the same time. Was the boy trying to make fun of her? She didn't understand the person she was preaching to, but that strong impression to continue was still there. She patted the culvert beside her for the boy to sit back down.

As she continued, it got to a point where the boy jumped up again, holding his throat. He looked as if he was straining to talk. Grace was confused and decided to call Michael who was outreaching nearby to come over ASAP. 

When Michael came over and Grace had told him what was happening, he took a long look at the child. The boy was still demonstrating, nodding, jumping, trying to connect with them.

Then Michael's eyes caught something on the floor, beside the boy's tattered bag. It was a card that read, "I am deaf and dumb. Please help me. God bless you." 

Reality dawned on him and he turned to Grace who was still transfixed. "Grace, God just healed this boy!" He passed her the card.

"B..bb...but I didn't...I didn't pray for him." Grace replied, shocked as reality hit her too.

"What did you say to him?"

"I was just preaching to him like I would have done to any normal person. God told me to just keep on talking even though I wasn't sure I had his attention." Tears began to drop from her face. "I didn't say anything special."

Michael called the others and they too were overjoyed on hearing what had happened. Emmanuel laid hands on the boy's head and boom! H spoke! They didn't understand what he was saying, but his voice was strong and sharp. 

The teenage boy hugged Grace so hard that Grace cried like a baby. This! This was the best Christmas gift God had given her this year. This boy's happiness, his joy... she felt it in her core and she hugged him back and held on to him like her life depended on it.

The ride back to Michael's place was quiet. Each one of them had one testimony or the other to share from their outreach on Christmas' Eve, but they all wanted to hold on to the moment, to relive it in their minds and never let go. As if speaking about it would erase the Precious moments they had had telling complete strangers about God and witnessing God touch hearts and lives. 

"This is the best Christmas Eve of my entire life." Emmanuel commented solemnly.

"Me too," Shade replied, nodding her head as she remebered the sick woman she had visited in the hospital. Though she had not gotten healed of her leg ulcer, the woman had given her life to Christ and felt freer than she had ever felt in her life. And she had been so touched that someone would leave what they were doing to come and visit her in the hospital with gifts in Christmas day. "I will never forget today."

Grace nodded and her eyes drifted to the front mirror of the car, from where Michael's eyes seemed to have been watching her. Their gaze held for a few seconds before she smiled and looked away.

"Thank you for this Lord," she prayed as the car sped into the night. "Thank you for making me part of that boy's Christmas this year. For healing him, for helping him to know you, for saving Him from satan's clutches. And thank you for all the other people we were privileged to show your love to today. I don't know whatever presents you might still have for me, but God..."

What other present(s) do you think God has in store for Grace?🤔☺️

Episode 4 is going to be out tomorrow. Hang in there beloved!🤗