Christmas Jars Story: 'We will never know if it changed their lives, we only know that it changed ours'

Stafford, Virginia:

This is our second year with doing a Christmas jar. My kids love the "gathering" of the coins. We don't keep the change in one place. Coins are found in pockets, on the dryer, in the couch, etc. The fun part is the search for the coins and filling the jar. All of the coins we found filled the jar to overflowing.

As I sat in amazement at the full jar, I prayed that God would lead us to the "receiver" of the jar. Somehow, I knew this years recipient would not be random. In fact, I think I agonized over the fact that the family receiving it would be a mother and daughter that have been a constant source of frustration for our youngest daughter and myself. I knew it was going to be them. Selfishly, I wanted it to be a nice family and someone unknown to all of us.

In the cover of darkness, we set out for our delivery. We parked in front of their house, my son ran to the porch, placed the coins, jumped in the car and off we went. We never saw them, nor will we ever know their reaction to the jar. We do have the peace knowing that the one's who have emptied our "jars" and left us exhausted and worn out are the ones who received the full jar of love.

We will never know if it changed their lives. We only know that it changed ours.