GraceFox

I’d like to introduce you to Kathi Macias, an amazing woman of God. She is an award-winning writer of more than 40 books, including the Golden Scrolls 2011 Novel of the Year and Carol Award finalist, Red Ink. A wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, Kathi lives in Southern California with her husband, Al.

Kathi Macias

Kathi and I have emailed back and forth for several years, and we’ve endorsed each other’s work because share the same heart for the Lord. Besides, we even share a love for riding motorcycles!

Kathi is passionate about loving Jesus and people. And it shows. Read her amazing story today, but know that it’s not over yet. Take a moment to watch the video trailer, too. Perhaps you can help contribute to making someone’s dream come true. Read on…

Unexpected Christmas Hero

by Kathi Macias

Having served as a biblical counselor on a large church staff, I knew firsthand that Christmas could be the sweetest, but also the saddest, time of year, even for Christians. I was surprised at first when believers came into my office in the weeks preceding Christmas and told me how sad and depressed they were, but I already knew the suicide rate soared during that timeframe. There had to be a correlation.

I spoke with pastors and other counselors and nearly always got the same answer: whether joy or sorrow, emotions seemed to be magnified during the Christmas season. For those whose primary emotion was sadness or sorrow, the holidays were anything but welcome.

Nowhere did I notice that increased sense of loss and melancholy more than at homeless shelters and soup kitchens. Though many told me they appreciated the extra meals and amenities offered to them during that time, they also suffered heightened feelings of loneliness and despair. One teenage girl told me, “I’m one of the lucky ones because my mom has a car so at least we have somewhere to sleep. But I sure would like to have just one night when I could stretch my legs out all the way instead of scrunching up on the back seat.”

While serving on that church staff I spent quite a few hours distributing blankets and sandwiches at parks, as well as ladling hot soup into bowls and scrambled eggs and bacon onto waiting trays. But it was never enough. It broke my heart to realize I could never do enough to truly ease their pain. A meal or a blanket might help, but what they really needed was a home—and never did they feel that need more than at Christmastime.

It was out of that lingering realization that Unexpected Christmas Hero was born. Seeing little children standing in a soup line is something you don’t forget easily. Nearly as heartbreaking is to spot a veteran, someone who once stood tall and proud and risked everything to defend your country and way of life, now hunched over and waiting in that same soup line just behind the single mother and her little children.

And so I put that little homeless family and the vet together, opening the story just before Thanksgiving and carrying the reader along to the story’s ending on Christmas Eve. As a bonus we learned that the homeless man who posed for the book’s cover is trying to find his family, so we have mounted a campaign to help him (http://kathimacias.com/help-reunite-a-family/). Will you please stop by and read the “story within the story” and find out how you too can help?

NOTE: A few days ago, Kathi emailed to say that a reader recognized the homeless man’s face as a friend’s father! A reunion is being planned between him and his grown daughter. Kathi is raising funds to cover the costs of bringing the whole family together for Christmas. If you would like to help you can donate at http://gogetfunding.com/project/reunite-a-family

<http://gogetfunding.com/project/reunite-a-family>