One really cold morning Kimberly, a tiny second grade girl, came into the cafeteria for breakfast, shivering in a thin, faded, pink sweatshirt. Always the mother, I scolded her for leaving her coat in the dorm when she whispered, “This is my coat.”

As I stand there bundled up in a heavy sweater under my jacket, a wool scarf and gloves, I’m appalled at her conclusion that her thin, little, faded pink sweatshirt qualifies as a coat. I looked around the room and began to see the reality — many students did not have sufficient protection from the icy wind.

We decided to ask for help. The Recorder agreed to put our plea in the next issue — small request for winter coats for Holbrook kids tucked in among the news from around the union. I sometimes forget how quickly and completely God answers prayers when Holbrook children are involved.

Within days, the packages began arriving. Boxes of new gloves, handmade caps and scarves and brand new heavy coats. They came in every size and color, sometimes with a note attached from a Sabbath school class or a grandma who had lovingly handmade things to send. Many times they arrived with no return address whatsoever.

What fun we had, opening every box, each one full of surprises. The kids were in and out of my office as they searched for something that fit. But those first boxes were only the beginning. The packages kept coming, more and more every day. Soon it took two extra people to bring in the mail each morning.

Packages kept arriving until the UPS man finally asked what on earth we were doing to generate so many packages. We told him how we had asked for a few coats and had received mountains of blessings. He was visibly moved with the incredible generosity of people across the United States who love Holbrook kids. After a moment he replied, “I guess you know the right Person!”

Finally, we had to move the growing collection into a room in an empty staff house because it no longer fit in my office. When I expressed my amazement at the enormous response to our request, Mary Bragg, who has been at Holbrook for several years, asked, “Why are you surprised? You asked, God answered.”

Holbrook Indian School is blessed by God in so many ways. You can’t work here and doubt God’s amazing love, and just so we never forget, He uses all kinds of situations to remind us. This time he used the icy winter winds, and a thin, faded, pink sweatshirt to tell again how wide His network is, and how much He wants to fill our every need.

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Matthew 7:7).