David Espinoza and his wife Toni were living on the Southern border of Texas, in the city of McAllen, five hours south of Houston.
As Christmas approached, they received the worst news.
Doctors in Houston told David Espinoza that his heart was operating at only 10% capacity.
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If he didn’t get a heart transplant quickly, he would not live to see his family for another Christmas.
Worse, he was told that finding a perfect donor could take nine months or more.
Toni Espinoza, known to be a prayer warrior, organized everyone she knew — and hundreds she didn’t — to pray for her husband to find a heart donor.
But within days, she felt conflicted.
She decided to change her strategy.
It seemed as if they were praying for someone to die in order for her husband to live.
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She decided to change her strategy.
She began praying fervently for God to completely and miraculously heal her husband.
And just for added comfort, she asked God to confirm her answered prayer by making it snow in McAllen, Texas, on Christmas Day.
She shared her private decision to pray for these miracles with a trusted childhood friend named Crawford.
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“Toni, have you ever seen snow?” her friend asked her.
“It hasn’t snowed here in 109 years! And never on Christmas.”
She shook her head.
She’d lived in McAllen, Texas, all her life.
The average winter temperature on the border was about 75 degrees.
Her friend continued, “The reason you’ve never seen snow is because it hasn’t snowed here in 109 years! And never on Christmas.”
Toni Espinoza shrugged, smiled and gave her friend a look of resolve.
“I know God is going to answer my prayers.”
It was nearly midnight on Christmas Eve when one of the Espinoza daughters, home for the holidays, looked into the backyard — and shrieked.
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“Mom, it’s snowing!”
Coatless, Toni Espinoza dashed into the backyard — delighted to see snow covering her fully flowered rose bushes.
The best Christmas present of all came three weeks later.
Gazing into the night sky, as white snowflakes speckled her dark hair, she whispered, “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
The next morning, children across McAllen bundled up, ran outside, rolled in the snow, fanned angels, and made snowmen for the first time in their lives.
A McAllen newspaper headline announced the “First White Christmas Ever!”
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Yet the best Christmas present of all came three weeks later.
David Espinoza’s Houston doctor looked at the medical charts.
He shook his head and said, “David, I don’t understand how this happened… but you’re going to live for a long, long time. Your heart is completely healed.”
In tears, the couple embraced — and praised God for the best Christmas gift ever.
The couple’s story appears in the bestselling book, “Godwink Christmas Stories” by SQuire Rushnell and Louise DuArt, from which this article is excerpted. Copyright © SQuire Rushnell and Louise DuArt. For more info, see www.godwinks.com.
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