When Lydia Ruano’s first husband was imprisoned for eight years, her three children were sustained by their local church and by Angel Tree®. But when Lydia’s second husband, Luis, was also locked up, she blamed God for putting her through the same trial all over again. She rebelled and turned away from God.
But then a miracle happened!
Luis, who had been an atheist, became a Christian in prison. “He would feed us the Word of God in his letters,” says Lydia. But in her bitterness, she would tear them up and burn them.
All that changed with one phone call from Angel Tree. Luis had registered the children to receive Christmas gifts.
“I was so mad at God that I told the church I didn’t want to go to their Angel Tree party,” says Lydia. “But when I hung up the phone, I could see the hurt all over my children’s faces. They knew what Angel Tree was, and I couldn’t let them down.” When Lydia watched the children open their Angel Tree gifts from Luis, her hard heart broke. “I felt God say, Don’t you know I care for your kids? That I care for you?”
When Luis was released from prison, the entire family rededicated their lives to Christ. And this past Christmas, the Ruanos coordinated their church’s Angel Tree outreach.
“Now our family is starting a ministry to prisoners and their families,” Lydia says. “We can’t wait to bring others the hope and joy only God can bring.”
“I’m so grateful that this ministry is in existence and active and it’s a living thing,” she says. “There was nothing else that reached out to us in these ways. Angel Tree is in our core. It’s deep in there. There’s so much gratitude deep in there.”