NEW ALBANY, Ind. — Paula Logue never thought a truckload of rotting wood and rusted metal would make her so happy.

But on a warm afternoon, as she watched her husband unload weathered planks of wood and corrugated metal from the truck parked in her front yard, she couldn't keep the grin off of her face. She knew those items looked like garbage to her neighbors. But to Paula, they represented a miracle.

No Big Idea

Only a week earlier Paula had felt that first bit of panic about her church's upcoming Compassion Sunday. As Paula and her husband, Christian, drove home from church, Paula realized that Compassion Sunday was just around the corner.

In the three years that Paula had coordinated Compassion Sunday at Graceland Baptist Church, each year had been bigger and better than the one before. Her church had seen more than 51 children sponsored through their efforts. But this year, the event had snuck up on her. She had no "big idea."

Like many Compassion volunteers, Paula was passionate, yet overextended. Her job at a law firm kept her busy, as did caring for her three children. As Paula flipped through her Compassion Sunday materials, she saw an idea about building a replica of a shack as part of a Compassion Sunday event.

"I thought it was such a great idea, but it seemed impossible," says Paula. "There just wasn't enough time to get the materials together, especially to make an accurate replica." So Paula resigned herself to a simple event. Maybe next year she could do something different.

An Impossible Idea

Monday morning, Paula called her pastor to talk about the simple event she was planning. But she found herself excitedly talking about the shack idea. Her pastor was enthusiastic, saying he would talk to the proper people to get permission to put up the shack. It was only then that Paula realized her pastor thought she meant they would use the shack this year.

"I failed to mention I was talking about Compassion Sunday 2009," says Paula with a laugh. "I just didn't have the heart to tell him we couldn't to do it this year."

Tuesday came, and Paula still couldn't bring herself to call her pastor back. "Something kept telling me, 'don't call him yet,'" says Paula. Soon, she would discover why.

"Little Miracles"

Tuesday evening, Paula says she experienced the first in a series of "little miracles." When Christian arrived home, he told her that a co-worker had offered him a pile of old wood that had been sitting in his yard for more than a year. A day later, another friend offered sheets of corrugated metal from a lean-to he had been meaning to tear down for months.

"We couldn't help but laugh," says Paula. "It just fell in our lap. Who goes around offering people rotten wood and rusted metal? But that's exactly what happened."

Within 72 hours of her "impossible" idea, Paula says that the Lord, quite literally, delivered the supplies they needed.

"I know it sounds like such a simple thing, but God really taught me so much," says Paula. "Over those few days, I realized that God wants to rescue children from poverty, and I believe that He will do that with or without me. But what a blessing it was to be used by Him."

Paula says her Compassion Sunday experience taught her that God would use whatever she could offer — no matter how large or small. And two weeks later, as she stood next to the shack erected in their church lobby, Paula watched 37 people pick up Child Packets, 50 percent more than the year before.

"It's funny, because I felt so unprepared, but God used me and our church," she says. "I would just encourage anybody to do a Compassion Sunday — and to watch God work."