The Christmas Box Miracle: My Spiritual Journey of Destiny, Healing and Hope

Several years ago I watched a TV movie called The Christmas Box, which starred Maureen O'Hara and Richard Thomas. I'm not sure exactly what attracted me to this prsentation, most likely the cast, but not only did I enjoy the perfromances but more importantly the message of this made for TV movie. A few weeks after this I came across a book with this title and read the dust jacket. Immediately, I realized the TV movie was based on this book and I just had to read it. Not only did I gulp down this book the time I read it but almost as soon as I finished it I just had to read it again. And since that time I have read The Christmas Box almost every holiday season and all of Richard Paul Evans other titles as well. Today, this small book continues to speak volumes and has affected the lives of many readers, perhaps most of all the author and his family.One would have to say that the success of this book is truly a miracle. And it is this very sucess which Evans addresses in his new book titled The Christmas Box Miracle. Part memoir, part philosophy, in this book Evans offers his readers the story behind the writing of The Christmas Box, which was intended only as a gift for his two small daughters.Evans begins this book by discussing his basic philosophy and the premise that there are forces at work, some known and some unknown, which alter our lives. He then depicts his large Mormon family and the prophecy of hsi grandfathers who said that, "He (Evans) would walk among noble men and royalty." He describes his fathers lucrative job and the material lives his family was afforded and then his fathers loss of his job and their move back to Utah. Moving on to his college years, Evans relates sevevral instances when divine intervention led him to decisions whih altered his life. And in some instances even saved his life. Finally and for me the most intersting part of the book is when Evans explains to readers how a small book which was originally self published and handed out to 20 family members and friends became a number one bestseller and continues to be sold around the world.As I finished The Christmas Box Miracle, I thought about the role of miracles, angels, faith, dtermination and most of all the greatest gift in our lives, the gift of love. Mr. Evans always supplies these basic themes in his books and offers his readers hope during devestating times and even healing from life's cruelest blows. May he continue to reach out to audiences and spread these messages.

It says something about Richard Paul Evans that he is one of the few authors whom I will buy new and in hardcover. After the disastrous events of 9/11, I felt severely in the need for some kind of inspirational comfort, so I picked up "The Christmas Box Miracle." Unlike his prior books, this is a an autobiography of Evans, and simultaneously a very unique success story -- not just because the book became popular, but how it affected the people who read it.Evans was born into a middle-class Mormon family with several kids, who moved to Utah when he was still quite young. We get both visions of his family: the lighter side, with his rambunctious siblings and childhood antics, and the darker side, how his mother miscarried when he was a toddler, and suffered from severe depression that resulted in a failed suicide attempt.A great influence on Evans was his grandfather, an immensely faith-filled man who predicted once that Evans would "walk with the royalty of this earth and be known as one who loves God." A prediction which has since come true. The book then follows Evans in his careers as a missionary, a member of a newspaper staff, working for a tux rental agency, and so forth. It also follows him into his marriage with Keri, his wife (an interesting detail is who her crotchety father inspired *wink*). But after two of their children were born, it turned out that he was "trading diamonds for stones," working too hard and missing out on his children.Then, after the folding of his agency, Evans wrote a short novel that has now become famous, reaching across political, religious, age and financial barriers. "The Christmas Box" strongly affected everyone who read it, to the point where people were sending orders into bookstores for a novel that had, technically, never been published. His trip into publication was more than a success story, when it became a helping point for those who had lost a child.It may be viewed as a mere coincidence that this book came out around the time of the WTC attack, but I doubt Evans' grandfather would see it so. This book is truly inspiring, especially given the short letters from people whom it has deeply affected, from across the world. (I, personally, have never lost a child but I was deeply traumatized by the loss of a baby brother, and "Christmas Box" helped me through that rough time) We are also given a look inside Evans' head, and the power of God that he's felt in his life. As in his fiction, Evans is very spare and evocative in his descriptions, and very poetic in his speculations. There's an undercurrent of wry wit to this book, such as the passage where he relates how his brother got him to read classic authors by saying, "Chicks dig Shakespeare." He also displays that success has not swelled his head, as he seems to have no problem relating that So-and-so and Such-and-Such did not like him, his problems and insecurities. The book also gives background into the many people who were deeply touched by the Chri

I want to thank Mr. Evans for another wonderful book. I lost my 16 year old daughter on August 25th, 2001. Our whole family has had many days of trying to figure out why such a strong Christain young woman would be taken in such a tragic way, but who can question God? The book which I read in one setting has helped me realize many things I already knew but had to see them in print to actually believe. For anyone ,anyone this book is a must read, not for only the content but for the knowing that many things in our life are and will always be left answered, but yet we know the answer. Thank you Mr. Evans for helping me heal.

In a perfect world, I could sit down with Sir James M. Barrie, Kenneth Grahame or T.H. White and ask them to tell me where the stories that they wrote came from. As a young man, these books stirred my soul, changed my life and left me, at the last page, a better person for having read them but with a thousand questions in my soul. I would ask them the source of the images, the inspiration, the words, and the magic on their pages. And I would thank them for telling me the wonderful story behind the wonderful story.Foe everyone who has read and been touched by The Christmas Box, Richard Paul Evans has heard us and has invited us into his house and his heart to be present at the genesis and journey of his mystical tale and has allowed us to share the stories of those who felt, and were transformed by, the miracle of the book.The Christmas Box Miracle is as much a miracle as The Christmas Box but it is a true, genuine and moving story. It is told with tender affection, a sense of humor and a moving respect for a Higher Power who uses The Christmas Box to heal broken hearts and touch even the most cynical souls. It is a spiritual journey and a life journey and lets us know that, behind the numbers who have read the original book, are real people who were hurting from an unbelievable loss and found the will, through the power of God and a small book, to regain and restart the lives that they thought they had lost within themselves.A must read for those who read The Christmas Box and a perfect reason to read it for those who haven't. Thank you, Richard, for giving me what the other writers who changed my life couldn't give me.

At first I wasn't sure what to think, as this isn't a novel. All I can say is that I'm glad I took the plunge. I couldn't put it down. It filled me with hope at a difficult time. Well done, Mr. Evans.