Several years ago, a little girl named Sarah made a sacrifice that came from the heart.

She gave away her most prized possession: her beloved “Miss Bitsy.”

Miss Bitsy was a doll Sarah’s grandma gave her when she and her parents left the United States to serve as missionaries in Poland. Sarah and Miss Bitsy were inseparable. But then one day — about a week before Christmas — Sarah and her family went to an orphanage to hand out presents people back home had sent for the children. When they arrived, they were told that a little girl had arrived the night before after losing her family in a house fire.

Sarah’s mom didn’t know what to do. They had no extra gifts. She asked her husband to go get a gift they had planned to give Sarah and bring it back. But before he could leave, Sarah said, “She can have Miss Bitsy.”

Sarah’s parents told her that wasn’t necessary, but Sarah insisted. “Nanna gave her to me so I wouldn’t be lonely, but I have you and Daddy. She doesn’t have anybody.”

What a sacrifice! She gave her one and only treasure to someone who had no one and no hope.

God gave His one and only Son to us, because without Jesus, we, too, are alone and without hope.