‘God laid it on my heart’: Man finds boy, 3, missing for several days in the woods

A Good Samaritan is praising God after he found a missing 3-year-old boy Saturday in Texas after several days of search and rescue crews failed to locate him.

Tim Halfin told the local news “God laid it on my heart” to search for the boy after he heard about it during Friday night Bible study. The next morning, he went out by himself and found him five miles from the boy’s home.

“It’s a miracle,” Christopher’s mother, Araceli Nunez, told reporters at a news conference Monday when she returned home from the hospital.

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“That’s what it’s all about right there,” Halfin said. “That’s why everybody was praying. That’s why God laid it on my heart to go look, to reunite that boy with his mom.”

The boy went missing Wednesday afternoon when he followed a dog into the woods, and a search and rescue was immediately deployed using drones, aircraft, K-9 unites and volunteer searchers day and night.

Halfin recalled the miraculous moment he found the boy who seemed to be alright.

“I said, ‘Christopher is that you?’ Then he speaks again and I’m like, ‘Whoa, praise God,'” he told ABC News reporter Marcus Moore.

“The child was found alive. He is alive. He’s thirsty. He is with his mother and is going to the hospital,” police said. The dispatch responded: “Praise the Lord.”

The Grimes County Sheriff Don Sowell presented Christopher with an honorary junior deputy badge.

“I think the story is do not give up hope even though things look bleak,” Halfin told “Good Morning America,” adding, “God’s mercies are new every day.”

WATCH THE VIDEO FROM ‘GOOD MORNING AMERICA’ BELOW:

Caleb Parke is the managing editor for ToddStarnes.com. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and connect with him at calebparke.com.