Mysterious Ways

Little example of God’s mysterious ways:

My neighbor owns a boat and goes fishing frequently during the summer on the ocean.  Upon his return from his fishing trips, he would clean his catch and then share it with me.  Cleaned, de-boned fillets.  Not every time he went fishing but frequently.

Now, I’m not a big fan of fish.  Yes, I like it but it is like Chinese or Thai food, I have to be in the mood to eat it and it isn’t too often I am in the mood to eat fish. So I had all this fish in my freezer…fresh and clean.  Bags of fillets.

On Saturday, while setting the tables for the bean supper, one of my friends mentioned to another friend that she was having trouble finding inexpensive fish to make fish chowder for the free lunch on Monday.  (In addition to our free bean supper once a month, my church does a free lunch once a month).  I said that I had a bunch of fish in my freezer and they were welcome to it.  They were very happy and accepted my offer.

When I got home Saturday night, I pulled all the fish out and weighed it.  I had to partially thaw a couple of bags because I wasn’t sure if it was chicken or fish.  But it was all fish and it weighed 5 ¼ pounds.  I had given my brother about a pound of the fish last fall and I had eaten about a pound of it last summer.  So my neighbor had given me over seven pounds of fish, which was very generous of him.  (I had reciprocated by giving him some containers of pesto, which his son really liked).

How is this an example of God’s mysterious ways?  I had all this fish that I didn’t know what to do with so just kept it frozen in my freezer.  Then I happened to be standing there when my friends were discussing their problem in finding fish.  And then I was able to provide what they needed.  Or, I should say, God provided what they needed.  Any number of factors could have not happened and it wouldn’t have worked out so beautifully.  My neighbor could have not been so generous.  I could have given the fish away earlier.  I could have been in the kitchen or somewhere else when the discussion was happening on Saturday.  But it all came together beautifully and that can only be because God was guiding us.  He truly does provide.  We just need to pay attention and give thanks to Him who leads us through life.