Miracles

For those of you who don't know, I am working as an STC in the snack shack at Word of Life Island this summer. 

I absolutely love working in the snack shack. I love the girls I work with and I love every last customer even when they take half a century to decide what kind of ice cream they want. I just love it.

There is one job that I just despise.
This job makes my heart sink.
It makes me stop in my tracks for a moment.
It makes me want to curl into a ball on the floor...

Getting the ice cream out of the freezer...

The freezer is a dark place. I'm pretty sure Satan lives in there. It's so cold it freezes the phlem in the back of your throat. It's so sad it causes the happiest of hearts to fall into a deep and lonely depression. However, even in the darkest places, God can perform miracles. I don't care how silly this story may seem, I witnessed a miracle in the freezer.

About 2 weeks ago my supervisor told me that I needed to go get some ice cream out of the freezer. She said "go get 3 chocolate chip cookie dough and 2 mint chocolate chip." As my heart sank I gave a big fake smile and said "okay, I can do this." 

I walked the short distance to the kitchen; trying to mentally prepare for the task that was at hand. As I grabbed the wobbly red wagon that would hold the giant containers of ice cream I let out a few last deep breaths.

I walked slowly into the refrigerator and shut the door behind me. I walked towards the next door that would lead to the freezer. I see a thin layer of ice creeping around the edges of the door. I take one last breath and open the door.

I frantically run around in the dark freezer, digging through dozens and dozens of containers of ice cream. Looking for two labels "Mint chocolate chip" and "cookie dough." I search and search but all I see is "chocolate" and "vanilla" and "butter pecan." Finally after minutes of searching I see the beautiful words "chocolate chip cookie dough." I grab 2 containers because that's all that I can hold. I run out of the freezer and out of the refrigerator to the gimpy red wagon. I take a few seconds to compose myself then I go back for round 2.

I know where the last container of chocolate chip cookie dough is so I grad it immediately and set it on an empty part of a shelf so I won't lose it. I need to find 2 more containers of ice cream. The cold is burning my skin. The liquid in my nose is freezing my nostrils shut. I dig through the heavy containers of ice cream. "chocolate... Coffee... strawberry." 5 minutes go by... "vanilla, sherbert..." and finally "mint chocolate chip" but there is only one. I need 2 of them. I've already checked just about everywhere. I hold onto that thought as I once again sprint out of the freezer and into the warm kitchen. I set the containers of ice cream on the wagon and try to compose myself for my final trip to the freezer.

Almost in tears I walk back into the refrigerator. The food prep girls are laughing at me. I see the freezer door but I can't bring myself to open the door. I'm almost certain there is no mint chocolate chip ice cream in there. I've been searching for it this whole time. I walk over to the freezer door and just stand there for a moment. I pray to God out loud "God, I can't find this ice cream anywhere. It's too cold in there, I can't do it. Please help me... I need you to show me the ice cream." I open the door and quickly run into the freezer, ready to start digging through dozens of heavy containers. I look at the messy pile of containers and right in the front, with the label facing me is the mint chocolate chip ice cream. "THANK YOU, JESUS" I scream to the empty freezer.

I run out of the freezer and out of the refrigerator in pure awe. I yell to the food prep girls "I prayed to God and He put the ice cream right in front." I ignore their strange looks and run to the little red wagon. "thank you, Jesus... You are so cool" I truly just witnessed a miracle.

I think it's so cool that God cares about such little things that don't seem important to us. He still performs little miracles. He still shows Himself to us everyday. God is always with us... even in the valley of the shadow of death... or in this case... the freezer.