BY DAWN REED

“Set the small cooler out on the front porch,” my beloved called to say on his way out of the hollow. “And put the ice packs from the freezer in it, too.” I had no clue what was going on, but I did as instructed.

With my own errands to run, I wouldn’t be home for a bit either. Apparently, someone was dropping off something that needed to be kept cold. My curiosity began to stir.

Returning two hours later, I checked the cooler. Sure enough, it was no longer empty. Mr. Meadows, our favorite fisherman, had dropped off baggies of crappie fish, already cleaned and filleted. What a treat. He wanted to bless us. All we had to do was put our cooler out to receive it.

David wrote Psalm 23:1, “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not be in want,” from his personal experience. So do I.

When my beloved surrendered to full-time ministry, we had no idea exactly what that meant. We prayed at the altar of our home church one Sunday night in late 1997. Though it wasn’t much, we laid down everything we had right there. Would it be foreign missions? Would we stay in the U.S.? We didn’t know. What we did know was that it was real and it was time.

We had lived in a house we couldn’t afford, in financial bondage. Our kids thought it was great eating so often at the BP station. In reality, we were so broke we were charging groceries on our gas card. What could God do with a trainwreck like us?

We dragged our hot mess to the altar. God picked us—and our baggage—right up. He had been waiting for us to let go of it all.

My family finally surrendered to the LORD and went from financial bondage to living below the poverty line. It was amazing. God’s math is completely different. Returning to work after years at home raising kids, I contacted the payroll department because taxes had not been taken out of my first check. The lady told me I didn’t make enough. And yet, it WAS enough.

Over the years we have lived out Psalm 23:1. Our gracious Heavenly Father has met our every need. He has rained down manna from heaven (Exodus 16), poured water from the rock (Exodus 17), provided the coin in the fish’s mouth (Matthew 17), has multiplied the bread and fish (Luke 9), and put fish in the cooler.

Surrendered to God, no mess is too messy, no burden too great. He’s famous for His work with dirt and clay.

The Bible doesn’t mention coolers, but David spoke of a “cup.” In Psalm 23:5 he shared about the abundance of blessings because the LORD was his shepherd: “You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows.” Other translations say, “My cup is full and spilling over” and “My cup runneth over.” Today, I’m thinking, “My cooler runneth over,” with fish from my Heavenly Father and Mr. Meadows.