Hindsight's 20/20

First I have to explain that for the past few months our freezer has been icing over around the thermostat/ice maker and every time the door is opened a pile of ice falls on the floor. If it is opened by me then the chunks get thrown in the sink and the water wiped up. If not me, then... you understand, right? To top it off my veggies keep freezing no matter where I put them or how low I turn the temperature. I have been looking for cheap refrigerators but just can't bring myself to pay money for one I don't really like and knowing that it is not in the budget for one I do. Last week Julia organized my pantry after I apologized for the grocery sacks spewing out and nearly tripping her. I said that some day I'd get around to making room for it all. She got this twinkle in her eye and while rubbing her hands together asked if she could do it. No! how embarrassing. She's not easy to turn down though and so I endured and now have a beautiful pantry with every thing visible and containing only pantry items. Bless her! She found a mysterious part (among other things) that belonged to something but we couldn't figure out what. I searched the fridge but couldn't see any where that it would fit.

Now to the rest of the story:

Chicken was on sale so I stocked up -enough so that the checkout girl commented that I had a lot of chicken. I put it in the fridge and proceeded to make dinner for a young couple that just had a baby. Since I was making a full course meal I figured I may as well make a little more and take it to the sweet couple whose cancer came back and she just began chemo. As I am up to my eyeballs in prep work I realized that the chicken is leaking. Everywhere! From the top shelf down the side, pooling on each shelf and the food stored on those shelves and coming to rest in a puddle in the back of the fridge. Noooo! I don't have time for this I kept thinking. Thankfully Matt picked up on my banging and grumbling and asked what he could help with. He peeled potatoes and shucked corn and then grilled the chicken...basically made the dinner. As the meal prep continued the pool of chicken guts grew until it was dripping into the door. It had to be tackled now. So more grumbling, a few tears and an hour later everything had been removed and cleaned. Once everything was out I found a hole in the back with freezing cold air coming out. No wonder my veggies were frozen. I showed Matt and then remembered the mystery part. Turns out it goes to the meat drawer and can be adjusted to allow more or less cold air in that comes from the freezer. Popped that thing back on and now all of my problems are solved.

So the point I'm trying to get at, finally, is that although I was not happy about having to clean up that mess and especially right at that moment, I never would have found that small hole wedged between shelves. I would've spent money on something that isn't really broken (or more likely still be dealing with the inedible veggies and icing mess). As I have been thinking about it I keep remembering many small trials that worked out to be big blessings. I'm certain Heavenly Father was shaking his head at me as I grumbled about cleaning, fully knowing that soon enough I would figure out His plan. One of these days I'm going to remember and think of that first. Until then I know that He will continue to send small bleassings my way. It makes my heart all mushy to think that He loves me that much.