The Dilemma
You’re living in a new country with a small band of people and are surrounded by wilderness. There are no grocery stores, no clothing stores, no houses, no fast-food restaurants, and no furnaces. A few people live nearby, but they do not speak your language and sometimes are not friendly.
You’ve just come through a horrible winter in which many of your people died from disease and starvation, and you’re facing another terrible year unless you can plant some food to harvest later.
The Rescue
Out of nowhere, a man steps into your little settlement. Though he looks like someone from the unfriendly group, he’s speaking your language! Better yet, he knows how to plant corn in this area of the country so it will grow well, and he’s willing to teach you how to do it.
You probably recognize this as the story of the Pilgrims, Squanto, and that first Thanksgiving.
The Story Behind the Story
What you may not know is that before Squanto stepped into that clearing, he had lived a hard life. He’d been stolen from his original Patuxet tribe and taken to England to learn the English language so he could be an interpreter.
On his way back home years later, he was kidnaped and taken to Spain to be sold as a slave. He later made his way to London and then back home only to find that his whole family and tribe had been wiped out by a disease.
It seems that God used this man’s hardships to rescue others from sure death. As Joseph in the Bible says to his brothers about his own kidnaping and slavery, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Gen. 45:5 and 50:20 NIV).
Now it’s your turn: Write about something in your life that, at the time, seemed mildly or horribly harmful, something that God has turned into a beneficial thing for you or for someone else.
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