Saturday, March 10, 2018

March 11, 2018

"Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs, and don’t forget to thank him for his answers." Philippians 4:6

In the best selling book "The Hiding Place", Corrie ten Boom tells a remarkable story about gratitude. During World War II, she and her sister Betsie lived in three different concentration camps. The entire ten Boom family had been arrested for providing a safe haven to Jews and Nazi rebels. It is estimated they saved 800 lives before being caught and sent away.

Corrie describes how the barracks of the Ravensbruck concentration camp in Germany was infested with fleas. The sisters were forced to sleep on wooden platforms with straw on top, but the straw was dirty, smelly, and crawling with the skin-biting pests. Corrie writes:

I saw up quickly and bumped my head on the platform above. "Fleas!" I jumped down to the floor. "The place is crawling with fleas!...I don't know how I can cope with living in such a terrible place!

"Corrie, I think God has already given us the answer," my sister Betsie said. "What was that verse from the Bible we read this morning?"

I pulled my Bible out from the bag I wore on a string around my neck. In the dim light, I read from I Thessalonians 5:16-18: "Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.' Oh, Betsie, that's too hard for a place like this!"

"No, come on, Corrie - let's try. What are we thankful for?" my sister asked.

"Well....if we must be in this awful place, I'm thankful that we're here together"....

"That's right!" Betsie's eyes dance. "And thank you, God for the fleas -"

Corrie goes on to say that the flea infestation kept the guards out of their barracks, allowing Corrie and Betsie to read the Bible aloud twice a day for any woman who wanted to hear. More and more women found the light of Christ in the darkest of places because of fleas.

There is reason to be grateful in every circumstance.

When you live out this difficult urging from the Scriptures I cannot guarantee what your outcome will be BUT I can tell you His input will be well worth it!