Thank God for the Fleas
In her book The Hiding Place , Corrie Ten Boom tells the story of learning to give thanks in the most challenging of circumstances. While prisoners in a Nazi concentration camp during WWII, Corrie and her sister, Betsie, found comfort in studying the Bible. Upon reading Paul's command to, "Give thanks in all circumstances" (1 Thess. 5:18), the two women wondered what they had to be thankful for in the midst of the horrors of the Holocaust. To make matter worse, the two sisters had been moved into a barracks ridden with fleas. Surely this pit of despair was devoid of anything for which to give thanks. As Corrie and Betsie reflected on Paul's words, they began to realize that the fleas in their barracks had kept the Nazi soldiers away, allowing the women to study the Bible freely. This realization led the two sisters to thank God for the fleas. The two women discovered that, even in the darkness of WWII, there were still things to be thankful for. Joy and grati