To give a little background- Corrie and Betsie ten Boom were two middle-aged sisters from Holland who were imprisoned for helping hide and aid Jews that were being persecuted under Hitler in the early 1940's. They were eventually sent to a prison camp in Ravenbruck, Germany. The description of the room that was their sleeping quarters would make anyone sick. The room was meant to house a maximum of 400 people and yet the persecutors had packed over 1000 women in the room with 8 women to a bed. There were only 3 restrooms for all of these ladies. The stench of the room along with the abundance of fleas and lice made it nearly impossible for the women to sleep.
Shortly after their arrival, the ten Boom sisters resumed leading bible studies for the ladies in their dormitory after the long days of work. Though the living situations were beyond awful, Betsie recalled what they had read in 1 Thessalonians...
"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."
~1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
After recalling these verses, Betsie encourages Corrie that they must give thanks. I was so humbled. How could they possibly find anything to be thankful for in that dismal situation? First, they thank the Lord that they are still together. Then they thank Jesus that they have been able to successfully bring the Bible with them. This was nothing short of a miracle seeing that they were continually strip-searched and everything else had been taken from them. Then Betsie does the unthinkable. She thanks Jesus for the fleas that are overtaking their sleeping quarters. Corrie gets a little frustrated here and understandably so. Though she does not understand the great faith of her sister, she joins her in being thankful for EVERYTHING, even the fleas.
Later on the sisters come to find out something incredible... though the guards would normally be inside every dorm to monitor the prisoners, they avoided the cesspool that Corrie and Betsie had to call "home" for those few months. Because the guards avoided their dorm, the ten Boom sisters were able to hold prayer and Bible services every evening without the worry of being found out by the guards. One day Corrie comes to find out that it was not the stench or other horrific parts of the dorm that kept the guards out... it was the abundance of FLEAS!! Betsie had obeyed the Lord and been thankful for something as small as a flea and later the Lord had revealed how He had used those nasty little things to allow the sisters to bring His Word to others without fear.
Needless to say, I have been so convicted by this book. How incredible to have such amazing faith in such horrific situations. I have been so blessed by the story of Corrie and Betsie and their family and friends. I have been so encouraged to see the faithfulness of the Lord to these ladies as they continued to pursue Him and love others when daily their lives were at risk.
I pray that today we can follow in the footsteps of these sisters of ours through Jesus and walk in thankfulness- even for the smallest thing. I know that it can be so difficult to live lives of thankfulness but when we remember the sweet mercy of Jesus and His life given for us on the Cross- we will have all we need to live thankful lives of rejoicing in our salvation and His great faithfulness.
Life might not always go exactly as we plan (in fact it almost always has unexpected twists and turns that cause us to be tempted with having a complaining attitude) but if the ten Boom sisters can be thankful for fleas, I am almost positive that we can find something small to be thankful for today. Today I am thankful for my precious family, for the new mercies of Jesus today, and for my sisters in the faith, Corrie and Betsie ten Boom who set such a great example for me and so many others.
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