Thankful In All Things

Now thankful IN all things doesn't mean the same thing as thankful FOR all things....
There is a difference.
But, I had to share this little story with you that I found to be very interesting... especially since we are flying into Thanksgiving in the next few days.
Sometimes it is hard for me to remember to be thankful when frustrations run high.
But this story kind of puts things into a different light.
I hope you see what I mean....

Thankful for the Fleas

The barracks where Corrie ten Boom and her sister Betsy were kept in the Nazi concentration camp Ravensbruck were terribly overcrowded and flea-infested.

They had been able to miraculously smuggle a Bible into the camp, and in that Bible they had read that in all things there were to give thanks, and that God can use anything for good.

Corrie’s sister Betsy decided that this meant thanking God for the fleas.

This was too much for Corrie, who said she could do no such thing. Betsy insisted, so Corrie gave in and prayed to God, thanking Him even for the fleas.

Over the next several months a wonderful, but curious, thing happened. They found that the guards never entered their barracks. This meant that women were not assaulted. It also meant that they were able to do the unthinkable, which was to hold open Bible studies and prayer meetings in the heart of a Nazi concentration camp.

Through this, countless numbers of women came to faith in Christ.

Only at the end did they discover why the guards had left them alone and would not enter into their barracks.

It was because of the fleas.


Kind of makes me say, what on earth am I complaining about?
Point taken...
Much to be thankful for, even in the big and little frustrations that seem to fill our lives every day.
Maybe the next time I get a little bite from a flea, it will make me remember this story.

Let us keep our hearts full of Thanksgiving every single day.