Give Thanks for Discomfort

In this season of thanksgiving I have been reading a little book by Barbara Rainey that tells many encouraging stories of thankfulness in all circumstances and I would like to share one with you today. Rainey writes, “Ravensbruk was not a place any one wanted to be. Each day it was the scene of cruel suffering, sickness, and death. Located 50 miles north of Berlin, it had been established as a prison camp for women in 1938 by members of Hitler’s army.

Corrie and Betsie ten Boom, along with their 84 year old father and two family members, had been arrested for the crime of hiding Jews from the Nazi soldiers.” While in Ravenbruk, Corrie and Betsie risked their lives to tend to the sick and injured. They would secretly read the Bible and pray with the other women. One day the two sisters were moved to Barracks 28 where the living conditions were the worst they had seen. The plumbing was backed up and the beds were wooden platforms stacked three high. They had a little straw on them which was scratchy and covered in filth. No pillows and no sheets. But the worst part was the fleas. The barrack was completely infested with them.

The day they arrived in Barack 28 they crawled onto their awful bed and Corrie leaped out yelling, “fleas.” They were everywhere and Corrie could hardly bear it. But Bestie’s optimism came out when she read from First Thessalonians 5:15-18, “Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else. Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.” Betsie told Corrie, “That’s it, be thankful in all circumstances.” Corrie could understand being thankful that they were together and that they still had a Bible and that they could share it with others, but not the fleas.

Several weeks later Corrie finally understood the fleas. Bestie had always wondered why they had so much freedom in Barrack 28 until one day while standing in line to get food she overheard someone comment about how the guards would hardly ever come in because the fleas were so bad. God used the fleas to give them the opportunity to teach others about Jesus and care for their needs. Corrie then became thankful for the fleas.
—Will Tucker