I'll always remember the story of giving thanks that my Sunday School teacher read to us one Sunday morning. It was a story about Corrie ten Boom. According to Corrie, author of "The Hiding Place," here is how her and her sister were thankful in every circumstance during their experience of The Holocaust. Corrie was a Dutch Christian during that time period. Her and her family hid Jews in their home to help keep them safe from going to concentration camps. On a night in late February, Corrie's house was invaded by the Gestapo, the secret Nazi police, and her and her family were taken to those prisons.
Fast forward to life in the prisons: unbearable living conditions, poor clothing, cramped living, barely enough food and water for survival... Yet Betsie, Corrie's older sister, pushed Corrie to be thankful in all circumstances. While living in the camps, they prayed and were thankful for being together, for having a Bible in the camp, and for the crowd of women around them because that meant that even more would hear. Betsie even went so far as to pray for the fleas. At this, Corrie was sure that her sister was wrong. There was no way or reason she could be thankful for the little, annoying, biting fleas that crawled from wall to wall of their barrack.
Bible studies were held by the sisters using the Bible that Corrie was able to smuggle in their first day in the work camp. There were women from Germany, France, Poland, Russia, and many more countries. When they read aloud the Word of God, translations would be passed all along the barrack to all of the women there. At first these Bible studies were held with timidity but as time went on, they held them with boldness and strength before the women. There was heavy surveillance among the other barracks but for some reason, there was no surveillance around the large dormitory.
As Bible studies went on, Corrie found out the exact reason the sisters prayed in thankfulness for the fleas. Betsie said that she heard that the supervisor nor the guards would step foot inside because of the crawling fleas that overwhelmed the dormitory.
That is how the Word of God was preached to the masses of women living in Barrack 28 of the work camp in Ravensbruck, Germany. All because two sisters bowed their heads in prayer and praised The Lord for every possible thing they could.
That is the lesson we take from this story. Praise Him for the big things as well as the small. Continue to be thankful when thankfulness isn't what you have in your heart. I don't think I'll ever forget about this story and what it means to be truly thankful in all circumstances. I encourage you all to read the book, "The Hiding Place," that tells about this story and many more stories that happened during the life of Corrie ten Boom, her sister Betsie, and the witness these sisters had for Christ.
