Holocaust survivor Corrie Ten Boom spent the last years of her life speaking to men and women all around the world about the God who sustained her during her imprisonment in a Nazi prison camp. Corrie was a Christian who, along with her father and other family members, helped many Jews escape the Nazi's during World War II. She was imprisoned for her actions and she wrote a book, The Hiding Place where she describes the whole ordeal. This book came to be a best seller and in many schools a required reading.
Corrie Ten Boom's strong faith in God kept her from depression throughout her life and especially within the Nazi camps. She told of how her sister Betsey reached out to others and helped her to see the best in everything, no matter what the circumstance. This is one story that she shared:
The barracks where Corrie Ten Boom and her older sister Betsy were kept in a Nazi concentration camp in Ravensbruck, Germany were terribly overcrowded and unfortunately 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 they were to give thanks. Betsy in her devotion decided that in this situation that they should all thank God for the fleas in their room; even though they have seemingly been reproducing at a alarming rate. This was too much for Corrie, who said she could do no such thing. But Betsy insisted, so they all gave in and prayed to God, thanking Him even for the fleas.
Over the next several months a wonderful, but curious, thing happened. They realized that the guards never entered their barracks anymore due to the amount of fleas that would jump on them when they were nearby. This meant that women were not assaulted and that their room was a safe place. 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.
Today let us give thanks to God for every good and perfect gift (James 1:17), but also thank Him for how He will use all things for good in the lives of those who trust Him (Romans 8:28).
Adjust that Crown!
Jonna
*This blog is written by Jonna Gibson for "Invisible Crown". You can follow it at Jonna-invisiblecrown.blogspot.com
