Thank you, dear God, for the Fleas

I watched "Ephraim's Rescue" twice yesterday and I've been reading "The Hiding Place". Here are two sets of people who were put through very physical, emotional and spiritual trials.  They were stalwart believers who not only sustained their faith in God, but increased it. As I have thought about these people's gruesome and challenging experiences I have been perplexed by the caliber of their perspective in the midst of their trials.  

The pioneers who looked to God in faith and gratitude were strengthened in their trials.  They saw miracles on the trail but more importantly they kept their faith when they were given hunger, cold, weakness, and even death.  Why??  Why would a loving God put such worthy believers through such gruesome trials? Why not their persecutors?  Why not the unbelievers?  

I've often found myself wanting to progress but avoiding the prayers that plead for it.  I want so badly to become a tool for good in Gods hands.  I want to be the kind of person who turns from selfishness and follows a prompting to answer some weary friends prayers.  I want to be the shoulder to cry on, a compassionate listener.  I want to be able to instantly love people so that they feel Gods love through me.  But, regardless of what I want, I have once again found that I shirk having to go through the trials to get it.  Trials are hard and painful.  I often don't like who I see when those trials come.  I complain.  I'm easy to anger.  I get depressed and stagnant.  I avoid praying for humility because the last time I did I went through a dark period that was so piercing that I can hardly stand the idea of going back.  

So, why would God put a people who saved up, left their riches and their homes and their friends and even families, through having to bury their husbands and children?  Why would he make them walk through ice cold rivers in the snow and force them to trudge on through the snow in their wet cloths? 

In "The Hiding Place", the author, Corrie Ten Boom, explains that she was brought up by a God fearing father who read and lived the scriptures and gospel of Jesus Christ how he knew it.  His devoted and faith created family community of love and sacrifices.  Corrie and her sister, Betsy, found themselves as political prisoners after helping the underground movement to save Jews.  In the concentration camp, the two sisters found their living quarters infested with fleas.  Corrie's reaction was most similar to what mine would have been.  Thank goodness for Betsy.  When they arrived in the new "home" Betsy encouraged Corrie to say a prayer of gratitude.  Corrie prayed in gratitude for the place to sleep, that they could be together as sisters, and for their little Bible they were able to smuggle in. Betsy encouraged Corrie to pray for the fleas, "Oh no, Betsy.  Not for the fleas!".  Betsy explained to her sister that God had provided this place for them.  All of it. Including the fleas. "Thank you, dear God, for the fleas."  

I don't blame Corrie for not wanting to thank God for the fleas.  If I were her I would by lying to God to thank him for something I loathed.  What good can come from an unsanitary, blood sucking parasite that can only cause grief and annoyance to say the least?  I love this book, though.  It has opened my eyes to a newer and deeper way of gratitude.  Corrie and Betsy enjoyed uninterrupted daily sermons and spiritual meetings in their home.  Corrie later found out that the reason for this was because the soldiers didn't want to go near the housing for the fear of the fleas!  To my amazement, and to Corries, the fleas really were a blessing and a circumstance that Heavenly Father prepared for these prisoners.  Although there were afflicted by many trials, they were strengthened by the word of the Lord.  The large majority of people who were put through such trials during World War II were God fearing people.  Through their trials they were nudged to turn toward their creator for peace and refuge.  Those who turned, found Him.  

So, why suffer good people to be thrown into concentration camps?  Why allow them to be tortured and torn up by fleas and the Nazi's?  Why send faithful saints on a bitter trail with the onset of an early winter?  I believe Heavenly Father gives us trails, even the ones we do not yet understand, because this is how we become.  We become more like Him. He will bless us with an added measure of patience.  He will soften our hearts and bless us with Love for our enemy's.  Our trials accelerate our path to perfection.  So, we tell ourselves, "I could never do that".  We tell ourselves that we would be too bitter, and too selfish to do what "they" did.  Although some were bitter and selfish, I imagine the majority who kept trying were able to look back and see how far they had come.  They had become more like God and He used them as a tool for good to strengthen the weary and bring hope to the discouraged.  Do I dare say that these people have been given the ultimate blessing for progression? More so then those of us who live in luxury and comfort? (Matthew 19:24 - it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God).  I realize now that it is essential for me to plead for these trials, then to put my trust in Him and stay with Him as He guides me to be a light unto the weary and to become like Him.  I just might be happier through those circumstances then by living my current selfish, unfulfilled life.  I am looking back at those trials in my life and I'm going to make a list of reasons those trials were essential in my growth.  I'm going to try to be grateful for my trials.

Yes.  "Thank you, dear God, for the fleas."  I do not yet understand my trials, but I pray that when I finally do I will be able to look back and know that I put my trust in Thee even without knowing why.