{"id":38349,"date":"2025-11-26T22:06:52","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T05:06:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?post_type=portfolio&p=38349"},"modified":"2025-11-26T22:21:46","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T05:21:46","slug":"2025-thanks","status":"publish","type":"portfolio","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/gospel-express\/2025-thanks\/","title":{"rendered":"Give Thanks in All Circumstances"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joy FM<\/p>\n

As Thanksgiving approaches, a powerful story came to mind \u2014 one that shows what it really means to give thanks in every circumstance.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

As Thanksgiving approaches, a powerful story came to mind \u2014 one that shows what it really means to give thanks in every circumstance.<\/p>\n

During World War II, sisters Betsie and Corrie ten Boom were imprisoned at Ravensbr\u00fcck, a brutal Nazi concentration camp. When they arrived at their new barracks, they discovered it was filthy, overcrowded\u2026 and infested with fleas.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Corrie was heartbroken. How could anyone survive in a place like that?<\/p>\n

But Betsie reminded her of the Scripture they had read that very morning:<\/p>\n

\u201cRejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks.<\/strong>\u201d \u2014 1 Thessalonians 5:16\u201318<\/p>\n

Betsie believed those weren\u2019t just words \u2014 they were instructions.<\/p>\n

So she told Corrie they needed to thank God for everything in that barracks.<\/p>\n

Corrie agreed to thank God that they were assigned together.<\/p>\n

She thanked Him that they\u2019d been able to smuggle in their Bible.<\/p>\n

She thanked Him that there were so many women who would hear God\u2019s Word.<\/p>\n

But then Betsie thanked God\u2026 for the fleas.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Corrie could barely get the words out. Fleas felt like cruelty on top of cruelty. But they prayed and thanked God anyway.<\/p>\n

Weeks went by, and something strange happened: every evening, the women gathered in the barracks to read the Bible, pray, and encourage one another \u2014 and the guards never stopped them. Not once.<\/p>\n

Finally, they learned why.<\/p>\n

The guards refused to enter that building…because of the fleas.<\/p>\n

The very thing that felt unbearable was the thing God used to protect them.<\/p>\n

This Thanksgiving, their story is a reminder that God can work through the things we least understand \u2014 even the things we would never choose. Sometimes the “fleas” in our lives end up being the very thing He uses for our good.<\/p>\n

Give thanks in all circumstances.<\/p>\n

God wastes nothing.<\/p>\n

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