God has been completely shaping the way I think about thankfulness. I feel like I’m a pretty thankful person in general, and there are many times in my life where I list what I am thankful for, either mentally or on paper if I’m really motivated. Every single time I’ve done that, what I list tends to be things like my job, my amazing friends and family, food, a house, a great church, etc. I truly have so much to be thankful for. And I don’t think I’ve ever thought twice about the types of things I list until just recently.
Well, before I really get to my point, I have to tell you about this absolutely phenomenal thing called ‘the free table’ on the World Race. The free table pops up every few months whenever the squad is together and is simply a place where everyone drops things from their packs they no longer want. IT’S THE BEST!!!!!!!!!!!! I’ve picked up basically an entirely new wardrobe from the free table (I did NOT pack very good outfits coming on the Race) along with a few other miscellaneous items. One of those items happened to be one of my favorite books.
I’ve read a good many books throughout my life (if you knew me in elementary school, I was definitely the bookworm). One of my favorite books of all time is The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom. I read it many years ago and loved it and have been wanting to read it again, and then it just happened to pop up on the free table. I was already carrying 3 books (way too many by World Race standards), but I just couldn’t bear to see it left behind in some random apartment in Malaysia. So I added it to my already too heavy pack. And I’m sure glad I did.
That book has been changing my perspective on thankfulness. If you haven’t yet read it, I HIGHLY recommend. Corrie tells the incredible story of her family hiding Jews in their house in Amsterdam. They were eventually found out, arrested, and sent to the Ravensbruck Concentration Camp, where they suffered through so many awful circumstances. Yet despite their completely valid excuses to hate everyone around them and complain about their situation, Corrie and her sister Betsy trusted completely in the Lord and became lights in one of the darkest places imaginable.
One of my absolute favorite parts of the book is reading about the barracks where they lived and how it was infested with fleas. Corrie was disgusted by the fleas, but Betsy thanked God for the fleas. Uhhhhh, what??? Why in the world would you thank God for the fleas? I mean, you could thank him for not separating you from your sister or for being alive, but fleas? Really Betsy? Corrie thought a lot like me, and asked Betsy why she would thank God for the fleas. Betsy simply said the Bible tells us to be thankful in ALL circumstances and to rejoice always. And then, months later, the sisters find out the reason their barracks had not been inspected was because of the flea infestation. Had their barracks been inspected, Betsy and Corrie would have had their Bible and medicine taken away, and the Bible had been an incredible tool for Corrie and Betsy to share the hope of Jesus with countless other women suffering in that concentration camp. Their Bible was the most precious thing they owned and because of the fleas, they didn’t have it confiscated. Wow.
I just can’t get over how profoundly that has started to shape how I view my circumstances. This month in the Philippines, we have not had air conditioning, and it’s quite hot (understatement of the year). It’s one thing to not have AC during the day, but it’s an entirely more awful thing to not have it when you are trying to sleep. There have been a few times where I have come close to tears because I have been so miserable not being able to fall asleep just laying in a pile of my own sweat. Yeah, I know, it’s a temporary thing I chose for myself by coming on the Race, but still. Yet as I lay there sweating and unable to sleep, I’ve started to thank God for not having air conditioning this month. Why? Because though it 100% sucks right now, it very well could be producing something in me I won’t even know about for years to come. I know it sounds slightly ridiculous and small to think that not having AC would actually be something that makes me stronger in a spiritual sense, but that is how I’m choosing to see it. I think it’s all about the way we react. AC may not be spiritual in and of itself, but if I choose thankfulness despite how much it sucks, that reveals Jesus working in my life and making me more like Him. The way we choose to think about the small frustrating things that happen every day will shape the way we think about the huge awful things that happen to us less frequently. If you can choose to give God thanks in ALL circumstances, your life will be filled with a whole lot more joy than you choosing to complain about the annoying things. God, I don’t always see the results, but you have me here for a reason and this situation can either grow me and make me look more like You by how I choose to react to it, or I can let it make me irritable and unpleasant to be around.
Betsy was on to something when she thanked God for the fleas. It’s easy enough to thank God for good things in hard situations, but have we thanked God for the bad things in hard situations too? I’m not saying you have to accept the bad things and not ask God to take them away, but if he doesn’t, will you still glorify Him and give Him thanks through all of it? Even the flea-infested parts that don’t make sense right now? You can choose to let those hard and awful things grow you or you can choose to only thank God for part of what you are going through. But he has reasons for ALL we go through. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts and His ways higher than our ways. We most likely will never understand the awful parts of life, but God does, and I certainly want to let those things grow me, and I certainly want to thank God for the hard things too because I am not entitled to anything. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, but He is still worthy of all praise.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 – Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Job 1:21 – And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Isaiah 55:8-9 – For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
