Thankful for . . . SNOW!

Brian was leaving on Friday, so, of course, on Thursday morning I woke up so sick with the flu that I literally could not walk. I spent the entire day on the couch in my PJs. The kids brought the school books to me and read most of their work out loud. I sort of gestured to them and tried to stay awake. The next day I was quite a bit better but still in my PJs. Brian had left early that morning.

Saturday morning found us running a few critical errands because, with snow in the forecast we wanted to be prepared. Well, we wanted snow and it was SNOW we got. Not a typical Oregon come-and-go snow; this was a stay-on-your-street-and-shovel-your-drive snow. There were a few power outages that had my mother's heart overly concerned. And it lasted for nearly two weeks! In other words, Brian went on his TDY for nine days, diverted to Portland in bad weather, found a very brief hole in the weather on Sunday morning, landed with a shovel in his hand and started to use it. Both he and I shoveled snow in some capacity every single day for over a week. There was, on some days, up to 18 inches of snow in our house under construction.


Providentially, I had just been listening to Focus on the Family's Radio Theatre, The Hiding Place, with the kids. Although I've thoroughly enjoyed nearly every one of Focus's Radio Theatres, this is by far and away my favorite although I've literally cried my way through the entire thing. In this true story, one of the "scenes" involves Corrie and her sister, Betsie, huddling together on a tiny bed in Ravensbruck Concentration Camp. They are trying to recall the scripture that they've learned from that morning. They remember it and recite it there in the frozen bunker: I Thessalonians 5:15-22 "See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil."

Corrie wants to go to sleep but Betsie insists that they give thanks for every aspect of their circumstances. They begin to pray and to thank God for the Bible they were able to smuggle into the bunker and for the other women in the bunker with them. And then Corrie feels something biting her. It's a flea and, as another prisoner informs them, the bunkers are crawing with them. Betsie insists that they give thanks for the fleas but Corrie balks. She will not give thanks for such a disgusting creature; but Betsie, in her gentle way, insists that they do so. God's word, after all, says "in everything give thanks." Corrie gives in, they thank God for the fleas, and then go to sleep.

In German concentration camps, all meetings are forbidden, a fact that Corrie and Betsie and their friend Mene remember with pain. In their former camp, Mene was subjected to fierce torture for two weeks, the price she paid for participating in a bible study. But in Ravensbruck, their bible studies are never discovered. The guards never even come near their bunker. When Corrie finally wonders aloud at this miracle, she is set straight by one of her friends: "Of course they won't come near these bunkers. They're infested with lice and FLEAS!"

"In everything, give thanks." If Corrie and Betsie could be thankful for fleas, then we can certainly be thankful for snow--even days and days and inches and inches of it. I'm not sure about you, but I'll take snow over fleas any day of the week! And who knows what great thing God may have in mind?