Transparency of a Different Kind.....

This was going to be a much different post. In fact, I wrote it in my head while lying in bed last night, in pain and discouraged. It was going to be entitled something like "Discouraged.....Transparent" or "Transparent....Discouragement" or something like that. You get the idea.

But this morning when I woke up I started reading in the book I got for my birthday by one of my BFF's and cousin Heather: "The Hiding Place". It is the story of Corrie ten Boom and her family during the holocust. I had heard of this story and how amazing it was, but had just never read it. I am so thankful that my cousin read it and sent me a copy for my birthday. What I read this morning was EXACTLY what I needed to not fall into the trap of discouragement.

You see for a couple of days now I have been having pain in both of my knees. This is a real problem, because I have already had three surgies on the left knee as well, and the next time I have surgery the doc's have said that it will need to be a knee replacement. This is not good.not.good. So hence the discouragement at this latest set back in the knee department.

But enough about that, because this morning, as I was reading in "The Hiding Place" my knees paled in comparison to what was going on during the holocust and what Corrie and her sister Betsie and their family went through. I had always thought they were Jewish, but they were not. They were Dutch, but they were people of great love and compassion and during the occupation they hid Jews so they would not be taken away to concentration camps. It is absolutely amazing the events that happened in their lives and how at every turn and bend in the road of their journey God was there. Much like my own; God is always here with me, guiding me, helping me, showing me that He is God of ALL, EVERYTHING, pain, hurt, discouragement, EVERYTHING!!!! I do not have to give in to discouragement. God sent Christ and paid the price for my sin, and now as a follower and Believer in the LORD Jesus Christ, I am free!!!!! There is absolutely no room for discouragement in that, Praise the LORD!!!!!

So this morning as I read, in my discouraged state, I felt so convicted and uplifted all at the same time. I am toward the end of the book now, and Betsie and Corrie have been taken to a horrid prison camp in Germany. They have left their beloved Holland (even though they were in prison there too, it was still their home country) and are now in Germany in absolutely detestable conditions. They are in a bunker that was made to house 400 and now was housing 1400, and it is filled with every manner of filth imaginable. In the midst of this, Corrie lays down on their straw cots and starts getting bit by fleas. It is just by this point, more than she can take. She asks Betsie how they can possibly live in this place. Betsie starts to pray, and then excitedly says they have the answer right in front of them.

God was with them every step of their journey, and He had helped them smuggle a Bible into the camp. So Betsie had Corrie get out their Bible and started to read in First Thessalonians: "Comfort the frightened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all. Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus-" and there was the answer, Betsie told Corrie. They were to give thanks in all of their circumstances!! So right there in that foul-aired, filthy room they started giving thanks. Thanks for Jesus, thanks that they were there together, thanks for the Bible and that there had been no inspection at that camp. Thanks for the jammed, crammed, stuffed, packed, suffocating crowds they now found themselves apart of and grateful for the fleas, because as Betsie put it, they were to "give thanks in all circumstances."

After I read that I felt so convicted for being discouraged about my knees and not thankful that I had them. After that I spent some time with the LORD and in His Word and in thankfulness. I sit here now typing a much different, needed post. God is good all the time no matter my circumstance ~~ He is God and He is good!!!!!

Father,
Thank you for this realization today, that I am to give thanks to you in every situation no matter the circumstance of it. I am so thankful for my knees. I know that they have been a source of much whining on my part, and for that I am so sorry. Please forgive me Father for sometimes a very bad attitude toward my knees. Help me to be thankful for everything Father and help me to lean on You in all seasons of my life. You are God and you are good!!!!! Thank you for sending Christ and for saving my soul. Forever I will praise You. In Jesus Name ~~

Thank you Father, that you never let go ~~ I love you so, Amen.



Have a Blessed day in Him,