Thanking God for the Fleas

I recently finished reading The Hiding Place, and it wrecked me.
For those unfamiliar with the story, The Hiding Place is Corrie Ten Boom's autobiography.
Her family ran a watch shop in Holland during world war two, which doubled as the headquarters for a smuggling operation: Jews.
A hiding place was built into Corrie's room. At one point they were hiding seven Jews, then one night the house was raided.
The Ten Booms were arrested.
Corrie and  her sister Betsy were sent to a concentration camp.
Through God's orchestration, they are able to smuggle in a Bible.
There is so much to learn from their story, but here's what I want to focus on today:
The first day in the concentration camp, Betsy and Corrie were praying. Betsy thanked God for the camp, the deplorable state of the beds and toilets, the abusive guards, and the ever present fleas. Corrie had agreed with Betsy's prayer, but she couldn't bring herself to thank God for the fleas, until a few months later. Betsy was so sick and frail, that she was put in the knitting ward-where prisoners who couldn't do hard physical labor were sent to knit socks and sweaters for soldiers.
Betsy was a gifted knitter, and every day, finished her quota by noon. She spent the rest of the day reading the Bible to the other prisoners, and praying with them. Corrie discovered that the reason Betsy was allowed, is because she and the rest of the inmates had fleas. The soldiers were frightened of getting fleas, so they stayed out of the prisoner's room.
That knocked me over. I deeply admire these women for having the unshakeable faith to praise God for the worst of trials, and that God can redeem any situation for His glory.
It reminded me of Acts 16:25, when Paul and Silas were in jail, singing hymns when an earthquake struck. The guard was about to commit suicide because he thought that the prisoners escaped, but Paul assured him that was not the case. The jailer ended up getting baptized, along with his whole family!
I've challenged myself to try to emulate the attitude I found in these two stories, using James 1:2-4 as my encouragement. "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."
So if you hear me say "Thank-you Jesus for the fleas," you'll understand.
love,
Esther

The Beginning of the End

I've haven't been posting lately, because life has been insanely crazy and awesome. Preparing and performing for the fundraiser, practicing for and recording the single. (!!!!)
 A long-anticipated trip to North Dakota to visit a dear friend.
Radiation has ended.
I have a surgery date.
I broke.
Physically and emotionally, something in me broke last week.
Radiation ended August 25, leaving me worse off than I could have imagined. There is a radiation burn the size of a saucer around the tumor. I was in constant pain, and couldn't walk. I returned to crying multiple times a day.
I'm terrified.
The operation is much later than we expected.
Last Wednesday we received the details. On Tuesday, October 21, at 5:30 am I will check into Cancer Care. The surgery starts at 7:30am, and lasts until 1:30pm. I'm not allowed any food 24 hours after surgery, in case of complications that will need a second operation.
When they said bed rest, I didn't realize what it meant. I'm on absolute bed rest for 7 days. My left foot can't be moved or lowered at all.
There's a myriad of unknowns. The surgeon doesn't know how many nerves will be removed until he actually looks inside my foot. Full sensory abilities won't return until a year after surgery.
There will be major scarring.
I was very blessed to have almost no side effects during radiation, but now my foot is falling apart.
The tumor is dead, and angry. (I won't get into all the gory details, because believe me, they are)
God is good. He gave me an incredible Labor day weekend with two immensely Godly women. The original purpose was just a visit, then Y got engaged a few days before we went down! L and I are bridesmaids, so we took the opportunity to find dresses.
I learned more about the layers of awesomeness that make up who L and Y are. (That could take up two separate posts!)
God deepened our friendship and knit our hearts closer. He's so amazing at bringing people from three different backgrounds and ages, yet we share so many deep heart things.
He broke my heart that weekend, sharpening my mercy in a way I've never felt. He's tuning my heart to echo His.
That's just a spoonful of the thoughts swirling in the soup of my mind.
Stay tuned, cause I have more posts I'm in the process of writing!
Love,
Esther