Thank You for the Fleas

This one started quite a few years back, but it's gone through some revisions, especially to the second chorus.  But the longer I've lived, the more I've seen that this is the truth:  it is the things in our lives that seem like the worst that eventually bring us more blessings than we ever imagined they could.  In the words of Laura Story: "What if your blessings come through raindrops?  What if Your healing comes through tears?  What if a thousand sleepless nights are all it takes to know You're here?  What if trials of this life-- the rain, the storms, the hardest nights-- are Your mercies in disguise?"


Those days were dark and dreary
The walls a stone-cold gray
Locked away in a concentration camp
Two of hundreds in the freezing damp
Still Corrie and her sister still found the strength to pray
They found the strength to say:

"God, I thank You for the fleas
Even though I see no reason
To be grateful for creatures like these
I don't know why or how
But I'll still thank You, even now
Your word says "pray continually"
And give thanks for everything
So I will thank You for the fleas."

My day is going nowhere
I feel afraid and alone
Yet I find comfort in knowing
That in this world as cold as stone
I have a friend
Who'll love me til time's end
He'll protect me, stand by me,
Comfort me in the pain
'Cause He's got reasons for it all
That I might know someday
So I'll come before Him
And in faith, I will say:

"God, I thank You for my allergies;
For lack of money and migraines;
Though it's hard to be grateful for my worries and pains
I know You'll use them somehow
So I'll still thank You, even now

Maybe someday,
I'll look back at this and see
That though this seemed a trial
You were using it to bring good to me
That's what happened with Corrie:
She found out after the war
The fleas allowed their Bible study:
They kept the guards outside the door