When I was a teenager, I first heard the story of Corrie and Betsie Ten Boom. God used them to help many Jews escape the clutches of the Nazis by hiding them in their home. Eventually, the sisters were arrested and sent to live in some of the most horrific conditions the world has ever seen in a German concentration camp for women.
A hidden Bible became the very anchor of their souls. Their “spiritual” daily bread kept light and hope in their hearts when it seemed impossible to even survive one more day. I will never forget hearing the story of their flea-infested barracks. The constant painful and itchy bites would have driven any prisoner mad on top of every other suffering they were forced to endure. But upon feeling the first bites of the fleas, Betsie recalled their morning Bible reading from I Thessalonians 5 about giving thanks in every situation. Without understanding why, the girls gave thanks for the fleas. Eventually, it became clear that it was the presence of the fleas that allowed Corrie and Betsie to host hours-long Bible studies with the other ladies, giving them courage to carry on in the very face of evil.
(Ravensbruck Archives)
Because we host others in our home frequently, as well as go to different types of homes to visit people, it should have come as no surprise when we ended up with a bed bug infestation. My husband and I are fairly optimistic people, but I’ll be honest…I cried real tears over those bed bugs. We were getting eaten alive and we were losing night after night of sleep. In the darkness, I recalled the story of the Ten Boom ladies and prayed with thanksgiving that God would allow something good to come out of this awfulness.
We eventually called an exterminator to come spray our home. After dousing our home in neurotoxic chemicals, we had a short chat with our bug man who was dying to know why we lived here when so many from India are trying to move to the US. We told him that we believed that God had a plan for us in India and that my husband is working here as a musician and that I am doing charity medical work. He told us that his wife was sick and asked if he could bring her by. A few days later they came back. I found out that his wife had not been able to get pregnant and we had a long talk about some of the possible reasons why and made a treatment plan. We shared with them a little about Jesus and asked if we could pray for them in Jesus’ name. They said yes.
Over the next few weeks, *Raj and his wife *Ani came back to our house several times (sometimes to spray more chemicals to try to kill the creepy bed bugs and sometimes just to chat or pray). On Good Friday, they came over again and I spent over an hour sharing with Ani about the death and resurrection of Jesus. I told her that we were having a special Good Friday service at our church that evening (in Hindi) and that we would be delighted if they came. Later that morning, my house helper arrived and I introduced the two of them. My house helper shared her testimony with Ani and said, “Tonight, when you go to the service, listen as carefully as you can.
As much as you understand, on that you should believe.”
Raj and Ani came that night and loved every minute of it. They expressed that they were able to understand everything because we had spent so much time earlier in the day talking about it. They asked us to send them YouTube links for all the songs that we had sung that evening. Both have to work on Sundays, but Raj took the next Sunday morning off and showed up to our church unprompted.
Since then, they have come to our house several more times and we were invited to their house as well to eat a meal and share more with their family members and neighbors. As we closed our time together in prayer, tears filled my eyes as I realized, with great thankfulness, that God had heard my request and granted good to come from our bed bug infestation.