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Thanksgiving will be a little different this year, but it is still a great time to give thanks to the Lord (I Thess. 5:16-18). And this Thanksgiving will, in some ways, be reminiscent of the first Thanksgiving and the Pilgrims giving thanks to God despite the death of almost half their number and other grave hardships.

Thanksgiving in COVID-19 quarantine will be different and perhaps disappointing, so we should look to examples of other Christians that have practiced gratitude in difficult circumstances. In my recent book The Good Citizen, I highlighted the remarkable strength and gratitude of Corrie ten Boom and her sister, Betsie, in the midst of their ordeal at Ravensbrück concentration camp. And I found it helpful to review their remarkable example as I prepare for Thanksgiving 2020. Here’s a brief review of their story.

Key Takeaways:

• If you watch the video version below, you will see pictures of the ten Boom home, Corrie, Betsie and Ravensbrück Concentration Camp.
• Why Betsie thanked God for fleas.
• My wife, Carissa, reads Corrie’s own words from The Hiding Place.
• The greatest human example of forgiveness I have ever read.
• By the way, when Corrie ten Boom referred to “The Hiding Place,” she wasn’t just referring to the small space in her home used to hide Jews from the Nazis. Rather, in her book The Hiding Place, she explained that the only true hiding place is in the center of God’s will. Wow, I needed that in 2020.