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Silhouette:
Corrie ten Boom was born in Haarlem, Holland on the 15th
of April 1892. She was raised in a God-fearing home and was the youngest of
four siblings. Her father was a watchmaker, and Corrie followed in his
profession becoming the first woman in Holland to qualify as a watchmaker. From
the age of 29 to 48, Corrie ran the Haarlem Girl’s Clubs that focused not only
on things like gymnastics, music, and camping, but also taught the girls about
God’s love and the importance of having a personal walk with the Lord. She also
ran a club for intellectually handicapped children and found joy in helping
others. Many of her girls drew strength from their faith in God and from the
things she had taught them during the terrible years that lay ahead.
On May 10, 1940, Germany invaded Holland when Corrie was
48 years old. As the persecution of Jews began, Corrie and her family helped in
any way they could – giving a bowl of soup here or a small amount of money
there. As the situation grew worse, there was more need, and eventually Corrie
and her family began the dangerous underground work of housing and relocating
Jews to safer places. They had a false wall built in one of the upstairs rooms
to hide the Jews and found ways to get ration cards and false identifications
made. They knew they would eventually be found out, but they helped each one
the Lord brought to their door. One day Corrie was tricked by someone
pretending to need money to help the Jews, and on February 28, 1944, the ten
Boom family was arrested. Corrie was thrown in prison at Scheveningen, unaware
of what had happened to her other family members. In June she was reunited with
her sister, Betsie, when they were moved to a labor camp at Vught. In September
they were taken to Ravensbruck concentration camp in Germany. This is where
their real “hell on earth” began.
The sisters faced
many, many hardships and were treated as animals. They were stripped of their
dignity, made to do hard labor from before sunup to after sundown, and were
forced to stand for hours at attention in the rain. They were housed in
quarters made for 400, yet there were 1,400 in their barrack alone and 35,000 women
in total at the camp. Their beds were infested with fleas, the food they were
given was meager and putrid, and there was no medical care to speak of. The billowing
smoke from the tall chimney above the ovens in the center of the camp, where the
bodies of those who had been gassed for one reason or another were burned, was
always in their sight. In all this despair and degradation, Corrie and her
sister tried their best to be a witness for Christ and proclaim the love of
God. They would hold Bible studies using a small Bible they had smuggled in
their clothes, and they prayed for and with many of the women who lived in
utter despair and without any hope. Even in this horrible place, the light of
God shone through the efforts of Corrie and her sister.
Only once did Corrie
begin to waver in her faith . . . when her sister Betsie died just before
Christmas. Her sister, though weak in body, had been such a great source of
strength for her and the other women. It was she who told Corrie, “We must tell
people how good God is. After the war we must go around the world telling
people. No one will be able to say that they have suffered worse than us. We
can tell them how wonderful God is, and how His love will fill our lives, if
only we will give up our hatred and bitterness.”
One week later, on December 31, 1944, when Corrie was 52
years old, she was ordered to report after the roll-call. She was fearful that
she’d be whipped or punished or even shot. Instead, when she came to the
office, she was given a card stamped “Entlassen” - “Released.” Corrie could not
believe she was free and later found out she was released due to a clerical
error. The very next week, all the ladies her age were sent to the gas chamber.
Almost immediately
upon Corrie’s release and recovery, she set about trying to help other victims.
A large house was given to her where she set up a Christian rehabilitation center
for war victims. She spent the next 30 years traveling the world telling people
of the horrors the prisoners endured and the love of God that could root out
any bitterness and make them whole. She visited over 60 countries including
Russia and other communist countries, and when she went, she always tried to
visit the prisons. She wrote her story down in a book called “The Hiding Place”
which eventually was made into a movie, and in 1968 she was honored by the
State of Israel for her work in aiding the Jewish people.
Her Story/My Story:
At a meeting where
Corrie was speaking soon after the war, she came face to face with one of the
German prison guards from the camp. This particular guard happened to be one
she and Betsie had to strip down in front of. He had become a Christian and he
came up to her after her talk and asked to shake her hand. The feelings that
came over her were almost more than she could bear, and she found herself
praying, “Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me Your forgiveness.” The love that
swept over her heart in that moment almost took her breath away. She found she
did have love in her heart for this man who had so wronged her. There was
forgiveness in her heart that God had put there that she could give to this
man. She was able to embrace his handshake, and once again feel the freedom
that only comes with forgiveness and letting go. Corrie found in her rehabilitation
work, that only those who were able to forgive could make a good recovery and
begin to live again. They could experience a life renewed, not only by being
forgiven by the One who did no wrong, but also by forgiving the one who had done
so much wrong to them. No one would have faulted Corrie for being filled with
anger and bitterness at her captors, her persecutors, . . . and some might even
go so far as to say . . . her God, but Corrie refused to live the life of a
victim and instead chose to live life victoriously . . . free from bitterness .
. . free from anger . . . freedom from revenge . . . simply free.
Bible Study: Freedom in Forgiveness
Forgiveness is foreign to
man’s nature, but it is the heart of God to forgive. Forgiveness is something
every Christian struggles with and very few know how to deal with. Forgiveness
is not a feeling that you passively wait for to come over you at some
undetermined time when you all of a sudden have no more anger in your heart
towards someone. Forgiveness, instead, is a choice you make to release yourself
from anger, hatred, and resentment. I love that quote, “Forgiveness doesn’t
make the other person right, it makes you free.”
Three steps
to experiencing the freedom of forgiveness:
1. Perform
surgery. Just like a weed must be
pulled out by the roots instead of just cutting down what shows on the surface,
we must perform surgery on our hearts and minds. This is an inner
response where you perform spiritual surgery in your memory, just like
God did when He says in Hebrews 8:12, “For I will
be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will
I remember no more.” Not only does God no longer remember our sins, He
says He removes our sins from us. It says in Psalm
103:12, “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our
transgressions from us.” Do you ever wonder why the Lord said from the
east is from the west instead of from the north to the south? It would be the
same difference, wouldn’t it? No, it wouldn’t. There is a point on the globe when
you are going north that you can go no further and instead have to start going south,
but there is no point on the globe when you are going west that you cannot still
go further west. Interesting isn’t it? This verse teaches us that God remembers
our sin no more. There is no point at which He allows Himself to turn back and
remember our sins. He does not continually bring our sins up to us. He does not
allow our sins to change His loving nature toward us. With God’s power and by
meditating on His forgiveness, you can cut out of your mind all of the
injustices committed against you. It doesn’t happen naturally. It doesn’t
happen automatically. But . . . it can be done. For me what I have found works
best is any time a thought comes to my mind about a past hurt or a wrong that
has been done to me, I commit it to the Lord, tell myself I have already
forgiven the person who has wronged me, and pray for them. When that fails and
I find my mind once again dwelling on the injustice, I literally smack my hand
and tell myself, “You will not think about that.” Since I’m not into
self-inflicting pain, this usually does the trick for me, although sometimes it
takes a few smacks.
2. Reconcile
relationships. Forgiveness is complete when alienated people are
fully reconciled. I want to preface this with the fact that I am not advocating
putting yourself in a dangerous situation where someone could cause you
physical harm again, but I do believe that forgiveness in its truest form is
shown when we are willing to be wronged again by someone who has wronged us
before. Jesus shows us this example in Matthew
5:39, “But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite
thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.” How many of us are
guilty of saying, “I forgive you, but I’m not getting close to you again.” Forgiveness
means that you end the cycle of pain by restoring the relationship – whether or
not the person ever apologizes or tries to make things right on their end. The
Bible gives us many examples of people who were good not only at forgiving but
also at trying to restore the relationship. Joseph forgave his brothers who
sold him into slavery and showed love to them. David forgave Saul who tried to
kill him numerous times without cause and showed him honor. And of course,
Jesus was our greatest example who, when dying on the cross, said, “. . . Father forgive them; for they know not what they do.
. . ” Besides the fact that God commands us to forgive many times in the
Bible, He gives to us the greatest example of forgiveness and restoration of
relationship when He forgives you and I every day, many times a day, and
continues to seek a relationship with us. We, who are forgiven, not only have
the capacity to forgive but the motivation to forgive as well.
Copyright 2019 www.sharihouse.com
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*Disclaimer:
*Disclaimer:
I have chosen to highlight the life of these ladies because of what they have accomplished for the Lord not because I agree with their doctrinal beliefs. As with all study of man, our focus should be on the character traits they bestowed in their lives that allowed the Lord to use them, how the Lord used them, the methods of ministry they incorporated that allowed them to be effective, etc. We do not study man to get our doctrine. Our doctrinal beliefs should only come from the Bible. To that end you may find you don’t agree with the doctrine of a particular person that I write about, but I believe there is still much wisdom we can gain from studying their lives.
I love that verse Psalm 103:12 especially when we sing it in worship. It gets me every time. God's love and mercy is so awesome I can hardly contain myself when I think of what he has done for me. Such love.
ReplyDeleteCorrie Ten Boom life of service is a great witness for those who don't consider themselves able to do much. She gave everything to service the Lord and he in turn preserved her for his works. Such a wonderful life in Christ. I miss seeing her interviewed on Christian television but "she hath done what she could".