The Hiding Place

The title of Corrie Ten Boom's book, a personal account of her involvement in the hiding of those persecuted during WWII, has so much meaning. Not only did she provide a physical hiding place in her house in Haarlem during those terrible years she also experienced God's grace in the hiding place that He provides at all times, through all circumstances. I just finished the book and found it to be very gripping. What an amazing story of a family that risked all to help those in need, got caught doing so, and were sent to concentration camps. Corrie survived to tell the story, one that many of you have probably read or at least heard of before. She understood what it meant to offer her body as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God (part of Romans 12:1) - what a woman of faith and a role model she is! I had the chance to go to Haarlem (a 15 minute train ride away) last weekend to visit the house in which God was glorified for so many years - it was so exciting to personally see that this is still happening today. The bottom of the house is no longer a watch shop but a jewelry store, so to begin the free tour we had to start outside and then go up a small staircase alongside the back of the store to get to the living room of the Ten Boom home. Here our tour guide told us to have a seat and proceeded to tell us the story of Corrie's life, which in short was a very clear profession of the Gospel message. The guide told so boldly, yet with such compassion, about Jesus' love that covers all to all those sitting in the room - it was so cool! Then we all trooped up the stairs to the bedrooms, the secret room was found inside Corrie's room. Here's a picture, when those staying in the house had to go in hiding they crawled into the small hole on the bottom left, you can also see the size of the secret room by the hole that was made on the right - I really did not realize that the room was so tiny, 6 people were hid so well on the day the house was raided that they were never found.

The way that Corrie gives her readers a glimpse into the life of prison and concentration camps is amazing. She shows so clearly how God was at work for good in a situation that causes us to think that only bad could have existed. A quote that I found to be particularly gripping was one that Betsie, Corrie's sister, said before she died in the camp: "We must tell them that there is no pit so deep that He is not deeper still. They will listen to us, Corrie, because we have been here." To now know that this was true in their terrible situation gives me hope to believe that this has been true and will be true always regardless of how terrible things are in the world. Of course, I am not excusing the wars and suffering of our day but I rejoice to know and believe in a God who never intended for us to experience the wrath of sin, praise to Him for the hope we have in Christ Jesus - and the chances He gives us to share in this hope with others.