The Hiding Place - Corrie Ten Boom

From the Back Cover

"Every experience God gives us . . . is the perfect preparation for the future only He can see."--Corrie ten Boom
Corrie ten Boom was a Dutch watchmaker who became a heroine of the Resistance, a survivor of Hitler's concentration camps, and one of the most remarkable evangelists of the twentieth century. In World War II she and her family risked their lives to help Jews and underground workers escape from the Nazis, and for their work they were tested in the infamous Nazi death camps. Only Corrie among her family survived to tell the story of how faith ultimately triumphs over evil.

Here is the riveting account of how Corrie and her family were able to save many of God's chosen people. For 35 years millions have seen that there is no pit so deep that God's love is not deeper still. Now The Hiding Place, repackaged for a new generation of readers, continues to declare that God's love will overcome, heal, and restore.

Wow!!  What an amazing, inspirational book.  I'm embarrassed to say that until I picked it up to read it last week, I'd never even heard of this book.

Reading about Corrie, Betsie, and the rest of her family was such a great gift for me.  I would hope that if I were ever in any situations like the ones they faced, that I would react in a similar fashion.  It was so wonderful to see that over and over again, this family made the right decisions even when it was hard.  Even when it seemed that they would suffer terrible consequences.  They made the right decisions with total faith in God. They helped when they could have turned a blind eye.  They shared what little they had in prison knowing it may never be replenished.  Their absolute faith in God was so powerful! What absolutely amazing lessons that you can learn from this book!

One of my favorite parts of  the book is the Father and the suitcase.  He explained to Corrie that just as he wouldn't give her his heavy suitcase to carry, he couldn't share something with her yet because she wasn't ready (old/mature enough) for it yet.  He asked her to let him carry that for her a little longer, until she was ready to hear it.  It was a lesson that she carried with her throughout all of her struggles.  I need to remember this lesson in my own life - that God will give me what I need when I need it.  He won't give me more than I can handle, just as Corrie's dad didn't give her the heavy suitcase to carry because she wasn't ready for it yet.  There are so many fantastic stories and lessons in this book, this is just one that really struck me.

I've read several books about victims in Nazi concentration camps and while they have all been emotional, powerful books, this one was slightly different. It still described the dire situations and the struggle to survive but there was always this hope, this faith in God, this knowledge that it was in His hands and He would see them through. This gives me something to strive for in my own faith journey.

Oh, and a little plug for the group that helped me discover this book.  It's called Mentoring in the Classics and it is amazing! Here's the link to the program - http://tjed.org/mic/ .  I highly recommend it!!