The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
Rating: 5 of 5 STARS
Source: Church book club pick for February (Christian Biography)
I read this some years ago and it's on my list of all time favorites. (Granted, I have a big list, but this one would probably make my top ten, too.) I love Corrie. I love her realness, her earthiness, her honesty. I love the way she served the Lord, the way she struggled with her own sinfulness in the midst of unimaginable suffering. She's definitely on my top-10-people-to-have-dinner-with-when-I-get-to-Heaven list!
Most people know the story of this book: two spinster sisters (Corrie and Betsie) in Holland hide Jews in their home during World War II, begin a huge underground resistance operation, are arrested, and spend a period of time in two German concentration camps. It's the story of courage, faith, and forgiveness.
There are so many passages I marked this time reading it and we had a wonderful discussion last night at our book club meeting. If you've never read it, please do...it will be good for your soul. If you read it a long time ago, think about doing it again. It's a book I think I'll want to read over and over again.
There is one thing that I wanted to discuss about this book that didn't get brought up last night. Of all the possible discussion points, this one is a little obscure, but it's been on my mind, none-the-less. Corrie is in a concentration camp, in a small cell with other women, and notices that one woman has made herself a make-shift deck of cards with tissue to pass the time. Corrie had no experience with card-playing as her father never allowed them in their home. She asks the woman to show her how to play the solitaire game:
I was a slow learner, since no cards of any kind had been played at the Beje. Now as I began to grasp the solitaire game I wondered what Father's resistance to them had been - surely nothing could be more innocent than this succession of shapes called clubs, spades, diamonds...But as the days passed I began to discover a subtle danger. When the cards went well my spirits rose. It was an omen: someone from Haarlem had been released! But if I lost...maybe someone was ill. The people in the secret room had been found out...At last I had to stop playing.
I found that passage interesting and it got me to thinking about what do I look to as 'omens?' What makes my spirit rise and fall instead of the Word and promises of God? Is it the playing out of world news? How each of my children happen to be doing at the moment? How we are doing financially? If things are going well at work? Just something to chew on for the day. Peace.
PS. A good follow up to The Hiding Place is Corrie's Tramp for the Lord. It tells of what happened once she was released and her work.
Rating: 5 of 5 STARS
Source: Church book club pick for February (Christian Biography)
I read this some years ago and it's on my list of all time favorites. (Granted, I have a big list, but this one would probably make my top ten, too.) I love Corrie. I love her realness, her earthiness, her honesty. I love the way she served the Lord, the way she struggled with her own sinfulness in the midst of unimaginable suffering. She's definitely on my top-10-people-to-have-dinner-with-when-I-get-to-Heaven list!
Most people know the story of this book: two spinster sisters (Corrie and Betsie) in Holland hide Jews in their home during World War II, begin a huge underground resistance operation, are arrested, and spend a period of time in two German concentration camps. It's the story of courage, faith, and forgiveness.
There are so many passages I marked this time reading it and we had a wonderful discussion last night at our book club meeting. If you've never read it, please do...it will be good for your soul. If you read it a long time ago, think about doing it again. It's a book I think I'll want to read over and over again.
There is one thing that I wanted to discuss about this book that didn't get brought up last night. Of all the possible discussion points, this one is a little obscure, but it's been on my mind, none-the-less. Corrie is in a concentration camp, in a small cell with other women, and notices that one woman has made herself a make-shift deck of cards with tissue to pass the time. Corrie had no experience with card-playing as her father never allowed them in their home. She asks the woman to show her how to play the solitaire game:
I was a slow learner, since no cards of any kind had been played at the Beje. Now as I began to grasp the solitaire game I wondered what Father's resistance to them had been - surely nothing could be more innocent than this succession of shapes called clubs, spades, diamonds...But as the days passed I began to discover a subtle danger. When the cards went well my spirits rose. It was an omen: someone from Haarlem had been released! But if I lost...maybe someone was ill. The people in the secret room had been found out...At last I had to stop playing.
I found that passage interesting and it got me to thinking about what do I look to as 'omens?' What makes my spirit rise and fall instead of the Word and promises of God? Is it the playing out of world news? How each of my children happen to be doing at the moment? How we are doing financially? If things are going well at work? Just something to chew on for the day. Peace.
PS. A good follow up to The Hiding Place is Corrie's Tramp for the Lord. It tells of what happened once she was released and her work.
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3 comments:
This book has been on my mind lately; I haven't read it in years but have been reading a lot of Holocaust books recently. I think I'll move it up on my list. Thanks!
I happened upon this book at a local book store last Friday, bought it on a whim, and spent all day Saturday reading it. What a wonderful book. I had heard of Corrie ten Boom but knew little about her beyond the basics. I'm not sure how it is that I never managed to read this book before, but I'm glad I found it.
She is one of my heros!! I used to have a plaque on my wall - a quote from her - and it went something like this: Every circumstance that God puts in your life is the perfect preparation for the ministry He has planned for you. That is not exactly the quote, but gives the idea. I was privledged to hear her in person at my church eons ago!
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