The Hiding Place By Corrie Ten Boom

Finding Peace in Terror
“If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed. If you look within, you’ll be depressed. But if you look at Christ, you’ll be at rest.” A quote by Corrie ten Boom, this is an important lesson learned in the Hiding Place. Written by Corrie ten Boom, The Hiding Place shares the experiences Corrie, a strong and affectionate woman, and her faithful and sympathetic sister, Betsie, faced during World War II. Corrie and her family peacefully resided in Amsterdam when the war began and the Jews began to be persecuted. Like a mama duck hiding her endangered eggs, the ten Boom family hid several Jews until they were eventually caught and sent to a concentration camp. There, Corrie and Betsie shared the gospel with the other prisoners

It is necessary to be prayerful at all times to do His work. Prayer is one of the most important components of having a relationship with God. The Bible explains that when worries are lifted up in prayer, God will listen and guide. Corrie tells the readers, “My job was simply to follow His leading one step at a time, holding every decision up to Him in prayer” (Ten Boom 99). Desperately, Corrie was seeking out sources who could help protect her Jews in hiding for the chance that she might encounter a situation in which she did not have the skills and resources to handle. However, she did not know the political views of the people whom she was going to contact; for all she knew, they could be spies for the Gestapo! Putting her full trust in God, Corrie did not question His ways, nor give in to the worldly influences surrounding her. God’s guidance not only directed her through this situation but many others as well. Admirably, Corrie tells of her father’s prayerful relationship with God: “He prayed over the work, too. There weren’t many repair problems he hadn’t encountered. But occasionally one would come along that baffled even him. And then I would hear him say: ‘Lord, You turn the wheels of the galaxies. You know what makes the planets spin and You know what makes this watch run’” (70). Father had enormous faith in God and was unafraid to pray in front of the

Discipleship brings about a community of believers to worship together and come into the very presence of God. The Bible reads, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (King James Version, Matt. 18.20). Betsie and Corrie knew that spreading the word of God would lift their spirits and bring faith in the concentration camp. Teaching the other women about His goodness got them through these hard times. Corrie says, “...Betsie and I made our way to the rear of the dormitory room where we held our worship service.” (Ten Boom 212). Having just returned to their sleeping quarters to hold their nightly Bible reading session, the sisters quickly realized that in the terrible conditions they were in, there was no better time to worship God by sharing His love. So, despite their instinctive fear of authorities finding them, they held services in Barrack 28 to share the message and lift the spirits of the broken women surrounding them. Corrie says, “‘There is One who has them always in His sight, Lieutenant Rahms. Jesus is the Light the Bible shows to me, the Light that can shine even in such darkness as yours.’” (174). The Lieutenant is holding meetings with Corrie to talk about his life and his faith. Shortly after Corrie and the Lieutenant met again, he indirectly revealed that there was a great darkness in his life that he was trapped in. To assure him, Corrie