The Hiding Place

It was Christmas Day at the Beem house where a dozen family members were gathered. We sat at the "kids" table (though there was no one under the age of 18 in the house). After the roast beef and baked potatoes were gone, we kids made our way to the living room. One by one, each picked up a book or a game and began to occupy himself. Lamenting that I forgot to bring my copy of Grace for the Good Girl, I headed up the stairs with Eric to the bookshelf.

A few minutes later, I headed back to the living room with my selections: Tom Sawyer, a couple Sleepover Friends books, a Babysitter's Little Sister story, and what, not surprisingly, turned out to be the jackpot: The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom.

I'm only 88 pages into Corrie's story, and God's already been using it to teach me some wonderful true things about Himself!

Here are some selected quotes... but I really recommend getting a copy of the book to read yourself!! I'm especially amazed by Corrie's father's wisdom. Oh, how I hope to pass on wisdom like this to my children:

"Corrie," he began instead, "do you know what hurts so very much? It's love. Love is the strongest force in the world, and when it is blocked that means pain. "There are two things we can do when this happens. We can kill the love so that it stops hurting. But then of course part of us dies, too. Or, Corrie, we can ask God to open up another route for that love to travel. "God loves Karel--even more than you do--and if you ask Him, He will give you His love for this man, a love nothing can prevent, nothing destroy. Whenever we cannot love in the old, human way, Corrie, God can give us his perfect way." I did not know, as I listened to Father's footsteps winding back down the stairs, that he had given me more than the key to this hard moment. I did not know that he had put into my hands the secret that would open far darker rooms than this--places where there was not, on a human level, anything to love at all.” 

“If God has shown us bad times ahead, it's enough for me that He knows about them. That's why He sometimes shows us things, you know - to tell us that this too is in His hands.” 

“There are no 'ifs' in God's Kingdom. His timing is perfect. His will is our hiding place. Lord Jesus, keep me in Your will! Don't let me go mad by poking about outside it.” 

“All through the short afternoon they kept coming, the people who counted themselves Father's friends. Young and old, poor and rich, scholarly gentlemen and illiterate servant girls—only to Father did it seem that they were all alike. That was Father's secret: not that he overlooked the differences in people; that he didn't know they were there.” 

“At last we heard Father's footsteps winding up the stairs. It was the best moment in every day, when he came up to tuck us in. We never fell asleep until he had arranged the blankets in his special way and laid his hand for a moment on each head. Then we tried not to move even a toe. But that night as he stepped through the door I burst into tears. "I need you!" I sobbed. "You can't die! You can't!"Father sat down on the edge of the narrow bed. "Corrie," he began gently, "when you and I go to Amsterdam, when do I give you your ticket?" I sniffed a few times, considering this. "Why, just before we get on the train.""Exactly. And our wise Father in Heaven knows when we're going to need things too. Don't run out ahead of Him, Corrie. When the time comes that some of us will have to die, you will look into your heart and find the strength you need--just in time.” 

Thank you, Lord, for this Christmas gift (one of many) I didn't even know I needed. Thank You for causing me to forget my book at home and leading me to choose this book instead of the Babysitter's Little Sister book. Thank You for saving Corrie Ten Boom and her family. Thank You that Corrie lived to tell her story. Thank You for the wisdom we can gain through this story. Help us to trust you, remembering that we need never to "be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”