I finished my first book for the Spring Reading Challenge last week but have taken a while to write a review for it, mainly because it deals with harsh subject matter and I wanted to do it justice, not just rattle off a blurb about it. The Hiding Place is set in Holland, and tells the true story of the Ten Boom family, focusing on their ministry to Jews and others deemed unwanted by the German regime before, during, and after the Second World War. It is told by Corrie Ten Boom, through the writers John and Elizabeth Sherrill. Corrie shares many horrific stories of persecution and racism, but to me there were two themes that wove throughout the pages. One was God's faithfulness to those who sought Him, to those who clung to Him in midst of terrible crisis, which in this book involved beatings, starvation, imprisonment, homelessness, sickness,and death. The other thing that really stood out was the healing power of forgiveness - the kind of forgiveness that came when those struggling allowed God to give them the ability to forgive huge injustices and the perpetrators. Amazing feats were accomplished in this story and much glory given to God by the willingness to forgive, let go, and let God.
This is a story that we all should read. I am going to give it to my kids when they are in their teens. I don't think that we as a society comprehend the horrors of the Holocaust and the evil behind it. Neither do I feel confident that this situation could never occur again. (I can't remember who blogged about this very thing- a school assignment about the Holocaust gone awry. If you know who that was, please let me know so I can link to it here). If it does, I pray that my family would have the courage to fiercely follow Jesus and reach out in love as the Ten Booms did.
"And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself."
pg 238, The Hiding Place
6 comments:
I love the story of Corrie Ten Boom she was such a Godly woman. The movie is good too.
I love that book I've read it twice!
i remember seeing the movie when i was about 12. what an impact it had on me! i didn't read the book until later in my teens and it was even more amazing.
I read that book last year as our read aloud. I read the first chapter aloud to the kids and then finished it up by myself over the weekend. I cried through the whole thing. Then I read it aloud. We also had the privilidge of going to see the real Hiding Place in Harleem. You can read about it on my old blog here http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KarenW/204897/ and see pictures here http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KarenW/273586/
This is the first I have heard about this book, but now my curiousity is definitly peaked! Thanks for the great review!
Jennifer
i read The Hiding Place a couple years ago. i had heard a lot about it, heard it quoted in sermons, and so forth, but i was not prepared for what a life-changing read it was! i highly recommend it!
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