The Hiding Place tells the true story of Betsie and Corrie Ten Boom, two Christian Dutch sisters who housed Jews during WW2. The book is written from Corrie’s perspective as she remembers the highs and lows of her life and how God held her in every moment.

Both Corrie and Betsie were incredible women of God, but Betise is a personal hero of mine.

The way she sees beauty in everything. Even when being tortured in a concentration camp. She suffered deeply, wore it honestly, and clung to everything God said in every moment. She took God literally and applied His goodness and promises to every place she ever found herself. There are three striking moments in the story from her life that have shaped the way I see God and the world.

1. Early in the war, during an air raid on Holland one night, Corrie went downstairs into the kitchen to talk to Betsie because she couldn’t sleep. When she went back upstairs after a short while, she cut her hand on her pillow and found a large shard of metal had flown through the window and pierced it. She ran back downstairs to Betsie and cried that if she hadn’t had trouble sleeping she would have been dead just then. Bestie calmed her and simply answered that there are no “if’s” in God’s world; the center of His will was the only safe place.

I’ve let that quote permeate me many times in moments of fear. I love that that moment happened quite early in the story: God intentionally using it to prepare them for what He was about to walk them though.

2. Later, they get arrested for helping the Jews and both sisters end up in prison in isolation for months in a filthy cell. They’re both very unwell during this time and suffer with a lot of trauma, however when being relocated from the prison to the first concentration camp, Corrie walks past Betsie’s open cell and sees that Bestie had cleaned and decorated the room with whatever she had (even making the filthy straw beds look homely). I was so struck by that image and how we’re called to carry peace and beauty into wherever God puts us. It doesn’t matter how difficult, filthy, or scary the situation is.

3. My third favourite moment is after Corrie and Betsie are living in their final concentration camp and the warehouse they’re kept in is infested with fleas. Corrie moans and cries about the fleas and the filth but Bestie gentley rebukes her and reminds her to be thankful in all things. Bestie leads Corrie in a prayer of thanking God for the fleas and trusting that He’s looking after them perfectly.

That leads to a bunch of cool stuff happening, but I’ll let you read it and find out.

Be prepared to get wrecked.

Corrie’s life is an example of how God can use anything for His glory.

One of her anthems that came out of her experiences was “There’s no pit too deep that Jesus isn’t deeper still “

Mum used to tell us this story when we were very young, and I come back to the life of the Ten Boom sisters so often to be reminded of the perfection of Jesus in all things. We can get so caught up in our own struggles, and forget that Jesus has a track record of being perfect.

Remind yourself that He’s enough for everything and anything. There’s nothing too big or too small. No struggle too momentary or persistent. He’s enough for all of it. I often sing to myself the lines “He’s bigger than I know He is and stronger than I hope He is.”

Take a moment to remind yourself of who He says He is. Because it’s really true.

“The Lord sat enthroned at the Flood

And the Lord sits as King forever.”

Psalm 29:10 nkjv