So much here I want to internalize! This book is truly the greatest testimony I have heard of the enabling power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Because of Corrie and Betsie’s faith in Jesus Christ AND living how He would have them live they were able to come through the depravity, brutality and cruelty of a Nazi concentration camp with peace, purpose, mission and assurance. Because of their faith they were able to stand strong when everything was pulling them down and be unselfish, forgiving, persevere and minister to those around them.
The first thing this book made me think of is: How can I give my kids this kind of foundation and faith so (heaven, forbid) if they ever face anything like this they can have the peace of Corrie and Betsie and survive it as well as these two women did? (Betsie may have not survived physically, but spiritually she VERY much is alive and well is testified in the book.)
The answer for me was in Corrie’s father and the family culture he’d created.
• The by -the -clock, morning and evening scripture reading no matter who was there or what was going on (and it wasn’t just reading, this man obviously LOVED the scriptures and shared that love.)
• the selfless service : taking in the aunts and the foster children and sealing his life by saying to the judge who gladly would’ve let him out of prison to return home, ‘ If I go home today, tomorrow I will open my door again to any man in need who knocks.’
• Teaching in parables, using familiar situations and things the kids readily understood to teach principles: The suitcase story- God or I, as a father, will not give you anything too heavy to carry until you are able and ready. The train ticket/death analogy - 'Our wise Father in heaven knows when we're going to need things, too. Don't run out ahead of Him...you will look into your heart and find the strength you need -- just in time.'
• Teaching by example: wanted to show young Nazi youth his error not by lecture, but by showing him of their love for the Bible. Yet, although Father was kind, non judging, always gave the benefit of the doubt, taught by example and had employed people with serious flaws before, giving them the chance to change and the inspiration through his own example, when it became known that this youth was seriously in the wrong with his treatment of Christoffels, father wasn't afraid to make a stand and fired him promptly. (only person he ever fired.)
• Always addressing issues head on (Corrie refusing to go to school), never speaking half-truths even to comfort. False hope is NOT comfort . To illustrate: When Corrie’s love, Karel, announces his engagement to someone else, her father’s reply:
‘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 the perfect way.’ POWERFUL!
That right there , Corrie says, was secret to overcome the darkness where there was not, on a human level, anything to love at all.
That is why I feel like this is book is the greatest testimony of the enabling power of Christ’s Atonement. Give everything over to Him, ask Him to give you His perfect love and just as Christ overcame the world, so can we through Him, even if that is in a Nazi concentration camp. Because of this belief, death-beds became door-ways to heaven, rampant disease and illness became opportunities to minister and the complete despair and brutality of the whole atmosphere became a great opportunity to testify and share the beacon of hope in Christ.
I LOVED that part of this book, the comparison of their own lives to Christ’s journey through life, how when in the concentration camp they remembered how right before the glorious triumph of the resurrection Christ suffered the utmost brutality, depravity and humiliation at the hands of His captors and likened that to themselves, not in an irreverent way, but as in a Christ overcame the world and accomplished the greatest gift ever given to mankind coming out of that situation, can’t we try do the same here?
As I write I just remember more and more in this book that is so noteworthy! I also loved the emphasis on how we all have different roles to play in life and accomplishing God’s mission for us and how different modes and methods need to be applied by different people to accomplish these things. Nollie, told the truth ALWAYS and was protected ( very literally, ‘the truth will set you free'). Corrie to fulfill her mission had to be more deceptive. Both acted on the true principles taught by their father but relied step-by-step on the guidance of the Holy Ghost to help them with their specific situation and how God wanted them to handle it. (In my faith, reminds me of Nephi killing Laban.) True principles should always guide, but we need the Spirit’s direction to handle all the crazy, different situations life hands us. Plus, we should keep from judging (again Corrie’s father, a great example) because we never know what they are being called on to do to fulfill their God-given mission, it’s different for all of us.
Other noteworthy things:
• The fleas: epic!! This has happened so often in my life. My move to a tiny town a half-mile away from the Father-in-law (who I do NOT see eye-to-eye with), aka hillbilly hell, turned out to be the best thing ever for me. I only wished I would’ve handled it with Betsie’s perspective and grace. I think it’s instructive to note too, that perspective and grace came, once again, from the scripture study habit instilled in them by their father. I just need to remember this principle on a more regular basis now so I can have Betsie’s perspective.
• Pg. 214: ‘This was the great ploy of Satan in that kingdom of his: to display such blatant evil that one could almost believe one’s own secret sins didn’t matter.’
• Pg. 214: ‘ The real sin lay in thinking that any power to help and transform came from me. Of course it was not my wholeness, but Christ’s that made the difference.’
• Corrie refuses to ever indulge in any self-justification. ‘the special temptation of concentration camp life: the temptation to think only of oneself… how easy it was to give it other names.’ I wish I could say my own selfishness only surfaced in concentration camp circumstances. But, seriously, even in that depth of depravity she realized her own short comings, owned them, and sought to change with Christ's help.
• Pg 224: ‘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.’ Again and again, this faith buoyed them knowing the Lord’s will would be done, come what may and that everything had a purpose and a plan and because that purpose and plan were in God’s hands it would turn out perfectly.
• How does the immediate or urgent get in the way of the important? I thought of the story of Corrie’s friends in solitary confinement, the ants, and how whenever they surfaced she would drop washing her clothes or whatever to be with these ants, just because they were other alive beings. Such a great example for me in my life as I too often let the chores, the errands, my own selfishness get in the way of being truly present with my husband and children.
Another huge principle taught in this book, but wasn’t where I chose to focus this read was forgiveness. ‘If people can be taught to hate, they can be taught to love’.
I could go on and on about this book. It was truly transformational for me. I am just scratching the surface of what I learned here. I can’t wait to read it again!
Oh yes, and another thing I thought was noteworthy is how there were always a few people trying to do good no matter what the circumstances. Corrie and Betsie themselves, but there were also tons of others: the nurse who smuggled Corrie the Bible, Rolfe, the police chief working for and with the Nazis but helping the undeground, the nurses in Ravensbruck tenderly assisting people into trucks bound for the gas chambers, the nurse who told Corrie how to secretly enter the hospital and sought her out to let her see Betsie in peace in death, the supervisor in Ravensbruck who took a personal interest in his workers and made the situation the best he could for them. So many others. Shows me that no matter what, there is always good in the world and inspires me to be part of that good.
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