The Hiding Place: Library Edition

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Summary: A Lesson in Christ's Unbounded Forgiveness
Review: This classic work touches on so many feelings and thoughts. For me, the most interesting part was the one where she came across the SS man who had been at Ravensbruck (p. 238). Hatred and revenge came to Corrie's heart. She could not bring herself to shake his hand. She realized that she could not forgive him in her own power, and so she prayerfully asked for the Lord's forgiveness to flow through her. At once, her hatred melted away and was replaced by overwhelming love. She realized that the Lord, who commands us to love our enemies, also gives us the means to do this.

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Summary: Amazing story of a family's resistance against the Nazis
Review: This is an amaizing story of the Ten Boom family's participation in helping Jewish refugees during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. Corrie wrote many books after this one, but this is by far the most famous. Billy Graham's organization made a movie out of this story during the 1970's with the same title. This is the story of a family of devout Christians who did all they could to help those in need when they were facing the terrible occupation of their country during World War Two. There are many memorable parts of the book, but one of my favorites is when a prison Lieutenant is discussing with Corrie the value of mentally retarded children. Corrie and her sister had done work with retarded children as part of their church work. The Lieutenant told her that surely God did not value a "half-wit as much as a normal person." The response by Corrie was, "How would I know if God does not value a half-wit more than he does a watchmaker (Corrie's profession). Or, even a Lieutenant." That response by Corrie ended their conversation. That is one of the passages that has stuck with me, along with many others. This book brings to mind that there are many people right now, that are suffering, or imprisoned, for their religious beliefs, and makes that fact more real.