May 16 – Tramp for the Lord
There are a few stories that can still bring tears to my eyes 35 years after the first time I read them, but Corrie Ten Boom’s story continues to move my heart. Her book, written in 1974, “Tramp for the Lord” was one of the first accounts of Nazi concentration camps I had ever read.
She grew up in the Netherlands in a devout Christian family. Her father was a watchmaker and Corrie became the first female watchmaker ever licensed in the Netherlands. Her brother Willem had gone to school for theology and warned the Dutch government about the Nazis and their intents for Jews, but was never heard.
She and her family helped many Jewish families escape the Netherlands when the Nazis invaded and transformed a spot in the wall of Corrie’s room into a Hiding Place with a vent for air so that Jews could hide there during raids.
Then came the day that the family was taken into custody while six Jews hid in the wall of Corrie’s room. Her father died within ten days after their capture, a sister, brother and nephew were released, Corrie and her older sister Betsie, a beautiful, frail young woman ended up in Ravensbruck. Betsie was a pianist and the Nazi guards broke all of her fingers while in the camp – that story alone was enough to send me to tears.
Betsie died while in the camp, but before she did, she told her sister “There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still.” Their faith continued to hold them up. Corrie was later released, but discovered that it had been a clerical error. The next week, women her age were killed in the camp. She said, “God has no problems, only plans.”
After the war, Corrie returned to the Netherlands to set up rehabilitation centers. She cared for concentration camp survivors as well as those who had collaborated with the Nazis during the occupations. One of the greatest stories she told was of meeting a former guard from Ravensbruck. She knew that it would be difficult to forgive him, but prayed that God would give her the strength. She wrote: “For a long moment we grasped each other's hands, the former guard and the former prisoner. I had never known God's love so intensely as I did then.”
Corrie returned to Germany and spent much of the rest of her life traveling the world, teaching about Christ’s love and forgiveness, a lesson that she had lived.
There are a few stories that can still bring tears to my eyes 35 years after the first time I read them, but Corrie Ten Boom’s story continues to move my heart. Her book, written in 1974, “Tramp for the Lord” was one of the first accounts of Nazi concentration camps I had ever read.
She grew up in the Netherlands in a devout Christian family. Her father was a watchmaker and Corrie became the first female watchmaker ever licensed in the Netherlands. Her brother Willem had gone to school for theology and warned the Dutch government about the Nazis and their intents for Jews, but was never heard.
She and her family helped many Jewish families escape the Netherlands when the Nazis invaded and transformed a spot in the wall of Corrie’s room into a Hiding Place with a vent for air so that Jews could hide there during raids.
Then came the day that the family was taken into custody while six Jews hid in the wall of Corrie’s room. Her father died within ten days after their capture, a sister, brother and nephew were released, Corrie and her older sister Betsie, a beautiful, frail young woman ended up in Ravensbruck. Betsie was a pianist and the Nazi guards broke all of her fingers while in the camp – that story alone was enough to send me to tears.
Betsie died while in the camp, but before she did, she told her sister “There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still.” Their faith continued to hold them up. Corrie was later released, but discovered that it had been a clerical error. The next week, women her age were killed in the camp. She said, “God has no problems, only plans.”
After the war, Corrie returned to the Netherlands to set up rehabilitation centers. She cared for concentration camp survivors as well as those who had collaborated with the Nazis during the occupations. One of the greatest stories she told was of meeting a former guard from Ravensbruck. She knew that it would be difficult to forgive him, but prayed that God would give her the strength. She wrote: “For a long moment we grasped each other's hands, the former guard and the former prisoner. I had never known God's love so intensely as I did then.”
Corrie returned to Germany and spent much of the rest of her life traveling the world, teaching about Christ’s love and forgiveness, a lesson that she had lived.
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