The Hiding Place- By Corrie ten Boom

I cannot rave about "The Hiding Place" enough! This book, written by Corrie ten Boom ( what an awesome name by the way! ) is the story of her and her family during World War II when Holland became occupied by Germany.

Even though Holland was a neutral country and the Dutch government assured their people that their neutrality would be respected, Nazi Germany soon took over. Corrie lived with her father and sister in their old beloved home. Corrie and her father ran the century old watch shop that sat at the front of their home.

The ten Booms were faithful Christians that read the Bible as a family twice a day. They opened their home to the outcasts, fed the hungry, and housed the homeless.

When the Nazi's began to persecute the Jews in Holland Corrie and her family began helping them without even questioning their own safety.

Corrie and her family slowly began to create a web of an underground operation that allowed them to take in Jews, find them a safe hiding place, feed them, and just protect them from the Nazis.

When a Jew was an exceptionally big risk for a family to hide ( they looked exceptionally Jewish or were too old and sick ) the ten Booms would take them in.

All of their work during the war was phenomenal. They risked their safety, their business, used their precious food rations, and spent their money to help the hunted.

The story does not end there though! In 1944, the ten Booms were finally caught by the Gestapo when a Dutch man tricked Corrie into giving him some information ( it was hard to know who you could and could not trust during that time ).

Corrie at age 51, her older sister, her 80 year old father, and many other underground workers were arrested at their home one night.

Corrie and her family were taken to a Dutch prison and two concentration camps before the war finally ended.

Even though she saw the horrors of prison camps Corrie still found that God is good and that Jesus is deeper still than any pit you could possibly be in. Even though it was hard, Corrie still thanked God in all things. The stories she tells in her book will reveal the living God to you.

I was reminded time and again as I read this book that our strength or talents to do anything to not come from us but from the Lord. Corrie would often just come out and ask for things from God that she could not do on her own. For example, after she was released from prison, she met one of the guards that had made her life so miserable in the prison camp. He came to shake her hand and she could not bring herself to do it. She could not forgive this man for what he had done. So, she asked God right there to give her his forgiveness because she was not able to forgive him on her own.

This book is full of wonderful history. It brings the power of God to life and shows the incredible strength of a family that trusted God and did what he told them to do.

The Hiding Place is an incredible story you do not want to miss. Corrie's mission, after surviving the horrors of prison camp, was to tell the world what she learned. You have the opportunity to hear her message through this book!