I am gaining proper perspective on what the power of the Holy Spirit can do in a person's heart amidst terrible heartache. HE, that is God-- the Holy Spirit-- can & does the impossible in our hearts when we give ourselves up to Him. Gaining proper perspective on what is truly horrible!! Most of us... surely there's that small percentage that doesn't... but most of us we use words like horrible or what someone did to us was 'serious'... we're a nation of exaggerators.
I'm reading this book about people-- this family-- who were really good people. They were the kind that I've not ever heard of in my life. I know people who do good things here and there... I myself have been recipient of delicious meals brought to me at the birth of a new baby or during illness... sometimes I tease those friends and ask them what I should do next to get some of their delicious home-made cooking. :) In all seriousness though... I'm reading this book about people who made it their lives work to give hospitably to the poor, not even recognizing their own poverty. Who were in the kitchen day in and day out delivering home-made foods, mailing heartwarming encouraging letters to others, people who when other impeded on them only confronted the other as a friend, people who tirelessly served others & regarded everyone as someone to love... Corrie ten Boom taught a church service for mentally handicapped people... Their family took in foster children constantly... And when the love of her life showed up on her door step with his new fiance' she sought God and He gave her the power to forgive Him and Love him as Jesus does, releasing him romantically. ... They were arrested during WW2 for helping Jews find food ration cards, fake IDs, safe shelter to hide from Nazis, they hid up to 12 in their home at one time because no one else would take them because they were a higher risk to being found out. In the Nazi prison they found out who "sold them out" and Corrie's sister Betsie only felt sorry for the man and committed to pray God's blessing over him-- and Corrie, she writes of her prayer of forgiveness to this man, because when she found out she wanted nothing more than to kill him. As I read this book I see the evidence of the Holy Spirit over everything that they sought to do; His provision, protection amidst horror, & giving the power to forgive and seek to give the Love of God over to others. Corrie even shares that she thought Betsie was just as happy there sharing the Love of Christ as she was at home... I'm still reading... I think they are going in to Germany now, to the concentration camp, and I think It gets worse. These women are in their 50s & 60s after their arrest.... and Corrie had a really bad case of the flu when she was arrested and beaten... she was sick for months-- coughing blood and fever ridden.
These words... terrible, horrible, even serious are definitely applicable here. I'm learning this. I'm sure there are those reading who could most assuredly apply these words to their lives. Abuse is horrible-- from parents, from teachers, from classmates, from strangers, and from Nazis. And Nazi concentration camps take horrible to a whole new level of terror. Makes me more aware of my right to vote as leaders have a profound affect & effect on the state of our world. Regardless of who is in power, Jesus is King and He is always good-- just read what the women locked up by Nazis have to say.
This book, aside from the Bible, is the most life changing book I've ever read!!
The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom. click here to purchase on amazon.
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