Corrie ten Boom was a part of the Dutch resistance and help to rescue some 800 Jews from the Nazi holocaust.
Their family was eventually betrayed and she and her sister and her father were imprisoned in concentration
camps. Her father died just ten days after being imprisoned. She and her sister ministered to the people in the
Ravensbrück concentration camp until her sister died. Corrie was released just weeks later due to a clerical
error…and all others her age were sent to the gas chambers. After the war, she went from country to country
sharing the love and forgiveness that could be found in Jesus Christ. She went to a conquered Germany that had
brought so much pain to her and her family and all those Jewish refugees that they had rescued and shared the
love and forgiveness of this Jesus of the Bible. On one occasion she had finished speaking and a bald man in a
gray overcoat and brown hat in his hand approached her. As soon as she saw him, she remembered the blue
uniform and the cap with the SS skull and crossed bones on it and she recognized him as one of the most cruel
punishers in their camp. She remembered the humiliation and the pain that this man had caused. He spoke to
her and said, “Fraulein, how nice it was to hear that God casts all our sins into the depths of the sea and
remembers them no more.” “You mentioned Ravensbrück in your speech,” he continued, “and I was a warden
there. But since then, I have become a Christian and I know that God has forgiven me for all the cruelties that I
have committed. And yet I would like to hear a word of forgiveness from your lips, Fraulein. Can you forgive
me?” He reached out his hand to her and she could not move. And she said that she felt her hand begin to
move to his and she said, “I forgive you brother…with all my heart.” She said, “It was not my love, but God’s.”
She wrote that she learned that forgiveness is a volitional decision…you choose to forgive or to continue to
hate. And when you forgive, you love like you have been loved and only then will you truly begin your journey
to understand the love and kindness of this Jesus of the cross.
Here’s our Bible verse for today…
Colossians 3:12-13 NLT Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. (13) Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you.
Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.
Remember I’m praying for you,
PJ
Here’s our Bible verse for today…
Colossians 3:12-13 NLT Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. (13) Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you.
Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.
Remember I’m praying for you,
PJ