The Hiding Place

Can I just tell you a little about this book and how I stumbled across it?

This year in BSF we studied the book of Romans which is a letter from Paul to the Romans about righteousness (and for me love).  He explains the depth of our human unrighteousness and the astounding love God has for ALL people.  Out of this great love, God graciously gifts righteousness through Jesus Christ to all who believe.  Through His righteousness alone is the only way.  We cannot do anything to earn righteousness (or right-standing with God) on our own.  The righteousness He bestows upon us is simply a gift given for truly believing in who Jesus is and what He did on the cross.  It is given to anyone who calls on His name.

John 3:16                Romans 10:9

One of the homework questions took me back to my favorite quote...

“This is what the past is for! Every experience God gives us, every person He puts in our lives is the perfect preparation for the future that only He can see.”

Now, I've never known who said it, who wrote it, or where it even came from.  I can't even tell you when I first found the quote or where I was in my life at the time but I knew it impacted me somewhere deep within and wanted to remember it.  Nor did I ever research the answer to those questions until recently.   All these years later, answering a question on my BSF homework, led me to find out.

It was written by Corrie ten Boom in her book, The Hiding Place.

(thank you, Google! 😉)

Well, now I had to buy this book and find time to read it.

Not only was I captivated by Corrie's story of how God was in every detail, how Jesus impacted her family and those she met, and how the Holy Spirit led her family every step of the way but I also highlighted several more quotes to hold on to.  I've listed them below so I can refer back to them easily.  Maybe they hold significance for you, too.  I'd love to hear from you if they do.

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"That was Father's secret:  not that he overlooked the differences in people; that he didn't know they were there."

"Childhood scenes rushed back at me out of the night, strangely close and urgent.  Today I know that such memories are the key not to the past, but to the future.  I know that the experiences of our lives, when we let God use them, become the mysterious and perfect preparation for the work He will give us to do."

"Father sat down on the edge of the narrow bed.  'Corrie,' he began gently, 'when you and I go to Amsterdam - when do I give you your ticket?'  I sniffed a few times, considering this.  'Why, just before we get on the train.'  'Exactly.  And our wise Father in heaven knows when we're going to need things, too.  Don't run out ahead of Him, Corrie.  When the time comes that some of us will have to die, you will look into your heart and find the strength you need - just in time."

"...yearning to say something, to heal something.  Wanting to love her better."

"Happiness isn't something that depends on our surroundings, Corrie.  It's something we make inside ourselves."

"Dear Jesus, I thank You that we must come with empty hands.  I thank You that You have done all - all - on the cross, and that all we need in life or death is to be sure of this."

"Perhaps only when human effort had done its best and failed, would God's power alone be free to work."

"The Bible lay at home on its shelf, but much of it was stored in his heart."

"And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on His.  When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself."

I mean WOW...I have nothing left to say.