Sunday, August 18, 2013

Sunday Faith Blog...Corrie ten Boom


I thought the above quote was important and true and wanted to share it with you today.  When I Googled and found the quotes below, also by Corrie ten Boom, I wanted to pick a few and share them but I knew that at least one of them I might have deleted would be the quote that might most touch one of you today, when you need it most.  I hope you will be blessed by some of these amazing thoughts by Corrie ten Boom:
“Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.”

 “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”

“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.”

“Hold everything in your hands lightly, otherwise it hurts when God pries your fingers open.”

“Worrying is carrying tomorrow's load with today's strength- carrying two days at once. It is moving into tomorrow ahead of time. Worrying doesn't empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.”

“If you look at the world, you'll be distressed. If you look within, you'll be depressed. If you look at God you'll be at rest.”

“Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart.”

“Do you know what hurts so very much? It's love. Love is the strongest force in the world, and when it is blocked that means pain. There are two things we can do when this happens. We can kill that love so that it stops hurting. But then of course part of us dies, too. Or we can ask God to open up another route for that love to travel.”

“You can never learn that Christ is all you need, until Christ is all you have.”


“What wings are to a bird, and sails to a ship, so is prayer to the soul.”

“Any concern too small to be turned into a prayer is too small to be made into a burden.”

“Some knowledge is too heavy...you cannot bear it...your Father will carry it until you are able.”

“Trying to do the Lord's work in your own strength is the most confusing, exhausting, and tedious of all work. But when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, then the ministry of Jesus just flows out of you.”

“There is no pit so deep, that God's love is not deeper still.”

“Don't bother to give God instructions; just report for duty.”

“Happiness isn't something that depends on our surroundings...It's something we make inside ourselves.”

 “Even as the angry vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him....Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me your forgiveness....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.”

“It is not my ability, but my response to God’s ability, that counts.”

 “In darkness God's truth shines most clear.”

“Dear Jesus...how foolish of me to have called for human help when You are here.”

“when we are powerless to do a thing, it is a great joy that we can come and step inside the ability of Jesus”

“There is no panic in Heaven! God has no problems, only plans.”

“There are no 'if's' in God's world. And no places that are safer than other places. The center of His will is our only safety - let us pray that we may always know it!”

“Worry is a cycle of inefficient thoughts whirling around a center of fear.”

“Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?”

“If God has shown us bad times ahead, it's enough for me that He knows about them. That's why He sometimes shows us things, you know - to tell us that this too is in His hands.”

“God's viewpoint is sometimes different from ours - so different that we could not even guess at it unless He had given us a Book which tells us such things....In the Bible I learn that God values us not for our strenght or our brains but simply because He has made us.”

“Whenever we cannot love in the old, human way . . . God can give us the perfect way.”

“Memories are the key not to the past, but to the future."

Her teaching focused on the Christian Gospel, with emphasis on forgiveness. In her book Tramp for the Lord (1974), she tells the story of an encounter while she was teaching in Germany, years later, in 1947. She was approached by a former Ravensbrück camp guard, who had been known as one of the most cruel. She was reluctant to forgive him, but prayed that she would be able to. Ten Boom 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."
Z:  Though her sister Betsie ten Boom died at Ravensbruck concentration camp after having worked so hard and suffered beyond our imaginations, the story of Corrie meeting the guard and feeling that love is well known and has touched many people in its theme of amazing forgiveness that only God can do.  What's also amazing is that her sister, before she died in the camp, told Corrie that they would both be freed before the new year.  She died and Corrie was released on December 28, 1944.  Both were, indeed, free.

Have a great Sunday.  I highly recommend the book The Hiding Place, by Corrie ten Boom.
z



14 comments:

Always On Watch said...

Corrie Ten Boom's testimony at YouTube.

sue hanes said...


Z - Thank you so much for the beautiful sayings of Corrie ten Boom and for reminding us of her inspirational life. She should be a shining example for all of us.

Have a great Sunday.

Ed Bonderenka said...

When she met that guard, she wanted to flee, or hurt him.
She knew, neither would bring her peace, but more hurt.
She realized, in that moment, she needed to forgive.
That didn't mean she wanted to.
She held her hand out coldly (in obedience).
The love, upon contact, that flowed through her, surprised her.
It's an amazing process.
Thanks for sharing these.
I particularly liked:
“Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?” .
My pastor, when asked to pray over a difficult situation often asks, with humour:
"Oh no! Has it come to this, that we must pray?".

Z said...

AOW, I know..it's so wonderful to have her on tape...such an inspiration.
The film is excellent, too....but the book REALLY describes the atrocities at Ravensbruck and what she and Betsie went through.

Sue, she should, indeed. I'm glad you enjoyed the sayings. I'll bet you can see why I said I tried to glean only a few for the post but felt God might have other plans; someone might just badly need to read one which might not have meant much to me today. You know? So I put up quite a list of them. I hope at least one particularly touches your heart.

Ed, your pastor ROCKS! I will have to use that from time to time!! That's PERFECT. Reminds me of the ironic perfection of the title MERE CHRISTIANITY somehow, you know? :-)

The pastor at the church I left almost two years ago was trying to get a group of us quiet so a meeting could start and so he suddenly said "OKAY! Shall we pray?" And I said, with a kind of 'why bother?' tone.. "no!" It stunned everybody so much they burst into laughter.

A sign he does outside his church that I find hilarious is, after Easter Sunday..." We're still open after Easter!" :-)

Z said...

Elmer's Brother's coming to go to lunch in 10 minutes...
Looking forward to seeing him and Mrs. Elbro :-)


I'm so happy we have four comments but SO MANY page views.....I keep hoping that one of these thoughts by Ten Boom REALLY touches someone and brings them peace.

Sparky said...

I needed all these. I've been so worried about the way our Country is progressing [pun intended] and our small annuity isn't. Thanks Z.
Anyway, hope y'all had a great Sunday. ~:)

Jen said...

Z, I needed this today. I have been worrying lately, and it is an utter waste of time. xoxo

Baysider said...

Thank you so much for researching and sharing these. It's been good food for thought and reflection throughout the day.

Bob said...

The blog was a bit of a long read for me, but I did enjoy it. So many little sayings...

My favorite one is, uh... I forget.

Oh, heck! What Ed said.

Z said...

Bayside, Jen, Bob, etc...I'm glad you're blessed by these.
I really did plan on just posting a few, then thought "Nope..SOMEONE's going to need at least a few and you might delete that one special one!"

God bless you all.

I just had SUCH a wonderful visit with our buddy/fellow commenter Elmer's Brother and his wife...They were vacationing in San Diego and took today to drive up here to LA for lunch and a visit with me...we had a terrific time.
(Thanks, Mr and Mrs Elbro!) xxx

Ed Bonderenka said...

Did you wish them a happy anniversary?
That "open after Easter" is funny.
my daughter-in-law once said, "your pastor always preaches the same message!".
Scherie said, "You should come some time besides Easter.".

Z said...

EDDDDDDDDDDDD! Scherie's line is even funnier than the church one!!! THAT IS HILARIOUS! I'm still laughing! Ya, that IS the same message every year, isn't it :-) absolutely great! Thanks for making my evening!

I did wish Elbro HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! They're such a great couple.

sue hanes said...


Z - I like - 'Is God your steering wheel or your spare tire?'

Along with all of the others.

Z said...

Sue, that IS a great one, isn't it!

"Jesus, take the wheel........." remember that song? :=)