The Hiding Place

by Corrie Ten Boom

with John and Elizabeth Sherrill

Libby audiobook 8 hours

Published: 1971 (this version 2011)

Read by: Nadia May

Genre: nonfiction memoir

 

I can't believe I haven't blogged this book before! It has been a long time since I've read the print book, but I own a copy on my bookshelf. I also have Tramp for the Lord, her sequel. I love these books so much! I'm glad I grabbed my print copies off my bookshelf - there are photographs and a drawing of the house and watch shop. 

One of the first things I noted in listening this time was when Corrie recalls a conversation with her father on a train ride. She had heard someone talking about "sex sin" and she asked her father what that meant. He asked her if she could carry his bag off the train. It was full of heavy parts and too much for her to lift. He told her that it is the same way with knowledge - some knowledge is too heavy for children to carry.

I love this! It's honest, yet the best truth. I dislike it when people lie to children to "protect" them. Lies are not helpful! 

Their home was the "Beje," but in listening it sounded to me like "Bay-yay." Looking it up just now, I don't learn much except that it was the name of where they lived - not their neighborhood, just their house.

Aunt Bep's negative attitude was so frustrating. I like when her mother says, "Happiness isn't something that depends on our surroundings, Corrie. It's something we make inside ourselves.” 

 

(One frustration of listening instead of reading the book is not "getting" some of the words like Beje and this Aunt's name. I thought it was "Beth.")

I'm not sure who said this, but the idea that we must go to eternity with empty hands really struck me. What was done to the Jewish people (and gypsies, handicapped, homosexual, political prisoners, etc.) was so HORRIBLE! Being stripped naked, starved, beaten, ridiculed, and stolen from . . . I don't think most of us can fathom experiencing that (thankfully!). Yet ultimately, we all go to meet God with empty hands. We literally cannot take the stuff from this world into the next.

The train ticket given "just in time" was another nod back to Caspar Ten Boom's teachings to his daughters. God will give you what you need when you need it if you just depend on Him.

I'm not sure why I jotted this, but WWI and Holland being neutral . . . I really need to learn more history.

"How should a Christian act when evil is in power?" That is a great question. I wonder if our book club would ever read and discuss an older book like this. I plan to re-read this often. I love Corrie's honesty about not wanting to praise God for the fleas, then learning that they were able to have secret Bible studies in the barracks because the guards avoided it due to the fleas. I love so many things about this book and Corrie's faith in God.