I have always admired this woman. I have all of her books. My favorite is, "In my Father's House". There is a museum dedicated to her at Dallas Baptist university. The lady who was her traveling companion in her later years put it together. Back when I was teaching high school I took my senior class to see it. It was amazing how that crowd of pleasure loving kids got quiet when faced with this woman's sacrifice and devotion to God.
She was an extraordinary woman living a Godly life in catastrophic times. So many stories have always stuck in my mind...one when she and her sister were having Bible study in the concentration camp and they were, literally, taken over with fleas. They *thanked God* for the fleas because it kept the German soldiers out of their room. They "gave thanks in all things" and God blessed them richly in a time and place where it would be so easy to miss a blessing.
Another story...after the war, she met her German jailor in the mid-west USA while she was speaking at a church. She recognized him but he didn't recognize her. She told of her struggle with God because she didn't want to forgive her jailor but God told her, "if you don't forgive him, how can I forgive you?" So, there in that church, she asked forgiveness of her jailer because she had hated him. Only God can bring a person to that end.
Amazing Grace, how can it be that You should love someone like me?
The last story...Corrie ten Boom called herself a "tramp for the Lord" and she never really had her own home once she left her childhood home in Holland. The last five years of her life, due to a stroke, she was completely bedridden and could only blink her eyes. Only God knows the untold prayers that Saint gave up on a minute by minute basis. Only God knows how many lives she had an impact upon because she trusted Him totally.
My Family is the greatest gift God has given me, second only to the Salvation provided me by Jesus Christ, God's son.
I love to garden, we have a small garden for vegetables and herbs. A small orchard for growing our own fruit .
I recently retired and am very involved in homeschooling my six grandchildren.
• Thu 2 Mar 2006 - <i>Untitled Comment</i>
Edited by Joy on Thu 2 Mar 2006 at 5:47 AM