Yet I Will Praise You: Corrie Ten Boom

History bears witness to the many men and women who have gone before us in choosing to praise God in spite of the great suffering they endured. We can learn much from their testimonies of faithfulness and perseverance in the midst of grief and pain. In this series, we share about the trials others have endured, and of their commitment to praise God from the valley.

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In 1944, during WWII, Corrie Ten Boom and her sister, Betsie, endured ten months of unimaginable suffering while imprisoned by the Nazis for their resistance work in aiding and hiding Jews. Betsie would never leave prison alive. She died in the infamous German concentration camp, Ravensbruck, in December 1944. After Corrie’s release on New Years’ Eve, due to what she would later discover was a clerical error (a week later women her age were sent to the gas chambers), she devoted her life to sharing the love of Jesus around the world. 

Corrie and Betsie Ten Boom endured hunger, nakedness, being mocked and humiliated, beatings, illness and denial of proper medical care, backbreaking labor, solitary confinement, being packed with 80 women in a boxcar for three days, sleeping on the cold, wet ground and later in lice and flea infested beds, roll call pre-dawn for hours at a time, interrogations, and witnessing the torture of other prisoners. And in the background, the incinerator at Ravensbruck reminded them that at any time they could be selected for execution.

Despite numerous searches by the guards, Corrie and Betsie were able to keep hidden the small Bible that had been slipped to them during the early days of their confinement. God’s Word in written form was their lifeline, and with it they held nightly worship services for the women in their barracks. In the darkest place, God’s light shone bright to bring hope and encouragement to desperate hearts. In her book, The Hiding Place, Corrie shares two passages of Scripture that were very meaningful to them during this time.

“Pray without ceasing. Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
1 Thessalonians 5:17-18

When Corrie and Betsie arrived in Ravensbruck and were assigned to their barracks, they discovered that the beds were teeming with fleas. In the midst of the cruel treatment, depravation, and now fleas, Betsie urged that they thank God for all their circumstances. Even the fleas? Yes, Betsie urged, even the fleas. So Corrie reluctantly did, but she could not see how fleas were anything to be thankful for. They later discovered that the fleas kept the guards from coming inside their barracks, and this gave them freedom to hold their nightly worship services to minister to the broken and searching hearts of the women they lived with. (The Hiding Place, 194, 204)

It is so hard to find anything to be thankful for when you lose a child. But God’s Word encourages us, despite our circumstances, to give thanks. As I looked for things to thank God for in the loss of our daughter, I discovered His tender mercies all throughout our journey.

I thanked Him for her life inside me and her brief life here on earth.
I thanked Him for His nearness and tender love as my heart was breaking.
I thanked Him for the hope that she is not suffering, and that one day I will hold her again in my arms.
I thanked Him for His nearness and strength.
I thanked Him for the body of believers who came alongside us and upheld us through prayer and tangible acts of love.

Sweet mama, through your tears and heartache, give thanks for the God who will never leave you and who is holding your sweet baby safe in His arms.

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?…No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:35-39

Corrie writes,

“I would look about as Betsie read, watching the light leap from face to face. More than conquerors….It was not a wish. It was a fact. We knew it, we experienced it minute by minute—poor, hated, hungry. We are more than conquerors. Not “we shall be.” We are! Life in Ravensbruck took place on two separate levels, mutually impossible. One, the observable, external life, grew every day more horrible. The other, the life we lived with God, grew daily better, truth upon truth, glory upon glory.” (THP, 190)

God has overcome the world (John 16:33). The light of Christ shines in the darkness, “and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:5). We are more than conquerors, and nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. What does all this mean for us who have lost our precious babies? It means that when we affirm these truths it breaks the power of the enemy who seeks to overwhelm our hearts with anger, bitterness, doubt, and unbelief, and our walk with God becomes closer and sweeter even as everything in our external circumstances falls apart. It means our faith deepens and our hope shines bright as we anticipate heaven with the One who holds our breaking hearts even as He holds our sweet babies, and we have a message to share with a hurting world about the nearness, goodness, and love of our great God.

Later in her life, Corrie spoke of the goodness and love of God:

“Often I have heard people say, ‘How good God is! We prayed that it would not rain for our church picnic, and look at the lovely weather!’

“Yes, God is good when He sends good weather. But God was also good when He allowed my sister, Betsie, to starve to death before my eyes in a German concentration camp. I remember one occasion when I was very discouraged there. Everything around us was dark, and there was darkness in my heart. I remember telling Betsie that I thought God had forgotten us.

‘No, Corrie,’ said Betsie, ‘He has not forgotten us. Remember His Word: “For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him.’”

Corrie concludes, “There is an ocean of God’s love available—there is plenty for everyone. May God grant you never to doubt that victorious love—whatever the circumstances.” (Corrie Ten Boom, source unknown)

Sweet mama, God has not forgotten you! God is good and His victorious love is available to you. He is good even in the most heartbreaking season of life. This is a truth we have to take hold of and never let go, despite what our feelings tell us. God is good. Determine in your heart to believe this truth no matter what.

While in prison, Betsie had three visions, the fulfillment of which Corrie devoted the rest of her life to. The first was to open a beautiful home as a place for war victims to come and find healing of body and soul. The second was to reopen an abandoned concentration camp as a place where Germans could find rehabilitation and learn about the forgiveness Christ offers.  And the third was “to tell everyone the story of how Jesus was the Victor in the concentration camps.”

Tell people what we have learned here,’ Betsie had implored Corrie,‘that there is no pit so deep that God is not deeper still.’” (The Hiding Place, 235)

The loss of your baby has brought physical, emotional, and spiritual suffering into your life, and it is a very deep pit in your heart. I know—I have the same deep pit in my heart.

But here’s the truth, spoken urgently to Corrie as Betsie was on her deathbed:

“There is no pit so deep that He is not deeper still.”

God is with you in the very darkest pit of pain and loss. He will never leave you, and He offers love and hope that is deeper than the darkness. Lean into Him and you will find Him to be a solid rock underneath the deepest pit.

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Abigail is mama to her toddler daughter and to Sarabeth who went to be with Jesus seven days after her birth in January 2018.  She and her husband Chad live in Berea, KY on the family farm where they raise cattle.  In addition to being a stay-at-home-mom and teaching piano part-time, Abigail blogs on Facebook and Instagram at A Healing Gratitude where her desire is to share Sarabeth’s story in a way that highlights the goodness and love of God and how gratitude can lead to greater healing.

We would be honored to share your story as a Hope Mom on our blog. On Saturdays we feature Hope Moms’ stories in order to showcase God’s faithfulness even in the midst of such deep sorrow. If you would like to have your story shared on our blog for this purpose, learn more and submit here.

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