The Hiding Place - A Book Review

Last year Tasha, my oldest homeschooler, read the book The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom for Literature.  It always looked interesting to me, but I never got around to reading it until this year.

All I can say is "WOW"!

The book is the true story of Corrie Ten Boom and her family.  Living simple lives in Holland, running a watch shop that had been in the family for a century, the Ten Booms were very devout Christians.  Their lives were forever changed with the invasion of Holland by the Nazis in World War II. 

This simple family loved Jesus enough that they put their lives at risk when they saw the treatment of their Jewish neighbors.  It wasn't long before they were part of the Underground and were hiding Jewish families in their home.  The risk and danger was apparent.  It was only a matter of time before the Ten Booms were ousted.

This story is more than just a history story, though history is accurately told.  This is a story of faith and surrender.  These were people that didn't desire riches or fame.  They only wanted to live their lives for Christ, doing as He commanded them.  Whether in the comfort of the Ten Booms home, or in the concentration camp with Corrie and her sister Betsie, reading this story will impact your faith.  It totally impacted mine.

It's easy to have faith when everything is easy and going good.  How easy is it to have faith when you are taken away from everything you know and love, when you are stripped of your dignity, and when you lose nearly every member of your family.  It is easy to get bitter, and no one would have blamed Corrie Ten Boom for being filled with rage and wanting vengeance.  But, instead, Corrie put her trust and faith in Christ. 

The Hiding Place showed me how petty I am and reminded me of the wonderful love of Christ.  Through starvation, forced labor, lice and fleas, bitter cold, illness, and the loss of loved ones, Christ was with Corrie through it all.  So much of the time in our comfortable lives we get hurt and angry and turn away from Christ, or blame Him.  It seems that when our circumstances get hard we get mad at God.  We think that He must not be good because He allows things to happen to us that is hard or just not fair.  Looking at the life of Corrie Ten Boom while she was in the midst of jail or the concentration camp was very powerful.