Corrie ten Boom The Deepest Ocean, Part 2

Corrie and Betsie spent four months at Ravensbrück. In that time, they witnessed God’s many miracles, including the nightly Bible readings they shared with hundreds of women.

But Betsy’s health was declining. She died on December 16, 1944, two weeks before Corrie’s release. To the end, Betsy remained adamant about not only forgiving their enemies but pointing them to Christ.

Now, without her constant companion for the first time in her life, Corrie was eventually guided by God to found two rehabilitation centers, fulfilling prophetic visions that Betsie had had while they had been imprisoned. One of the centers she set up in her old family home for former members of Holland’s Nazi Party. She even wrote a letter to Jan Vogel, finally forgiving him for what he had done.

But Corrie still had much to learn. It was 1947, and Corrie had begun to speak publicly about her and Betsy’s experiences in the concentration camps. Her mission was really Betsy’s mission: to preach about the necessity of forgiveness after the war.

After one of her talks in the heart of Germany, a man approached her. She recognized him immediately. He had been one of the guards at Ravensbrück!

He spoke earnestly to her. He had become a Christian, and how beautiful it was that God had forgiven him of his sins—of all he had done in that camp. But he also wanted to be assured of her personal forgiveness. He held out his hand to her.

Corrie stood like a block of ice. Waves of hatred washed over her; memories of Betsy flooded in. Were everyone else’s sins forgiven—including her own—but not this man’s? Everything within her screamed, “Yes!”

But she had preached forgiveness. Could she practice it?

She knew she could not—only God could. In that moment, she made the decision to shake the man’s hand, the last thing in the world she wanted to do. “Jesus, help me!” she pleaded. “You supply the feeling.”

And He did. As prisoner and guard reached across that forbidden gulf, God destroyed the hatred in Corrie’s heart and replaced it with His love.

“I forgive you, brother!” she exclaimed to the man. “With all my heart!” And she meant it. God had changed her very feelings.

Reflect: Will you ask God to continually supply the forgiveness you do not have?

Key Bible Texts

And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. (Romans 5:5 KJV)