Cornelia or Corrie Ten Boom was a Dutch Christian. Born 15th April 1892 Corrie saw the outbreak of World War II and after the occupation of Holland worked along with her father to help Jews escape the Nazi Holocaust. While many quietly kept their heads down to stay alive, Corrie, her father and other family members took great risks to help the Jews of Holland. These risks would eventually lead to many of the family being imprisoned.
After the war Corrie returned to The Netherlands and did much good with her life, travelling the world as a public speaker, appearing in more than sixty countries around the world, and writing many books until her eventual death in 1983, on the day she came into the world, 15th April.
Her most famous book is The Hiding Place, and it’s a personal favourite of mine. Corrie’s resilience and faith during her time in captivity cannot fail to lift the heart, despite the horrors she lived through and so I am honoured today to be the one to collect some of my favourite Corrie Ten Boom quotes and share them with you.
“Worrying is carrying tomorrow’s load with today’s strength- carrying two days at once. It is moving into tomorrow ahead of time. Worrying doesn’t empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.”
“Do you know what hurts so very much? It’s love. Love is the strongest force in the world, and when it is blocked that means pain. There are two things we can do when this happens. We can kill that love so that it stops hurting. But then of course part of us dies, too. Or we can ask God to open up another route for that love to travel.”
“Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart.”
“Happiness isn’t something that depends on our surroundings…It’s something we make inside ourselves.”
“Memories are the key not to the past, but to the future.”
“Forgiveness is the key that unlocks the door of resentment and the handcuffs of hatred. It is a power that breaks the chains of bitterness and the shackles of selfishness.”
“Love is larger than the walls which shut it in.”
“And for all these people alike, the key to healing turned out to be the same. Each had a hurt he had to forgive.”
I’d have to confess to not being a very religious person, but through The Hiding Place I learned that faith in anything can get you through hard times, that love is greater than any evil, and in the end forgiveness is the only key to a happy life. Thank you, Corrie.