Holland, 1944
Corrie ten Boom’s family was sent to a concentration camp during the second world war, forced to work and live in horrible conditions with little to no food. They slept on makeshift bunk beds crawling with fleas, roll calls in the freezing cold temperatures that lasted hours with no protection from the wind, and saw horrors that no one should ever have to witness. Her elderly father and her sister, Betsie, both died in prison.
Corrie’s very first request when they were being processed into the holding prison was for someone to sneak her a Bible. She received a small New Testament that she wore hidden under her clothes and any chance she found, devoured the hope and encouragement on its pages.
She and her sister were sent to Ravensbruck, a women’s concentration camp, and there taught Bible studies, held worship services and prayer meetings with the other prisoners when guards weren’t watching. They ministered to each other, shared what little supplies they had; a drop of medicine here, a spare blanket there.
How does one keep their faith in a place like that? Where is God in the middle of thousands of innocent people dying?
“What wings are to a bird, and sails to a ship, so is prayer to the soul.” - Corrie ten Boom
Despite their bleak outlook and surroundings, Corrie and Betsie found ways to rise above it all. In prayer, God showed them visions and dreams of the work they were to do once they were released from prison. He protected them from the guards as they shared the Gospel in their bunks.
Through prayer, they rested in confidence that God was in control and taking care of them.
Thankfully, none of us are in situations quite so appalling as Corrie’s, but all of us have the privilege of escaping in prayer. In monotonous routine, there’s a quiet place we can go to in prayer that lifts our spirits and refreshes our hearts.
If you feel weary, overwhelmed, disillusioned, prayer can carry you to the King’s throne. There you’ll find your answers, your peace. There is something so beautiful about prayer being a hiding place. Just like the children of Israel crying out to God while they were in bondage or young David fleeing for his life from King Saul, we, too, have the opportunity to escape into prayer.
Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah. Psalm 32:7
“No pit is so deep that God is not deeper still” - Corrie ten Boom
