ᐅCorrie Ten Boom Quotes on Prayer, Faith & Forgiveness

“Perhaps only when human effort had done its best and failed, would God’s power alone be free to work.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“When we’ve lost a friend, when a dream has failed, when we seem to have nothing left in the world to make life beautiful—that’s when God says, You’re richer than you think. Elizabeth” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Love is the strongest force in the world, and when it is blocked that means pain.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“If people can be taught to hate, they can be taught to love! We must find the way, you and I, no matter how long it takes. . . .” ― Corrie ten Boom

“When He tells you to love your enemies, He gives you the love that He demands from you.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Old friend, books do not age as you and I do. They will speak still when we are gone, to generations we will never see. Yes, the books must survive.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Three years after Mama’s death, I became the first licensed woman watchmaker in Holland.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“These young women. That girl back at the bunkers. Corrie, if people can be taught to hate, they can be taught to love! We must find the way, you and I, no matter how long it takes. .” ― Corrie ten Boom

“There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still.” “Only heaven will reveal the top side of God’s tapestry.” And, probably the most poignant and powerful of all, simply “Jesus is Victor.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“awe-inspiring deeds in the 21st century.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Yes, it is a high price, but it has been paid. It is wonderful to be able to surrender to Him, who bought us. With body, soul, and spirit. And to lose your life for Him. It means you gain your life.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on His (Jesus). When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Somehow, out of his watch shop that never made money, he fed and dressed and cared for eleven more children after his own four were grown.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“It is not on our forgiveness any more than our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“Faith sees the invisible, believes the unbelievable, and receives the impossible.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“And our wise Father in heaven knows when we’re going to need things, too. Don’t run out ahead of Him, Corrie. When the time comes that some of us will have to die, you will look into your heart and find the strength you need—just in time.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Happiness is not dependent on happenings, but on relationships in the happenings.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Ephesians 6 talks about God's armor. You will see that it is not yet a perfect victory, the final victory. We still need armor, but God's armor is so strong. When you read closely you will see that the Lord Jesus Himself is our armor. He is peace. He is truth. He is in you; you are in Him. It might be a battle, but this time it is in a blessed circle. It is the Devil attacking you; you are falling, but you are lifted up, forgiven, cleansed. That road takes you upward. It becomes increasingly victorious. The Lord Jesus will make you victorious, and you will be more than a conqueror. Thank You, Lord Jesus, that You lift us out of this vicious circle of sin and failure and that You have brought us into that wonderful blessed circle of forgiveness, redemption, and holiness. Hallelujah, what a Savior. Amen.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“That’s the S.D.’s favorite trick—feeling for a warm spot on a bed.” © Hans Poley/Nederlands fotomuseum, Rotterdam Two Jewish women during an actual drill of the hiding place in 1943.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Conditions are always changing; therefore, I must not be dependent upon conditions. What matters supremely is my soul and my relationship to God.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Three times, he said, he had begged God to take away his weakness, whatever it was. And each time God had said, Rely on Me.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Some knowledge is too heavy . . . you cannot bear it . . . your Father will carry it until you are able.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Oh, this was the great ploy of Satan in that kingdom of his: to display such blatant evil that one could almost believe one’s own secret sins didn’t matter.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“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 the love so that it stops hurting. But then of course part of us dies, too. Or, Corrie, we can ask God to open up another route for that love to travel. “God loves Karel—even more than you do—and if you ask Him, He will give you His love for this man, a love nothing can prevent, nothing destroy. Whenever we cannot love in the old, human way, Corrie, God can give us the perfect way.” I” ― Corrie ten Boom

“That man, the watchmaker! He’s a Gestapo plant” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Father, what is sexsin?” He turned to look at me, as he always did when answering a question, but to my surprise he said nothing. At last he stood up, lifted his traveling case from the rack over our heads, and set it on the floor. “Will you carry it off the train, Corrie?” he said. I stood up and tugged at it. It was crammed with the watches and spare parts he had purchased that morning. “It’s too heavy,” I said. “Yes,” he said. “And it would be a pretty poor father who would ask his little girl to carry such a load. It’s the same way, Corrie, with knowledge. Some knowledge is too heavy for children. When you are older and stronger you can bear it. For now you must trust me to carry it for you.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Mama’s love had always been the kind that acted itself out with soup pot and sewing basket. But now that these things were taken away, the love seemed as whole as before. She sat in her chair at the window and loved us. She loved the people she saw in the street—and beyond: her love took in the city, the land of Holland, the world. And so I learned that love is larger than the walls that shut it in.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“How rich is anyone who can simply see human faces!” ― Corrie ten Boom

“But,” she said, “this is what the past is for! Every experience God gives us, every person He puts in our lives is the perfect preparation for a future that only He can see.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Some knowledge is too heavy for children. When you are older and stronger you can bear it. For now you must trust me to carry it for you.” And I was satisfied. More than satisfied—wonderfully at peace. There were answers to this and all my hard questions—for now I was content to leave them in my father’s keeping. E” ― Corrie ten Boom

“We sat by deathbeds that became doorways of heaven. W” ― Corrie ten Boom

“There are no "ifs" in God's kingdom. I could hear her soft voice saying it. His timing is perfect. Hi8s will is our hiding place. Lord Jesus, keep me in Your will! Don't let me go mad by poking about outside it.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Only heaven will reveal the top side of God’s tapestry.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“We knew that in spite of daily mounting risks we had no choice but to move forward. This was evil's hour: we could not run away from it. Perhaps only when human effort had done its best and failed, would God's power alone be free to work.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“We are the children of a king and have in our possession the key to our Father’s storehouse. All its treasures are ours to use at any moment. —Eva von Tiele-Winckler” ― Corrie ten Boom

“You have had to travel a long way to get here, to tell us about the Lord Jesus. Please thank your tribe that they have allowed you to come here.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Show us. Show us how. It was said so mater of factly it took me a second to realize she was praying. More and more the distinction between prayer and the rest of life seemed to be vanishing for Betsie.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Love. How did one show it? How could God Himself show truth and love at the same time in a world like this? By dying. The answer stood out for me sharper and chillier than it ever had before that night: the shape of a Cross etched on the history of the world.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“There are two things we can do when this happens. We can kill the love so that it stops hurting. But then of course part of us dies, too. Or, Corrie, we can ask God to open up another route for that love to travel.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“What did he make of the news that President Wilson was sending American troops to France?” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Here in neutral Holland one sunlit June day followed another. Only a few people—like Willem—insisted that the war was Holland’s tragedy too.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“For I, too, had a hiding place when things were bad. Jesus was this place, the Rock cleft for me.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“How should a Christian act when evil was in power?” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Someone’s elbow dug into my back, another woman’s feet were two inches from my face. How was it possible, packed so close, to be so utterly and miserably alone?” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Such memories are the key not to the past, but to the future. I know that the experiences of our lives, when we let God use them, become the mysterious and perfect preparation for the work He will give us to do.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“the dormitory, it reminded me most of an anthill. Some women were already asleep after the long workday, but most were stirring about, some waiting for a turn at the toilets, others picking lice off themselves and their neighbors.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“way back in 1927, Willem had written in his doctoral thesis, done in Germany, that a terrible evil was taking root in that land. Right at the university, he said, seeds were being planted of a contempt for human life such as the world had” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Apparently I looked strong enough for harder work; I was told to report to the Phillips factory.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“There were answers to this and all my hard questions—for now I was content to leave them in my father’s keeping.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Clouds, too, can give light if only the sun shines on them.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“The worst can happen, but the best remains.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“And while from inside we would hear coughs and stirrings, there was never a rustle in the listeners out the door.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“And no places that are safer than other places. The center of His will is our only safety—Oh” ― Corrie ten Boom

“For that which is in your heart can never be taken from you.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Lord, I give to You the way I feel about Karel, my thoughts about our future—oh, You know! Everything! Give me Your way of seeing Karel instead. Help me to love him that way. That much.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“There are no “ifs” in God’s kingdom. I could hear her soft voice saying it. His timing is perfect. His will is our hiding place. Lord Jesus, keep me in Your will! Don’t let me go mad by poking about outside” ― Corrie ten Boom

“For that which is in your heart can never be taken from you. Then I told her of what I learned in Ravens Brook, of Betsey's vision, and that God's love still stands when all else has fallen. In the concentration camp they took all we had, even made us to stand naked for hours at a time without rest, but they could not take Jesus from our hearts. Ask Jesus to come into your life. He will give you riches no man can take away from you.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“When we determine in our hearts to be thankful—in all circumstances—we open the door to God’s unexpected blessing and provision.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“At last either Betsie or I would open the Bible. Because only the Hollanders could understand the Dutch text, we would translate aloud in German. And then we would hear the life-giving words passed back along the aisles in French, Polish, Russian, Czech, back into Dutch.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“There were now fourteen hundred quartered here with more arriving weekly as concentration camps in Poland, France, Belgium, Austria, as well as Holland were evacuated toward the center of Germany.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Corrie ten Boom: But I know He always keeps me in His sight. Nazi Lieutenant: You actually believe that? Corrie ten Boom: I believe that you are in His sight too Lieutenant. Nazi Lieutenant: Tell me Miss Ten Boom, how can you believe in a God that lets an old man die in prison; his body somewhere forgotten in a pauper’s grave? Corrie ten Boom: My father? Nazi Lieutenant: I understand he was taken ill after 10 days. He was taken to a hospital in the Hague. Unfortunately, there were no hospital beds available. He seemed to have died in a hallway; some failure of organization. Under such circumstances when no one claims the body, the body is difficult to trace. Corrie ten Boom: I know where my father is Lieutenant.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“It’s too heavy,” I said. “Yes,” he said. “And it would be a pretty poor father who would ask his little girl to carry such a load. It’s the same way, Corrie, with knowledge. Some knowledge is too heavy for children. When you are older and stronger you can bear it. For now you must trust me to carry it for you.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“corkscrew staircase squeezed” ― Corrie ten Boom

“And even if it wasn’t right—it wasn’t so very wrong, was it? Not wrong like sadism and murder and the other monstrous evils we saw in Ravensbruck every day. Oh, this was the great ploy of Satan in that kingdom of his: to display such blatant evil that one could almost believe one’s own secret sins didn’t matter.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“of Bloemendaal was said to be one of the most beautiful in Holland. I had never seen it, only the trees at” ― Corrie ten Boom

“The blacker the night around us grew, the brighter and truer and more beautiful burned the word of God. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? . . . Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“And I've never met anybody who said that they were sorry that the Lord Jesus had entered their hearts.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Betsie, if I hadn’t heard you in the kitchen—” But Betsie put a finger on my mouth. “Don’t say it, Corrie! There are no ‘ifs’ in God’s world. And no places that are safer than other places. The center of His will is our only safety—Oh Corrie, let us pray that we may always know it!” T” ― Corrie ten Boom,

“Eusie knocked the ashes out of his pipe and considered his plight out loud. He, who had always eaten kosher, he, the oldest son of an oldest son of a respected family, in fact, he Meyer Mossel Eusebius Smit, was seriously being asked to eat pork. Betsie placed a helping of sausage and potato before him. “Bon appetit.” The tantalizing odor reached our meat-starved palates. Eusie wet his lips with his tongue. “Of course,” he said, “there’s a provision for this in the Talmud.” He speared the meat with his fork, bit hungrily, and rolled his eyes heavenward in pure pleasure. “And I’m going to start hunting for it, too,” he said, “just as soon as dinner’s over.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“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.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“And so Betsie and I arrived in Barracks 8 in the small hours of that morning, bringing not only the Bible, but a new knowledge of the power of Him whose story it was.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“It was one thing to believe that such things were possible thousands of years ago, another to have it happen now, to us, this very day.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“It wasn't anything he did... but what he didn't do. No standing back to let the older man go first, no helping on with a coat, no picking up a dropped tool. It was hard to pin down. One Sunday when Father, Betsie, and I were having dinner at Hilversum I commented on what I had concluded was simple thoughtlessness. Willem shook his head. "It's very deliberate," he said. "It's because Christoffels is old. The old have no value to the State. They're also harder to train in the new ways of thinking. Germany is systematically teaching disrespect for old age... [T]he old and weak... are to be eliminated.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Oh Father! Betsie! If I had known would” ― Corrie ten Boom

“When I enter that beautiful city, And the saints all around me appear, I hope that someone will tell me: it was you who invited me here.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ must not be partial—but total. Only when we repent and turn away from our sins (using His power, of course) does He fill us with His Holy Spirit. The fruit of the Holy Spirit makes us right with God, and God’s love in us makes us right with men. Through that we can forgive—even love—our enemies. Jesus Himself makes us ready for His coming.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“let us beware of the mistakes that C. S. Lewis described in Screwtape Letters. He says, “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence, the other is to believe and to feel an unhealthy interest in them! They themselves are equally pleased by both errors, and they hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.” We have a” ― Corrie ten Boom

“—Betsie, no hay ningún modo de que ni siquiera el mismo Dios pueda hacerme sentir agradecimiento por una pulga. —«Dad gracias por todo» –citó–. No dice «en circunstancias agradables». Y las pulgas forman parte de este lugar donde Dios nos ha puesto.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“But if God has shown us bad times ahead, it’s enough for me that He knows about them. That’s why He sometimes shows us things, you know—to tell us that this too is in His hands.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Oh, my dears, I am sorry for all Dutchmen now who do not know the power of God. For we will be beaten. But He will not.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Childhood scenes rushed back at me out of the night, strangely close and urgent. Today I know that such memories are the key not to the past, but to the future. I know that the experiences of our lives, when we let God use them, become the mysterious and perfect preparation for the work He will give us to do.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Willem led Father up to the desk. The Gestapo chief leaned forward. “I’d like to send you home, old fellow,” he said. “I’ll take your word that you won’t cause any more trouble.” I could not see Father’s face, only the erect carriage of his shoulders and the halo of white hair above them. But I heard his answer. “If I go home today,” he said evenly and clearly, “tomorrow I will open my door again to any man in need who knocks.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“The minister spoke in a well-modulated voice. Then we joined in singing. I could not help but make comparisons: the dirty prison dormitory, infection-ridden and filthy, the beds full of lice, and now this. Clean sheets and pillow cases and a spotless floor. The hoarse voices of the slave drivers and the mature, melodious voice of the minister. Only the singing was the same, for we had sung at Ravensbruck. Singing was one of the ways we kept up our courage.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Lord, You turn the wheels of the galaxies. You know what makes the planets spin and You know what makes this watch run. ― Corrie ten Boom

“I became the first licensed woman watchmaker in Holland. And” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Lord Jesus, I offer myself for Your people. In any way. Any place. Any time.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“there was no way to keep from knowing. Often in the evening, turning the dial on the radio, we would pick up a voice from Germany. The voice did not talk, or even shout. It screamed. Oddly,” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Every day of my life had ended like this: that deep steady voice, that sure and eager confiding of us all to the care of God. The Bible lay at home on its shelf, but much of it was stored in his heart.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“To whomever she speaks, African students on the shores of Lake Victoria, farmers in a Cuban sugar field, prisoners in an English penitentiary or factory workers in Uzbekistan, she brings the truth they learned in Ravensbruck: Jesus can turn loss into glory.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Oh, this was the great ploy of Satan in that kingdom of his: to display such blatant evil that one could almost believe one’s own secret sins didn’t matter. The cancer spread.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“...so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world’s healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Corrie,' he began instead, '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 the love so that it stops hurting. But then of course part of us dies, too. Or, Corrie, we can ask God to open up another route for that love to travel. 'God loves Karel - even more than you do - and if you ask Him, He will give you His love for this man, a love nothing can prevent, nothing destroy. Whenever we cannot love in the old, human way, Corrie, God can give up the perfect way.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“And the reason the thoughts kept coming back to me was that I kept turning their sin over in my mind. And so I discovered another of God’s principles: We can trust God not only for our emotions but also for our thoughts. As I asked Him to renew my mind, He also took away my thoughts.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“God loves Karel—even more than you do—and if you ask Him, He will give you His love for this man, a love nothing can prevent, nothing destroy. Whenever we cannot love in the old, human way, Corrie, God can give us the perfect way.” I did not know, as I listened to Father’s footsteps winding back down the stairs, that he had given me more than the key to this hard moment. I did not know that he had put into my hands the secret that would open far darker rooms than this—places where there was not, on a human level, anything to love at all.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world’s healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Betsie saw where I was looking and laid a bird-thin hand over the whip mark. “Don’t look at it, Corrie. Look at Jesus only.” She drew away her hand: it was sticky with blood.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Books do not age as you or I do, they will speak on to generations we will never see.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Corrie,” he began instead, “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 the love so that it stops hurting. But then of course part of us dies, too. Or, Corrie, we can ask God to open up another route for that love to travel.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“To Tanta Yanns the clothes in fashion when she was young represented God's final say on human apparel. All change since then came from the style book of the devil.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Faith is like a radar that sees through the fog.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Let God's promises shine on your problems.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Conny and I stood in line, along with other people, outside Checkpoint Charlie, the gate for foreigners into East Berlin. Many of those in line were Dutch, and I saw they were being passed without difficulty. Everything seemed routine: Hand your passport to a guard, walk down the line, and receive your passport back with a stamp that allowed you to spend the one day in East Berlin. I hoped it would be as easy for us when it was our turn to be checked. Finally we were in front of the window. The guard looked at our passports, looked in a book and then turned and said something to another man behind him. “Is there a problem?” I asked the man. He turned and gave me a stern look. “Come with” ― Corrie ten Boom

“You are not called to convince anyone. You are simply called to be an open channel for the Spirit of God to flow through.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Germans frequently came to work under Father for a while, for his reputation reached even beyond Holland. So when this tall good-looking young man appeared with apprentice papers from a good firm in Berlin, Father hired him without hesitation. Otto told us proudly that he belonged to the Hitler Youth. Indeed it was a puzzle to us why he had come to Holland, for he found nothing but fault with Dutch people and products. "The world will see what Germans can do," he said often. His first morning at work he came upstairs for coffee and Bible reading with the other employees; after that he sat alone down in the shop. When we asked him why, he said that though he had not understood the Dutch words, he had seen that Father was reading from the Old Testament which, he informed us, was the Jews' "Book of Lies.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“It is not on our forgiveness anymore than on our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“A well-known psychologist once said, 'When a child reaches his third birthday, his parents will have given him half of all that they will ever be able to give him in the way of education.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Do you know what hurts so 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 that happens. We can kill the love so that it stops hurting. But then of course part of use dies, too. Or, Corrie, we can ask God to open up another route for that love to travel.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Many persons make the mistake of thinking they can measure the certainty of salvation by their feelings. It is the Word of God that is their foundation and therefore it is essential for the new convert in Christ to have a practical knowledge of the Bible. More than anyone else it is the new convert who will come under the fire of the enemy.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Everyone needs the Holy Spirit to understand spiritual truths. I found that when we taught the Gospel in an uncomplicated way the Holy Spirit did not need a high I.Q. to reveal Himself.” ― ten Boom, Corrie

“We commented to her about the practicalness of everything she recalled, how her memories seemed to throw a spotlight on problems and decisions we faced here and now. “But,” she said, “this is what the past is for! Every experience God gives us, every person He puts in our lives is the perfect preparation for the future that only He can see.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“But always they featured things we believed were wrong in the sight of God. Stealing, lying, murder. Was this what God wanted in times like these? How should a Christian act when evil was in power?” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Wherever she was, at work, in the food line, in the dormitory, Betsie spoke to those around her about His nearness and His yearning to come into their lives. As her body grew weaker, her faith seemed to grow bolder. And sick call was "such and important place, Corrie! Some of these people are at the threshold of heaven!” ― Corrie ten Boom

“This was evil’s hour: we could not run away from it. Perhaps only when human effort had done its best and failed, would God’s power alone be free to work.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“In 1959 Corrie was part of a group that visited Ravensbruck, which was then in East Germany, to honor Betsie and the 96,000 other women who died there. There Corrie learned that her own release had been part of a clerical error; one week later all women her age were taken to the gas chamber. When I heard Corrie speak in Darmstadt in 1968, she was 76, still traveling ceaselessly in obedience to Betsie’s certainty that they must “tell people.” Her work took her to 61 countries, including many “unreachable” ones on the other side of the Iron Curtain. To whomever she spoke—African students on the shores of Lake Victoria, farmers in a Cuban sugar field, prisoners in an English penitentiary, factory workers in Uzbekistan—she brought the truth the sisters learned in Ravensbruck: Jesus can turn loss into glory. John and I made some of those trips with her, the only way to catch this indefatigable woman long enough to” ― Corrie ten Boom

“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.' I did not know, as I listened to my father's footsteps winding back down the stairs, that he had given me more than the key to this hard moment. I did not know that he had put in my had the secret that would open far darker rooms that this--places where there was not, on a human level, anything to love at all.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Don’t say it, Corrie! There are no ‘ifs’ in God’s world. And no places that are safer than other places. The center of His will is our only safety—Oh Corrie, let us pray that we may always know it!” ― Corrie ten Boom

“When the time comes that some of us will have to die, you will look into your heart and find the strength you need—just in time.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“My job was simply to follow His leading one step at a time, holding every decision up to Him in prayer.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Oh, this was the great ploy of Satan in that kingdom of his: to display such blatant evil that one could almost believe one’s own secret sins didn’t matter. The” ― Corrie ten Boom

“It was strange that a society which hid the facts of sex from children made no effort to shield them from death.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Betsie,' I whispered, "what can we do for these people? Afterward I mean. Can't we make a home for them and care for them and love them?' 'Corrie, I pray every day that we will be allowed to do this! To show them that love is greater!' And it wasn't until I was gathering twigs later in the morning that I realized that I had been thinking of the feeble-minded, and Betsie of their persecutors.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“must tell people what we have learned here. We must tell them that there is no pit so deep that He is not deeper still. They will listen to us, Corrie, because we have been here.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Love. How did one show it? How could God Himself show truth and love at the same time in a world like this? By dying. The answer stood out for me sharper and chillier than it ever had before that night: the shape of a Cross etched on the history of the world.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Dear Jesus, I thank You that we must come with empty hands. I thank You that You have done all -all- on the cross, and that all we need in life or death is to be sure of this.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“Give thanks in all circumstances,’” she quoted. “It doesn’t say, ‘in pleasant circumstances.’ Fleas are part of this place where God has put us.” And so we stood between piers of bunks and gave thanks for fleas. But this time I was sure Betsie was wrong.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Unseen by either of us, Father had appeared in the doorway. “Give the child to me, Corrie,” he said. Father held the baby close, his white beard brushed its cheek, looking into the little face with eyes as blue and innocent as the baby’s own. At last he looked up at the pastor. “You say we could lose our lives for this child. I would consider that the greatest honor that could come to my family.” The pastor turned sharply on his heels and walked out of the room.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Will you carry it off the train, Corrie?” he said. I stood up and tugged at it. It was crammed with the watches and spare parts he had purchased that morning. “It’s too heavy,” I said. “Yes,” he said. “And it would be a pretty poor father who would ask his little girl to carry such a load. It’s the same way, Corrie, with knowledge. Some knowledge is too heavy for children. When you are older and stronger you can bear it. For now you must trust me to carry it for you.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“It says,” I began slowly, “that a Light has come into this world, so that we need no longer walk in the dark. Is there darkness in your life, Lieutenant?” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Of course it was not my wholeness, but Christ’s that made the difference.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Prisoners will remain silent!” he shrieked. Two men were clumping down the stairs and into the dining room carrying something between them. They had discovered the old radio beneath the stairs. “Law-abiding citizens, are you?” Kapteyn went on. “You! The old man there. I see you believe in the Bible.” He jerked his thumb at the well-worn book on its shelf. “Tell me, what does it say in there about obeying the government?” “‘Fear God,’” Father quoted,” ― Corrie ten Boom

“What I spent, I had; what I saved, I lost; what I gave, I have.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“There are no “ifs” in God’s kingdom. I could hear her soft voice saying it. His timing is perfect. His will is our hiding place. Lord Jesus, keep me in Your will! Don’t let me go mad by poking about outside it.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Jesus Christ is able to untangle all the snarls in your soul, to banish all your complexes, and to transform even your fixed habit patterns, no matter how deeply they are etched in your subconscious.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“The circle of white cotton told me that when we’re feeling poorest—when we’ve lost a friend, when a dream has failed, when we seem to have nothing left in the world to make life beautiful—that’s when God says, You’re richer than you think.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“It was astonishing, really, the quality of life she was able to lead in that crippled body, and watching her during the three years of her paralysis, I made another discovery about love. Mama’s love had always been the kind that acted itself out with soup pot and sewing basket. But now that these things were taken away, the love seemed as whole as before. She sat in her chair at the window and loved us. She loved the people she saw in the street—and beyond: her love took in the city, the land of Holland, the world. And so I learned that love is larger than the walls that shut it in. M” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Willem didn’t try to change people, just to serve them.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“I prayed to dispel my fear, until suddenly, and I do not know how the idea came to me, I began to pray for others. I prayed for everyone who came into my thoughts - - people with whom I had traveled, those who had been in prison with me, my school friends of years ago. I do not know how long I continued my prayer, but this I do know - - my fear was gone! Interceding for others had released me!” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Voltaire expected that within fifty years of his lifetime there would not be one Bible in the world. His house is now a distribution centre for Bibles in many languages.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Young and old, poor and rich, scholarly gentlemen and illiterate servant girls—only to Father did it seem that they were all alike. That was Father’s secret: not that he overlooked the differences in people; that he didn’t know they were there.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“And suddenly I realized that this too was a message, a last wordless communication among neighbors. For I, too, had a hiding place when things were bad. Jesus was this place, the Rock cleft for me. I pressed a finger to the tiny crevice.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“We must be so careful that we do not refuse the cross that the Lord has given us to carry. Let us remember that our present sufferings serve to prepare us for entering into the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Forgiveness is the key which unlocks the door of resentment and the handcuffs of hatred. It breaks the chains of bitterness and the shackles of selfishness. The forgiveness of Jesus not only takes away our sins, it makes them as if they had never been.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“God dealt with our whole situation on the cross; there is nothing left for you to settle. Just say to Him, "Lord, I cannot forgive and I will no longer try to do it; but I trust that You in me will do it. I can't forgive and love; but I trust that You will forgive and love in my place and that You will do these things in me.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“What feeds the soul matters as much as what feeds the body.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“At last either Betsie or I would open the Bible. Because only the Hollanders could understand the Dutch text, we would translate aloud in German. And then we would hear the life-giving words passed back along the aisles in French, Polish, Russian, Czech, back into Dutch. They were little previews of heaven, these evenings beneath the lightbulb.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“I had believed the Bible always, but reading it now had nothing to do with belief. It was simply a description of the way things were--of hell and heaven, of how men act and how God acts.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“My life is but a weaving, between my God and me, I do not choose the colors, He worketh steadily, Oftimes He weaveth sorrow, and I in foolish pride, Forget He sees the upper, and I the under side. Not till the loom is silent, and shuttles cease to fly, Will God unroll the canvas and explain the reason why. The dark threads are as needful in the skillful Weaver’s hand, As the threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned. (Anonymous)” ― Corrie ten Boom

“It grew harder and harder. Even within these four walls there was too much misery, too much seemingly pointless suffering. Every day something else failed to make sense, something else grew too heavy. Will You carry this too, Lord Jesus? But as the rest of the world grew stranger, one thing became increasingly clear. And that was the reason the two of us were here. Why others should suffer we were not shown. As for us, from morning until lights-out, whenever we were not in ranks for roll call, our Bible was the center of an ever-widening circle of help and hope. Like waifs clustered around a blazing fire, we gathered about it, holding out our hearts to its warmth and light. The blacker the night around us grew, the brighter and truer and more beautiful burned the word of God. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? . . . Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“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.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.” Corrie ten Boom” ― Corrie ten Boom

“One day as Father and I were returning from our walk we found the Grote Markt cordoned off by a double ring of police and soldiers. A truck was parked in front of the fish mart; into the back were climbing men, women, and children, all wearing the yellow star. . . . "Father! Those poor people!" I cried. . . . "Those poor people," Father echoed. But to my surprise I saw that he was looking at the soldiers now forming into ranks to march away. "I pity the poor Germans, Corrie. They have touched the apple of God's eye.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“God has plans—not problems—for our lives.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“If you want converts, surely one normal person is worth all the half-wits in the world!” “May I tell you the truth Lieutenant Rahms? The truth, Sir, is that God's viewpoint is sometimes different from ours. So different that we could not even guess at it unless He had given us a Book which tells us such things. In the scripture I learn that God values us not for our strength or our brains, but simply because He has made us. Who knows, in His eyes, a half-wit may be worth more than a watchmaker. Or a Lieutenant.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Thank you," Betsie went on serenely, "for the fleas and for-" The fleas! This was too much. "Betsie, there's no way even God can make me grateful for a flea." "Give thanks in all circumstances," she quoted. "It doesn't say, 'in pleasant circumstances.' Fleas are part of this place where God has put us." And so we stood between piers of bunks and gave thanks for fleas. But this time I was sure Betsie was wrong.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“And yet, old friend, books do not age as you and I do. They will speak still when we are gone, to generations we will never see. Yes, the books must survive.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Whatever in our life is hardest to bear, love can transform into beauty.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Happiness isn’t something that depends on our surroundings, Corrie. It’s something we make inside ourselves.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Every experience God gives us, every person He puts in our lives is the perfect preparation for a future that only He can see.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Because of something she heard in school, Corrie asked her father what "sex sin" was while the two of them were riding on a train together. The father asked the little girl to carry his bag off the train. When she admitted that she could not do so, he said he would not be much of a father to expect this of her. The load was too heavy. This was the case, he said, with some knowledge. She needed to trust her father to give her knowledge at the right time.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“We must tell people what we have learned here. We must tell them that there is no pit so deep that He is not deeper still. They will listen to us, Corrie, because we have been here.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“The real sin lay in thinking that any power to help and transform came from me. Of course it was not my wholeness, but Christ’s that made the difference.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“The measure of a life, after all, is not its duration, but its donation.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“My little hobby. Book Collecting. And yet, old friends, books do not age as you and I do. They will speak still when we are gone, to generations we will never see. Yes, the books must survive. -Bulldog” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word. . . . Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart" "It is not my ability, but my response to God's ability that counts." "Let God's promises shine on your problems." "Worry is a cycle of inefficient thoughts whirling around a center of fear.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“The blacker the night around us grew, the brighter and truer and more beautiful burned the word of God.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“God never measures the mind... He always put His tape measure in the HEART” ― Corrie Ten-Boom

“I know that the experiences of our lives, when we let God use them, become the mysterious and perfect preparation for the work He will give us to do.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“And so I discovered that it is not on our own forgiveness any more than on our own goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on His. When he tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“And so I learned that love is larger than the walls that shut it in” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“The Gestapo chief leaned forward. I'd like to send you home, old fellow," he said. "I'll take your word that you won't cause any more trouble." I could not see father's face, only the erect carriage of his shoulders and the halo of white hair above them. But I heard his answer. "If I go home today," he said evenly and clearly, "tomorrow I will open my door again to any man in need who knocks.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Some knowledge is too heavy for children. When you are older and stronger, you can bear it. For now you must trust me to carry it for you. And I was satisfied. More than satisfied--wonderfully at peace. There were answers to mmy hard questions--for now, I was content to leave them in my father's keeping.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“Mama,' I said as I set the tray on the bed and sat down beside it, 'can't we do something for Tante Bep? I mean, isn't it sad that she has to spend her last days here where she hates it, instead of where she was happy? The Wallers' or someplace?' 'Corrie, Bep has been just as happy here with us--no more and no less--than she was anywhere else. Do you know when she started praising the Wallers so highly? The day she left them. As long as she was there, she had nothing but complaints. The Wallers couldn't compare with the van Hooks where she'd been before. But at the van Hooks, she'd actually been miserable. Happiness isn't something that depends on our surroundings, Corrie. It's something we make inside ourselves.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“Love is the strongest force in the world.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“It is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Discernment is God's call to intercession, never to faultfinding.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“A religion that is small enough for our understanding would not be big enough for our needs.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“You say we could lose our lives for this child. I would consider that the greatest honor that could come to my family.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“Your love in me is stronger than the hatred.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“His will is our hiding place. Lord Jesus, keep me in your will! Don't let me go mad by poking about outside of it!” ― Corrie ten Boom

“To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover the prisoner was you.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“If the Gospels were truly the pattern of God’s activity, then defeat was only the beginning.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“At last we heard Father's footsteps winding up the stairs. It was the best moment in every day, when he came up to tuck us in. We never fell asleep until he had arranged the balnkets in his special way and laid his hand for a moment on each head. Then we tried not to move even a toe. But that night as he stepped through the door I burst into tears. "I need you!" I sobbed. "You can't die! You can't!" Father sat down on the edge of the narrow bed. "Corrie," he began gently, "when you and I go to Amsterdam, when do I give you your ticket?" I sniffed a few times, considering this. "Why, just before we get on the train." "Exactly. And our wise Father in Heaven knows when we're going to need things too. Don't run out ahead of Him, Corrie. When the time comes that some of us will have to die, you will look into your heart and find the strength you need--just in time.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“One day as Father and I were returning from our walk we found the Grote Markt cordoned off by a double ring of police and soldiers. A truck was parked in front of the fish mart; into the back were climbing men, women, and children, all wearing the yellow star. . . . "Father! Those poor people!" I cried. . . . "Those poor people," Father echoed. But to my surprise I saw that he was looking at the solders now forming into ranks to march away. "I pity the poor Germans, Corrie. They have touched the apple of God's eye.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“No pit is so deep that He is not deeper still; with Jesus even in our darkest moments, the best remains and the very best is yet to be.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“and here I felt a strange leaping of my heart-God did! My job was to simply follow His leading one step at a time, holding every decision up to him in prayer.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“Books do not age as you and I do. They will speak still when you and I are gone, to generations we will never see. Yes, the books must survive.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“He uses our problems for His miracles. This was my first lesson in learning to trust Him completely...” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“No hatred” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“If God sends us on strong paths, we are provided strong shoes.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“When He tells us to love our enemies He gives, along with the command, the love itself.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“It was at a church service in Munich that I saw him, a former S.S. man who had stood guard at the shower room door in the processing center at Ravensbruck. He was the first of our actual jailers that I had seen since that time. And suddenly it was all there – the roomful of mocking men, the heaps of clothing, Betsie's pain-blanched face. He came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming and bowing. “How grateful I am for your message, Fraulein.” He said. “To think that, as you say, He has washed my sins away!” His hand was thrust out to shake mine. And I, who had preached so often to the people in Bloemendaal the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side. Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him. I tried to smile, I struggles to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I prayed, I cannot forgive him. Give me Your forgiveness. As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me. And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Surely there is no more wretched sight that the human body unloved and uncared for.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“When you are covered by His wings, it can get pretty dark.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“You may never know that JESUS is all you need, until JESUS is all you have.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“If the devil cannot make us bad, he will make us busy.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Oh, this was the great ploy of Satan in that kingdom of his: to display such blatant evil one could almost believe one's own secret sin didn't matter.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“All through the short afternoon they kept coming, the people who counted themselves Father's friends. Young and old, poor and rich, scholarly gentlemen and illiterate servant girls—only to Father did it seem that they were all alike. That was Father's secret: not that he overlooked the differences in people; that he didn't know they were there.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“...suddenly I was afraid of what Father would say. Afraid he would say, "There'll be someone else soon," and that forever afterward this untruth would lie between us. For in some deep part of me I knew already that there would not--soon or ever--be anyone else. The sweet cigar-smell came into the room with Father. And of course he did not say the false, idle words. "Corrie," he began instead, "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 the love so that it stops hurting. But then of course part of us dies, too. Or, Corrie, we can ask God to open up another route for that love to travel. "God loves Karel--even more than you do--and if you ask Him, He will give you His love for this man, a love nothing can prevent, nothing destroy. Whenever we cannot love in the old, human way, Corrie, God can give us his perfect way." I did not know, as I listened to Father's footsteps winding back down the stairs, that he had given me more than the key to this hard moment. I did not know that he had put into my hands the secret that would open far darker rooms than this--places where there was not, on a human level, anything to love at all.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“We are up against the unseen power that controls this dark world and the spiritual agents are from the very headquarters of evil. Therefore, we must wear the "whole armour of God," that we may be able to resist evil in its day of power, and that even when we have fought to a standstill, we may still stand our ground.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“Child, you have to learn to see things in the right proportions. Learn to see great things great and small things small.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“No pit is so deep that God is not deeper still” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“We never know how God will answer our prayers, but we can expect that He will get us involved in His plan for the answer. If we are true intercessors, we must be ready to take part in God’s work on behalf of the people for whom we pray.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“The tree on the mountain takes whatever the weather brings. If it has any choice at all, it is in putting down roots as deeply as possible."---Each New Day” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“And for all these people alike, the key to healing turned out to be the same. Each had a hurt he had to forgive.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“(on forgiveness) Didn't he and I stand together before an all seeing God convicted of the same murder? For I had murdered him with my heart and my tongue.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“How often it is a small, almost unconscious event that makes a turning point.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“Faith is like radar that sees through the fog -- the reality of things at a distance that the human eye cannot see.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“.....joy runs deeper than despair.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“And our wise Father in heaven knows when we're going to need things too. Don't run out ahead of Him.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“Mama's love had always been the kind that acted itself out with soup pot and sewing basket. But now that these things were taken away, the love seemed as whole as before. She sat in her chair at the window and loved us. She loved the people she saw in the street-- and beyond: her love took in the city, the land of Holland, the world. And so I learned that love is larger than the walls which shut it in. ” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“Perhaps only when human effort had done it's best and failed, would God's power alone be free to work.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don’t throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“When I try, I fail. When I trust, He succeeds.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Today I know that such memories are the key not to the past, but to the future. I know that the experiences of our lives, when we let God use them, become the mysterious and perfect preparation for the work He will give us to do. ” ― Corrie Ten Boom,

“Father sat down on the edge of the narrow bed. "Corrie," he began gently, "when you and I go to Amsterdam-when do I give you your ticket?" I sniffed a few times, considering this. "Why, just before we get on the train." "Exactly. And our wise Father in heaven knows when we're going to need things, too. Don't run out ahead of Him, Corrie. When the time comes that some of us will have to die, you will look into your heart and find the strength you need-just in time.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Memories are the key not to the past, but to the future.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“Love is larger than the walls which shut it in.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“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.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“Worry is a cycle of inefficient thoughts whirling around a center of fear.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“God's viewpoint is sometimes different from ours - so different that we could not even guess at it unless He had given us a Book which tells us such things....In the Bible I learn that God values us not for our strenght or our brains but simply because He has made us.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“There is no panic in Heaven! God has no problems, only plans.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“If God has shown us bad times ahead, it's enough for me that He knows about them. That's why He sometimes shows us things, you know - to tell us that this too is in His hands.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“There are no 'if's' in God's world. And no places that are safer than other places. The center of His will is our only safety - let us pray that we may always know it!” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“when we are powerless to do a thing, it is a great joy that we can come and step inside the ability of Jesus” ― corrie ten boom

“It is not my ability, but my response to God’s ability, that counts.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“Dear Jesus...how foolish of me to have called for human help when You are here.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“Don't bother to give God instructions; just report for duty.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“Happiness isn't something that depends on our surroundings...It's something we make inside ourselves.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“Trying to do the Lord's work in your own strength is the most confusing, exhausting, and tedious of all work. But when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, then the ministry of Jesus just flows out of you.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“Even as the angry vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him....Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me your forgiveness....And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives along with the command, the love itself.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“Any concern too small to be turned into a prayer is too small to be made into a burden.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“Some knowledge is too heavy...you cannot bear it...your Father will carry it until you are able.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“And so seated next to my father in the train compartment, I suddenly asked, "Father, what is sexsin?" He turned to look at me, as he always did when answering a question, but to my surprise he said nothing. At last he stood up, lifted his traveling case off the floor and set it on the floor. Will you carry it off the train, Corrie?" he said. I stood up and tugged at it. It was crammed with the watches and spare parts he had purchased that morning. It's too heavy," I said. Yes," he said, "and it would be a pretty poor father who would ask his little girl to carry such a load. It's the same way, Corrie, with knowledge. Some knowledge is too heavy for children. When you are older and stronger, you can bear it. For now you must trust me to carry it for you.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“In darkness God's truth shines most clear.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“What wings are to a bird, and sails to a ship, so is prayer to the soul.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“There is no pit so deep, that God's love is not deeper still.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“You can never learn that Christ is all you need, until Christ is all you have.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“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.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“Hold everything in your hands lightly, otherwise it hurts when God pries your fingers open.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“If you look at the world, you'll be distressed. If you look within, you'll be depressed. If you look at God you'll be at rest.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“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.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“This is what the past is for! Every experience God gives us, every person He puts in our lives is the perfect preparation for the future that only He can see.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“At last she pointed to a second tier in the center of a large block. To reach it we had to stand on the bottom level, haul ourselves up, and then crawl across three other straw-covered platforms to reach the one that we would share with—how many?” ― Corrie ten Boom

“That was Father’s secret: not that he overlooked the differences in people; that he didn’t know they were there. And” ― Corrie ten Boom

“there were no individual beds at all, but great square piers stacked three high, and wedged side by side, and end to end with only an occasional narrow aisle slicing through.” ― Corrie ten Boom,

“Jesus can turn loss into glory.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Jesus is Victor.”

“In 1959 Corrie was part of a group that visited Ravensbruck, which was then in East Germany, to honor Betsie and the 96,000 other women who died there. There Corrie learned that her own release had been part of a clerical error; one week later all women her age were taken to the gas chamber.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Yes,” he said. “And it would be a pretty poor father who would ask his little girl to carry such a load. It’s the same way, Corrie, with knowledge. Some knowledge is too heavy for children. When you are older and stronger you can bear it. For now you must trust me to carry it for you.” And I was satisfied. More than satisfied—wonderfully at peace.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“and uncared for. Nor could I see the necessity for the complete undressing:” ― Corrie ten Boom

“He hung naked on the cross. I had not known—I had not thought. . . . The paintings, the carved crucifixes showed at the least a scrap of cloth. But this, I suddenly knew, was the respect and reverence of the artist. But oh—at the time itself, on that other Friday morning—there had been no reverence. No more than I saw in the faces around us now.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“I remembered Father’s words to the Gestapo chief in The Hague: “I will open my door to anyone in need. . . .” No one in the city was in greater need than its feeble-minded.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“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.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“our welfare in the hereafter depended on how much we could accomplish here on earth.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“I looked at my sister kneeling beside me in the light of burning Holland. "Oh Lord," I whispered, "listen to Betsie, not me, because I cannot pray for those men at all.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Love is not soft as water is; it is solid as a rock on which the waves of hatred beat in vain.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“Whenever we cannot love in the old, human way, God can give us the perfect way.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Happiness isn’t something that depends on our surroundings…it’s something we make inside ourselves.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“We had had many Jewish children over a night or several nights at the Beje and even the youngest had developed the uncanny silence of small hunted things.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“We rob the work of Jesus Christ of its efficacy, and we stand powerless before the adversary, because we doubt the integrity of the Word of God.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Corrie (as a child) and her father: “When you and I go to Amsterdam — when do I give you your ticket?” “Why, just before we get on the train.” “Exactly, And our wise Father in heaven knows we’re going to need things, too. Don’t run ahead of him, Corrie. When the time comes that some of us will have to die, you will look into your heart and find the strength you need — just in time.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Worrying does not empty tomorrow of its troubles...it empties today of its strength.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“But that night as he stepped through the door, I burst into tears. “I need you!” I sobbed. “You can’t die! You can’t!” Beside me on the bed Nollie sat up. “We went to see Mrs. Hoog,” she explained. “Corrie didn’t eat her supper or anything.” Father sat down on the edge of the narrow bed. “Corrie,” he began gently, “when you and I go to Amsterdam—when do I give you your ticket?” I sniffed a few times, considering this. “Why, just before we get on the train.” “Exactly. And our wise Father in heaven knows when we’re going to need things, too. Don’t run out ahead of Him, Corrie. When the time comes that some of us will have to die, you will look into your heart and find the strength you need—just in time.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“As we trooped back out through the shower room door, the S.S. men ran their hands over every prisoner, back, and sides. The woman ahead of me was searched three times. Behind me, Betsie was searched. No hand touched me. At the exit door to the building was a second ordeal, a line of women guards examining each prisoner again. I slowed down as I reached them but the Aufseherin in charge shoved me roughly by the shoulder. "Move Along! You're holding up the line! And so Betsie and I arrived in Barracks 8 in the small hours of that morning, bringing not only the Bible, but a new knowledge of the power of Him whose story it was.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“The wonderful thing about praying is that you leave a world of not being able to do something, and enter God's realm where everything is possible. He specializes in the impossible. Nothing is too great for His almighty power. Nothing is too small for His love.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

“If I go home today,” he said evenly and clearly, “tomorrow I will open my door again to any man in need who knocks.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“But I am in prison, dear lady from Haarlem, a prison stronger than this one.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“And I would know again that in darkness God’s truth shines most clear.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“But under the words, a prayer was forming in my heart. Lord Jesus, I offer myself for Your people. In any way. Any place. Any time.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“or when letters to Jewish suppliers in Germany came back marked “Address Unknown,” we still managed to believe that it was primarily a German problem. “How long are they going to stand for it?” we said. “They won’t put up with that man for long.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“We were shoved against the back wall. Thirty or forty people were all that could fit in. And still the soldiers drove women over the side, cursing, jabbing with their guns. Shrieks rose from the center of the car but still the press increased. It was only when eighty women were packed inside that the door thumped shut and we heard iron bolts driven into place.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“But more than that, I felt - no, not beautiful. Even on such a romantic day as this I could not persuade myself of that. I knew that my jaw was too square, my legs too long, my hands too large. But I earnestly believed - and all the books agreed - that I would look beautiful to the man who loved me.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“But more than that, I felt—no, not beautiful. Even on such a romantic day as this I could not persuade myself of that. I knew that my jaw was too square, my legs too long, my hands too large. But I earnestly believed—and all the books agreed—that I would look beautiful to the man who loved me.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“I slipped my arm beneath Betsie’s shoulders and half-carried her the final quarter-mile. At last the path ended and we lined up facing the single track, over a thousand women standing toe to heel.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Then rifle fire split the air. Around us women began to weep. A second volley. A third. For two hours the executions went on. Someone counted. More than seven hundred male prisoners were killed that day.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“Drop your lower jaw!” Mr. Moorman called down the long room. “Keep your mouth open and it will save your eardrums.” ― Corrie ten Boom

“There is no pit so deep that God's love is not deeper still.” ― Corrie Ten Bloom