The Hiding Place

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Summary: One of the Greatest Narratives Ever Written
Review: The Ten Boom story will hopefully be read for eternity, as it constantly reminds us what happens when prejudices overcome common decency. The minority populations of Jews, gypsies, and disabled suffered greatly under the Nazi regime. This is how one family decided to respond to the crisis. They could have closed their door to the Jews, as many others did. In our society today, prejudices remain towards many who are different. As this book tells us, HOW we respond is the ultimate victory over evil.

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Summary: The Inspiring Story Of A Real Family
Review: I've been aware of this book for a number of years, and finally read it when my friend Ann said I was missing a great story. Now, after reading it, I'm encouraging everyone to do the same.

The story begins in 1937 when a Dutch family is preparing for the 100th birthday of the family shop, Ten Bloom: Watches. Flowers are being delivered and friends are calling to help celebrate the day. The conversation centers around Germany and the Jews who are coming to Holland for asylum. The Ten Bloom's and their guests could not have foreseen what was to come. Their world had changed.

This is the autobiographical story of Corrie Ten Bloom and how she and her family worked for the Dutch underground movement during World War II. The family were Christians and took a very strong stand against the Nazi persecution of the Jews. Corrie's father, a kindly, religious man, summed up his thoughts on the Nazis by saying, "I pity them Corrie. They have touched the apple of God's eye."

Corrie and her sister, Betsie were two ladies aged 45 and 52 years of age, respectively. They are the unlikely heroines of this story. Never married and rather innocent of the world, they proved the old saying that "you can't tell a book by its cover." Both sisters risked everything they had including their lives to save people they didn't even know.

In today's world of "me first", it's so encouraging to read a story of a family that truly lived their faith and practiced the Golden Rule.

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Summary: Adding perpective to life's challenges
Review: This book truly teaches that it is not important where you find yourself, but how you react to your circumstances. It is well written and thought provoking. I believe that it is one of the greatest books ever written, because it widens the narrow view of life's challenges and troubles by lifting the mind. It teaches that it is better to serve, no matter how meager your offering, than to be selfish. Everyone, especially early teens should read this. I recommended it to some younger friends and saw changes in their outlook and approach to their problems. The problems didn't go away, but they were better able to bear them.

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Summary: Stop what you are doing and read this book now!
Review: Stop what you are doing this very moment and buy or borrow "The Hiding Place" I have just turned the final page of this book and my eyes are still wet with tears. "The Hiding Place" is the incredible true story of the ten Boom family whose strong faith in God led them to save many people during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. The central theme of this book is that God has a plan for all of us and when we truely listen to that plan and follow it wonderful things will happen in our lives. Even when you feel that you are in the deepest pit of dispair, Jesus is there waiting to take your pain upon his shoulders. This book is too important not to read. Buy it, borrow it, either way your life will be enriched by reading this book. It won't take you long to read this short book, but its message will stay with you forever!

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Summary: Why did I wait so long to read this book?!
Review: I've known some things about Corrie Ten Boom's story for years. I've even shared with other people the story about getting the ticket before you get on the train (and not before - in other words, we don't get ready for things way beforehand - God will give us the strength to deal with what we need to exactly when we need it). Then I watched the movie - but I hadn't read the book. Til now!

When I read, I use those Post-It arrows to mark favorite passages in books I'm reading. This book has tons of markers sticking out of this book! This story of Corrie and her family during World War II has impacted me greatly. I've been talking about this book to anyone who will listen!

Here are some of my favorite life lessons from The Hiding Place:

Some knowledge is "too heavy" for us to carry. When Corrie was a child, she and her father were on a train ride. She asked a question that had an adult theme, and Corrie's father then asked her to carry his heavy suitcase. When Corrie tried and said it was too heavy, her father said that some knowledge is too heavy for children and that he would carry it for Corrie until she was older and ready to hear it. In the same way, God carries our "too heavy" burdens.

Happiness isn't something that depends on our surroundings, but it's something we make inside ourselves. This is one of Corrie's sister Betsie's statements. Betsie was a real example to Corrie - she always prayed for her enemies and put the best construction on things. Betsie died in the concentration camp at Ravensbruck.

Betsie said, "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 will always know it."

The bottle of vitamins which did not run out until there was a fresh supply is an amazing story of God's provision. Compare this situation to 1 Kings 17:7-24 when Elijah was staying with the widow of Zarephath. She had a small amount of flour and oil, but the supplies did not run out. After Corrie received a new source of vitamins, the bottle which had supplied sustaining drops for so long was suddenly totally empty!

When in prison in Holland, Corrie had received 4 gospels, but not a whole Bible. She read these and then later she passed them out page by page. How we take our Bibles for granted! Later, her sister Nollie sent her a complete Bible and Corrie didn't know how she could get it into the concentration camp when they were transported to Germany. As it turned out, all the other women were "patted down" and searched, but no one touched Corrie (she was hiding her Bible under her dress) and no one even seemed to see her!

When Corrie and Betsie read the Bible in the concentration camp in Ravensbruck, people gathered around. The words would be translated into many languages and they could hear so many women hearing the Gospel in their own language. Quoting from the book, "The blacker the night around us grew, the brighter and truer and more beautiful burned the Word of God."

Corrie and Betsie gave thanks to God for the lice that infested their barracks because the guards stayed away from that area. This enabled the sisters to conduct Bible Studies without being found out!

I hope that these examples have piqued your interest in this marvelous book! Be sure to see the movie too, but be sure to read the book!

Please see my reviews of other Christian books!

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Summary: God is Great!
Review: I loved this book! I was required to read it for school and at first I thought I wouldn't like it, but the more I got into it, the more I did enjoy it. The book really reminds us that God really is in control of our lives and his timing is perfect! The fact that they released her from prison was a mistake on the German's part. They weren't supposed to have released her. If she hadn't been released, a week later she would have been put into a gas chamber and died. God works in mysterious ways!!

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Summary: Amazing
Review: This is a must for young and old. Finally a book that does not push people in a religious direction; you follow the believe of Corrie and her family automatically. A bible for one, a good novel for the other or just an amazing story about a dutch family struggling through the war including romance, action and a message to the world. One of the best books I ever read.

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Summary: Can I love as they loved?
Review: This powerful book has added another demension in my life that one can only owe to God Himself. As it states, "only when you have turned the LAST page will you realize that you have read more than a spellbinding adventure. You [have read] a book which will change your life forever!" I was unable to put it down as the story engulfed me in the very lives of Corrie ten Boom and her family. As she and Betsie endured the horrific nightmares of one "concentrarion camp" after another, my heart and soul tried to understand how it was possible to surrive on such STRONG faith as these two sisters had. It has brought me to realize as they have, that with God all IS possible, and that through faith in Christ, we can find refuge, -- our own "Hiding Place"

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Summary: Best Book I Ever Read
Review: When I first read this book, it literally changed the way I looked at God's sovereignity and the way He moves in the lives of His children. It truly shows through the example of this godly woman's life that God is in control despite seemingly impossible situations. It was the best book I ever read.

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Summary: The Hiding Place
Review: The Hiding Place is an incredible book about Corrie ten Boom and her sister, Betsie ten Boom's lives in World War II. Through all her struggles, her faith in God and Jesus was never lost.

The beginning of this book is about the Pre-war years in the Beje, their old, lovely house in Haarlem, Holland. When the Germans invaded Holland, many Jews were scared and worried about their future. Many ventured into the Beje to speak to Corrie ten Boom's father who was a great figure in their community who believed deeply in religion. Corrie decided that is was only right to help these "orphans" and found "safe" houses for them. Soon Jews steadily made their way to the Beje for guidance.

In this way the ten Booms got involved in the Holland underground at the risk of their lives. Soon her family's house became the underground headquarters in their sector of Holland.

Corrie provided for these guests through her many connections in the underground, whether it be a retired meterman or a policeman. Through another friend they built a fake wall to conceal the Jews in an emergency. Yet, the web of contacts had become so huge that it was inevitable they would be caught.

And so it happened that Corrie, her three siblings, her father, and other people that were in the Beje were caught late in February 1944. From then on Corrie and Betsie discovered jail, death, punishment, hunger, cruelty, and, most importantly, their faith in God.

I have almost nothing bad to say about this book. The beginning left a little bit to be desired but all in all this was an incredible book that was impossible to put down. You MUST read this book if you are interested in WWII or the Resistance. If you like books about this subject click on my name for more suggestions.