Corrie ten Boom’s Life of Faithfulness

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2026 is the 55th anniversary of the publishing of The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom. Anyone in need of another resolution for the New Year would do well to read (or re-read) this biographical account of a Christian family in the Netherlands who were arrested by the Gestapo during World War II for hiding Jews in their home. Corrie and her sister Betsie were eventually taken to Ravensbrück in Northern Germany, one of the most devastating concentration camps. There, the two endured horrific conditions but also met the miraculous hand of God. Page after page portrays faith even in fearful trembling, and how God can turn all things for His glory. It also highlights a deep commitment to thankfulness by the sisters.

For example, Corrie and Betsie immediately noticed something about Barracks 28, where they were placed. Besides the damp, decaying room with backed up plumbing and single beds piled with several women apiece, there were fleas everywhere. At her breaking point, Corrie asked her sister: “Betsie, how can we live in such a place!”

Betsie had Corrie pick up her Bible, which had slipped miraculously past the guards’ attention on several occasions, and read from I Thessalonians 5: “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of Jesus Christ—,” Corrie read out loud. “That’s it, Corrie! That’s His answer… we can start right now for thanking God for every single thing about this barracks!”

Betsie convinced an indignant Corrie to thank God for the room assignment, for the Bible in her hand, and even for the “crammed, stuffed, packed, suffocating crowds,” because that meant more women would hear the Word of God in their darkest hours.

“Thank You,” Betsie went on serenely, “for the fleas…”

“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 a part of this place where God has put us.”

And so we stood between the piers and bunks and gave thanks for the fleas.

As time passed, the guards became harsher, and the work more inhumane. However, the guards never came into Barracks 28 at night. Because they were left alone, Corrie and Betsie were able to pull out the contraband Bible and read and evangelize to the women. The sisters discovered later why the guards left these women alone in their quarters: they were scared of the fleas.

God’s command to be grateful is not arbitrary. Thankfulness changes things. The American Brain Foundation put it this way:

When we feel grateful, neurotransmitters trigger activity in the medial prefrontal cortex, the anterior cingulate cortex, the ventral striatum, and the insula.

These brain regions are involved in cognitive functions like higher-order thinking, decision-making, emotional awareness, and motivation.

Being thankful effectively rewires the brain by releasing dopamine and serotonin. Studies have found this can lead to positive outcomes on cardiovascular health and for Alzheimer’s patients. It increases our ability to build and keep relationships and brings about many more physical and social outcomes.

Another profound story from A Hiding Place had to do with the strip searches the sisters were subject to each Friday. Corrie described lining up with the women of the barracks in a cold hallway, all of whom were chilled to the bone, decrying the need to wait in line naked:

But it was one of these mornings . . . in the corridor, that yet another page in the Bible leapt into life for me. He hung on the cross.

I leaned toward Betsie, ahead of me in line. Her shoulder blades stood out sharp and thin beneath her blue-mottled skin.

‘Betsie, they took His clothes too.’

Ahead of me I heard a little gasp. ‘Oh Corrie. And I never thanked Him.’

“In everything, give thanks.” That’s because we have God to thank for everything, and if we ever forget that, we forget who we are and what life is all about.

This Breakpoint was co-authored by Hayley Wilson.

Photo Credit: ©Unsplash/Darshan Gajara

John Stonestreet is President of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, and radio host of BreakPoint, a daily national radio program providing thought-provoking commentaries on current events and life issues from a biblical worldview. John holds degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (IL) and Bryan College (TN), and is the co-author of Making Sense of Your World: A Biblical Worldview.

The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of CrosswalkHeadlines.

BreakPoint is a program of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. BreakPoint commentaries offer incisive content people can't find anywhere else; content that cuts through the fog of relativism and the news cycle with truth and compassion. Founded by Chuck Colson (1931 – 2012) in 1991 as a daily radio broadcast, BreakPoint provides a Christian perspective on today's news and trends. Today, you can get it in written and a variety of audio formats: on the web, the radio, or your favorite podcast app on the go.