This is positively one of my FAVORITE books about healing from past wounds and forgiving those that did the wounding. While this book doesn't have anything to do with domestic abuse, it has everything to do with being treated cruelly, living in fear, and surviving without letting the bitterness take hold.
This is the true story of Corrie Tenboom and her family. They lived in Holland during World War II. They were devout Christians, and would have been fine, except they couldn't stand by idly while their Jewish friends and neighbors were persecuted unfairly. They hid and saved many souls in their tiny home. For that she and her sister were eventually sent to a concentration camp. There they faced insurmountable trials and physical and emotional abuse.
Corrie never lost her faith in God. She never gave up hope. She never lost her positive attitude. Her heart was ever filled with love for ALL of her fellow men. Even as she was starving and working in deplorable conditions in the camp, she had something to be grateful for every day. She gave thanks to God for even the smallest of miracles that helped her survive in her time of need. Instead of using her past as an excuse for bitterness, she ends up inspiring the world with her love and her faith by humbly exclaiming, "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.”
The most amazing part for me was how she was able to forgive. Years after WWII, she meets one of the SS officers who directly had a hand in much of the abuse inflicted upon her at the concentration camp. For the briefest of moments, rage fills her heart. This is how she describes it:
"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."
This is the epitome of what the miracle of the atonement can do. When we don't have it in us to heal, to let it go, to forgive, then Christ can do it for us. He has enough love, enough compassion, enough empathy for us ALL. We just have to have the humble faith like Corrie to ask Him for help in our own lives.
I wish I had lived through my abuse as gracefully and faithfully as did Corrie. I did let bitterness take hold for a while. Luckily I soon felt what it was doing to me. The bitterness did nothing to punish my abuser, it only crippled me. I felt too weak to shed myself of the pain and bitter feelings that plagued my daily life. That dark yuckiness had a fierce hold on my heart and mind. Jesus Christ was the only one powerful enough to free me of my emotional shackles. And just like Corrie, I've felt the miraculous feeling of His love for ALL. I am now free in heart and mind because I chose love over fear, forgiveness over bitterness.
This is the true story of Corrie Tenboom and her family. They lived in Holland during World War II. They were devout Christians, and would have been fine, except they couldn't stand by idly while their Jewish friends and neighbors were persecuted unfairly. They hid and saved many souls in their tiny home. For that she and her sister were eventually sent to a concentration camp. There they faced insurmountable trials and physical and emotional abuse.
Corrie never lost her faith in God. She never gave up hope. She never lost her positive attitude. Her heart was ever filled with love for ALL of her fellow men. Even as she was starving and working in deplorable conditions in the camp, she had something to be grateful for every day. She gave thanks to God for even the smallest of miracles that helped her survive in her time of need. Instead of using her past as an excuse for bitterness, she ends up inspiring the world with her love and her faith by humbly exclaiming, "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.”
The most amazing part for me was how she was able to forgive. Years after WWII, she meets one of the SS officers who directly had a hand in much of the abuse inflicted upon her at the concentration camp. For the briefest of moments, rage fills her heart. This is how she describes it:
"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."
This is the epitome of what the miracle of the atonement can do. When we don't have it in us to heal, to let it go, to forgive, then Christ can do it for us. He has enough love, enough compassion, enough empathy for us ALL. We just have to have the humble faith like Corrie to ask Him for help in our own lives.
I wish I had lived through my abuse as gracefully and faithfully as did Corrie. I did let bitterness take hold for a while. Luckily I soon felt what it was doing to me. The bitterness did nothing to punish my abuser, it only crippled me. I felt too weak to shed myself of the pain and bitter feelings that plagued my daily life. That dark yuckiness had a fierce hold on my heart and mind. Jesus Christ was the only one powerful enough to free me of my emotional shackles. And just like Corrie, I've felt the miraculous feeling of His love for ALL. I am now free in heart and mind because I chose love over fear, forgiveness over bitterness.