Corrie ten Boom's Empty Hands

When the Gestapo raided the ten Boom home in Haarlem, Holland, on February 28, 1944, Corrie ten Boom lost everything in a single afternoon — her watchmaking shop, her family's freedom, and eventually her father and sister Betsie, both of whom died in custody. At Ravensbrück concentration camp, guards stripped the prisoners of every possession, every dignity, every comfort the world could offer.

Yet Corrie later recalled that it was precisely in that barren place — sleeping on filthy straw, shivering through German winters — that the promises of God became most real to her. She and Betsie held secret worship services by candlelight, reading from a Bible smuggled past the guards. "When we have nothing left but God," Betsie whispered to her one evening, "we discover that God is enough."

After liberation, Corrie spent the next three decades traveling the world with no permanent home, no savings account, no safety net. She needed none. She had tested the ancient promise and found it unbreakable.

The writer of Hebrews quotes the words of the Almighty Himself: "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." Corrie ten Boom held nothing in her hands at Ravensbrück — and discovered those hands were already held. The Lord was her helper. What could mere mortals do to her? They could take everything except the One who mattered most.