The Hand She Could Not Lift

In 1947, Corrie ten Boom stood in a church basement in Munich, Germany, speaking about God's forgiveness to a crowd still hollowed out by war. She had survived Ravensbrück concentration camp, where her sister Betsie had died on December 16, 1944. She had watched lice crawl across skeletal women. She had smelled death on the winter air of that place.

Now a man was walking toward her, hand outstretched. She recognized him — a former guard from Ravensbrück, one who had stood watch while prisoners shuffled past in shame. "You mentioned Ravensbrück," he said. "I have become a Christian. I know that God has forgiven me, but I would like to hear it from you as well. Will you forgive me?"

Corrie's hand froze at her side. She who had just preached forgiveness could not lift her arm. Betsie's face flashed before her. The cold barracks. The cruelty. She later wrote in The Hiding Place, published in 1971, that she prayed silently, "Jesus, I cannot forgive this man. Give me Your forgiveness."

She thrust her hand forward. What she felt, she said, was a warmth flooding her arm and rushing into her heart.