"Fear Not" Week: The Story of the Watchmaker Who Forgave Her Enemies

Our next portrait of courage takes us from pre-Civil War America to the Netherlands during WWII. 

If you were to list the top 10 things you did not know about Corrie Ten Boom, my #1 would be this: She was a single 47 year-old watchmaker when she began hiding escapees from Nazi violence. From the books I had read and the numerous movies that I had watched, I assumed that she was in her upper 20's or lower 30's. Instead, she was a stone's throw from turning 50! Did you also know that she was the first woman to ever become a licensed watchmaker in the Netherlands!

So, at that age, she became one of the most celebrated heroic characters in modern Christian history. Her subversive acts could have cost her life, yet she persisted. Through ten months in a concentration camp, she persisted. Then she found the greatest courage of all.

The courage to forgive. She forgave those who raided her house. She forgave Nazis at the concentration camp. She even set up a foundation that helped both displaced Jews and former Nazi soldiers! Is it no wonder that Jesus mentioned forgiveness so prominently (Mark 11:25) before he took a trip into the temple to face a trap that the religious elite had set for him. 

Access the story of Corrie Ten Boom by clicking --> here <--

“Forgiveness is the key that unlocks the door of resentment and the handcuffs of hatred. It is a power that breaks the chains of bitterness and the shackles of selfishness.”