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Themes "Consecration, God's Power in Our Lives The Weak is Strong J.M.
A cold, wet fog hung over Ravensbruck, as Corrie ten Boom, Prisoner 66730, stood for roll call. How she wished Betsie, her sister, could be here with her. But Betsie was dying. The thin, sixty year old woman who had brought such blessing to the women of Barracks 28 lay in a prison hospital bed. How could Corrie go on without her? No one would think that one old woman would be missed, but Betsie was different. Too weak to work much, she spent her time reading the Bible to the other women, whose souls were starving for the truth. Each night, as the women picked lice off each others' clothes, they would listen to Betsie's soft voice reading from her Dutch Bible.
As Corrie headed back to the dormitory, she thought what a difference her small sister had made. Where before women had once fought over blankets, they now spoke no loud, angry words. It amazed Corrie that God would choose ones like her and Betsie to bring His light to this dark prison camp. Why choose two unmarried sisters in their fifties? But the verse came to Corrie-"My strength is made perfect in your weakness."
The Lord had, indeed, shown His strength even before Corrie and Betsie were put in prison. Corrie's thoughts went back to the old house in Haarlem, Holland, where the two sisters and their father lived before the war. In May of 1940, German troops had entered Holland, capturing Jews and sending them to prison. The sisters' father, an old watch maker, had many Jewish friends who came to him for help. By February of 1944, the Ten Booms had built a secret room in Corrie's bedroom to hide people form the police. Corrie had lost track of how many fugitives had come through their home. A Jewish woman and her tiny baby , a teenage boy, an old Rabbi - all of these had done nothing wrong. Yet Hitler, the German leader, hunted and destroyed over six million Jews.
Corrie rubbed her aching, swollen legs. How long ago it seemed since they had been arrested. Police had stormed up the stairs as the last of the six people in hiding slipped into the secret room. One old woman had asthma, and Corrie could hear her wheezing through the wall. "Please, Lord," she had prayed,"Don't let the police hear Mary's breathing!" By a miracle, they didn't. Corrie received a letter later in prison saying all the people in hiding had gotten away safely. It was amazing how the Lord used two unlikely people to work out his great plan. Corrie knew that God chooses weak things so He can show how powerful He is.
Elijah was only a man. He was, however, a man who was in touch with God. We as human beings, have no strength to please God in ourselves. It is only when we have a relationship with God through His Son that we can know God and be used by Him. Have you ever come to know God personally through the Lord Jesus Christ?
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Simon Wallace
