Everyone gets discouraged at some point, but publishing is an industry full of emotional roller coasters. It’s easy to fall into the pit of discouragement as a writer, publisher, editor or agent. And 2020 has brought a lot of unexpected challenges for all of us! A book that comes to mind for me during discouraging and difficult times is The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom. This book is the true story of Corrie’s internment in a concentration camp during WWII. She and her family were Christians hiding Jews from the Germans in Amsterdam. She was caught and tortured, but ultimately survived, and her story has touched millions of people. (The movie is good as well! I cry every time I watch it.)
The most amazing thing to me about Corrie’s story is that, even though the circumstances she faced were awful, her attitude, faith, and optimism are what carried her through.
Here are some quotes taken from the book that encourage me:
“Perhaps only when human effort had done it’s best and failed, would God’s power alone be free to work.”
“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.”
“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.”
“There are no ‘ifs’ in God’s world. And no places that are safer than other places. The center of His will is our only safety–let us pray that we may always know it!”
I figure that if Corrie can have such a faith during that horrible war, I can strive to have faith like that in my day-to-day life. God knows the future. He has a plan, and I don’t need to worry. The discouragement and anxiety comes when I don’t let go of the worries. If I trust God, I don’t experience that discouragement; instead I’m excited to see what God has in store.
I’m not so good at letting go of the worry, but I keep trying. 🙂 It helps to think about The Hiding Place.
As a matter of fact, it’s time for me to read that book again!
What books have helped encourage you?
Give Thanks
It’s probably egocentric to say this, but my continued writing’s my inspiration. Barb thinks God’ll keep me alive until my words reach that one person who really needs to read them.
I can no longer slow the pace
of pain, nor draw full breath,
and midnight I behold the face
of mad and grinning death
that says my life was truly waste,
adventure misbegotton,
and that I soon will have taste
of what it is to be forgotten,
and this is a blade to me,
what this demon came to say,
that what I hoped was legacy
will simply fade away,
and inspiration’s thus to write,
that some words outlive this night.
The Hiding Place is so inspiring! I love Corrie Ten Boom’s strong faith in God and how He’s still using her and her story to impact lives for the Kingdom. And yes, if she can have faith in such horrific circumstances, I can trust God with my day to day struggles and discouragement. Thanks for your post.
I love Jan Karon’s Mitford series. The small-town characters are quirky and grow on you. Each book says something about how every life can find redemption.
The Hiding Place is so wonderful! I haven’t read it for a long time and perhaps it is tome to look at it again. It is almost December and we usually read a couple of books out loud as a family. I just realized that these are all an encouragement to me. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. What a story of redemption! We are reading the gospels as well, which always settle my soul in the simple bare bones of who we are as Christians and who we follow. Also, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Which is hilarious … but also touches on pride and poverty, bullying, compassion, and the fact that Mary wasn’t the shiny blushing beauty from the Sunday school cards but a weary teen sitting in an animal barn with her new baby and crazy things happening all around her. A little bit like Imogene with her bent halo and messy hair and tears in her eyes as she burps the baby and just maybe glares at the wise men.
Most recently a new book of Elisabeth Elliot’s last few lectures. Suffering is Never for Nothing.
Kristen, YES! A Christmas Carol is lovely. I had my English 12 students read it every year–Christian literature right in a public school classroom.
Rachel, I’ve enjoyed reading novels by Amanda Dykes, which offer something of wonder and light in dark times. Years ago, when my husband and I stepped into the uncertain arena of adoption, I looked to our friends who had just adopted a beautiful baby boy. If God will do this for them, I thought … what will he do for me? And I kept placing one foot in front of the other, as the doors opened. And God did not disappoint. Oh my goodness, he gave me more than my heart’s desire.
Thank you, Rachael. Now where did I put that book? I need to re-read it, too.
This is one of my favourite books. I was born during the war and it was only a matter of years after the war that I was introduced to the life of Corrie ten Boom. Her life and that of her family has been a challenge and an encouragement to me ever since. I have been especially moved by the life of her sister Betsy and her courage during their internment and especially her comment to Corrie: “There is no hole so deep, but God’s love is deeper.” I may not have it exactly right but that is the sentiment she shared.