She Forgave the Man Who Betrayed Her Family to the Nazis. Here's How

Corrie ten Boom

How do you forgive the unforgivable? Years ago, I heard Corrie ten Boom answer that question.

She told us about the day she came face to face with the man who betrayed her family to the Nazis—the man whose actions led to her arrest and her sister's death.

Decades later, I can still hear her voice.

A Little Humor to Start

Corrie laughed about American introductions, saying they sometimes put such a "halo" around her head it gave her a headache!

Then she told about a woodpecker pecking a tree just as lightning struck it. The bird flew away thinking, "My, I didn't know I had that much power in my beak!"

She smiled and said any power in her words that day wasn't hers—it was the Holy Spirit. And she asked us to pray she wouldn't get in the way.

What humility. What grace.

We're in a Battle

Then her tone shifted. Corrie reminded us we're in a real fight—powers of darkness and light clashing, with us right in the middle.

The biggest danger? Not the enemy outside, but powerless Christians who don't know what's available to them.

But here's the good news: God promises power through His Spirit. We don't need to beg for more—He wants us to open wider to Him.

It's already there. We just need to receive.

Love Above All Gifts

She read 1 Corinthians 13—the love chapter. Gifts are wonderful, she said. Prophecy, tongues, knowledge—all beautiful.

But without love, they're just noise.

"If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal."

Love is the test. Love is the proof. Love is what lasts.

Lessons from the Camp

Then Corrie took us to Ravensbrück—that dark, horrific concentration camp where she and her sister Betsie were imprisoned.

Amid cruelty and suffering, even lice (which, ironically, kept the guards away so they could share a hidden Bible!), Corrie learned that God's love stands when everything else falls.

She told us about the day she came face to face with the man who had betrayed her family—the man whose actions led to their arrest and her sister's death.

Every human instinct screamed for revenge. But something deeper rose up in her. She forgave him—because Jesus' love in her was stronger than hate.

She described it this way: an ocean of darkness all around, yes. But God's infinite ocean of light and love flows over it, covering it completely (Romans 5:5).

His love wins. Always.

God's Love Changes Everything

In hatred, bitterness, everyday struggles—His love is victorious when we let the Spirit fill us.

It's not our weak, limited human love that changes things.

It's His powerful agape love poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

That love forgives the unforgivable. That love stands in the darkest night. That love transforms everything it touches.

Let Him Fill You

Corrie's words have echoed in my heart for years: Open wide to that love.

Today, right now, you can open your heart wider to His love. It changes hearts. It changes homes. It changes everything.

Not because we try harder, but because His love is greater.

Let Him fill you today.

Love, Cindy

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