How right Corrie is. Anyone who knows her life story can respect her advice. If anyone had reason to worry about tomorrow, it was Corrie.
Approximately thirty people were arrested in the ten Boom home by the Gestapo in 1944. Although Corrie's family were sheltering six Jews and resistance workers in their home, their presence remained undiscovered while the ten Boom family and others were taken to a penitentiary. Subsequently, all but three of them were released. Corrie, her father and her older sister Betsie remained in prison. Her father died there only ten days after their arrest. Corrie and Betsie were later transferred to Ravensbruck Concentration Camp in Germany where they encountered unimaginable persecution.
Betsie, who died in the camp, always encouraged Corrie to see God's hand in their circumstances, no matter how hard those circumstances were. Betsie's calm assurance of God's love and presence in their lives, as well as Corrie's strength and courage, got them through some horrific experiences in the camp.After the war, Corrie's telling of their story through books and speaking engagements made their experience well known. Her infectious joy as she spoke to large groups - many of them young people - about God's love and forgiveness led many to became Christians.
Corrie was a very courageous woman. She was not willing to relinquish any of the strength God gave her to worry. In every picture I have seen of Corrie, she has a huge smile on her face.
In the Old Testament, Nehemiah took on a seemingly impossible job with incredible opposition. He refused to be anxious about the trials. He stayed true to his task and declared that his strength for doing so came from the joy of the Lord. Just like Nehemiah, Corrie's trust in God and her joy in serving Him gave her the strength she needed for each day.
As someone who has struggled with worry, I have learned a lot from people like Nehemiah, Corrie ten Boom and others. Worry is a true handicap. It can lead to depression. Many times the things you worry about never happen, but your anxious feelings can stifle your productivity.
Resisting worry is hard, but necessary. The only real cure is to replace worry with the joy of the Lord. When you substitute His strength and His joy for your imaginations, He is able to do what He desires to do through you.
Corrie says that worry carries tomorrow's load with today's strength. It is interesting to me that when Jesus invites us to come to Him with our burdens, He doesn't offer to take the load off of our shoulders, but instead invites us to take His yoke upon us. It is sharing His yoke that teaches us humility and gives us rest for our souls. It is His joy that makes our joy full. He has overcome anything that we could possibly worry about. The joy of knowing Him is the cure for worry.
"So do not worry or be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have worries and anxieties of its own. Sufficient for each day is its own trouble" (Matthew 6:34 Amplified). Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know the testing of your faith produces perseverance (James 1:2-3 NIV).
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