I found tons of quotes I liked, but these are a few of my favorite.
"Childhood scenes rushed back at me out of the night, strangely close and urgent. Today I know that such memories are the key not to the past, but to the future. I know that the experiences of our lives, when we let God use them, become the mysterious and perfect preparation for the work He will give us to do." page 15
"Happiness isn't something that depends on our surroundings, Corrie. It's something we make inside ourselves." page 33
"Do you know what hurts so very much? It's love. Love is the strongest force in the world, and when it is blocked that means pain. There are two things we can do when this happens. We can kill the love so that it stops hurting. But then of course part of us dies, too. Or, we can ask God to open another route for that love to travel." page 44
"But if God has shown us bad times ahead, it's enough for me that He knows about them. That's why He sometimes shows us things, you know--to tell us that this too is in His hands." page 63
"God honors truth-telling with perfect protection!" page 91
"She had suffered everything I had and yet she seemed to carry no burden of rage....Wasn't she telling me in her gentle way that I was as guilty as Jan Vogel? Didn't he and I stand together before an all-seeing God convicted of the same sin of murder? For I had murdered him with my heart and with my tongue." page 180
"And as the cold increased, so did the special temptation of concentration-camp life: the temptation to think only of oneself. It took a thousand cunning forms." page 213
"And even if it wasn't right--it wasn't so very wrong, was it? Not wrong like sadism and murder and the other monstrous evils we saw in Ravensbruck every day. Oh, this was the great ploy of Satan in that kingdom of his; to display such blatant evil that one could almost believe one's own secret sins didn't matter." page 214
"The real sin lay in thinking that any power to help and transform came from me. Of course it was not my wholeness, but Christ's that made the difference." page 214
"We must tell them that there is no pit so deep that He is not deeper still. They will listen to us, Corrie, because we have been here." page 217
"There are no "ifs" in God's kingdom. I could hear her soft voice saying it. His timing is perfect. His will is our hiding place. Lord Jesus, keep me in Your will! Don't let me go mad by poking about outside it." page 224
"And for all these people alike, the key to healing turned out to be the same. Each had a hurt he had to forgive: the neighbor who had reported him, the brutal guard, the sadistic soldier." page 236
"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." page 238
As always, those are a lot of quotes, but they're so good and so applicable to our daily struggles in life. I hope you were able to sift through them and find some inspiration.
I guess the thing that impressed me the most about this book was the overall feeling of hope and gratitude. I get irritable when I'm tired, hungry, have a headache or if the sun is too bright, so really the trials faced in this book are inconceivable to me. I want to be an example of light and truth like Betsie and Corrie (and family) were. Even while at the lowest point in their time at the concentration camp, they still felt gratitude. I have to ask myself if I am really like that? I definitely like to talk about gratitude and can list lots of things I'm thankful for, but does my life reflect the kind of gratitude and love that I'd like it to reflect? No.
One other interesting thing was that the woman leading the discussion contrasted this book to Night by Elie Weisel. She pointed out that in this book the writer discusses his heinous experiences in the concentration camp, and found it sad and interesting that he had no sense of hope or recognition of God. Apparently this book is much darker and shows the opposite reaction and results of their awful experience.
One other interesting thing was that the woman leading the discussion contrasted this book to Night by Elie Weisel. She pointed out that in this book the writer discusses his heinous experiences in the concentration camp, and found it sad and interesting that he had no sense of hope or recognition of God. Apparently this book is much darker and shows the opposite reaction and results of their awful experience.
**Have you read this book?
Which quote jumped out at you?
Thoughts?**
Which quote jumped out at you?
Thoughts?**
20 comments:
I love this book and your review is great. Reading about this time period really brings it home to me. What a horrible time in history yet we learn so much from her. Books like this leave a legacy for sure! Very good quotes, I think this one is my favorite-
God honors truth-telling with perfect protection!" page 91
(Same theme in the RS lesson in my ward today.)
This will be on my winter re-reading list for sure!
jeff had me read this book about 5 years ago and it was truly life changing for me.
i think i will reread it.
he bought it for me and asked me to read it. something he did once and has never done again, so you know it must have been important to him.he asked me to read it to help me gain a better understanding of forgiveness.
i love this book and will ask each of my girls to read it someday.
thank you for your wonderful insight i had been waiting for your notes to come
Sounds like an amazing book. I have not read it.
I love that you keep notes and mark your favorite quotes. I need to do that next time I read a book. I think you get much more out of it. Thanks for your insight.
I like your thoughtfulness about books. I like the first quote about childhood memories preparing us for the work we will do. That resonates as I had a childhood that has prepared me for the future, mostly due to the friends, family and teachers that taught me so much -- mostly be example. And of course we hear that quote that no success can compensate for failure in the home....surely because that largely influences our children's lives and the work God will have them do.
I have not read this, but I definitely will.
I am crying right now...I haven't read the Hiding Place since high school. I think it's time to pick it up again.
I have read The Hiding Place many times, and consider it among my all-time favorites. Just thinking about their amazing level of gratitude and ability to forgive humbles me, and makes me want to be better.
I have been feeling a little bitter about some of my current trials, reading your review has made me realize that it is time for me to read this book again.
I read this book several years ago, and I really loved it. I have to agree with your friend about the other book as well, by Elie Weisel. I read this book as well. While I liked reading it and learned even more about what it must have been like to live during that time, I also felt as she did, that it was dark and depressing. Isn't it interesting how different two people's perspectives of the same event can be?
Add it to my list please.
A truly amazing book, and probably one of those that I should re-read periodically. Whenever I think about this book, I think about how they found ways to be grateful for fleas! That always inspires me to make more room for gratitude in my heart.
I have read this book. I've read it a few times. I think I try to read it about every 5 years. Like Michelle, the part I tend to remember most is how Betsie was able to be grateful for the fleas! She couldn't have known that they were, in fact, a blessing, and yet she was grateful for them. I'm so glad you posted on this book. It really is an amazing book that everyone should read!
this book is life changing, enlightening. one of my favorite quotes is "there are no 'ifs" in god's kingdom . . . his timing is perfect. his will is our hiding place." i was actually reading this book the other day and wrote that quote down in my journal. i thought about posting something about it as well - what a coincidence! i agree that this book is a must read. their story is amazing, and heartwrenching.
Maybe I will pick it up!
I love this book, I read it for the first time about a year ago. Maybe I read it in Junior High too but I couldn't remember it.
I love the quote about there are no "ifs" in God's Kingdom. I remember while reading the book that really sticking with me. It gives me comfort and strength to know that the trials we suffer happen for a reason and for our good. It allows me to know that I don't always need to be questioning what's going on in our life.
Cannot say enough good things about this book. EVERYONE should read it.
"I learn that God values us not for our strength or our brains but simply because He made us. Who knows, in His eyes a half-wit may be worth more than a watchmaker. Or - a lieutenant."
- page 160
I don't understand how many of you have the luxury of re reading things...I didn't even get through the quotes...it is too late and I better read them tomorrow...but I still have to read GILEAD and a cople of other ones before I consider this one! It sounds like a really good book!
This is one of the most powerful books I have ever read. The part that was most vivid and has remained with me was when she explained her gratitude for the fleas in the camp because they remined her that she was a live, feeling, human. I have often reflected on my own need to be more grateful for the "fleas" in life. What an amazing story and truly an amazing woman. Thank you for reminding me of an impactful read!
There were two quotes that jumped out at me. The first was:
"Happiness isn't something that depends on our surroundings, Corrie. It's something we make inside ourselves."
I understnd this theoretically, I even believe this statement to be true. But, it's so hard to live by! Unhappiness just comes so easily for me. It's easy to let it bury me.
The second is:
"And as the cold increased, so did the special temptation of concentration-camp life: the temptation to think only of oneself. It took a thousand cunning forms."
Isn't it ironic that when things get really tough we tend to turn inward, when the thing that will make life better is to turn outward? Increasingly I find this to be true.
They're all great quotes. Can you believe I've never read this book?!
When we started our book club a few years ago, this was the first book we read. I thought it was one of the best and most important ever written.
Your generous sharing of quotes blesses all of us until we have time to read or re-read it ourselves. Thanks.
I love this book too. I have it in a nice hardback copy so it will last. It is one the best books and when I start to get down and depressed I think how good my life is in comparison and how my attitude is not good. If only we would always be like the people in this book. Have you also read, Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. It is a similar story of the concentration camps, and I was impressed by the fact that he was grateful for the bread, but he saved it and gave it to someone who he thought needed it more. I think these are great books and I look to them often.
One of my all time favorite books...(curious to see what book Kristi was referring to -- )
I love all the quotes you picked, I love the flea story, and I love that EVERY time I picked this book up, I wondered what type of a person I would be if I were put in a similar experience...
This book always makes me want to be better!
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