Devotions with Pastor Donny Woodbridge

Corrie Ten Boom grew up near Amsterdam in The Netherlands and was part of a well-respected Christian family. After the Nazi invasion in 1940, the Ten Booms hid an estimated 800 resistance fighters and Jews in their home, protecting them until they could be moved to safe houses.

In February 1944, the Ten Booms were betrayed and put into imprisonment by the Nazis. During their imprisonment they were placed in solitary confinement and interrogated. Even in these harsh and harrowing conditions Corrie led a nightly prayer group with a smuggled Bible.

Corrie was eventually released by what may have been a clerical error (some coincidence eh?). It would save her life and allow her to go on helping others, as well as teaching on prayer and forgiveness.

In a teaching on Effectual Prayer Corrie told her audience about catching a cold while living in a concentration camp. Her sister Betsie told her to pray and ask God for help. Corrie laughed at her sister. Betsie still prayed for God to give Corrie a handkerchief. It was just a simple, practical prayer. After she said Amen, a friend arrived and gave Corrie a gift of a handkerchief. “How in the world did you know that I needed a handkerchief?” asked Corrie. Her friend replied, “There was a voice in my heart who said bring a handkerchief to Corrie Ten Boom.”

Corrie continued, “Can you understand what a handkerchief tells you in such a moment? That there is a Father in heaven who hears it when on a very small planet, the earth, some one of his children prays for an impossible small thing, for a hankie, and that Father in heaven tells one of his other children – give a handkerchief to Corrie Ten Boom.”

As we approach Father’s Day this weekend, may your heart be filled with a true sense that you are being heard by a Heavenly Father who cares about even the simplest of your needs. I encourage you to pray with the quiet confidence that you are in conversation with your Abba Father.

Love and Prayers,
Pastor Donny