One more mention of Corrie Ten Boom, a survivor of one of Hitler’s concentration camps.

As a missionary, she eventually returned to Germany to speak about God. In the audience sat a man, a former guard at the camp where Ten Boom was sent to starve. He was a cruel guard, but he didn’t remember or recognize Ten Boom as she spoke.

After the talk, the guard walked up to Ten Boom and said, “You mentioned Ravensbruck in you talk. I was a guard there, but since that time, I have become a Christian. I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did there, but I would like to hear it from your lips as well. Fraulein.”

Corrie Ten Boom admitted that she struggled. She wrote, “And still I stood there with the coldness clutching my heart. But forgiveness is not an emotion, I knew that too. Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart.”

After praying silently, she lifted her hand to embrace the hand of the guard. She wrote, “As I did, an incredible thing took place. The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into tour joined hands. And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes.” She told the guard she forgave him.