At the back of Corrie Ten Boom’s book, “The Hiding Place” was the following devotional exercise that I have determined to start, and I thought I would share it here. I’m so looking forward to God changing my attitude! I don’t think you have to read Corrie’s book to do this, but again, I really encourage you to find a copy and read it, you will be blessed!
corrie ten boom – devotional exercise
the power of forgiveness
To print out this devotion click this LINK
The significance of Corrie’s life is not that she was an exceptional person but, in her own words, “a very weak and ordinary one.” The truths she discovered can operate in the lives of each one of us. The procedure for making her book your own is not complicated: simply substitute for the particulars of her story the specific family situation, job problem, obstacle or opportunity in which God has set you. Here are three examples of how to do this.
1) God governs all things, even those that appear to us senseless or cruel. List below your own “hardest questions.”
Perhaps you ask why children must suffer in war, or how a loving God could permit a typhoon. Include vexing personal questions: an illness in your family, an automobile accident, a business failure.
Now, one by one, transfer these loads from your own care to God’s. “Lord, because I do not have the answers to these things I do not therefore conclude that there are no answers. You know why, Lord, and when I am strong enough—wise enough, loving enough—you will show me, too.” On the spaces below record (1) answers and partial answers vouchsafed to the above questions (include dates) and (2) increased freedom, energy, strength discovered in coping with other problems.
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2) God supplies grace for our present need, our griefs and problems. He also grants strength. But like Corrie’s father on the weekly trip to Amsterdam, God gives us our ticket only as we board the train.
Put down 10 concerns that cause you anxiety (missed sleep? Worry filled days?)
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Now read your list with this question: how many of these situations belong to today? In how many are you running ahead of God’s supply?
3) God wills us to give thanks. Our praise and gratitude in some mysterious way opens the door for Him to bless us as He wishes. On the lines below write down the five things for which you are currently most grateful.
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Several times a day pause to thank God for these blessing; watch your sense of the goodness and love in the world—and especially of His love—grow accordingly.
On these lines, note five present situations for which you are most definitely not grateful:
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Now set yourself the discipline of giving thanks daily for these things as well. See how God is able to use your changed attitude to change facts.
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