Corrie ten Boom, Her Story
10. Mother
I WOULD LIKE to tell you a little bit about my mother. I loved her so very much. The last years of her life, she was very ill and she could not even talk well— only a few words. But she could love and she could receive love. It was before she fell ill that we had a talk about the Lord.
Mother said, "I am not quite sure if everything is all right between the Lord and me. My faith is so little."
I told her words of Jesus, such as, "Come unto me, all. ..." I said, "Mother, you, too, belong to the all."
Mother looked sad and answered, "Yes, but... ." These words so often interfere when the Lord speaks to us, if we listen more to the spirit of doubt than to the Lord.
And now Mother was ill. She had had a stroke and could only say a few words. One day, I brought her a breakfast tray. She folded her hands and then shook her head. I asked, "Mother, can you not even find words when you pray?"
"No." But then she looked at me and I saw that her face was relaxed and happy. "But it does not matter that you cannot talk to the Lord," I said. "He talks to you, doesn't He?"
"Yes," she said, and her face was beaming with joy.
"Ts it all right with you and the Lord?" "Absolutely!" was her reply.
I tried to find out the reason she was so changed from doubt to trust. "Did we say something, Mother? Or did someone else who visited you, perhaps the pastor who came to see you yesterday? Or was it a message over the radio that gave you the assurance of salvation?"
Mother smiled and then she pointed upward with her finger.
"Was it the Lord who made it all right?" "Yes, absolutely, it was the Lord." Six words Mother said, and what a joyful sentence!
My! There I saw that even when we could not reach her, the Lord could always reach her. And He is more concerned about our well-being than we are for each other. When I told Father, he said, "Oh, this is an answer to my prayer!"
"Did you also pray for it? I did, too." We found out that the whole family had been praying that the Lord might give Mother great assurance instead of doubt. How He had answered that prayer! What a joy it was!
Later on, Mother grew worse and was very, very ill; then she could not talk at all. It was as if she had no consciousness, but I felt her pulse and then I talked and asked her some questions. Her heartbeat went quicker when I spoke. "Mother, when you are going to die, you have nothing to fear, for you know that Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the whole world, and also for your sins. And, Mother, He is preparing a beautiful house for you in heaven. Then you may go there and we shall see each other again. For the Lord loves us and we all love Him! Just think of it, Mother, in heaven we shall have no pain. There will be no sickness at all, and, Mother, there you will see Jesus. What a joy it will be to look at His wonderful face!"
I knew that although she could not speak at all, she had understood what I had said. But do you understand what made me happiest? To know that when we cannot reach the other one, the Lord can reach His beloved. And it is He who has said: Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.
Matthew 28:20
I know that He was with Mother when she died and went home. He Himself brought her into His wonderful paradise. "Promoted to Glory," the Salvation Army people say.
Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.
Psalms 139:5