Corrie Ten Boom is one of my heroes. I put my faith in Christ after watching the theatrical version of her life story, The Hiding Place.

Corrie used to speak to audiences about her experiences and she would often look down while she talked. It seemed like she was reading her notes, but she was actually working on a piece of needlepoint. After telling her story of the cruelty in the concentration camps and the death of her father and sister, Corrie would hold up the backside of the needlepoint. It was a jumble of colors and threads with no discernible pattern. And she would say “this is how we see our lives.” Then she would turn it over to reveal the pattern. And Corrie would conclude by saying: “This is how God views your life and someday we will have the privilege of seeing it from His point of view.”

A few weeks ago, John Hasler, our Berlin Campus Pastor, was in Amsterdam and he visited the house where the Ten Boom family hid Jews from the Nazis. I didn’t realize that Corrie had written a poem related to the needlepoint story. John brought me back a copy.

My life is but a weaving between my God and me,
I do not choose the colors, He works so steadily,
Oft times He weaves in sorrow, and I in foolish pride,
Forget He sees the upper, and I the underside.

Not till the loom is silent, and the shuttles cease to fly
Will God unroll the canvas and explain the reason why.
The dark threads are as needful in the Weavers skillful hand
As the threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned.