Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth. For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street. This year, 2026, marks the 55th anniversary of the publishing of The Hiding Place by Corey Timboom. Anyone who's in need of another resolution for this new year would do well to read or reread this biographical account of a Christian family in the Netherlands who were arrested by the Gestapo during World War II for hiding Jews in their home. Corey and her sister Betsy were eventually taken to Ravensbruck in northern Germany, one of the most devastating concentration camps.
There, the two endured horrific conditions, but also met the miraculous hand of God. Page after page of the hiding place shows how faith can become fearful trembling and how God can turn it all for his glory. For example, Corey and Betsy immediately noticed something terrible about Barracks 28 where they were placed. Besides the damp, decaying room with backed up plumbing and single beds piled with several women apiece, there were fleas everywhere. At her breaking point, Corey asked her sister, Betsy, how can we live in such a place?
Betsy told Cory to pick up her Bible, which had slipped miraculously past the guard's attention, and to read from 1 Thessalonians 5. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of Jesus Christ. Corey read that out loud. That's it, Corey. That's his answer, Betsy said.
We can start right now for thanking God for every single thing about this barracks.
So Betsy convinced an indignant Corey to thank God for the room assignment, for the Bible in her hand, for the crammed, stuffed, packed, suffocating crowds, because that meant that more women would hear the word of God in their darkest hours. And then Betsy went on serenely, thank you for the fleas. For the fleas, that was just too much. Betsy, there's no way God can make me grateful for a flea. Give thanks in all circumstances, she quoted.
It doesn't say in pleasant circumstances, fleas are a part of this place where God has put us. And so, Corey wrote, we stood between the piers and the bunks and gave thanks for the fleas. As the time passed, the guards became harsher and the work more inhumane.
However, the guards never came into Barracks 28 at night. Because they were left alone, Corey and Betsy were able to pull the contraband Bible out and read and evangelize the women. The sisters later discovered just why the guards left the women alone in these quarters. because they were scared of the fleas. God's command to be grateful was not based on anything arbitrary.
Thankfulness is actually part of reality. It changes things. In fact, the American Brain Foundation puts it this way, quote, when we feel grateful, neurotransmitters trigger activity in the medial prefrontal cortex, the anterior cingulate cortex, the ventral striatum, and the insula. I'm not sure I pronounced those words right. These brain regions are involved in cognitive functions, like higher order thinking, decision-making, emotional awareness, and motivation.
In other words, being thankful effectively rewires the brain. Studies found that this can lead to positive outcomes on cardiovascular health and for Alzheimer's patients. It increases our ability to build and keep relationships with others, and it brings about many other physical and social outcomes. Another profound story from a hiding place had to do with the strip searches the sisters were subject to every Friday. Cory described lining up with the women of the barracks in a cold hallway, all of whom were chilled to the bone, decrying the need to wait and lie naked.
And Corey wrote this. But it was one of those mornings in the corridor that yet another page in the Bible leapt into life for me. He hung on the cross. I leaned toward Betsy, ahead of me in line. Her shoulder blades stood out sharp and thin beneath her blue mottled skin.
Betsy They took his clothes too. And ahead of me I heard a little gasp. O'Corey, and I never thanked him. In everything, give thanks, Scripture says. That's because we have God to thank for everything.
And if we forget that, we forget who we are and what life is really all about. For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street with Breakpoint. Today's Breakpoint was co-authored with Haley Wilson. If you're a fan of Breakpoint, leave us a review on your favorite podcast app. And to download and share this commentary with others, go to breakpoint.org.
