“Do you know what hurts so very much? It's love. Love is the strongest force in the world, and when it is blocked that means pain. There are two things we can do when this happens. We can kill that love so that it stops hurting. But then of course part of us dies, too. Or we can ask God to open up another route for that love to travel.”
Corrie Ten Boom knew what it was to love. She also knew how hard it is when someone’s love is taken from you. She lost her closest family and friends, including her father and her sister, with whom she was especially close. Yet it was the witness of these people, and the faithfulness in their lives, that brought her closer to God. Corrie had the opportunity to “kill” her love, as she puts it. After losing her family, she could have descended into depression and self-pity. But instead, she learned to love her enemies, even those that imprisoned and killed her friends.
Yes, love can hurt us. But this is due to our sinful and selfish nature, not some tragic and unavoidable “twist of fate,” as the world would have us believe. It is also due greatly to our lack of forgiveness or bitterness when we are hurt. In our selfish minds, we would rather harbor our hurt and our pain, falling deeper into depression, than stand up, apologize, and go on with life.
Corrie Ten Boom’s life is a witness for all of us. I am still astonished, and incredibly encouraged, when I read about the forgiveness she had for those who hurt her and tore her life apart. Matthew 5:44–45a: “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.”