Betsie ten Boom lived in Holland with her father and more well-known sister Corrie at the time of the Nazi occupation during World War II. All three were imprisoned and the ladies eventually taken to a concentration camp. Betsie and her father died in earthly captivity. After years of imprisonment, Corrie was released and later wrote much about her family’s experiences in the popular book, The Hiding Place.

Prior to their arrest, they lived out their Christian faith by providing refuge for people who were hiding from the Nazi oppressors. For more than a year this family housed as many as seven people illegally. As the ten Booms ministered to these Jews and members of the Dutch underground, they trusted God in remarkable ways.

One night Betsie and Corrie awoke as German and English planes were fighting over their city. They huddled downstairs drinking tea until the commotion subsided. As Corrie climbed back into bed she cut her hand on a piece of shrapnel that had fallen through the roof and landed on her pillow. Racing back downstairs to Betsie for help, she couldn’t help but think of what might have been.

But before she could finish her sentence, Betsie stopped her cold with the life-altering application of a powerful truth…

“There are no ‘if’s’ in God’s world. And no places that are safer than other places. The center of His will is our only safety. . . . Let us pray that we may always know it!”

Betsie ten Boom, quoted from Corrie ten Boom’s The Hiding Place, 70

Do you worry about the ‘if’s’ in life? Or do you trust completely in the safety of God’s sovereignty?