Women of Valor: Corrie ten Boom
Corrie ten Boom, known today as one of the “most remarkable evangelists of her time,” was a Dutch woman used mightily for God, who, during WWII, launched a significant underground resistance to protect Jews in Holland, lived and ministered through the horrors of the German concentration camps, and later traveled the world sharing about the love of Jesus. While her story consisted of remarkable impact, Corrie began her life as a watchmaker’s daughter in the town of Haarlem, Holland, and lived an ordinary and obscure life until she was in her 50’s. Born in Holland in 1892, the first half-century of Corrie’s life was anything but exceptional. The faith of her family and the depth of their life in God was the only nod to the events that lay ahead.
Women of Valor: Harriet Tubman
She pushed ahead when no one else would. She rose above when her first husband remarried (after she hadn’t returned for some time) and forgave him by offering to help him if he and his new wife (and child) wanted to escape. She worked alongside men to help free people and push our country towards freedom for all. She also continued to work towards women’s rights while maintaining her faith and hope in the God who gave her heart freedom.
Women of Valor: Catherine Booth
When I first heard of the Salvation Army and its ministries, I had primarily heard criticism. So, I was astonished when I learned more about what they believe and their dedication to the call of God upon their lives. When I listened to another fellow seminarian speak about Catherine Booth, I felt like I had a soul sister in her.
Women of Valor: Amy Carmichael
As I read the words of Amy Carmichael, she seemed to be a friend that I already knew. The sister I never had. The woman who discipled me to Christ without me knowing. She wrote, "There are times when something comes into our lives which is charged with love in such a way that it seems to open the Eternal to us for a moment, or at least some of the Eternal Things, and the greatest of these is love. It may be a small and intimate touch upon us or our affairs, light as the touch of the dawn wind on the leaves of the tree, something not to be captured and told to another in words. But we know that it is our Lord. And then perhaps the room where we are, with its furniture and books and flowers, seems less "present" than His Presence, and the heart is drawn into that sweetness of which the old hymn sings. The love of Jesus, what it is; None but His loved ones know."