“This is what the past is for! Every experience God gives us, every person He puts in our lives is the perfect preparation for the future that only He can see.” 
― Corrie Ten Boom, The Hiding Place 

Corrie ten Boom: a dutch Christian, a hider of Jews during the holocaust, a woman who had a heart to help disabled children…but yet she suffered unspeakable injustices. Because of her family’s role in hiding Jews in their home, they were arrested in 1944. Corrie and her sister Betsie were sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp. Betsie would die in that camp under horrendous conditions.

While at Ravensbruck, Corrie was abused, malnourished, and made to work in the cold without proper clothing. The sleep quarters were infested with lice, fleas, and rats. She was released after about 10 months due to a clerical error. Corrie would say that it wasn’t an error, but rather, God’s plan.

So what does Corrie ten Boom have to do with Anna from Luke 2:36-38? Look at what both of these women did with their sorrow. They encouraged other people from the place of their deepest wounds. After being released, Corrie encouraged thousands with her writing and testimony. The way she extended forgiveness to even the soldiers who had abused her spoke of her deep abiding relationship with God.

Anna…well, we don’t have any record of her publicly speaking or writing about her early widowhood experience, but the scripture clearly states that she fasted, prayed, and served in the temple day and night. I can just imagine Anna’s quiet ministry of encouragement to other women who had experienced great loss. Or perhaps people would seek her out and request that she prayerfully intercede for them because that was the ministry for which she was noted in Luke 2:37.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 reveals what we can do with our hurts and troubles…Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

Corrie ten Boom and Anna both took their deepest hurts and allowed God to use them to comfort other people deeply and specifically.

Nothing that happens to us – good, bad, or ugly – is ever wasted! Our greatest ministry originates with our greatest hurts. <Tweet this

God made the body of Christ to feel each other’s struggles:

“And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.”  1 Corinthians 12:26

Are we allowing God to use our hurts to encourage others who are walking through a similar trial? That is part of the unity of the body of Christ. God is perfectly preparing us for our future!

This is the 3rd installment of “Looking for Christmas” as we examine the life of Anna from Luke 2:36-38. We are following the SEEK outline as our guide:

S: shifted sorrow into service

E: Encouraged other people

E: Expected the Bridegroom

K: Kept telling about Jesus

Here are links to Part 1 and Part 2.