Effectual, Fervent Prayer - Corrie Ten Boom — From the Pulpit & Classic Sermons

Welcome to From the Pulpit in Classic Sermons. Each week we bring you a different message from some of history's greatest speakers in the Christian faith and powerful sermons for modern preachers too.

This week we have Corrie Ten Boom with her message, Effectual Fervent Prayer. The lady I'm about to.

Introduce has been knighted by the Queen of the Netherlands. She has received Israel's highest civilian award. She has gone through living hell as a prisoner of the Nazis in the dreaded Ravensbrook concentration camp during World War II.

That was nearly 30 years ago. She was over 50 years of age when she was arrested for harboring Jews. I won't tell you how old she is, but I do know that she has known Jesus as her Savior for over a half a century.

She is truly one of God's most beloved children. I give you Corrie Ten Boom.

Casting Every Burden on the Lord

That is true. I was five years old when I asked Jesus to come into my heart and he came and he never left me and that is 75 years ago. Now you all know how old I am. I don't know if you have ever had the feeling that your heart was as happy as a very happy bag.

I have that sometimes and sometime ago I had it so bad and then I read in the Bible a text, Don't worry over anything whatever. Tell God every detail of your needs in earnest and thankful prayers and the peace of God which transcends all human understanding will keep constant guard over your heart and mind as they rest in Christ Jesus.

And I had read it and then I heard that same text that she said, Cast all your cares on at me, the Lord said. And I did it. I don't know if you know that feeling that your heart is so full of burdens.

And now I did what the Lord had told me and I started to cast all the burdens on the Lord. And I said, Lord, here is that schedule in America, Lord. It is so full, it is so heavy. But you give me strength, Lord, and use me as an open channel for streams of living water.

Lord, I now pray already for all the people who will be in the meetings. Here they are, Lord. Then I brought another care. There was a teenager girl and I thought she was going on with the Lord and I heard that she did something very stupid and very wrong and I said, Oh Lord, here she is, that dear girl, Mary, you know, Lord, what how stupid she is and what she has done.

Oh Lord, take her, lay your hand on her. Oh Lord, I pray for all these many teenagers. Here they are, Lord. You can reach them, Lord. And then I prayed for my impatience. I don't know when you unburden your heart, you will have the same as me, that there comes often a sin that is a burden and my sin was impatience.

There is a very nice Christians who are going to make a movie of my book, The Hiding Place, and my, I thought now six weeks is enough to prepare them. Lord, hear my impatience, please will you forgive me.

And then I brought a school of boys that I had heard were in great danger in Africa and so I went on to bring all my burdens to the Lord. And then I said Amen. I prayed and that was good. That is what the Lord has taught us to do.

And I don't speak about prayer. And this was a very good thing I did, that I said after bringing all these things to the Lord, Amen. But what I did after my Amen was not good. Why did you laugh? Out of stupid friends?

What did you do this morning? Did you tell about a problem of the babysitting? Tell everything about your teenagers? Did you tell about all these financial problems? That was good. There is nothing too great for God's power and nothing too small for His love.

That was very good that you told everything to the Lord. But what did you do after that? How did you come here? With a very heavy heart? Or was it empty? And you know when I say that you understand that I am just as guilty as many of you.

But a great joy is that it is the Holy Spirit who teaches us to pray. And He teaches us so to pray that the peace and joy fills our heart after our prayers and we leave the burdens to the Lord. But we cannot do that without the Holy Spirit.

We need Him. But He is willing to help us. And I am so glad that we are in such good company. I read in the Bible a text, John 17 20, where Jesus prayed about 2 ,000 years ago, I am not praying only for these men here, but for all those who will believe in me through their message that they may all be one.

Isn't that tremendous that Jesus has prayed for you and for you and for you and for me 2 ,000 years ago? For we know the Gospel through the people who heard Him there and have told it to other people and they told it to other people and so it came to us.

The Spirit’s Guidance in Prayer and Intercession

Yes, that is a great joy. And you know, when you cast your burden on the Lord, it is not so that you have not to think about it anymore. But just when after I had prayed this prayer about a teenager, I saw a book and that was here in the bookstore.

Where was the church when the youth exploded? That is from Stuart Briscoe. But not every church was there. And you know, now I will not speak much about this book, but here is an answer. What we can do with the teenagers.

And so when you cast your burden on the Lord, then the Lord gives you advice. It is not a way, it is not done, it is only in the hands of the Lord. And He has the responsibility. I had some time ago a vision that was also the moment that I was so really burdened.

Oh, burdened about what happened behind the Iron Curtain, about the terrible many people who had to suffer because they are faithful to the Lord. I heard about Africa that almost 200 ,000 Christians were killed.

You don't know that. The people don't know that. But it happened now. And I was so, so burdened. And then I brought it to the Lord. And when I prayed, the Lord gave me a vision. And I had, I have a bag that I have always with me when I travel in the plane, I do put my heavy things in, in the books and everything that I need in the airplane.

But the Lord said, do you see, it is empty. I said, yes, Lord. And the Lord said to me, you surrendered this morning, again. But do you realise that when you surrender to me, that you have no responsibility anymore.

I have the responsibility. And what you have, what you possess, you are just a steward, nothing more. For I possess everything and I have the responsibility. And suddenly I, what a tremendous joy it is to surrender everything.

And then that is not static, that you say, oh, now I have surrendered, now there's no power in my life, I have nothing to do. No, it is dynamic. Because then the burden and all your things that you possess are in the hands of Him who carries the responsibility.

And He is able. And that is such a joy. And when the Lord said that all to me, it was, oh Lord, what a joy. Oh, let me see you one moment. And the Lord said, look at your left hand. And I saw that in my left hand was another hand.

And that hand was pierced. That was Jesus' hand. Oh, what a joy. That is the joy of the surrender and the joy of casting your burdens on the Lord. There's nothing too great for God's power, there's nothing too small for His love.

God’s Care for Small Needs

I learned that in that difficult class of life school, when I was a prisoner. When you are in a difficult class, then you learn much, especially when the teacher is good. And my teacher was the Holy Spirit.

And he taught me so much. And one of the things was about, there's nothing too small for God's love. I was a few days in the concentration camp, and I said to my sister, Betsy, I caught a cold and I had no handkerchief, what must I do?

Betsy said, pray. I did the same like you. I laughed. But she didn't laugh. She folded her hands and she said, Father, in Jesus' name, I pray that you will give Corrie a handkerchief. She has caught a cold.

Amen. And she had hardly said, Amen. I heard that they called out my name. I went to the window, and there stood a friend of mine, a fellow prisoner who works in the hospital. I said, can you come to me?

Can you visit me? She said, no, no, I have no time. I just come to bring you a little present. And she gave me a very small package, and I opened it, and it was a handkerchief. I said, how in the world do you, did you know that I needed a handkerchief?

She said, I found an old sheet. And I was sewing handkerchiefs from that old sheet. And when I was busy, there was a voice in my heart who said, bring a handkerchief to Corrie ten Boom. Can you understand what a handkerchief tells you in such a moment?

That there is a Father in heaven who hears it when on a very small planet, the earth, someone of his children prays for the impossible small thing for a hankie, and that Father in heaven tells one of his other children, give a handkerchief to Corrie ten Boom.

That is the foolishness of God. But the foolishness of God is the greatest wisdom. So much by that handkerchief. Just imagine when your little child or grandchild cries because an old doll is broken, and she brings that doll to her daddy.

She says, oh, daddy, my doll is broken. What does daddy say? Oh, girl, put it away. That doll is not worth a dime. No, daddy doesn't say that. He says, but that's too bad. Come here, come to daddy. I will try to mend it.

And that grown up man tries to make, to repair that old doll. How in the world can a grown up man give so much time to such a valueless thing as a broken doll? Because he sees it through the eyes of the little one.

Because he loves the little one. And so God sees your problems through your eyes because he loves you. What a joy that we may do intercession. I read in 1 Timothy 2, 2, 1, where Paul says, first supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings should be made on behalf of all men for kings and rulers and positions of responsibility so that our common life may be lived in peace and quiet with a proper sense of God and of our responsibility to him for what we do with our lives.

In the sight of God, our Savior, this is undoubtedly the right thing to pray for. I once stood in Vught, the concentration camp in Holland, where Betsy and I were brought before we were sent to the concentration camp Ravensbruck in Germany.

They had called us and we had been sent to a place and there we stood just in front of the bunker, the bunker that was a prison inside of the prison camp. Now when they called us out, Betsy and I said to each other, oh we are free, they will send us home.

But when we stood there, we saw that men came and they started to stand beside us. Here were about 10 and here were 15 men. And suddenly we saw that the guards had gone away and a man called, is there not anyone here who can pray?

And Betsy said, yes I can pray, but why do you ask that? Is it not that we are sent home? He said, sent home? This means that perhaps all of us will go into that building and be shot. Oh yes, Betsy said, I can pray, and she folded her hands and she prayed for all these men who were standing beside her.

And it was such a beautiful prayer. And then she started to sing that the same great of Jesus, of his power, love and might. I don't know what has happened with these men. Betsy and I were sent to another part of the concentration camp and later to Ravensbruck.

But do you know that when that man shouted, oh is there not one who can pray, that this was a cry of the world of today? There are so many people who need your intercession. And do you know that in Isaiah we read that God wondered because there was no intercessor.

So important is intercession. And it is a great joy to pray for other people, to bring them to the Lord. You know when you are an intercessor and I hope you all are, or you will become one after the Lord has told you what it means that we are called to be intercessors.

And he wonders when there are no intercessors. It is so important for him. Why is that so? Does the Lord need intercessors? Yes. That is the way. He has, he is working, he is working through you and me as intercessors.

Intercession as Participation in God’s Work

And Ellen and I were in Cuba once and it was a very dangerous and difficult time. And when it is very dangerous and difficult, then we always pray, Lord tell my friends to pray for us. And the Lord does.

And we came in Holland and there was a girl who was really, you know, you could say backward, a little bit fever-minded, but she loved the Lord and the Lord loved her. And when we came to a group of Christians to tell what we had experienced, she said, Tante, this is auntie, Tante, the 10th of April, you were in great danger, weren't you?

I said, yes. How did you know that? She said, in the midst of the night, suddenly the Lord awakened me and said, pray for Tante Corrie and for Ellen. And she said, then I did it. Now, do you see what a joy it is to be an intercessor?

That girl heard the voice of the Lord and that is a great joy to hear his voice. And when you are an intercessor, you stand together with the Lord. We must understand that praying means to bring our own ability into the realm of the ability of God.

And that is so great because his answers are the greatest reality. I once spoke for a huge group in a church in Australia, and I had spoken about a text where Jesus says, Behold, I stand at the door and I knock.

If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I come in. And after I was through, I gave an invitation, but it was a very full church, so I said, people, when you have asked Jesus to come into your heart or you are willing to do it, then we are very happy to help you with literature and prayer and advice when there are difficulties.

So then just come into the room behind the altar, and there you will find counselors. The first who came were two very tiny children. They had not understood about that room behind the altar, so they stood in front of me.

The Chain Reaction of Children’s Intercession

And one said, Am I too little to ask Jesus to come into my heart? I said, No. Jesus is interested even in sparrows, and you are far bigger than a sparrow. And then that little girl followed her hands, and the whole church was dead silent.

They heard what she said. She said, Jesus, I have been very naughty. Will you come into my heart, and will you make it clean with your blood? Amen. And Jesus came, just like he comes in your heart. Perhaps some of you have never done it before, and when you do it now, then he comes.

But sometimes we who have done it already, Jesus stands outside, and he knocks again. And when we say, Yes, Lord, come in, then he comes. I said to that other little girl, Will you do the same? She said, I did it three weeks ago.

And after that, I have prayed every day for Betty. Not Betty, I've done it. I said, then I have something, a very good task for you. You together must pray for a third little girl, someone who doesn't know the Lord.

And they looked at each other, and the same moment, they said, Anna. I said, That must be Anna. And they promised they would pray for Anna. They said, Anna has also prayed, Lord Jesus, come into my heart.

And then after, they said, then we will pray with Anna together for a fourth girl. And when that fourth girl has accepted the Lord, we will pray for the fifth girl, and so on. The chain reaction of the intercession in the hearts of two little girls.

And this chain reaction can come into your heart, all of you, when you, when you start to pray for that man, for that woman, for that girl, for that boy. And when you pray that the Lord will touch him or her, and you go to that person for whom you have prayed, and you tell them about the Lord Jesus, how Jesus has said, Come unto me all, all.

I will give you rest. And when you tell that, then the Lord will use your prayer and your words to save that person for eternity. And then, that's not the only thing, which you can go to that person and say, Will we pray for a third one?

And then with three for a fourth one, and then with four for a fifth one. That chain reaction of the intercession can start in your heart when you are willing to surrender. And what a joy is it. And the Lord will enjoy it.

He wonders when there's no intercession. He rejoices when there is an intercession. There's nothing too great for God's power. Some time ago, I was in Formosa, and I had to, to order a plane ticket, a rather expensive one.

Trusting God for Provision and Guidance

Now, the Lord told me very clear what, what I should order. Now, the good thing is that I am, I have never to worry about money, because my treasurer is very rich. Do you know how rich? He has the cattle on thousand hills, and that's very much.

And when I need money, I always say, Lord, I think you must sell some cows and give me money. Sometimes He waits till the last moment, but it comes. So I, without fear, I went to that office of the airplane, and I said, Lady, will you order a plane ticket for me, but write it down, for it is rather much.

And she wrote down. I said, Formosa, Sydney, Australia, then Auckland, New Zealand, and Sydney, Australia, then Cape Town, South Africa, then Tel Aviv, Israel, Amsterdam, Holland. And she wrote it all down, and she said, What is your end destination?

I said, Heaven. I am so glad for the happy faces that I see, because you know that your end destination is Heaven. But that lady did not understand it, and she said, How do you write that? She said, H-E-A-V-E-N.

She wrote under Amsterdam, H-E-A-V-E-N. Oh, she said, I didn't mean that, but I meant it. I said, But you have not to write it down, I have my ticket already. I said, About 2 ,000 years ago, there was one who ordered my ticket for Heaven, and the only thing I had to do was to receive it from him, and that was Jesus Christ, when he died at the cross to carry my punishment, and he made it all right, and when I told her about it, a man was sitting there in the office, turned around, and he said, Lady, that is true.

I said, So, do you know that, have you a reservation for the house of the Father for Heaven? He said, Sure, Lady, I have my reservation. I have received Jesus as my Savior, and he has made me a child of God, and a child of God has a reservation in Heaven.

Come to us, or come to her, any people here who know that they have a reservation in Heaven. Do you know why? Because they have the Word of God, and in this Word of God, you can find how to get a reservation for the house of the Father.

Those who believe in the name of the Son of God, Jesus, can know that they have everlasting life. So, when you are not quite sure, talk with that one who knows the Lord, or talk with us, but don't go to sleep tonight before you have come to Jesus, for that is what we will help you with, and that's what the Bible says.

Jesus has come unto me all, and that's also you, and I will give you peace and eternal life, and Jesus never fails. I was so happy when I got the ticket for the place, because one day before I had to pay it, the money was there.

I just stole my treasure there. You can understand how happy I was with that ticket, and I just was looking, yes, Formosa, Sydney, Sydney, Auckland, Auckland, Sydney, Sydney, Tel Aviv, no, then Cape Town, South Africa.

I hadn't ordered that. I had ordered first Cape Town, and then Tel Aviv. So, I went to the telephone. I said, Lady, you made a mistake. You have changed my schedule, and my boss has told me that I must go first to South Africa, and then to Israel, and you may not change that.

She said, Lady, that is not possible. There is not a direct airline from Australia to South Africa. You must go first to Israel. I said, why, why not? She said, oh, there are no islands in the Indian Ocean for the landings in between.

I said, all right, Lady, then we must pray that God will give an island in the Indian Ocean for the one who has told me to make this trip, that is God, and I have to obey Him. An hour later, she called me.

She said, Lady, have you prayed for an island in the Indian Ocean? I said, why? She said, we have just got a telegram from the Qantas that they have bought the island, and now there is a direct line from Australia to South Africa.

Excited? Isn't it a joy to go side by side with Him with all power? Oh, what a joy! Yes, we have nothing to fear. And you know, I like so to pray with an open Bible. I don't know if you do it. I like so to say, Father, you have said a new word.

Now you must do it. And God likes it, for God has meant all the promises of the Bible, all. And He likes it when we mean business with His promises. I was for the first time in Russia, and I had in a red suitcase many Russian Bibles.

Praying the Promises of Scripture

Now I was in Moscow, and I saw how the custom officer ransacked every suitcase. My suitcase stood all at the end. I got scared. I thought, my, what will he do when he finds my these Russian Bibles? That's forbidden.

Send me to prison, send me back to Holland, of course he will take away the Bibles. I said, Lord, Lord, I'm afraid. Lord, I'm afraid. Lord, Lord, you have said in Jeremiah 1, God watches over His word to perform it.

Now, Lord, these, these Bibles in my suitcase, that is your word. So now, with my hand on Jeremiah 1, I pray, will you watch over your word, my Bibles, that is your word, Lord, your, my Bibles, to smuggle them.

But that's, that's not what Jeremiah said. But it doesn't matter. I found out that we can pray with an open Bible, and God does not ask first, have you a very sound exegesis? Otherwise I do not listen.

Oh no. God sees the heart. And do you know the same moment that I prayed it, I saw around my suitcase light beings. It was the first and only time in my life that I have seen angels. Why? You see that?

And my whole fear disappeared. I was not afraid anymore. And at last a man came to my, um, suitcase and, um, he said, um, is it your suitcase, lady? Yes, sir. He said, that's a heavy one. I said, yes, sir.

Oh, wait a moment. I'm through with my work. I will help you. And he took my suitcase and brought it to my, to the car of the impurist who was waiting for me. My, I can tell you almost I had shouted hallelujah.

You know, there's nothing too great for God's power. What a joy. See, and that is your father, your heavenly father who loves you and does not say, oh, sometimes you may pray and do intercession. No. He loves it when you pray and when you ask much.

He's, he wonders when there's no intercession. What a joy to have such a father, heavenly father. Oh, and the best is not, is yet to be. Yes, we must sell everything to the Lord. Also our blunders. Have you also, when you, I mean, you have done a blunder, you can feel so unhappy, huh?

God Uses Our Mistakes in His Providential Plan

Oh, I can almost hate myself. Stupid Dutch. But you know, I learned a very good illustration. And a visitor came to a weaver school and he saw how all these students made beautiful weavings. And he said, see, he asked one of the students, what must you do when you make a mistake?

Must you cut it out or start from the beginning? And the student said, no. Our teacher is such a great artist that when we make a mistake, he uses that mistake to improve the beauty of the pattern. That is what the Lord does, our blunder.

And you never know what he does with your blunder. I was in, in Japan and I had a difficulty that I thought, oh, oh, there were perhaps eight different Japanese, but further all were the same. There was Mr. Seikiya and there were three Mr. Seikiya.

And that's it. Now that's only the first month that you are. And they say when the Japanese come here, he thinks that we are all the same. But now I had a difficulty with it. Once I was speaking for students and there came a latecomer.

And I thought, oh, oh yeah, that's the director of the Christian seminary. So when I was through with my talk, I said, and would you be so kind to close this meeting with a word of prayer? That man looked at me and said, I?

I've never prayed in my life. That is not the director of the seminary. That is the professor of that non-Christian university. So professor doesn't matter. But so I, I pray and I pray. But all the Japanese are very, very polite.

He came up to me after the meeting and bowed several times, very deep. And he said, I was so sorry that I could not do what you asked me, because I had never prayed before. I said, professor, I honor you that you didn't do it.

If you had been superficial, you should perhaps have said a prayer without believing it. But I'm very glad that you didn't do it. But tell me, professor, why are you not a Christian? He said, I? Oh, no, then first I must study Christianity.

I said, no, sir. In this book is not written those who have studied Christianity get the power to become a giant of God, but those who receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, he gives them the power to become a giant of God.

And I prayed with him. And after half an hour, that professor made a decision for Jesus, that the angel rejoiced. How good. Do you see? My blunder. The Lord used to improve the pattern, the beauty of the pattern.

I'm so glad that we can tell everything to the Lord. Now, it is true, sometimes God gives the no answer. I could speak about hours and hours about the answers, the yes answer that I've experienced. Sometimes God says no.

When God Answers Prayer with “No”

I was in solitary confinement alone in a cell for a month, but I was still in Holland. And I prayed every day, oh, Lord, let the enemy never bring me to a concentration camp in Germany. And God gave the no answer.

He allowed that the Germans brought Betsy and me to that terrible concentration camp Ravensbruck. And I could not understand why God had not answered our prayers. But now I understand it. I understood it earlier.

I remember that Betsy had died. And a week later, I was set free. And I stood before the gate of Ravensbruck. When that gate should open, I could go home. And when I stood there waiting, there came a friend of mine and said, Corrie, I must tell you something.

Mrs. Wass and Mrs. de Moye both died today. And then I looked for the last time at the cruel camp. And I said, Lord, if it had been only for these two from whom I know that you have used Betsy and me to bring them to you, Lord, for both have accepted you, Lord Jesus as their savior.

Lord, if it had been only for those two. But there are many more. It has been worthwhile. All our suffering, even Betsy's death, to be used to save souls for eternity is worthwhile. To suffer even to die.

I saw God's side of the pattern. You know, I like that little poem that you have in your country. My life is like a weaving between my God and me. I do not choose the colors. He works steadily. Oft times he weaves sorrow and I in foolish pride forget.

He sees the upper and I the underside. Not till the loom is silent and the shuttle cease to fly will God unroll the canvas and explain the reason why. The dark threads are as needful in the skillful weaver's hands than the threads of gold and silver in the pattern he has planned.

No. It is so good to know that God never makes a mistake. Once we will understand that when we are in heaven. But now already we can know very much through the word of God. And this book shows us that God has no problems with the world and with your and my life.

God has no problems, only plans. There's never a panic in heaven. And the thing that you and I must do is look in the right direction. Look unto Jesus. So often people say to me, oh, but Corrie, you have such a great faith.

But I have not a great faith. I have a small faith, but it is a faith in a great God. And it is not written in the Bible, let us look unto our faith. In Hebrew 12 is said, let us look unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith.

Look around and be distressed. Look within and be depressed. Look at Jesus and be at rest. I had a jewelry store before the war. Sometimes I had a new watch in my store that did not run well. I never repaired it, but I sent it back to the manufacturer.

I wrote him a letter, that new watch doesn't run well. Will you repair it? After the manufacturer had repaired such a watch, then it went always absolute exact. When my face doesn't work, I don't try to repair it.

I sent it back to the manufacturer. Jesus, the author and the finisher, the manufacturer of my faith. And when Jesus repairs it, then it works. So don't look unto your faith, but unto Jesus. What a joy is it that we can and may and must cast our burdens on the Lord.

Surrendering Fully to Become a Channel of Living Water

And he listens. But we have to surrender. You know, there are sometimes people who say to me, I know that we are called to be channels of streams of living water, but I did not experience living water flow through me on the thirsty world of today.

You know, perhaps I hear some of the people who say, I have not experienced that the living water has streamed through me this last week. Then I must ask you a question. Just imagine this glass. When I put water, when I put, keep the glass downwards, and I throw water over it, doesn't come anything in it?

Of course not, when it is upside down. Did you think that when your heart was turned towards the world that there could be streams of living water flowing through you? Of course not. You are not people who are turned towards the world, otherwise you shouldn't be here.

Are you 50 -50? 50 turned towards the world, 50 turned to God? Now look what happens. Nothing comes in and nothing comes out. Now I know many of you after a few days, and I know that many people here have surrendered far more than 50%.

How are you? 90 turned towards God and only 10 turned towards the world? Now look what happens. Yes, water comes in and water comes out at one side. Only when I keep the glass 100 upwards, now look, now at all sides it streams over.

Do you understand it? What are you? You are not turned towards the world, are you? You are not only 50 turned towards God. Are you 90, 99 turned towards God? Only 1 to the world? Do you know that in the Bible is a text, the eyes of the Lord go to and fro the whole world to strengthen him whose heart is fully turned towards him.

And the eyes of the Lord go through this room and through your room, to fill with his Holy Spirit, who will surrender 100 to him, everything. And you are brought with a very high price, his precious blood.

Will you give him his money's worth? He has a legal right to have you 100 lock, stock and barrel. Will you surrender all? And the Lord will make you a channel of streams of living water in this very, very thirsty world.

What a joy! The Lord will use you. And never, never are afraid that the Lord does not hear your prayers. I must tell you one little story that I forgot now to tell. I saw, when I was five years old, I told you that I had asked Jesus to come into my heart.

And Jesus came. And immediately the Lord made me an intercessor. My mom told me later, oh Corrie, as small as you were, only five years old, you were an intercessor for every little prayer that you said, and that was the word, and Lord will you save all the people in the Smedestraat.

Now the Smedestraat was a street behind our house where were many pubs, and you saw all the drunken people there. And the five years old had a burden for these drunken people, and I prayed for them. You smile when you think of a five years old who prays for a whole street.

But the Lord did not smile. He smiled, but he enjoyed it. But do you know what happened? Some time ago I could suddenly speak for TV in Holland, and that was, I reached many people, and someone wrote me, my husband was so happy that he heard that you came from Haarlem.