Corrie Ten Boom wasn’t as sexy as Diana Rigg in the British cult-classic The Avengers or Maggie Q in Designated Survivor but she was the real deal. A spy who risked her life to save the world and protect the innocent. In her book, The Hiding Place, she tells about a time she was in prison as a result of hiding Dutch Jews in their home during the Holocaust. Together with her father, a watchmaker, and her two sisters, Bessie and Nollie, they hid many in a specially constructed and concealed room. As their home also doubled as a watch shop, they often referred to the Jews by the code word “watches.” Regrettably, the Nazi authorities eventually found out and there was a raid. Corrie, her father, and Bessie were arrested but not Nollie. As Corrie waited in a flea-infested prison, she wondered about the fate of the “watches.” Had they somehow escaped? One day, a “prison trustee tossed a package wrapped in brown paper onto the floor.”

Corrie writes, “I picked it up, hefted it, turned it over and over. The wrapping paper had been torn open and carelessly retied, but even through the disarray I could spot Nollie’s loving touch. I sat on the cot and opened it.

There, familiar and welcoming as a visit from home, was the light blue embroidered sweater. As I put it on, I seemed to feel Nollie’s arms circling my shoulders. Also inside the package were cookies and vitamins, needle and thread, and a bright red towel. How Nollie understood the gray color-hunger of prison! She had even wrapped the cookies in gay red cellophane.

I was biting into the first one when an inspiration came to me. I dragged the cot out from the wall to stand under the naked overhead bulb. Climbing on it, I fashioned a lampshade with the paper: a cheery red glow at once suffused the bleak little room.

I was rewrapping the cookies in the brown outer paper when my eyes fell on the address written in Nollie’s careful hand, slanting upward toward the postage stamp. But—Nollie’s handwriting did not slant. . . . The stamp! Hadn’t a message once come… under a stamp, penciled in the tiny square beneath? Laughing at my own overwrought imagination, I moistened the paper in the basin water and worked the stamp gently free.

Words! There was definitely writing there—but so tiny I had to climb again onto the cot and hold the paper close to the shaded bulb.

‘All the watches in your closet are safe.’

Safe. Then—then… they’d gotten out of the secret room! They’d escaped! They were free!

I burst into racking sobs, then heard heavy footsteps bearing down the corridor. Hastily I jumped down from the cot and shoved it back to the wall. The pass-through clattered open.

[A guard yelled,] ‘What’s the commotion in here!’

‘It’s nothing. I—won’t do it again.’

The slot in the door snapped shut. How had they managed it? How had they got past the soldiers? Never mind, dear Lord, You were there, and that was all that mattered.”

Corrie never imagined that the address on the package from Nollie pointed to such valuable, consequential information and it’s the same with the short salutation to 1 Peter below. It full of rich, encouraging theology that we’ll miss if we discard it too quickly:

“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:

May grace and peace be multiplied to you.”

1 Peter 1:1-2, ESV

Friends, there are some big truths in this intro that I’d like to unpack. Among them, the doctrine of election, the role of all three members of the Trinity in that election, and an interesting identity: “elect exiles.” Although “doctrine” is largely viewed today as archaic— something inconsequential and easily discarded, it’s actually about depth not dust. And that depth is connected to strength and hope. Over the next five weeks, we’ll mine some of those treasures and look at the following:

• The Basis of God’s Special Favor, Part 2 of 5
• The Implications of God’s Special Favor, Part 3 of 5
• Reclaiming a Christian Identity, Part 4 of 5
• Cultivating Eternal Wishes for Others, Part 5 of 5

Note: Again, this five-part series will be based on 1 Peter 1:1-2 and focus on identity. In thinking about Corrie’s story above and female identity and empowerment specifically, I realized that the great Christian women of my childhood—Corrie Ten Boom, Joni Eareckson Tada, and Elizabeth Elliot—were all revered, not because of their physicality, but primarily because of their faith, forgiveness, and response to suffering. These virtues seem to have been left out of the mix in our current focus on girl power. Why is this? What has been gained? What has been lost? How might you be a counter-cultural and holistic voice for female empowerment in your family or sphere of influence?

If you’ve never read The Hiding Place or seen the movie, you can purchase them here. There is also an audio and young reader’s version at that link.