Corrie Ten Boom delivers a heartfelt Mother's Day message emphasizing the power of faith and the importance of surrendering to God. She reflects on the story of a woman with great faith who sought healing for her daughter, illustrating that even the smallest blessings from Jesus can lead to miraculous outcomes. Corrie encourages mothers and all listeners to cast their worries upon God, reminding them that His love and power are always available to those who trust in Him. She stresses the necessity of living a life filled with the Holy Spirit and acting in God's love, especially in the face of life's challenges. Ultimately, she calls for a total surrender to Jesus, assuring that true joy and peace come from this commitment.

Let us attend to this reading of God's Holy Word. She is crying after us. And he answered, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But she came and knelt before him, saying, Lord, help me. And he answered, It is not fair to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. And she said, Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table. And then Jesus answered her, Oh, woman, great is your faith. Be it done for you as you desire. And her daughter was healed instantly. And then from first Peter chapter three, likewise, you wives be submissive to your husbands so that some, though they do not obey the word, maybe one without a word by the behavior of their wives when they see your reverent and chaste behavior. Let not yours be the outward adorning with braiding of hair, decoration of gold and wearing of robes, but let it be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable jewel of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious. So once the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves and were submissive to their husbands. May God bless to us this reading from his holy word. I'm so happy that I can speak in your church this morning. I feel very happy here. I have asked the Lord to give me a special message for mothers. So but don't think that then you can just go sleep when you are not a mother for the message is for the person that is sitting between your right and left neighbor. When I read about that woman with the demon possessed daughter, I was amazed about the great faith that woman had. She believed that even the crumbs underneath the table were so precious that her daughter could be healed because the crumbs came from Jesus. And I thought of that miracle when the disciples had to feed 5,000 people and they had nothing more than a few loaves and a few fishes. And there was an abundance for all 5,000 so that there were many baskets with food left because they had accepted it from Jesus. And everything what we receive from Jesus that he has such a great power that demon possessed daughters can be healed, that thousands of people can be fed, and that your problems can be answered. From our side, there is nothing more necessary than need and expectations. The windows of heaven are open. And I hope that this morning you will see the tremendous power of the Lord that is available for you. Now, when I see that woman had a great faith, I immediately know, realize your reaction. My faith is not great. But the great hero of faith, Hudson Taylor, has said, not a great faith we need, but a faith in a great God. And that's what you have. And let us not look unto our faith like Hebrew 12 says, let us look unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, not unto our faith. I sometimes use that illustration when I had still my jewelry store. I had sometimes in my store a new watch that did not run well. I did not repair it, but I sent it back to the manufacturer. And I asked him, sir, this new watch does not go exactly where you repair it. And after he sent it back, then it went absolutely right. When my faith doesn't work, I don't try to repair it. I sent it back to the manufacturer, Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. So let us not look unto our faith, but unto the manufacturer, unto Jesus. And then we know that we can accept all the promises of the Bible. For they are in Jesus, yea and amen. An abundance is available for you. And I will tell a few very small samples of this abundance by the Lord, Jesus Christ, and that we can know through the word of God. One of the dangers of life, especially for mothers in this time, is the danger of worry. In Philippians 4, 6 we read, don't worry about everything, anything, whatever. Tell God every detail of your need in earnest and thankful prayer. And the peace of God, which transcends human understanding, will keep constant guard over your hearts and minds as they rest in Christ Jesus. We must understand that the Bible has no suggestions, only commandments. And so it is a commandment, don't worry. So that means that worry is a sin. And we know what we do with our sins. We don't try hard. We don't try to be good. We don't try not to worry. Like I said last night, that good advertisement, what I read here, don't be a dishwasher, buy one. And don't be a washer of your heart, but buy the gospel. And tell the Lord all your needs. And he will cleanse your heart, because when we sin and we confess our sins and we repent, he is faithful and just to forgive us. And the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all the sins, also the worry, when we bring it to him. And don't forget, the blood of Jesus has never cleansed an excuse. So when you say, but I have an excuse to worry. If you saw my husband, my children, my house, I could worry. No, no, no excuses. The blood of Jesus does not cleanse an excuse. But when you repent, then he will take away your worry. I read somewhere, earthly cares are discipline, and God's chariots send to take the soul to its high places of triumph. There was a long time that when I greeted the people, I said, now keep looking up and kneeling down. But now, some time ago, I learned, keep looking down. From the position of victory in Jesus Christ on your problems, that is to live in high places with Jesus. Our needs and God's love meet. Peter says, you can throw the whole weight of your anxieties upon him, for you are his personal concern. And we would only realize what it means to be God's children. He loves us, and we are within his constant care. We have not to persuade a father to take care for us. Our heavenly father is far more willing to answer your prayers and to take care for you than you are willing to pray. And the Lord likes it when we tell him everything. In Acts 1.8, it is told that the Lord Jesus said, you will receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And then he said, go and bring the gospel in Jerusalem, in Judea, and over the whole world. And you mothers belong to the people who have to bring the gospel in Jerusalem, your home. And you need power for that. My mother had power through the Holy Spirit, and she brought me to the Lord when I was five years old. And she told me very simply that I should ask Jesus to come into my little heart. And I did, and he came. That's a great joy. It is written that Jesus knocks at the door of our hearts, and when we open, then he comes in. And Jesus never left me. It is a long time ago that I was five years old, and I had to go through depth and darkness, but Jesus was always with me. Now, have you a girl, a boy of five years old? Bring him to Jesus. Oh, you say, we cannot bring people to Jesus. I know it, but it is the Holy Spirit. And he gives power, and that is why it is absolutely necessary for all of us to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is here, and he's willing to fill your heart till overflowing, like the light is willing to flood a room that is opened to its brightness. But from your side, there must be an openness, an acceptance, a saying yes to Jesus. And then you will experience that the love of God will flood your heart through the Holy Spirit who is given to us, Romans 5.5. And now we must act that love. Now, you need not only power to be a good mother and wife, but also love. And there are two kinds of love. Human love, and that fails on the long run. But there is another love, and that is God's love, and that never fails. And when you act God's love, then you experience the victory of Jesus in your life, in all the great and the small things of your life. In Ephesians 5, too, it is written, Live your lives in love, the same sort of love which Christ gives us and which he perfectly expressed when he gave himself in sacrifice to God. At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light and the burden of my sins rolled away, it was there by faith I received my sight. And John says to us, The greatest demonstration of God's love for us has been sending his only Son into the world to give us life through him. And now the great miracle is that God's love, that highest potence of God's love, is available in the little trivial things of everyday life. Paul says in Philippians 1.27, Whatever happens, make sure that your everyday life is worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And that is possible because that ocean of God's love is available for you. Some time ago, I was making a clean deck with my sins. It was necessary. Sometimes, most of the time, immediately when I realize that there is a sin in my heart, I bring it to the Lord, and so on short notice I am cleansed. I don't think it is good to keep one sin in your life, for that will be also a very decent sin. You are all very decent sinners, I know. But one little decent sin, when you do not immediately bring it to the Lord, it will be a foothold for the devil. And the devil is very active in these days. He works overtime. He knows his time is short. So bring immediately your sins to the Lord. And that's a great joy, for always the blood of Jesus will cleanse you and He will fill you then with the Holy Spirit. But sometimes you feel a kind of darkness, a shadow in your whole being. And I know when that is so, then there are sins. And I said, Lord, please show me what is wrong. Is there any unconfessed sin in my heart? Is there perhaps worry or self-pity? And the Lord told me several sins, and I brought it to the Lord. Oh, what a joy is repentance. What a great joy is repentance. Repentance means liberation. Liberation from bondage. Liberation of dark sins, from bitterness that eats your whole soul. It is the greatest joy to repent. The devil tells it is terrible, humbling and terrible, difficult. Oh, it is humbling, but it is not difficult, and it is not terrible. It is a joy to bring your sins to the Lord. Now, I had brought it all to the Lord, what He told me, and then I was still listening. I said, now, Lord, tell me, is there anything between you and me? And the Lord said, yes. And I listened. And I thought, now there comes somewhere, there comes a hidden sin that I do not see. And I listened, and do you know what the Lord said? My love. I said, what? I was thinking of a sin that was between God and me. And the Lord told me His love was between Him and me. Wasn't that a joy? And do you know that that is true? For when you have surrendered to the Lord, totally surrendered, without any compromise, it is as if you throw yourself into an ocean of God's love. And when you throw an empty vessel into an ocean, it is immediately filled and surrounded by the ocean water. And when you have surrendered to the Lord, then you are filled and surrounded with the love of God, the ocean of His love. And when you pray and when you ask, what is there between you and me, the Lord remembers you. My love, oh, what a joy. And God's love still stands also when all else has fallen. I read that in 1 Corinthians 13, in that beautiful song about God's love. That is not human love. That is God's love. But not God's love far away in heaven, in God's heart, but in our heart, shed or brought into our heart by the Holy Spirit who is given to us. And that love, God's love, never fails, but also it still stands also when all else has fallen. When I was in the concentration camp, I had to stand on roll call every morning. And one of the guards used one morning that time to demonstrate her cruelties. And I could hardly bear to see and to hear what had happened in front of me. But then suddenly a skylark came and started to sing in the sky. And all the prisoners looked up and listened to the bird song. And when I looked at the bird, I looked further, I looked on the sky, and I remembered Psalm 103, where that Hebrew poet says, as high is heaven over the earth, so is God's love and mercy over all that fear him. And suddenly I saw, oh, love of God, how great and deep, how deep and great, far deeper than man's deepest hate. And God sent that skylark during three days daily, exactly during roll call time, to turn away our eyes from the cruelty of man unto the great love of God in Jesus, Jesus Christ. I remember that once, before I was brought to the concentration camp, I was four months in solitary confinement. And I was so poor. I was poorer than the poorest beggar. I had nothing but the clothing that I had when they arrested me. And one morning, suddenly there came a beam of sunlight into my cell. And I jumped up and I stood so that that one beam of sunlight touched my cheek. But slowly that beam of sunlight went on and I moved to enjoy that one beam of sunlight as long as possible. And that moment I realized my poverty. And I said, oh, Lord, will there ever be a time that I will bathe in the sunshine again? And then suddenly the Lord spoke and said, there is always the sunshine of my love. And there came great joy in my heart. I am so glad that the Father in heaven tells of his love in the book he has given. I read this week in the book of Proverbs a text. Proverbs 23, 5, Will you set your eyes upon that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings. They fly away as an eagle towards heaven. And I find that here in America especially is a great danger. In that little paper that I showed this week that had come into my flashlight, a dollar note, there was nothing wrong with that dollar but it was in the wrong place. And sometimes when we have too many dollars or no dollars enough, the devil brings the dollars into our hearts. And that's a great danger also for the children. Yesterday one of you gave me a little poem and I thought it was so good. I counted dollars while God counted crosses. I counted gains while he counted losses. I counted my worth by the things in store but he sized me up by the scars that I bore. I coveted honors and sought for degrees. He wept as he counted the hours on my knees. And I never knew till one day by a grave how vain are the things which we spend life to save. Oh, I hope that you will show your children that money has wings that they can fly away as the eagles towards heaven. There's no security in money but there is great danger in money. For it is not so that you have money but money has you when it comes in the hands and when it comes in the hands of the devil. I was living in the shadow of a crematorium several times, several months of my life. Ninety-seven thousand women were killed or died. Also my sister in that concentration camp. Every day I opened my Bible and gave twice a message to the people around me. And you know, in that time we never talked about money. We never talked about theology. We didn't speak about doctrines. There were many things that now keeps much of our thinking that we did not mention. What did we mention? We always spoke about the great salvation that is in Jesus Christ. And I warned the people around me who were sitting above us. We were sitting on three-tire cots. I warned them that there came a moment that it was very possible that there came a moment that their bodies should be burned in that crematorium that had that shadow over the place where we were sitting. And I told them about the everlasting things. How important it is to receive Jesus as your Savior and surrender everything to Him and give Him what He asked our heart. Why was that? Someone said, Oh, I can understand that. When you are sitting in the shadow of a crematorium that you speak about such things. But I am not sitting in the shadow of a crematorium. Aren't you? What do you think of the first atomic bomb that will fall on your place? Will that not be a huge crematorium? Now you say, Are you going to scare me? No. But it is time to wake up to reality. Your dollars have no value at all when you stand for a righteous judge. The only thing that God will ask you is how you have spent them and how much or little room they have taken in your life. And that's what you must teach your children. For your children are in a great danger to come in the grip of the dollars. Wake them up to reality. And therefore you need power through the Holy Spirit. For it is the Holy Spirit who gives you eyes to see. One of the great dangers is that many people here are in debt. Yes, in debt of money. Oh, you say, No, you must think in terms of easy, how do you call that? Easy payment, eh? I believe. You know, the Bible does not advertise that way of easy payment. Do you know what the Bible says? Romans 13, 8, Keep out of debt altogether. Accept that perpetual debt of love which we owe one another. Now just talk with the Lord today if you are in debt. And then stop that terrible, devilish method to teach your children that they just can buy everything without money. And then they have to do work and to work and you have to work and to work to pay your debt and you come never to an end. For always when you have something, you will have more. I don't say you. It is possible that you are not like that, but I see it very much in America. And please ask God if this is a sin that you have to confess so that when Jesus comes, and he's coming very soon, hallelujah, and it will be a tremendous joy to us when we are ready for his coming. But are you one of the wise virgins with oil in their lamps filled with the Holy Spirit or are you one of the stupid virgins that have not enough oil and the door was closed, shut. And my friends, this is a reality. You have to face eternity very soon when we will see Jesus on the clouds of heaven. And now the Lord shows you in his word how you can be ready. Surrender all to the Lord and then he who is faithful will keep you from falling and he will present you blameless and with unspeakable joy in that great day that is coming. But you must now surrender and if you are in the grip of the dollar or from self or any decent or perhaps even indecent sin, then repent. I was in a sin. I had lost my first love and I did not like to go on traveling over the world. But I read in Revelation 2 and you read it today that the Lord said if you have lost your first love except you repent I will take away your lampstand. Repent. And the great joy is that when the Lord tells you that you have lost your first love that the Bible tells that the door of repentance is wide open. Repent. And what happens? When you repent your loss of first love then he forgives. And what he forgives then he cleanses. And what he cleanses he fills with the Holy Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit is love. A love that is far greater than your first love. And now the Lord said come unto me all that labor and are heavy laden I will give you rest. You know if we don't do it we are in great danger that our life is in the grip of worry. I told it already. But I have some minutes left that I can warn you against worry. I had to learn it that worry is a blunder. It is a sin. It is lack of faith. It is doubt. And doubt is a very great sin. The Lord said I will send you the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit will convince you of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. Of sin that they do not believe in him. Do you know that that is the greatest sin? Oh you say but I believe in the Lord Jesus. Yes but do you trust him? Did you surrender to him everything? And if you didn't then you are in great danger in this time. You must understand that we are standing as Christians in the front line of a terrific battle between the powers of darkness and light. Like never before. And this week I hope to speak about that text that those who are filthy will get filthier and those who are clean will get cleaner. Everything goes to the top. And now just imagine one moment that you are a soldier standing on the front line of a battle and that you compromise with the enemy. What will that mean? What does that mean? That means that you are in a terrific danger and your whole nation is in danger through your behavior. And I can tell you when you have a compromise with the enemy, with the devil if you are not totally surrendered you are a danger for Christianity. And you do not live for the honor of the Lord. No. Oh, let us see what it means to live in 1966. We don't know the hour or the day that Jesus can come. Will come. But we don't know one hour or one day that he cannot come. And that could be today. How will he find you? Worrying about the things of this life? You have in your heart a throne and a cross. Who is on the cross? Who is on the throne? Is Jesus on the cross and self on the throne? Or is Jesus on the throne and is self on the cross? And that depends if you are ready for Jesus coming or not. Surrender self to the Lord. And then you will be ready. He makes you ready. Come unto me. Do you feel an emptiness in your life? In your heart? There is one who will fill it. Behold, I stand at the door and I knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in. And perhaps you say, I have already done it. Yes. I did it when I was five years old. But how often again I had to surrender. And I will speak tonight and in the coming days about what we must surrender. Yes. Surrender means yourself. You lose your life for Jesus' sake. But you surrender also your worries and your sins. And you get rid of them. And you surrender your whole life and your husband and your children and your blunders and your inabilities. All the things that are burning your heart, you surrender. Surrender is the greatest joy. It is to be surrounded and filled with the ocean of God's love. And I can tell you one thing. I have went over the whole world. Now, not the whole world, but I worked in 52 countries. And I have never heard anyone who said, I am sorry that I surrendered to the Lord. Or, I am sorry that I have accepted Jesus as my Savior and Lord. And you will not be sorry. When you surrender, the victory of Jesus Christ will be demonstrated in your life. In your everyday life. And you will love. You will love even your enemies. Oh, my friends, teach that to your children. There is so much bitterness. There is so much unforgiveness. And tell them what Jesus said. If you do not forgive those who have trespassed against you, my Father in Heaven will not forgive you. It is time to wake up to reality. Have you any grudge, any bitterness against anyone in the world? Then you have no forgiveness. Or don't try to give me a theological answer. You cannot theologize a word away. You will try it. That's not good English, but you know what I mean. Don't theologize it away but say, Oh, Lord, and humble yourself and bring your bitterness and unforgiveness to the Lord and you will be cleansed. And you will be filled with the Spirit and the Spirit will fill your heart with the love for that person that till now you have felt bitterness. Oh, what a joy. Bitterness and hatred eats your soul and heart and body and makes you ill. Sick. But the Holy Spirit gives you the fruit, love and joy and peace and kindness and goodness and self-control. What a joy. Jesus was victor. Jesus is victor. And Jesus will be victor and very soon we will see Him face to face and every knee will bow for Him. Every knee. Also the knee of Stalin, of Adolf Hitler, of Robinson, of whoever you think of. Every knee. And your knee will bow for Jesus. But it is the great question now. Will you bow for Him as your Savior or as your Judge? Now, Lord, listen. Who says Yes, Jesus. I surrender all. Yes, Lord, I surrender my children, my husband, my everyday life, the trivial things, my worries, my sins. And I thank You, Lord, that You give instead of sins forgiveness. And instead of worry, peace. Peace of heart. A peace that passes all understanding. And of insecurity You give us great security. Oh, Lord, how You love us. Lord, I could speak not so long today, but will You speak further to all of us. And if there is one here who says, No, Lord, I keep myself on the throne. And You can remain on the cross. Lord, show him, show her, that it is very dangerous in this time where everything goes to the top to compromise with the enemy. Wake us up to reality, Holy Spirit. Hallelujah. Amen.