Book Review: Tramp for the Lord by Corrie Ten Boom

This review is of Tramp for the Lord, a bestselling book authored by Corrie Ten Boom, and as a book it follows up, serving as a sequel, to her other record setting book, The Hiding Place. Not only did I read it, but I went back and listened to it on Audible. At the time of this 1976 edition of Tramp for the Lord, there was already well-over 250,000 hardcover copies in print.[1] This book follows the unforgettable and memorable story of Corrie Ten Boom, a watchmaker who grew up in Haarlem, Holland. In her fifties, as World War II broke out across the world, Corrie Ten Boom and her family began to provide places of safety and hiding for many Jews who were undergoing persecution. Eventually, her family’s work was discovered and as a result she and her family would go on to spend time in prison and then concentration camps for their protective help of the Jewish people.  

Tramp for the Lord by Corrie Ten Boom
In her early book, The Hiding Place, Corrie Ten Boom unpacks her experiences in jail and a Nazi concentration camp. There, Corrie shares many unforgettable stories and God-encounters in what might be identified as one of the evilest and darkest places of all time. This sequel, Tramp for the Lord, opens up with some reflections on those moments and how her faith sustained her, and how even grew with a deeper capacity, despite those dark moments. Though her father and sister died in concentration camps, Corrie was miraculously released from the camp. After her miraculous release, Corrie Ten Boom went on to travel all over the globe, sharing courageously her captivating stories and her contagious faith. As Corrie remarks, “The school of life offers some difficult courses, but it is in the difficult class that one learns the most – especially when your teacher is the Lord Jesus Himself.”[2] She also remarks that “although the threads of my life have often seemed knotted, I know, by faith, that on the other side of the embroidery there is a crown.” [3] There are 35 short chapters in the Tramp for the Lord, each sharing experiences from Corrie Ten Boom as she traveled the world after her release.

Each chapter shares stories from Corrie’s travels and ministries, but with each story is also a deep transparency from Corrie Ten Boom into her own traumatic healing and experiences with the miraculous working of the Holy Spirit. The miraculous working of the Holy Spirit a make a noticeable shift for her in her life and ministry that both the reader and those that knew her can attest. As she experienced a new encounter with the Holy Spirit, where she felt “the presence of the Lord Jesus all around…and…felt his love flowing,” she says, as though she attests “I were being immersed in an ocean of grace.”[4] It was in that moment, she also shares “my heart felt it was about to burst, so great was the joy. I knew it was the wonderful experience promised by Jesus – the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.”[5] This encounter of joy overflowing stayed contagiously on her in the days ahead, and for the rest of her ministry.[6] It equipped her to do ministry that she admits that if she had “gone in my own power I would have been consumed.”[7] From here she is able to further discern God’s leading and her ministry finds new life collaborating with the Holy Spirit to deliver many individuals from oppression, trauma and demonic experiences. There are exciting and unforgettable stories of prophetic words, healings, and deliverance that become intertwined with her life, story, and ministry. Though, in humility, despite her new powerful ministry, Corrie Ten Boom regularly opens the closet doors in her life for the reader, allowing them to see her realities, struggles and inner battles.

Corrie Ten Boom is deeply passionate about the work of the Holy Spirit, but also about the unity of the church. She reminds us that – the reader – we as Christians, “all over the world are bound together as the body of Christ,” in our joy and our suffering.[8] She cared to bring the church together, to encourage, equip, and empower it to collaborate with the in-breaking Kingdom of God, to restore and reconcile creation back to its Creator. She invested her love and time in the church in many forgotten and overlooked places. Her long-lived life, was committed to the ways, works, and words of Jesus – and to encouraging the church. She had lived through the darkest moments, and found that “happiness is found by being secure in Jesus.”[9]

This read (Tramp for the Lord) is one that I think every follower of Jesus should read –  there are few books that I would say that about. Her stories are deeply encouraging and have much to teach us as followers of Jesus, and as the church, in this era. One of my favorite remarks from Corrie Ten Boom is her confession that “I would much rather be the trusting child of a rich Father, than a beggar at the door of worldly men.”[10] May that be true of us in this era, and I think this book may be a resource to help us find that identity.

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Highlights & Quotes From the Book


[1] Corrie Ten Boom and Jamie Buckingham, Tramp for the Lord (Fort Washington, PA: Christian Literature Crusade, 1976), Front Cover.

[2] Corrie Ten Boom and Jamie Buckingham, Tramp for the Lord (Fort Washington, PA: Christian Literature Crusade, 1976), 9.

[3] Corrie Ten Boom and Jamie Buckingham, Tramp for the Lord (Fort Washington, PA: Christian Literature Crusade, 1976), 12.

[4] Corrie Ten Boom and Jamie Buckingham, Tramp for the Lord (Fort Washington, PA: Christian Literature Crusade, 1976), 60-61.

[5] Corrie Ten Boom and Jamie Buckingham, Tramp for the Lord (Fort Washington, PA: Christian Literature Crusade, 1976), 61.

[6] Corrie Ten Boom and Jamie Buckingham, Tramp for the Lord (Fort Washington, PA: Christian Literature Crusade, 1974), 61.

[7] Corrie Ten Boom and Jamie Buckingham, Tramp for the Lord (Fort Washington, PA: Christian Literature Crusade, 1974), 61.

[8] Corrie Ten Boom and Jamie Buckingham, Tramp for the Lord (Fort Washington, PA: Christian Literature Crusade, 1974), 115.

[9] Corrie Ten Boom and Jamie Buckingham, Tramp for the Lord (Fort Washington, PA: Christian Literature Crusade, 1974), 160.

[10] Corrie Ten Boom and Jamie Buckingham, Tramp for the Lord (Fort Washington, PA: Christian Literature Crusade, 1976), 86.


I grew up inspired by Jesus, Jacques-Yves Cousteau, the California Raisins, and The Clash. I'm an avid fan of baseball, boardwalks, beaches, and books. Additionally, I am currently a doctoral student at Kairos University, and finishing a third master's degree, an MBA in Executive Leadership, at City Vision University. Previously I have earned two master's degrees - one in Theology and Ministry and another in Leadership - both from Fuller Seminary. I also graduated summa cum laude with a Graduate Certificate in Non-profit Management and an Associate Degree in Christian Ministry and Leadership from City Vision University.

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