To Sabbath School teachers: This story is for Sabbath, September 20.

By Andrew McChesney

Emmanuel was only 10 years old. But he felt like a useless nobody. He felt like he was good for nothing. You see, he could not see. Emmanuel was born blind.

Then somebody told him about a school that offered Braille education. Braille is a special kind of education that allows people who cannot see to read with their fingers. Not many schools in Zimbabwe, where Emmanuel lives, offered classes in Braille.

Emmanuel wanted to learn with his fingers. He wanted to read even though he could not see with his eyes. He started studying at the Solusi Primary School.

At first, he struggled with his classes. He needed to learn how to read with his fingers. He had low self-esteem. Many times, he had heard the lie that people who couldn’t see couldn’t succeed in life. He thought that he would never succeed in life.

But then he began to learn about Jesus at the Seventh-day Adventist school. He had never heard about Jesus before. He learned that Jesus loved him. He learned that he was gifted, needed, and treasured by Jesus. When the school had a week of spiritual emphasis, he decided to give his heart to Jesus.

Emmanuel had never seen Jesus with his eyes. He had never read the Bible with his eyes. But he was reading the Bible with his fingers, and he believed that Jesus loved him. He was baptized and promised to serve Jesus with his life.

But would Jesus make his life a success?

When Emmanuel finished grade school, he faced a big challenge. It was a challenge that seemed impossible to overcome. He needed to take exams to move to Solusi Adventist High School. But he wasn’t able to obtain all the textbooks that he needed to prepare for the exams. He couldn’t study properly. What could he do?

Emmanuel remembered Jesus. He remembered that he was gifted, needed, and treasured by Jesus. He prayed, “It says in Philippians 4:13, ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.’ Now God, disability doesn’t mean inability. I can make it in life. Help me please.”

Then something incredible happened. Emmanuel took the exams and passed them all. Not only did he pass, but he got the highest marks of anyone in the school.

At a special ceremony to honor the brightest students,a teacher called Emmanuel to the front of the school auditorium. He declared that Emmanuel was the overall best student in the exams.

What did Emmanuel do? Did he smile and accept the applause of the teachers and students? No. Emmanuel believed that he needed to give all praise to God, so he came to the front and prayed in front of everybody.

“God, thank You for helping me to succeed,” he said. “It’s true. ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.’”

Emmanuel believes that God is the secret to success in life. He tells his friends that God is the reason that he can read; God is the reason that he is succeeding in school; and God is the reason that he is not a nobody but a somebody.

Some of Emmanuel’s friends are blind. Others can see. But Emmanuel wants them all to know that they can only truly see if they have God in their lives. “My life is going well with God,” he said. “I can tell that I will have a bright future.”

Emmanuel is able to study at Solusi Adventist High School and learn about God there because of a Thirteenth Sabbath Offering. Part of a 1994 Thirteenth Sabbath Offering helped open Solusi Adventist High School in Zimbabwe. This quarter, your Thirteenth Sabbath Offering will help other children learn about God in Zimbabwe and in other countries of the Southern Africa-Indian Ocean Division. One Thirteenth Sabbath project will give children their very own Adventurer’s Bibles, and the other will create short children’s videos about the fruit of the Spirit. Thank you for a generous offering on September 27.