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

By Andrew McChesney

Grandmother Brigitte needed a new roof after the hot summer caused cracks to form. When it rained, water leaked into the house.

Grandmother Brigitte didn’t have enough money for a new roof, so she began to save money.

But then at church she heard about a wonderful mission project to teach people about Jesus in another country. She decided to give her money to the mission project and trust in God for a new roof.

Just a few days after she gave the money to the mission project, she received a surprise letter in the mail with enough money to pay for the new roof. It was a miracle from God!

So, the old roof came off the house. The new roof, however, would take time to finish. It was a big roof, and it would take four weeks to build.

Grandmother Brigitte was worried. It was summertime, and sometimes it rained in the summertime. She wasn’t worried about getting wet in the rain. She was worried about the beds in the house getting wet if her house had no roof. If it rained, the couch also would get wet. The chairs and the table would get wet. Clothes and books and even the Bible would get wet. Everything in the house would get wet.

“God,” Grandmother Brigitte prayed, “please don’t send rain because we live here and will get wet.”

There was no rain that day.

Grandmother Brigitte prayed the same prayer the next day.

“God,” she prayed, “please don’t send rain because we live here and will get wet.”

No rain.

One week passed. Two weeks. Three weeks. Grandmother Brigitte prayed, and no rain fell.

But then one day, big black clouds filled the sky. Clouds were everywhere, and they were so heavy with rain that they seemed to touch the ground.

Grandmother Brigitte looked nervously at the clouds and prayed, “God, please don’t send rain because we live here and will get wet.”

Then she saw rain starting to fall on the windows of the neighbor’s house: first a few drops and then more. Soon rain was pouring down on the neighbor’s house.

As she watched, Grandmother Brigitte felt something wet on her arm. She looked carefully. Yes, a raindrop had landed on her skin. She felt something else wet. Another raindrop. Grandmother Brigitte prayed, “God, please don’t send rain because we live here and will get wet.”

Then the raindrops stopped falling on
her arm.

But it still was raining on the neighbor’s house. Grandmother Brigitte looked at the other neighbors’ houses. Rain was pounding them.

For 30 minutes, rain fell in sheets on her right and on the left and across the street. A big, black cloud also hung low over Grandmother Brigitte’s house. But no rain fell from it. Her beds didn’t get wet. Her couch didn’t get wet. Her chairs and her table didn’t get wet. Her clothes and books and Bible didn’t get wet. Nothing in the house got wet.

The next day, everybody was talking about the heavy rainstorm. It had been a terrible downpour. But no rain fell on Grandmother Brigitte’s roofless house. Her home was spared.

She prayed a grateful, happy prayer to the Lord.

“Thank You, dear Lord, thank You,”
she prayed.

A week later, the house was covered with a new roof. Just as the roof was finished, rain started to fall. But Grandmother Brigitte didn’t mind. Everything in the house was safe.

Thank you for your Thirteenth Sabbath Offering that went for a mission project in Grandmother Brigitte’s homeland of Germany three years ago. Germany has sent many Seventh-day Adventist missionaries around the world, and the offering will help send even more by renovating the main building at Marienhöhe Academy, a place where new missionaries are trained, in Darmstadt, Germany.