Lucky’s journey from being banned by his mom from going to church to sharing his faith with her is a story of persistence and prayer. Thanks to the 13th Sabbath Offering, children like him in Zimbabwe will receive Bibles to help share God’s love with their families.
Eleven-year-old Lucky didn’t go to church in Zimbabwe. No one in his family went to church. One day, though, some friends invited him to go to church with them on Sabbath.
Lucky went with them to the Seventh-day Adventist church. He liked it so much that he invited his mom to go with him.
Lucky’s mom went with him to church. But she didn’t like it very much.
At church, people worship God. But Lucky’s mom worshipped her ancestors like many people in Zimbabwe. Even though they were dead, she thought she could talk to them.
During the sermon, she whispered to Lucky, “Do people in this church disagree with my beliefs?”
“Yes, they do,” Lucky whispered back.
His mom didn’t say anything more until they got home. Then she yelled at Lucky. She yelled at Lucky every day for the next few days. Then she fell silent and refused to talk to him. Lucky kept going to church.
After three months, Lucky’s mom broke her silence. “You’re not allowed to leave the house on Saturday mornings,” she said.
Lucky’s mom made sure he didn’t go to church. She locked him in his bedroom and only opened the door after church was over.
When Lucky’s mom saw that he still believed in God, she decided that something must be wrong with him. She didn’t understand why he didn’t want to worship ancestors like her. She asked a traditional healer who also worshiped ancestors to come to the house to see what was wrong with Lucky.
But Lucky didn’t want to talk to the traditional healer. He ran to the bathroom and locked the door.
Lucky’s mom came to the door and yelled, “Why are you refusing to talk to the healer to find out what is wrong with you?”
From behind the door, Lucky explained that the Bible teaches that people cannot talk to their dead ancestors.
“When people die, they cannot hear or talk because they are sleeping,” he said. “Why do you want to force me to do something that I’m not comfortable with?”
Lucky spent the night in the bathroom.
Early in the morning, he opened the door and crept back to his room. Crawling under a blanket, he fell asleep.
But when his mom woke up and saw him in bed, she yelled, “Why are you in my house since you are a Christian? Go to the Christians, and stay with them!” The two didn’t speak to each other for the rest of the day.
The next day, Lucky promised that he would stop going to church. He was tired of fighting.
Lucky kept his promise for a year. But friends kept inviting him to go to church, and finally he went. He didn’t tell his mom.
Several years passed, and Lucky graduated from eighth grade. One of his friends planned to go to an Adventist high school, and he also wanted to go there. He asked his mom for permission.
Lucky’s mom wasn’t sure this was a good idea, but Lucky convinced her that the Adventist school had better teachers.
Only a month into the school year, Lucky gave his heart to God and got baptized. His mom was initially upset, but after a while, she calmed down. Then, something amazing happened. His mom became interested in God. Lucky brought home a Bible from school, and they began to read it together. Then he invited her to go with him to church again. Lucky’s mom accepted his invitation, and now she goes to church with him every Sabbath. Lucky is praying that she will give her heart to God.
Lucky shared his love for God with his mom through a Bible that he borrowed from an Adventist school in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Your 13th Sabbath Offering this quarter may help other children also share God with their parents. Part of the offering will be used to give Adventurer’s Bibles to children in Zimbabwe and in the other countries of Southern Africa. Thank you for planning a generous offering!
