SPIRITUAL SIGHT

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” John 9:1-3

A member of the local church in the city of Manado, Indonesia, decided to make a difference by doing a few acts of kindness to people with visual impairments. He loves to try new things and, after a busy day at work, he felt very tired and decided he needed a massage. Near to his place was a rehabilitation center for people with visual impairments and in this place they had just completed a massage training course and one of the students kindly offered to practice his new skills on Mundari.

During the massage, they started to talk about work, church, and general stuff. Mundari was able to share a little bit about his church and the Bible. The initial conversation became deeper and at the end of the session, the student was very interested in the truths he learned while he was doing a simple massage. It was the beginning of a friendship not only with this specific student but also with other people who live at the rehabilitation center. It didn’t take long for them to change and they started the ministry at the center.

Mundari says: “We are very happy with the opportunity to reach out to our visually impaired friends here, especially Adventists. They need acceptance and care from society. The institution should not be solely responsible for their rehabilitation, this group of people also needs compassion and support from the community so that they can live normally and be accepted by society. Our goal is to teach them how to live independently after they are trained in this institution.”

The staff of the rehabilitation center is grateful for the activities of the local Adventist church. Mundari invited many of them to worship in their church on Saturday and many went. It was a wonderful experience to see them singing praises and hymns. Not being able to see is in itself a great challenge for anyone visually impaired, but being able to help this community gives these people a glimpse of what heaven will be like. Pray for church members who serve and pray for our visually impaired friends who have recently joined this group and have discovered love, truth, and fellowship through this ministry.

Please, pray for our missionaries, volunteers, and Global Mission Pioneers. Your faithfulness sustains their ministry.

CHALLENGE FOR THE FAMILY: Blindfold someone in your family. It can be the children or the teenagers. After doing it, give them simple activities like walking while holding a glass of water without spilling it. As a family, talk about what it felt like to be “blind” for a few minutes. Pray for those who have this disability and also make plans to help anyone you know who is visually impaired.