All her life, Karren had been told she had a disability and no one trusted her to make decisions. Get told you are not smart enough often enough and you’ll believe it.
As a result, Karren did not learn to read or write, and believing she was not smart enough, felt very inferior.
About five years ago her partner wanted to reconnect with the church of his youth. Karren, who knew nothing about God, let the pastor come to their home for studies and asked if she could sit in. Her partner and the pastor were taking turns reading the Bible texts. After a few weeks, Karren asked if she could have a go. Little by little, and with a little help, she started sounding out the words. And she would copy the questions and answers from the study into an exercise book.
Now, five years and numerous exercise books later, Karren KNOWS she is not disabled! She can read and write and understand, just like anybody else, and it is all because she wanted to know more about the God nobody have bothered to explain to her before.
A lack of reading and writing skills was not a barrier for God.
Karren is now our teenage Sabbath School instructor at Mornington Fellowship, teaching from the PowerPoint pamphlet. And she coaches a basketball team, the members, between games, wanting to know about the God of the Bible Karren has learnt to read.
Peter Hughes