Are you struggling today with some handicap today?
Consider a man who was born in 1809 in France. Louis Braille was a popular, intelligent child. But when he was three years old, a terrible accident occurred as he was playing with his father’s tools. It resulted in an infection of his left eye. The infection then spread to the other eye. As a result, he became totally blind.
But this young man had something special in him. He became a fine cellist and organist. He received a scholarship to attend the National Institute for Blind Children in Paris in 1819. He studied the primitive methods that were available in his day by which blind people were able to read.
At the age of fifteen, the idea came to him to use dots and dashes for the blind. He then created the alphabet that allowed the blind to finally read the literature of the world. His system remains unchanged after all these years.
The nation of France built a statue to honor Braille in 1867. Because of their deep gratitude, blind people from all over the world travel to France to visit the statue and to rub their fingers over the face.
I find the story of Louis Braille so amazing. It reminds me of a great truth of Scripture and of life: When somebody combines faith and courage, even our handicaps can be changed into a blessing.