Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread.

Our Reading titled, Overcoming Trials, was written by Allison Kida.

Anne grew up in poverty and pain.

Two of her siblings died in infancy. At five, an eye disease

left her partially blind and unable to read or write. When Anne was eight, her mother died

from tuberculosis. Shortly after, her abusive father abandoned his three surviving children. The youngest

was sent to live with relatives, but Anne and her brother Jimmy went to Tewkesbury Almshouse,

a dilapidated, overcrowded poorhouse. A few months later, Jimmy died. At age 14, Anne's circumstances brightened.

She was sent to a school for the blind,

where she underwent surgery to improve her vision and learn to read and write.

Though she struggled to fit in, she excelled academically and graduated Valdictorian. Today, we know her best as Anne Sullivan,

Helen Keller's teacher and companion. Through effort, patience, and love, Anne taught blind and

deaf Helen to speak, to read Braille, and to graduate from college.

In the book of Genesis, Joseph II had to overcome extreme trials. At 17, he was sold into slavery

by his jealous brothers and was later wrongly imprisoned. Yet God used him to save Egypt and his family from famine.

We all face trials and troubles.

But just as God helped Joseph and Anne to overcome and to deeply impact the lives of others,

he can help and use us.

Seek him for help and guidance. He sees and hears.

Today's Our Daily Bread Devotional Scripture reading is from Genesis chapter 50, verses 15 through 21.

When Joseph's brother saw that their father was dead, they said,

What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?

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