Imagine having to work three times as hard as everyone else to reach the same goal. The frustration would be immense. Discouragement would lurk around every corner.

For Mike, who has been blind since birth, this is the world he wakes up to every single day. One of his only escapes from the constant battles is the time he spends listening to God’s Word through his Audio Bible, an escape friends like you made possible.

Today, Mike is a passionate Christian, a devoted husband and father, and a successful CEO of his own software business, but that wasn’t always the case.

The son of Cuban immigrants, Mike grew up in a typical Miami neighborhood. As a child and teenager, Mike was dependent on counselors, teachers, and administrators to get for him what everyone else had readily available — simple things like books in Braille became a prized acquisition. And when his support team failed, Mike failed.

Eventually, Mike began to give up. He channeled his disappointment and frustration into drugs and music, where he felt accepted as an equal. In the world of drugs and music, Mike was expected to deliver or move out. Soon, the power and control Mike felt he had gained in this dark culture began to unravel. He had married his sweetheart and had a baby. But he wasn’t ready to be a father. He slowly abandoned them and sank deeper into the destructive culture around him.

One Thanksgiving, Mike was invited to dinner with friends. His wife, son, and daughter would be there, and he thought it would bring him some comfort to spend the holiday with his family. Something happened to Mike that day. He realized that he needed to change his life or lose it all — he knew he needed help. Mike opened his heart to Jesus Christ and welcomed God into His life.

That day, Mike began to see all the hurt he had caused to those around him, how anger had eaten away at his life. Mike says he was the blind person that Jesus talked about when He said "If the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch" (Matthew 15:14, NKJV). Mike was physically blind and he was leading the spiritually blind into an abyss.

Immediately, Mike sought an Audio Bible. When he learned about Audio Bibles for the Blind, he rejoiced and began to spread the word about the free service. "I can’t function without my Audio Bible," Mike says. "I can take it with me anywhere and it is always available anytime I want to use it."

Thanks in part to the solid teachings he receives from his Audio Bible, provided by friends like you, Mike is now an ordained pastor, helping to lead people out of their darkness. His Audio Bible enables him to study and teach God’s Word.

"Audio Bibles enables the blind and print handicapped person to not have to work three times as hard to hear God’s Word," Mike says. "There, they can find the gift of inner sight, peace, and purpose that I have found in my new life in Christ."

We can’t eliminate all the challenges facing the blind in this world. As one of Mike’s teachers told him, "Blind people have to work three times as hard because the world isn’t made for them. It is made for people who can see." But at Audio Bibles for the Blind, we know that God’s Word was given for all of us — and we are all blind without it.