While in San Francisco, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá visited a black believer, Mr Charles…
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Studio narration for this story is coming — it’ll be generated by the cloud-TTS pipeline (voice: auto-selected from the source author).
When in Bahá'í history
While in San Francisco, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá visited a black believer, Mr Charles Tinsley, who had been confined to bed for a long time with a broken leg. The Master said to him: 'You must not be sad. This affliction will make you spiritually stronger. Do not be sad. Cheer up! Praise be to God, you are dear to me.'
Source: Honnold, Annamarie, Vignettes from the Life of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, p. 44
Collected from bahaistories.com (Subject: sick-caring).
Discuss this story
For adults
- Where do you see devotion appearing — visibly or quietly — in this passage?
- How does this story complicate or deepen your understanding of sick caring?
- Read the closing lines once more. What single phrase stays with you?
For teens
- What is one quality you'd want to carry forward from this account?
- Which line in this story surprised you the most?
Reflection
- If you could bring one quality from this story into your next conversation, what would it be?
- What single image from this story will stay with you?
- How does devotion show up in your life right now — and where is it being asked of you?
Comprehension quiz
Which source is "While in San Francisco, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá visited a black believer, Mr Charles…" drawn from?
What period of Bahá'í history does this story belong to?
Which historical figure is featured most prominently in this story?
Cite this story
Various. *bahaistories.com archive*. https://bahaistories.com/subject/sick-caring
Record yourself reading this story
Recording stays on this device only. Nothing is uploaded.
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