Inside Story for Friday 25th of July 2025
By Andrew McChesney
No one in town had ever converted to Christianity, and townspeople burned with anger when Kokila’s father and four other families decided to keep the seventh-day Sabbath. Kokila was nine, and her life changed forever.
Kokila’s mother had died when she was a baby, and she lived with her father, four older sisters, and an older brother in southern Asia.
Father, an impoverished farmer, was barred from working in the field after he started to keep the Sabbath. He and the other Sabbath keepers also were forbidden from buying food in shops.
In addition, town leaders announced that anyone who spoke to the Sabbath keepers would have to pay a large fine.
As a result, neighbors refused to talk to Kokila and her family. Kokila also didn’t talk to her neighbors. Nobody wanted to pay the fine. Kokila had had many friends, and she lost them all. It was a strange and silent world for the girl.
When Father refused to give up his faith, the neighbors turned violent. They angrily swooped down on Kokila’s home, scooping up furniture, clothing, and dishes, and dumping them on the street. They also beat her father and brother.
One neighbor, however, proved to be a bright light during that dark time. He also wasn’t a Christian, but he didn’t belong to the same major world religion that the townspeople did. He helped Kokila’s family to buy rice. He talked to Kokila, and he willingly paid the fine for violating town rules.
For seven years, Kokila lived in horrible circumstances. Three of the families who had accepted the Sabbath at the same time as Kokila’s father changed their minds and left the church. Only two of the five families, including Kokila’s family, remained faithful to God.
Image © Pacific Press
Kokila never complained, but she cried a lot. Father saw her tears, and he decided to send her to an Adventist boarding school. It was like a piece of heaven on earth for the girl.
“The teachers were very kind and loving,” recalled Kokila, who today is 39 and works as a secretary at the boarding school, E. D. Thomas Memorial Higher Secondary School in Thanjavur, India. “The teachers spoke to me! The children spoke to me! It was so nice to have friends again.”
Thank you for your mission offerings, which support Seventh-day Adventist schools around the world. E. D. Thomas Memorial Higher Secondary School received part of a Thirteenth Sabbath Offering in 2020.
(0)Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25c-04-inside-story-strange-and-silent-world/
