Inside Story for Friday 13th of June 2025

By Diana Fish

Diana and Loren Fish had their dream jobs. She was working in development at the Seventh-day Adventist hospital in Orlando, Florida, and he had a successful counseling practice. But something was missing. They prayed.

On a whim, Diana attended a North American Division Women’s Ministries conference. In the exhibition hall, she stopped at the Holbrook Seventh-day Adventist Indian School booth to admire student-made pottery. When a woman at the booth learned that Diana worked in development, she excitedly said that the school was looking for a development director. Diana dismissed the idea that God might be calling her to work at the school in Arizona.

Six months later, Loren decided at the last minute to attend the 2015 General Conference Session in San Antonio, Texas. In the exhibition hall, he found himself at the Holbrook booth. When a woman at the booth learned he was a licensed clinical social worker, she excitedly said, “We need one of those!” She asked about his wife’s job, and he responded that she worked in development. “We need one of those, too!” the woman said, waving at her husband, who happened to be Holbrook’s principal.

Weeks later, the couple visited Holbrook after a vacation to see family in Colorado. They spent nine hours talking with staff about the school’s mission to provide a safe place for American Indian children to learn and grow. They learned that the staff dreamed of having Christian counseling available around the clock for students dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health issues. Diana tossed and turned that night in the school guestroom. In the morning, she noticed two identical books on a bookshelf. They looked familiar. Reaching into her backpack, she pulled out the same book, which Loren had gotten at the General Conference Session. It was titled, Follow: Anytime, Anywhere, at Any Cost, by Don MacLafferty. Immediately, Diana knew God was calling them to Holbrook. She prayed, “You’ll have to put the same impression on Loren’s heart.”

Several days later, back in Florida, Loren told Diana that he had been praying and sensed God calling them to Holbrook. That evening, they submitted their résumés and began packing. Two weeks later, they were offered the positions. They have worked at the school for the past 10 years. “God is so amazing,” Diana said. “He has shown me every step of the way that He is working in my life. Before I knew Him, He knew me and had a plan.”

This mission story shows how God miraculously worked in the life of Diana Fish, development director of the US-based Holbrook Seventh-day Adventist Indian School, which received the Thirteenth Sabbath Offering in 2021. Thank you for supporting the spread of the gospel with this quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath Offering on June 28. Read more about the school next week.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25b-11-inside-story-part-7-we-need-one-of-those/

Daily Lesson for Friday 13th of June 2025

Further Thought: “The First King of Israel,” Pages 605, 606, in Patriarchs and Prophets.

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

“Satan will arouse indignation against the minority who refuse to accept popular customs and traditions. Men of position and reputation will join with the lawless and the vile to take counsel against the people of God. Wealth, genius, education, will combine to cover them with contempt. Persecuting rulers, ministers, and church members will conspire against them. With voice and pen, by boasts, threats, and ridicule, they will seek to overthrow their faith. By false representations and angry appeals, men will stir up the passions of the people. Not having a ‘Thus saith the Scriptures’ to bring against the advocates of the Bible Sabbath, they will resort to oppressive enactments to supply the lack. To secure popularity and patronage, legislators will yield to the demand for Sunday laws. But those who fear God, cannot accept an institution that violates a precept of the Decalogue. On this battlefield will be fought the last great conflict in the controversy between truth and error. And we are not left in doubt as to the issue. Today, as in the days of Esther and Mordecai, the Lord will vindicate His truth and His people.”—Ellen G. White, Prophets and Kings, Pages 605, 606.

Discussion Questions

<–Thursday

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25b-11-further-thought-ruth-and-esther/

Join the Hit the Mark panel as they discuss Sabbath School Lesson 11 – Ruth and Esther. It’s the fastest hour of the week!

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/ruth-and-esther-hit-the-mark-sabbath-school/

Daily Lesson for Thursday 12th of June 2025

There is an unfortunate tendency among some Christians to dwell on the hard things of Bible prophecy. We see that trying times lie ahead, and the study of prophecy can become fear-based, focusing on hardship instead of the promised resolution to the story. While God does not sugarcoat the future, and He is honest about the events that will transpire between now and the close of the great controversy, it is important always to read the story to the end.

Image © Lifeway Collection at Goodsalt.com

There is a general pattern in prophecy in which God reveals the truth about the mess created by our human rebellion, and He shows us the consequences. But then He always holds out hope. Some have looked at the predictions of a final crisis—the “time of Jacob’s trouble”—with fear and trembling. Undoubtedly, the closing moments will not be easy ones for God’s people. But just as the prediction of hard times is reliable, so is the promise of deliverance.

In Revelation 12:1-17, the devil pursues Christ’s bride with hateful vengeance, but God intervenes to save her. The story of Esther also has a beautiful queen playing a central role in the drama, and God uses her powerfully to save His people.

God raised up His remnant church for a specific moment in history. As the 1,260 days of the Dark Ages drew to a close, God brought His bride out of hiding (compare with Revelation 12:14) to carry His final message of mercy—the three angels’ messages—to the world. We are here “for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14).

Esther discovered she was not alone in facing the persecution being unleashed on her people by Haman: she found favor from the king, and her people were ultimately delivered. Neither are we alone as we enter the final moments of earth’s history—the King is on our side, and God’s people will be delivered, as well.

<–Wednesday Friday–>

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25b-11-for-such-a-time-as-this/

Daily Lesson for Wednesday 11th of June 2025

In the story of Esther, we meet Haman, who is hungry for position and power. He is given a great degree of prominence in the empire, above all the other princes (Esther 3:1).

If we read Ezekiel 28:11-15 and Isaiah 14:12-15 about Lucifer, we can find some parallels with Haman, an evil antagonist to God’s chosen people, who refuses to bow to God’s supremacy. Satan’s overarching intentions are revealed in the story of the temptation of Christ, where he takes Jesus to a high place to show Him the kingdoms of the world (Matthew 4:8-11). Christ, as we have seen, came to redeem the world and claim it as His own—and He did it as one of us. Jesus is the kinsman redeemer, and the price He paid to redeem the world was exceedingly high.

Image © Review & Herald Publishing at Goodsalt.com

In the book of Revelation, we see that Satan’s lust for power and worship brings this world to its final crisis. His deceptions convince the world to “marvel” and follow the beast (Revelation 13:3-4, NKJV), except for notable exceptions who refuse to worship him. With these people, he resorts to force.

Haman notices that Mordecai—one of God’s chosen people—would not defer to him or acknowledge what he believed to be his right to “worship.” He is “filled with wrath” (Esther 3:5-6, NKJV), and he becomes determined to eliminate all of Mordecai’s people from the face of the earth.

The devil has laid claim to this world, but the presence of people who stay loyal to God—who keep His commandments—disproves his claim of complete supremacy. “When the Sabbath shall become the special point of controversy throughout Christendom, the persistent refusal of a small minority to yield to the popular demand will make them objects of universal execration.”—Ellen G. White, Signs of the Times, February 22, 1910.

<–Tuesday Thursday–>

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25b-11-haman-and-satan/