Karuna's story

I was born in India and my parents worshipped all the Hindu gods. They thought that the more they appeased the numerous gods, the greater their blessings would be. Nagu Pamu, the king cobra, was especially revered in our home. My only brother was named after him. I was called Karuna, a Christian name. It is the custom in India for a respected elder to name a new baby, and the esteemed teacher in the village Christian school was asked to name me.

There is still a strong caste system in Indian villages and my family belonged to the low status, powerless Sudra caste. Like most people in our village, my parents never had an education. They wanted me to do better. There was a Hindu school two miles away, but they sent me to the village Christian school when I was seven years old.

I had never known a Christian or heard Jesus’ name. Every day our teacher led us in worship and told Bible stories. I will never forget the first story I heard – the story of Noah.

Her words worked in my heart. She taught of God the Creator and all things which are created by Him. My parents said all of those things were gods. I felt conflict. On the walls of our two-room home hung pictures of many Hindu deities; all my life I had seen my parents bow their heads in worship before these gods.

The true God was revealed to me through stories from my teacher. I did not take them just as nice stories. I felt that she was teaching the Word of God. As I heard about Isaac and Abraham and Joseph, I felt that my parents were worshipping untrue gods. It was the work of the Holy Spirit. I knew that I must worship the God who created me as He had created the snakes and the trees.

But I was still my parents’ daughter, raised in obedience. So whenever they went to sacrifice to our village gods, I went along. My mother would fold her hands and bow before them several times. I thought this was a festive thing that had no meaning. The worship of Almighty God was entirely different.

In those days there was a pastor who served a congregation in our village and several other villages. He came every month to administer the sacraments. One evening when I was about nine years old I was playing on the dusty street and I saw him in the distance. He was coming to the village; I ran toward him.

I told him, “Pastor, I believe Jesus Christ is my true God and my Savior, and I want to become a Christian. Please baptize me.” He was astonished and said, “I am very happy for you my daughter, God bless you. I would like to baptize you but since you are a little girl, I cannot baptize you without your parent’s permission.”

I understood that unless my parents believed Jesus was God they would not let me be baptized. My teacher had been watching me to see how I was learning and growing. She had developed a good friendship with my parents and sensed that now was the time to ask them to come to church, and invite my mother to the women’s Bible study.

Because my education was important to my parents, they listened to the teacher. My mother went to the Bible study and she encouraged my father to go to church. I also tried to encourage them.

Every night as I lay on my cot with the picture of the snake god hanging on the wall above me, I used to tell my parents all the stories that I had learned at school that day. They listened because they loved me.

My teacher prayed and, in time, my parents, through the Holy Spirit, believed that Jesus Christ was the Holy God. When I was about 11 years old, we were all baptized. Since then, in good times and bad times, they never went back to the idols.

My teacher, using her influence as an old student, helped put me in a Christian boarding school so I could get all of my studies through a Christian school. Attending the Christian boarding school helped to further strengthen my understanding and knowledge of God’s Word.

Now, as a director of a Christian school, I want to give away to other children similar to what I received from the Christian day school of my youth. With much prayer and desire, in conjunction with the Bible Faith Lutheran Church’s church planting and gospel work ministry, my husband and I started the Moriah Children’s Home 25 years ago. Then, 9 years ago, we were able to start the Moriah Christian School.