A Clear View of His Mighty Hand

I often tell people I grew up on a plane. I was born in a mission hospital in Kenya and two weeks later was on a plane bound for a little village in Sudan, the place that I would call home. We landed on a little dirt runway, and were driven to our hut which was just outside the Wonyjok market. I lived in the hut till I was two, before moving into a larger brick home that would be our home for the remainder of my childhood in South Sudan.

The hut came with its challenges, which included keeping the snakes out of our home. At one particular time my mother spotted a tree snake, which was not one of the venomous snakes, slithering through the grass thatching of our hut. She tried to snip the neck but was unsuccessful, and the snake made a quick getaway. A few days later, while doing homeschooling with my brothers, my mother spotted me, an unknowledgeable toddler, playing under the table while grasping a live snake in my hand. She quickly killed the snake and after closer inspection, found out that it was the very same one she had previously tried to kill. This is just one of the stories God has shown himself to be so gracious in the midst of dangers which surrounded us in the village.

People often ask me what it is like growing up on the mission field, and frequently I don’t know how to put it into words. It was the greatest blessing in life. A life growing up on the mission field is one that I would never trade, even when it comes with pain. Though I was young, leaving South Sudan permanently was one of the hardest days of my life. My family and I experienced reverse culture shock during the first few months in Canada.

There’s a very real pain that comes with being an MK. It’s the fact that I don’t know where my home is. Though I’ve become accustomed to having two “homes,” there is still the struggle of feeling out of place in both Canada and South Sudan. With this pain of feeling lost comes a reminder that the earth is not our home. Philippians 3:20 (ESV) speaks of this exact truth, which I often need to remind myself of: “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” Through living on the mission field for the first few years of my life, I learned the deep reality that I am not made for this earth but for an eternal home with my Savior.

I also was exposed to the spiritual battle that is so evident on the mission field. I saw my parents living by faith day by day, trusting in God during the hardest times. I witnessed the presence of the Holy Spirit giving wisdom to our team. And I watched the committed church members of our village who came every Sunday praising the Lord, even in the midst of poverty and suffering.

So, to sum up what it’s like being a missionary kid, it can be really challenging to have two lives in two different worlds, but God has used those years both here and there to greatly impact me and bless me—showing me a clear view of his mighty hand at work.