My perspective definitely had some reshaped moments in Kona, but ever since we got to PNG, this new world is challenging my mindset at every corner! God’s also been revealing cool things to me through devotions, deep talks among teammates, and prayer! I’d love to share some of these with you!

• Giving it up vs. giving it to God – cool realization the other day from God that when He says to trust Him and give Him control of every aspect of our lives, that doesn’t at all mean we are just giving it up. This example comes to mind (it’s super childish so deal with me haha) – like when a kid is struggling so hard to sow up their stuffed animal, I always pictured God to be like a comforting parent that takes the stuffed animal, puts it aside, & says, “Don’t worry, you’ll start to forget about it”. But no! God is like the parent that lovingly takes the stuffed animal and cares about it just as much – no, way more – than you do and actually has the power to fix it! All our dreams/goals, worries, & hopes for the future are valid and God isn’t asking us to forget them, He knows how to take care of them so much better than we do and is asking us to trust it being in His hands.
• Education is such an incredible privilege – I’ve always known how blessed I am to live in a country with such easy access to schooling, but today it hit me as we drove past a school with a sign that said “Motto: Progress in Learning.” Students here are literally desiring just a bit more learning, just some progress in getting educated. While my old school just changed their slogan to “Striving for Excellence” or something like that. Just think about that stark difference for a minute.
• “Sacrifice” isn’t necessarily a sacrifice when you’re giving it up for something sooo much better – ex. giving up set plans in order to be used by God and gain peace & freedom to live without worry of the future – not too shabby 🙂
• Relinquishing “Rights” – I’ve been realizing a few things I want to let go of lately, like the right to make excuses or to justify laziness and lack of compassion or lack of patience, which I totally have a right to. But if I let go of these, first of all it’s a gift to God, but also makes my life better – harder, too maybe – but a lot more selfless and full of peace. The right to be understood was challenged last night when I saw how easily it created tension/conflict in relationships when I desire so badly for the other person to be 100% clear on my opinion.
• Sin – it’s not just bad things we do that make God mad/sad, but it’s separation from God. It tears down who we are, eats at our hope and builds up lies. It corrupts our values and desire for change. It slowly chips away at who we want to be and robs us of our joy. It’s basically us removing ourselves from alignment to God’s will and saying our way of doing things is better. As I say this, know that I am just learning and everyday asking God for His unconditional grace and forgiveness to fuel me as I know Him better. I am not focusing on “not sinning” but on the difference it makes to follow Christ!
• Gender equality – wow, is the inequality present here. The missionary kids always like to tell us girls (18, 19, 29yrs) “a thirteen year old boy has more authority than you here” which we have found is absolutely the truth. We are not allowed to leave our compound without a male or speak in the church we are going to tomorrow, but our frustration is not for ourselves – it’s for the women that live under this devaluing society every day. With 2/3 of the homes containing domestic abuse, scenes of men pushing around women at the market with no one stepping in makes me so mad why no attention is called to this injustice. The amount of feminists in America, a country with almost complete equality, compared to the lack of voices here makes me want to tell everyone to shift their passion for equality to these nations that need it more. Let’s put an end to this with awareness, prayer & encouragement to these women!
• Culture – this last one is rocking my world! The missionary we live with was explaining last night how Jesus trumps culture. The Bible says before Him every knee will bow & tongue confess that He is Lord, and one of those knees is culture. Culture cannot be an excuse for misrepresenting/diluting/corrupting the word of God or for making excuses. The missionary said most people here blame their “culture” for bad behavior, but really – what is culture? Culture is so relative & flexible, we create our own culture in every group we join. For example, the missionary has created a culture of integrity, strong work ethic & Christ-centered relationships within his all PNG staff, so unlike the outside PNG community. heritage is not culture. Fitting Jesus into the present culture outdates and diminishes His power. This clearly applies to the mission field, but also into my life back home, when my culture tells me the best way to live and then Jesus comes in and reshapes everything 🙂