At this moment, I have been in Kenya for 2 and a half weeks and in that amount of time, I have experienced a world of emotions. I’m living away from home for the first time, I’m experiencing culture shock on a regular basis, we see a world of poverty and unmet physical needs, and we’re communally living in discipleship daily. This adjustment has been interesting to say the least.

My greatest challenge living on the mission field is seeing the hunger, poverty, lack of basic necessities and not being able to do anything physically about it. With my social work background, I well understand Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and long to serve people and communities who fall into the lower categories. With that, I know that without basic needs being met, it’s next to impossible for someone to focus on spiritual needs.

The kind of work we have been doing is going into the streets and parks where people are living and being present with them to hear their stories and hear them express their needs. We have been making note of the things they mention like food, shoes, scholarships for school, and ID cards so that the team to remain in Kenya when we leave has something to build upon to genuinely serve the people here.

I have had my faith challenged and shaken in these couple of weeks more than ever before. This past summer had been a time of inner work and preparation for this trip but nothing could truly prepare me for the test of faith that witnessing people in their hurt would bring. I am learning for myself that GOD is all sufficient and He is Jehovah-Jireh even when I can’t begin to imagine how He may go about working in this place. I have never before had to look a mom with a malnourished babe in the eye and offer the hope of the gospel. I have never before been asked why I’m a Christian. Before this trip, I have definitely had ups and downs on my faith journey but this is the first time I’ve really had to defend my beliefs even to myself.

As I’m writing this, I’m actively researching connections between Maslow’ Hierarchy of Needs and Matthew 4:4 “man shall not live by bread alone but by the word of God.” I was looking through the search results just to try to wrap my mind around the fact that the Christian perspective is almost opposite of Maslow’s. Then I came across Matthew 6:31-34 “so do not worry, saying ‘what shall we eat?’ or ‘what shall we drink?’ or ‘what shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Jesus says so clearly that if we first seek Him, all else will fall into place. He will provide for our needs as He is Jehovah-Jireh (provider).

It’s so easy for me to assume that people in great need do not have the capacity to hear the gospel or I even assume that talking about Christ may be offensive in a different way than the experience in America. With that, I’m limiting God and I’m not letting the people make the choice for themselves to hear the Word or not. I’ve processed this tension with others, in prayer, journaling, and even now while I’m making this post. I still don’t have it all figured out but I don’t think that’s the point. I think faith stands in the gaps and a life with Jesus is a constant journey of learning and evolving. I’m so thankful for this opportunity at living in discipleship for a year and spending my weeks loving and serving the communities we’re living amongst. Thank you for reading and partnering with me in prayer or giving! I plan to post more often moving forward :)