Being a missionary Mum is different for everyone, and there may be many contributing factors to different experiences: the country you are serving in, the age of the children, how many children you have, the gender of your children, the personality of the children and mother, the roles the mother plays in their day to day lives, and this is just to name a few.
My hope for this article is to give you an accurate perspective on being a missionary Mum. Many would assume that it must be tough all the time, don’t get me wrong, there were plenty of tough times, but there are also many special, unique, exciting and rewarding things about it. I really feel privileged that God entrusted me with this role.
I surveyed a few missionary Mum’s, and asked them all the same 3 questions:
- What is marvellous about being a missionary Mum?
- What is miserable about being a missionary Mum?
- What motivates you to keep going?
These were their answers:
What are the marvellous things about being a missionary mum?
- I loved getting to raise my children on the mission field, all the adventures we got to experience together like seeing a group of people go from darkness to light.
- It is absolutely marvellous watching my boys grow up surrounded by people from all over the world. They have the privilege of having friends not just in the country we serve in, but also from the countries of our coworkers. They have friends from Indonesia, Australia, Singapore, The Netherlands, Brazil, and possibly other countries.
- I love how so much of our life is spent together. I get to have so much time with my kids, and I love the experiences they get to have, and seeing them experience those things.
- Personally the marvellous things about being a missionary mum was that I got to grow alongside my child and learn to depend on God in real, tangible ways. As we were exposed to new cultures, experiences, and challenges together, our relationships with each other and with with God became deeper. I was a homeschool mum, so I had the privilege of being around my kids 24/7, and while homeschooling was definitely not always easy, it is something I really miss now that my kids are older. When on home assignment people would suggest that my kids must be missing out on many things from Australia, but to be honest, I kind of felt sorry for what their kids were missing out on – not being exposed to any of the outside world.
What is miserable about being a missionary mum?
- Wondering if my kids are missing out on living in their passport country. Things like family traditions, experiences that you can only get in your passport country. It’s not a constant concern, but one that does rear its ugly head and can often be discouraging.
- When we had to bring our kids back to Australia when they were 18. When they reached 18 they couldn’t be attached to our visa anymore. It was so sad leaving them behind in Australia, but equally as sad watching them say goodbye to their friends in the village they had grown up with.
- Letting my kids go away to boarding school
- It’s hard to watch your kids struggle and not know where they belong. They miss things like having grandparents watch them play sports or having family nearby.
What motivates you to keep going?
- A big part of it is knowing that this life is just the beginning of their eternal life. There are things that they might “miss out on” in this earthly life but they have their eternal life ahead of them and those challenges are worth it if it draws them closer to the Saviour.
- What kept me going through the marvellous and the miserable, was knowing that one day the people in the village where I was working were going to hear the message of salvation in their own language for the very first time, and that one day, those that accepted Christ would be standing beside me in eternal glory.
- Remembering that the Lord brought me there, and He would give me the grace to keep me there.
- The thing that keeps me motivated is my walk with Jesus. It became very clear to me that when my walk with Him was strong I was more motivated. The times I wanted to do it all on my own and in my own way were the times when I wanted to give up. Spending time in the Word and prayer is crucial.
