“We are all on our way to discovering
God’s original design for families and
generations in His kingdom.”
Hudson Kim’s words aptly sum up his last six years. Of
Australian-Korean descent, he married Grace, who
lived in Korea all her life, and they moved to YWAM
Singapore very soon after. Beyond communication and
cross-cultural differences, Grace often felt alienated
and overwhelmed. This was compounded by two
miscarriages, which carried into a time of grief. But one
can grieve with hope for “His anger is but for a moment,
and His favour is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for
the night, but joy comes with the morning” (Psalm 30:5).
Our God gives and restores in His good time, and the
Kims now raise two beautiful young girls, Liya and Lisa,
in the YWAM community.
All these changes, however, triggered a crisis of
identity in Grace who admits, “I was so focused on my
pregnancies and raising my children that I lost myself.
No Grace, only mother. I do wonder why I am here. A
part of me has not fully embraced my time in YWAM
Singapore as I’m always behind the scenes.” In stark
contrast, Hudson has stepped up to oversee YWAM
Medical ships. This requires him to make frequent trips
to Palembang, a city that they dream to serve God in
eventually. But the process of preparing for this move
has been a slow and painful one that demands much
patience, trust and dying to self. “Loneliness is my
weakness, but God is helping me to overcome it,” Grace
shares. This is amplified whenever Hudson is away.
Many times, she desperately needed a listening ear and
the companionship of other mothers, but this solace
remained elusive, as they are the only family with very
young children living on the YWAM base.
Hudson’s journey of understanding and supporting his
wife, especially through prayer, surfaced the beauty of
God’s handiwork that only time could crystallise. “This
time of ‘waiting’ helps Grace to see that she is a child of
God who can fully depend on Him. That’s her ‘task’ for
now. I cannot rush her to fulfil my own desires of the
Great Commission.”
Love that does not insist on its own way is beautiful to
contemplate but it often brings with it the confounding
frustration of self-denial, and Hudson has often
questioned, “Why can’t our family just go? If I were
single, I could have packed up and gone. We often think
of family as an inconvenience that slows us down. Time
is the biggest struggle for me, especially since I am
turning forty. When I look at the elders in YWAM, I see
that they are really in missions as a family, walking it
out on the same page. I deeply desire for Grace and I to
get to that place, but we are not of one heart and mind
yet. Unity is a process, which takes time. It is not about
getting to where we want to be quickly, but going on
the journey that God wants us to walk through. God
always says, ‘I am not in a hurry. You have many more
years to partner with Me.’” Many times, when Hudson
and Grace were on the brink of giving up and returning
to Korea, God would remind them of their six years of
marriage when His provision, His overcoming and His
miracles had touched them with peace, light and love,
laying bare the truth that beneath the surface, contrary
to the evidence of what they can see of the world and
themselves, there is vastly more that they cannot see.
“We cannot deny that we are in the right place, right in
the palms of God,” Hudson shares.
Send us .
“
As Grace discovers her identity and purposes in our
Father, beyond her role as a mother and a missionary’s
wife, she realised that her children cannot be her idol.
She needs to return to that intimate relationship with
the Lord. She has also begun to find new hope for her
future, and a desire to serve others beyond her home
and two children. “I miss being a teacher, and I plan to
take classes in Korean education so that I can
eventually teach Korean to others.” God is also moving
her heart to initiate a small home school in YWAM
Singapore, for the children of the staff and students on
the base.
So what does it really take to become a family on
missions together? Hudson reflects, “God is focused on
reaching into every member of the family, beautifying
and redeeming them in their own unique way as they
are focused on reaching out in missions together. It is a
parallel journey. As God reaches into and aligns their
individual hearts, He prepares them to come together,
ready to reach out to the multitudes when they reflect
the redeeming image of God. I believe this is His
original design.”
Unity is a process, which takes time.
It is not about getting to where we want
to be quickly, but going on the journey
that God wants us to walk through.
“Lisa, look at the camera.”
We will go ”
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