Thursday Mar 14, 2024

005 /// Marriage on the Mission Field with Abigail Bellah

Episode 5 - MARRIAGE ON THE MISSION FIELD

I was surprised to hear what a young woman I have known since her teen years, and is very special to me, had to say about what her biggest challenge has been so far. At 22 years old, Abigail left America to do mission work in West Africa. So “marriage” is not what was expected to be her biggest challenge. I don’t know about you, but being a single female missionary in Africa seems pretty challenging to me! Granted, marriage is a challenge, too. A refiner of our rougher places. But when I think of missionary life, there are a lot of things that seem harder than marriage. Not for Abigail, though.

From West Africa she was called to East Africa, met a man from the country she was serving, and discovered, in her own words, an “even more challenging” journey than missions. Cross-cultural dating and marriage. Her views reflect a wisdom that challenges western thinking. Abigail’s husband, Jillo, joins us at the end of this episode to share a bit of his perspective. His views on 1) America and 2) marriage in general, are both enlightening. Abigail and Jillo decided they would build their marriage on a foundation that requires laying down both of their cultures for a “kingdom culture.” They believe this is something every couple is challenged to do because whether it is a national cultural, ethnic culture, our family culture...everyone comes together from some type of culture different than the one we marry.

In this episode you will hear:

Why we should never say never
How every marriage is cross-cultural marriage
The beauty of building one culture together

You can contact Abigail directly at:

Abbey.jillo@send56.org

You can also find out more about her mission at

http://www.send56.org/bellah

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Brenda is a Texas girl who loves God and people and big skies and great coffee. She is a believer in impossible possibilities. In brokenness becoming beautiful. In justice and mercy and honor and power–with love perfecting them all. She is a wife, mom, mimi, daughter, and friend. She is also a speaker, author, mediator, and coach...helping people discover, embrace, and live out their God-given superpowers.

Check out the websites:

https://loudisnotalanguage.com/

https://brendaharkins.com/

Follow on socials:

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/BrendaCoxHarkins

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Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendacoxharkins/

Podcast music from: https://app.soundstripe.com/

Check out the other shows from KB PODCAST PRODUCTIONS:

Kingdom Bringer Podcast with Darin Eubanks

Next Level Podcast with Michael McIntyre

Super-Natural Living with Beth Packard