How Being a TCK Shaped My View of God

Growing up as a Third Culture Kid (TCK) means living between worlds. It means holding multiple cultures in your hands while never feeling like any of them fully belong to you. It's both a gift and a grief. For me, it also deeply shaped how I understand and relate to God.

This post is not a theology lesson - it's a window into how a globally mobile childhood expanded, challenged and reshaped my faith.

1. God's Character & Desire to Be With Me Never Changes

Growing up as a missionary kid, my life was completely intertwined with faith. God's calling on my parents life is what brought them overseas in the first place and is what kept them there for so long. As a kid it was hard to at times to separate my faith from my parents. I had to learn as I got older that God desires to be with me and have a personal relationship with me, that is not attached to my parents' faith. My faith had to become my own, because when I see Jesus face-to-face one day I am only one that He will hold accountable for my relationship with Him.

Growing up/being in ministry is nothing to romanticize. There are many amazing things about it, but there are also a lot of really hard things. There were moments growing up where it was hard to reconcile God's character with the circumstances I was in. It created doubt and sometimes anger in me. But the Lord kept reminding me of Hebrews 13:8, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." I never have been and never will be perfect in this area, but slowly as my relationship with God is growing, He is reminding me that my circumstances do not change who He is. God's character is not based on my feelings.

2. God Became My Constant in a Life of Change

As a TCK, change wasn't just occasional, it was constant. Hellos and goodbyes were always around the corner waiting for me. This much change can feel very disorienting, and honestly discouraging at times. But in the middle of all this shifting ground, I began to crave stability. In these moments I learned something profound that I am still discovering today: God wasn't changing.

In every goodbye, in every move, in every discouraging and heartbroken moment, God was the same and was right there with me in it. He saw me where I was and sat with me even when I didn't know where to turn and only wished that He would change my circumstances. It's easy to say God is constant, but you don't really believe it's true until things feel so bad that He is literally all you have. I have been here several times in my life and as hard as it was, I wouldn't go back and change it because it has brought me closer to Him.

3. God Showed Me That Identity is Rooted in Being Known

In a life filled with introductions, labels, and assumptions, identity felt complicated. Was I American? The foreigner? The missionary kid? The outsider? The "not really from here?" When I walked into rooms I was known as "the missionary kid" and "one of the Sustar daughters." That was my identity.

But in time, I learned that my identity was so much more than that and is rooted in the one thing that can never be shaken: Jesus. This is not my identity because I always feel like it, but because Jesus says, "You are mine (Isaiah 43:1)."

My worth never has and never will be in how well I adapt, how well I portray the "missionary kid" persona, or how many friends I have. It is tied to being fully known and loved by the God who made me. Being fully known and fully loved by God, is the greatest gift you can ever experience if you open your heart up to it and truly believe it, even when it's hard to feel known and lovable.

Final Thoughts

Being a TCK shaped my view of God in ways I'm still unpacking. It grew my faith in ways that are hard to even express and it has made my faith so much more personal. I saw God in the experiences. I clung to Him in transition and heartbreak. I wrestled with identity and struggled to believe in the character of God, but ultimately found Him to be my peace and safety and to be true to His Word.

So if you're a TCK too - feeling in-between, unseen or unsure of what faith even looks like - know this: God sees you. God goes with you. And God is big enough to hold all your layers and all your grief. Wherever you've been, wherever you're going - He's already there.