Mari Hernandez-Tuten who moved with her family from Mexico to the US when she was a year old. We chat about her unique experience of growing up as a child of immigrants and how that shaped her identity and her faith. I hope this episode gives you a peek inside what it’s like to be raised in an immigrant household.

Toward the end of the episode, Mari recites a beautiful poem she wrote called I am from which had me in tears. It reminded me that our ethnicity is a gift to us given by God. We can be proud of our cultural heritage or ethnic roots because they are God-given and God-ordained.

I am woven from the thread of sun kissed skin, hard working hands, and spicy salsa.

I am from people whose faith runs as deep and as rich as the soil they labored over long ago. 

I am from dreamers, storytellers, fighters, village doctors, and homes that always made room for one more. 

I am from a long line of strong women and resilient people who journeyed thousands of miles away to a foreign land.

I am a child of immigrants, straddling two worlds, trying to find my way home. 

I am from people who valued education, family, respecting your elders, and never forgetting where you’ve come from. 

I am from a world that claims to be colorblind, but no matter what I’ve achieved or accolades I’ve received, all they see is the color of my skin.

But I am still standing because greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world. 

I am from the God who pulled a little girl out of the slums of Mexico and called her by name. 

I am from the great I AM who gets the last word on who I am.

Mari is a Bible teacher, life coach, speaker, and author. She encourages women to discover the influence God has given them by pointing them to His love and truth through writing, mentoring, and teaching at FamilyLife today, YouVersion App, local church ministry, and her blog. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and three boys.

Learn more about Mari here.

Mabel is an author, speaker, and Bible teacher. An immigrant from India who has lived in seven cities across the U.S. in fourteen years, Mabel navigates between cultures, feeling at home everywhere and nowhere. In her award-winning book, Far from Home: Discovering Your Identity as Foreigners on Earth, Mabel draws from her personal experience as an immigrant and examines the lives of biblical heroes to shed light on how we can find purpose and joy as sojourners on earth.

Learn more Mabel here.

Buy Mabel’s book, Far from Home: Discovering Your Identity as Foreigners on Earth, on Amazon.

Buy Mabel’s book from End Game Press.

Download the tip sheet, Love Your Immigrant Neighbor : 5 Action Steps, here.