We recently connected with Cameron Taylor and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Cameron, thanks for joining us today. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.

It was 2018 and I had taken the big move from small town rural Ethridge, TN, where I’d enjoyed big-family farm life in the midst of an Amish community – to city life in a third world country on the southern coast of the Philippines. The heat, the food, the culture shock were all very close things in that time. Despite it being winter in my home country, the weather here was not the least big cool unless it rained. I was here as a student midwife and just found out that my stay in this country wouldn’t be 12-18 months, but looked more like 2-3 years!

I sat at a table located on our third story veranda that looked north, the evening shadowy sky overshadowed tallest mountain peak in the country, Mount Apo, a dormant volcano. My Bible and journal laid out before me, my constant companions when I wasn’t in the clinic. Tears were also a close friend.

Part of my discomfort was self-inflicted. I’d not anticipated well what I had gotten myself into. I’d also not expected what was happening. I’d spent 2 years at home doing self-study to become a midwife, and only halfway through had found out that it was not accredited and wouldn’t be able to lead toward licensure as a midwife. Seeing as how I’d planned to be a missionary midwife in a country that didn’t recognize American licensing anyway, I’d taken the plunge to simply be an unlicensed midwife. The clinic director in the Philippines had said she was willing to let me come as an intern and work as much as possible to get my clinical training.
However, I’d met with her upon arrival and she had expressed the reality that my goal in being unlicensed was fine, but would limit me from ever working in the US if I wanted to. She recommended I enroll in their school for the full program of 2.5 years of schooling and hands-on training in their 1,000+ births-per-year clinic. I’d left the US with $800 in my bank account from having sold my car; the enrollment fee was $9,000; not to mention the semester tuition prices.

Here I was, sitting at this table outside my dorm, my world seemingly shattered. The problem was not just the financial burden, but the issue that I did NOT like this country, nor even the work I’d found as a midwifery student here. Yes, we were learning the language with classes Mon-Fri, 1-5pm to learn the language, plus doing student orientation, missionary training, and working 4 8hr shifts per week. I felt so inadequate and out of place.

I poured my heart into my journal and clung to the truths found in the Word of God. I asked the Lord, “Why is this happening? What are You doing?”
His answer was plain and simple, and actually became a foundation that I could fall back on during my almost 3yr stay in that city. It was, “My daughter, this next season will be one of stretching for you. In order for you to carry the responsibilities I have for you in the future, you will need to become a bigger and stronger person.”

Despite 4 months later becoming having dengue fever and spending 5 days in the hospital and desperately wanting to get on a plane and desert, God’s promise that He had a plan for all the hard things caused me to push forward in obedience. Now, in 2023 – 5 years later, I am an independent business of my own business and see how God has grown me into the woman I am today in order to do His will now. Was it hard? Absolutely. Worth it? 1000%! Following Jesus is something I will never regret; His path is the only place I’ve found lasting joy and hope despite the bleakness of life in a moment!

Cameron, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

As the second of 9 children, my parents were very gracious and did so much with us growing up. I was homeschooled and was a farmer’s daughter, so I was raised that we work together and do things together as a family. This included birth. My parents allowed me to be in the room during the birth of their 4th child, when I was 6 years old. After 3 hospital births, my parents decided to seek out alternative maternity care with their 4th, and we were allowed to be around. I am forever grateful for those experiences. I was able to attend the deliveries of 5 of my 7 younger siblings, even catching my youngest brother at age 15. This was where the love for midwifery was born in me.

At age 19, in pursuing the calling of missions work, the Lord placed midwifery on my heart as an open door of ministry to families, and meeting them where they are. The Lord opened the door to do missions as a midwife in the Philippines in 2018, where I went and trained and served for 2.5+ years. It shaped my heart as a midwife in a way that brings so much glory to the Lord; and also so much fulfillment in my service as a midwife. With a calling, it means the vision is so much bigger than yourself, and all channels glory back to God. This is whats keeps me going when the nights get long, the drives to and fro are exhausting, and the things we face with clients get tough. My vision for Liberty Midwifery is to point families to the freedom they have in Christ, and as individuals coming to their births.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I will start by saying that my obedience to God is what has kept me in the place where He’s called me to serve. It was a determined attitude to remember He was worthy of my obedience, rather than my desire to disobey and leave the call He’d placed on me as a midwife. The hardest time I faced with this was in 2018, 6 months into my stay in the Philippines, when I came down with dengue fever. It started with feeling odd in mid-July, and wondering how in the world I was so chilled on a scorching hot day. I finally realized later I had a fever, which I battled with for 5 days, until requesting to be taken to the hospital. There I stayed another 5 days, unable to keep any foods or fluids down, swelled up with fluid like a balloon, was an absolute horrible patient for my friends who would take shifts sitting with me. It was so humbling having to be accompanied to the bathroom because of extreme weakness and dizziness. They took my blood every 12hrs to monitor my platelet count. I remember the room being smothering hot or blustery cold. A fellow US missionary friend who lived there in the Philippines brought his family 5hrs north to come visit me, making me sit up in the bed and force-feeding me. It likely was the reason I was able to be discharged when I was.

I struggled with the most crippling fear I’d ever had for a few weeks after that. I’d been so sick; kids often die from dengue fever. It’s carried by mosquitoes and infects the blood. I was taken from the hospital to stay with a friend and allowed to recover for several more days before moving back to the dorm, where we had no AC. The fear was overwhelming. The only reason I didn’t get on a plane to come home was because I was too weak to travel. I battled with the Lord several times. His peace would surround me upon reading scriptures like Psalm 91: “No plague shall come nigh thy dwelling”. Once I asked Him why He wouldn’t let me go home, and His gentle voice engulfed me saying, “You know you’d be so unhappy if you went home, because you’d be outside of My will.” This gave me a renewed vigor, and I then prayed to the Lord, “If You want me to stay here, Father, please give me an overwhelming love for this place and these people.” To which, He exceeded my expectation. I left the Philippines in 2020, which was to date the hardest thing I’ve ever done. God renewed and expanded my understanding of life and obedience in that place I called home for a short span of my life. I will never be the same.

Do you think you’d choose a different profession or specialty if you were starting now?

Looking back, the answer is “no”. I followed the Lord’s lead and have found it to be the most satisfying and rewarding place to be. But if you had told me that I would be where I am today when I was 15 or 18 years old, I wouldn’t have believed you. I had planned to get married at 18 (although I had no men knocking each other over for me! Lol) and start my own family. I wanted to be a wife and a mother and nothing else. I am so glad that the Lord had so much more in store for me, and I had a very fulfilling single season serving Him! I am so glad that I had these experiences with the Lord to bring into my marriage and that I can take into my motherhood. God has been so faithful, as He promised.

Contact Info:

• Website: Libertymidwife.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/libertymidwiferytn/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LibertyMidwiferyTN
• Other: Email: [email protected]

Image Credits
Alyssa Hodge with Silhouettes and Shadows