By Pa’lee Showalter

Humble Beginnings

I was born amid the terror of the Cambodian genocide. 

Looking back, I see now how God was forming my purpose in the silence between every shattered and sacred moment.

My earliest memories are stitched to a legacy of survival. As a Cambodian refugee, my life began with war, displacement, and grief. I came from a land where faith and education were erased—where identity was stripped, voices silenced, and hope violently severed. And yet, even then, something within me endured.

From the beginning, there was a flicker of something defiant—a quiet, stubborn hope that whispered: This is not the end of your story.

That hope became a resilient lifeline—carrying me through refugee camps and across continents, into universities, embassies, and churches—into spaces the enemy never imagined I’d reach. Eventually, it carried me into the arms of Christ. He had been with me all along, even before I had the language to call His name.

After college, I was invited by the Cambodian ambassador in Washington, D.C., to help reopen the embassy, which had been closed since the Vietnam War. The little refugee girl had returned—not to grieve, but to rebuild her story and her purpose. In that same season, I had the privilege of working alongside UNHCR Ambassador Angelina Jolie and Author Loung Ung—courageous advocates who inspired me to pursue humanitarian law and refugee policy at the University of Oxford. Around that time, I also helped open one of the first International Justice Mission offices in Cambodia— transforming the very soil that once symbolized devastation into a vessel of justice and healing.

Looking back, I see that God wasn’t building a résumé. He was shaping a calling—one surrender and one sacred transition at a time.

My Beginnings Illuminated My Current Mission 

Throughout a career in global diplomacy, higher education, advocacy, and leadership, one quiet ache grew louder. I ached for women—brilliant, faithful, weary—standing in sacred transitions.

These women were my mother, my sisters, acclaimed authors, well-known leaders, and silent warriors in the pews. I witnessed their ache in moments of disorientation, longing, and holy exhaustion—seasons when someone could have reminded them that rest is an act of spiritual warfare.

And I often wonder: If we truly lived as if the full glory of God surrounded us and was within us—how would we live differently? How would we navigate hard times differently? How much more radical would we be? Coupled with the original founder’s vision to help women deepen their faith and discover their purpose, those questions became the heartbeat of the Providence Heights’ Illuminate Program, which I now have the honor of leading. We believe that hard sacred transitions aren’t signs of defeat—they demonstrate great value in God’s economy and are an invitation to the messy table where God does His most radiant work in us. 

What God Is Doing Through Illuminate

Through Illuminate, I see women remembering who they are in Christ. I see them reclaim joy, recover beauty, and reawaken to their belovedness.

What begins as a Zoom call becomes sacred ground—a modern-day meeting in the tent—where women don’t come to escape their story, but to find Christ within it. These sacred spaces become spiritual turning points. 

Women speak truthfully about their past, honestly about their faith, and hopefully about their future. They are seen. Prayed for. Challenged. Celebrated. 

And in these 18 weeks, something holy unfolds—small, courageous moments of redemption. The extraordinary revealed through Spirit-filled, ordinary acts of brave vulnerability and surrender, in every class – reminding me of this powerful quote from Tim Keller: “Gospel renewal happens when the gospel is rediscovered and applied in powerful, life-transforming ways within a community.”

Revival, I’ve learned, isn’t a loud microphone.
It’s a woman whispering yes—at the kitchen sink, in a hospital room, or in the stillness of 3 a.m. prayers.

A daughter rising with a renewed mind.
A mother leading with Spirit-led clarity.
A leader stepping back into the world, carrying light.

The Mentors Who Lit the Way

My life has been marked by remarkable mentors—ambassadors, pastors, justice warriors, and kingdom entrepreneurs. They poured truth into me, lit my path with faith, and called out what I couldn’t yet see in myself.

Their investment lives on in every woman we now disciple at Illuminate. Because here’s what mentorship taught me:

Transformation doesn’t happen in isolation. It happens in confessional, courageous, Christ-centered community. And that’s exactly what you will find at the Providence Heights Illuminate Program.

SACRED TRANSITIONS

So when people ask how I found my purpose, I tell them the truth:
It was never just one moment.

It was a series of quiet, costly, courageous yeses.
Yes to Jesus.
Yes to people He put in my path.
Yes to the sacred transitions where God does His deepest work.

And I believe this is where the next move of God is rising—through healed, discipled, Spirit-led women who carry His presence into every space they’re called to restore.

Transforming culture starts right here. “I pray that the light of God will illuminate the eyes of your imagination, flooding you with light, until you experience the full revelation of the hope of his calling —that is, the wealth of God’s glorious inheritances that he finds in us, his holy ones!”
— Ephesians 1:18-19 (TPT)

Reflection Questions

1. Where in your life right now do you sense a sacred transition—a place of uncertainty that may actually be an invitation?
2. What “quiet yes” have you been resisting—and what might happen if you surrendered to it?
3. If revival begins in whispers, what small, faithful act could you say yes to this week?