Spring Family Camp 2016

"Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." Ephesians 6:11

Good morning, dear friends,

If you've been wondering where I have been, so have I!  Life attacks at random moments, and it's either feast or famine with the work here.  Everything seems to happen at once!  Thankful for springtime and being able to get back outside with family and friends.  Here's to the final stretch until the end of school and the beginning of summer!

We returned Friday from our annual family camp in Belgium.  This camp joins several churches ministering here in France and although the location and ages have changed, this camp has been active for 30+ years!  This year we were celebrating 10 years "at the castle" in Belgium, where we have been enjoying this special family camp!  So many good memories throughout the years!

"The castle," our restored meeting place in Belgium

This year's theme for children and adults was on the armour of God, and spiritual warfare!  As you can imagine this was a popular theme for the kids, and a very unpopular one for Satan!  He fought us hard this week, with lots of unplanned issues and difficulties.  We can see the Lord's hand working as we fellowshipped and ministered to each other.   Here are some of the highlights of the kids' ministry from this week.

Our good friends Sam and Suzy did a great job with the kids this week!

The kids made their own bows and arrows!

Painting the shield of faith

Sack race!  Old games are the best!

We had a great time and came home both refreshed and tired from all the activity!  Many thanks to all the people and their hard work that was invested for eternity during this week!

Billy, who taught the adult lessons on spiritual warfare

My hubby, working hard as always

It's always hard at the end of camp to say goodbye to our friends, both new and old, some of whom we only get to see during this one week out of the year!  We love and miss our faithful workers in France!  It will make heaven that much sweeter...no more goodbyes!

Until next year!

It's Not Fair! Bible Club March 2016

"But God commendeth His love for us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8

Good morning, dear friends,

It's been a while since we've had a Bible club update, and with Easter Sunday coming up soon, this past Saturday we had our Easter club!  As always, so thankful for the children who show up, and another occasion to share God's good news with the children in our neighborhoods here in France.

Since we have our children (who know a lot about the Easter story) and French children (who know very little about the Easter story), it is always a challenge to find a common thread that will help them both.

This year, I had some help, from an issue that pops up periodically in discussions with my family, and maybe in yours.  With more than one child, comes the inevitable thought:  "It's not fair!" Since we have been battling this issue as of late with our own children, it got me thinking about the Easter story.  I am so glad that Jesus was willing to be treated unfairly, to take my place on the cross, and die for my sins, aren't you?

I had some help with the lesson ideas, especially the object lesson about being treated fairly.  (To see the original source for this idea, click here.)  The children had to imagine a hurt somewhere on their body, and since our daughter said that her hurt was on her hand, she got a Band-aid on her hand.  Then, everyone who said they were hurt, no matter where on their body it was, got a Band-aid on their hand.  It was a good visual to tell the children that although they were all treated the same, it wasn't "fair."

This led us to our lesson, about the two thieves and Jesus dying on the cross, and about grace and mercy. The thieves were being punished justly for their crimes, and deserved to be there.   Jesus was not treated fairly, but because of His unfair treatment, we are able to go to heaven, just like one of the thieves on the cross, who obtained grace (receiving what he did not deserve)  and mercy (not receiving what he did deserve) from God.

The children listened very well, and I hope it will be a lesson they will not soon forget.

Damaris helped the children to make "Ressurrection cookies," made from crescent roll dough with a marshmallow inside.  When baked, the marshmallow melts, leaving a hollow space inside the cookie, to represent the empty tomb.  As always, our kids enjoy anything that they can eat!

A special thanks to all of you who pray for our clubs!  We are so thankful for each opportunity the Lord gives us to share the good news with these children!

See you in a few weeks for our next club update!

What Jezebel and the widow had in common

“Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality.” Romans 12:13

Good morning, dear friends,

As a young Christian, I had some very good role models in the faith.  I have already mentioned them here several times in my blog posts.  They by their very example shaped many aspects of living out God's faith in my daily walk with the Lord.

These same friends had a very insistent open door policy.  Literally. Their door was always open, to anyone in need, whether or not it was convenient.  Throughout the years I and countless others have been blessed by the open acceptance at their doorstep.

Their hospitality is rare in our day and time.  There are few families who give a standing invitation to anyone, everyone, regardless of the day, hour, or need.  How much I need to grow in this area of my life.

In my reading in First Kings this morning, I read the portraits of two very different women:  the widow of Zarephath, and Queen Jezebel.  Both of these women lived at the same time period, and even knew some of the same people.  But their way of life was completely different.

But the title of this blog is "what these two women had in common!"  They did have something in common.

• They both had houses.
• They both showed hospitality in their homes.

The results of their hospitality could not be any more different.

Sometimes we place so many restrictions on our hospitality towards others.  Our home is not good enough, or clean enough. Our sheets are old, our towels are frayed.   We don't know how to cook, or entertain.  We don't have Pinterest worthy attempts at anything.  

Hospîtality does not come from what we HAVE, but what we allow GOD to DO with what we have.

The widow of Zarephath had next to nothing. She was literally preparing the last food that she had, for her and her son, and then planned to die.

Jezebel had everything.  She owned the best that the nation of Israel could offer: a sumptuous palace, and enough food to eat and even waste.  

Having too little does not have to be an excuse, and having too much does not mean that it will be well spent. 

What they did with what they had was their responsability before God.

When Elijah asked the widow for water, she gave him what she had.  She must have had more water than food, because it was offered without hesitation.  When Elijah asked her for food, it was a different story.  She laid out her story to him:

And she said, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.  I Kings 17:12

This made me wonder:  do I only exercise hospitality towards others, when I am in abundance, or am I quick to give to others in whatever state I am in?  Do I only open my house to others who can receive me in turn, or am I willing to open my doors to anyone who has a need?

On the other hand, Jezebel lived in extravagance, but instead of putting what God had given her into His service, she took God's blessings to encourage sin and rebellion.  When Elijah confronted Ahab, he told him:

Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel's table. I Kings 18:19

Those who live selfishly with the blessings of God, will never be satisfied.  When Ahab wanted Naboth's vineyard, Jezebel encouraged him to get it by force, killing Naboth in the process without hesitation.  (I Kings 21:7)  When we take God's blessings on our lives lightly, as something that is due to us, it becomes increasingly easier to close the doors to our hearts--and our homes--to the needs of others, to satisfy our own selfish desires.

May that never be said of me.

The results of these two women's lives could not have been more different.  By inviting the man of God into her home, the widow of Zarephath also was inviting God's blessing on her home. God provided her physical needs--flour and oil in abundance--but also provided for her in ways she could not have imagined at the time:  God restoring to life her son.

We have no idea what blessings lie in store, when we open our homes.

Jezebel's life ended just as it was lived:  tragically.  I would not say that her hospitality killed her, but her flagrant abuse of God's blessings certainly did.  She was killed by the very people that ate at her table (2 Kings 9:32-33).  All the riches and food that she had laid in store for herself went to feed the man responsible for her death.

What a waste.

I am so thankful for all the years that I enjoyed sharing God's blessings with my friends who opened their homes to me, time and time again.  I am thankful to say, that their children are following in their footsteps. Their love has been such a stunning example, of how I want my home to be:  not my home, but a home to anyone who walks through my doors.

May my door be always open to those outside, so that I may always be ready, at any moment, to open my heart's doors, as well.

My way

Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the Lord pondereth the hearts.  Proverbs 21:2

Good morning, dear friends,

Like the new spring theme?  I guess it's wishful thinking.

I went on a bike ride and played tennis with Timothy yesterday.

It was snowing this morning when I woke up.

Welcome to March in northern France.

SIGH

Funny experiences abound when you are a foreigner adapting to a different cultural surrounding.  People are still people, and yet, they're different.  Or maybe I should say, different from me.

Living in France, I have gotten used to being told I am wrong.

About everything.

On a daily basis.

My language is wrong.  My way of disciplining children is wrong.  My way of dressing is wrong.

I joined a crafting circle here in Boves, where once a week I would sit with grandmas living here and do my cross stitch.  Not only was I doing it wrong, but they couldn't agree on the right way to do it.  There were eight ladies, with 16 different ways of doing cross stitch.

I haven't been back for a while.

(Not just because I was told I was doing it wrong, but because I couldn't sit still in a hard backed chair for three hours doing cross stitch.  Or anything else, for that matter.)

Yesterday, I was even told that I was pedaling a bicycle wrong.  Really?  How many different ways are there to pedal a bike?

More than one, apparently.

It's hard to be told that you are wrong about something, isn't it?  I was always amazed by my mother-in-love. No matter how many times she was told by a French person that she was doing something wrong, she would just shrug and laugh it off.  It may have stung privately, but she never let it show publically.

Our sinful nature WANTS to be right. It DEMANDS that we be right. After all, if I were doing something wrong, don't you think that I would do it differently? Do you think that I go around doing things wrong ON PURPOSE?

Of course not.  No one does.

Our selfish nature seeks to be justified, to show that it knows better than everyone else around us, and it will not be appeased.  Only constant submission to the Holy Spirit (and painfully gnashing down on my tongue sometimes) keep me from lashing out with the words that I long to say:

"Don't you think that I know what I'm doing?  Do I look stupid to you?"

(My children have learned not to answer that question when I ask it.)

This week I was reading in Proverbs, and since I was paying attention to the verses that talk about my walk, and the ways of man/ways of God, I was amazed at the number of times God reminds us in His Word, that we are WRONG, and that He alone is RIGHT.

There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.  Proverbs 14:12

Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the Lord pondereth the hearts.  Proverbs 21:2

 All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the Lord weigheth the spirits.  Proverbs 16:2

What is the common thread for me in these verses?  I may think I know what's going on in this world, and I may think that I understand what God is doing or how He wants me to act, but I can't KNOW for sure.  I could be assuming that I am right, when in reality, if I am not checking my thoughts and ways against the Word of God, I may be (and often am) dreadfully wrong.

May God help me today, in humility, to examine my ways.  Am I walking in God's Word, or in my own ways?  Am I seeking to know His mind on the matter, or stubbornly holding to my own prideful thoughts?

And when others say that I am wrong, does it really matter?  Or can I lovingly, patiently accept what others tell me (even if they are wrong :) and let God use me to be an instrument of His grace today?

Time to get out of the way...

Light-Hearted

"My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth.  And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.  For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.  Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.  And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight."  I John 3:18-22

Good morning, dear friends,

Life attacked last week...and the blog did not happen.  Sorry to leave you all hanging in the middle of my countdown to "Heart Day." I trust that everyone is enjoying their special day with the ones they love.

I spent my day in church, with the one I love the most, surrounded by some of those closest to my heart, and listening to my sweetheart proclaim God's love for me....

Today's "heart verse" is one of my favorite passages about the wonderful work that God does...in my heart!

For many years, even after becoming a Christian, I struggled with feelings of condemnation. I knew that God loved me, that God forgave me, but I was unwilling to forgive myself.  I knew myself, my past sins, my evil thoughts, my doubts, my self-loathing, all those things that Satan and my flesh would continually bring to mind, especially in the middle of the night.  I would beg God over and over for forgiveness for the same sins, never feeling the peace that comes from knowing my sins are truly forgiven.

My husband was the one that finally helped me to figure this one out.

We would have a disagreement.  I was in the wrong. I would apologize, and he would forgive me.  Later, still feeling guilty, I would go to him afterwards and ask for his forgiveness, a second time.

He would look at me blankly.  "I don't know what you're talking about."

I would remind him of the wrong I had done him.  He would shrug his shoulders and raise his hand innocently.  No clue to what I was referring.

I would become even more insistent, reminding him of the wrong I had done him.  

My husband gently reminded me that all was forgiven.  As far as he was concerned, my wrong to him never happened.  

I must confess, at first his attitude was a mystery to me.  I wanted to relive the wrong I had done, until I felt satisfied that all was right and forgiven.  My husband just wanted to move on in love.

Needless to say, my husband had the right attitude.

Sometimes, when we have disagreed, I would need a minute to cool off.  I would go away and then come back to apologize, but before I could open my mouth, my husband would say to me, "I forgive you."

I would get upset.  I needed closure.  I needed to make things right.  I needed to relive the moment, and then beg my husband for his forgiveness.  Nope.  He gave it freely, no strings attached.

It took some time for this attitude to work in my heart.  My husband was willing, at the very first, to forgive the wrongs that I had done him, no matter what they were or how often.  

I cannot tell you the impact that this has had on my life, on my marriage.  I learned so much about God, from my husband's willingness to forgive.

There is nothing more freeing, more comforting, more releasing, than KNOWING that my heart is clean, and that I am right before God.  

"My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth..." God wants me to put action behind my words.  When I say, "I love you," I need to be able to show it with my works.  My love should be grounded in the truth that comes from knowing God and His Word.

"And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him."  God has given us so many beautiful promises in His Word that we can know that we are His children.  This knowledge should reassure us of our position as beloved children of a Perfect Heavenly Father.  

"For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things."  Those times when I am tempted to doubt of God's amazing love and forgiveness do not come from God.  They come from my own flesh, Satan's whispers, my own tendancy to trust my feelings instead of what God says in His Word.  When God forgives, it is finished.  He knows all things, and when He forgives, there is nothing left to confess, work out, beg or plead for.  It is forgiven.

"Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God." Is there anything more comforting, and reassuring, than knowing that our sins are forgiven, that there is NOTHING standing between us and our Lord?

"And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight."  Just like a beloved child can come to his parents at any moment and ask, so I can come to God and ask my requests.  There is nothing between me and God, as long as I follow His commandments and do what is pleasing in God's sight.

Now there is a freedom from worry, or guilt.  Nothing between me and my Creator.  Forgiveness.

That is a wonderful heart gift this Valentine's Day.  There is nothing more special than knowing that I am loved by God, and that makes my heart lighter than air.

And you, do you know this forgiveness?  May the Lord help us all today to recognize the release that comes from the Lord forgiving all our sins.

There's my Heart: Children's Discovery Club

"Lay not up for yourselves trasures upon earth...but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven...for where you trasure is, there will your heart be also..." Matthew 6:19-21

Good morning, dear friends,

It's been a while since I shared updates from our Children's Discovery Club, and there have been many goings-on.  Let's try to catch up and share the latest news!

December Clubs

If your month of December was anything like ours, it was busy! Every year Christmas gives us many opportunities to share the good news of God's coming to earth with those around us.  Our children's clubs were no exception!

Our first club in December, taught by our coworker Damaris, was all about Jesus's coming, taught through the message of...the candy cane!  The children really enjoyed...

...our candy cane cake...

...and our craft time!  Damaris led the kids in making a candy cane Christmas ornament with the message of the candy cane attached to it.  No red pony beads here, so Damaris dyed some wooden ones with Koolaid!  Smelled nice, too!

During the Christmas season, the children practice for a Christmas program to which we invite the parents.  We were thankful for the families that came and saw firsthand what our children's clubs are like!  One mom came early and stayed for the lesson time.  Our children always practice and perform well.  This year we gave them a song to learn in English!  (C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S)

Thankful to share the good news with these children at Christmastime!

January and February

We had some "false starts" to our club this year after the holidays, but we're back in the saddle now!

In January, it is traditional to eat a "king's cake" for Epiphany, and our club happened to fall very close to that day, so of course we had to celebrate!  A tiny porcelaine figurine is baked into the cake.  The cake is cut in its entirety and all of the pieces are distributed, usually by the youngest child present (who picks the person receiving each piece randomly.)  The one who finds the figure is crowned the "king" of the day, and gets to pick his queen.  Two cakes = two kings and queens, and some happy kids.  (The cakes are delicious, too!)

Fast forward to February...For the first time in many weeks, "all" of our kids were there.  Here's a picture of the group, on our very crowded living room couch:

We are continuing our travels with Christian in Pilgrim's Progress.  After reviewing Christian's progress in January, we climbed the Hill of Difficulty to reach the Beautiful Palace and receive our armour.  We learned that God is very near in times of troubles (He even told us ahead of time that there would be troubles in this life!) and He gives His armour to protect us and help us.

The heart verse at the top of the blog for today reminds me of why I am here in France!  These children are our "treasures," and yours as well!  Thank you for investing in the ministry here with us in France!  This is treasure abounding to your account in heaven!  Thanks for "paying it forward!"

See you in a few weeks for our next club!

Heart Searching

"Search me, o God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts. And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Psalm 139:23-24

Good morning, dear friends,

I love my children, but they can't find anything.

I'm sure I'm not alone.  Please tell me, I'm not alone.

Where's your backpack?  Your shoes?  Your homework?  My sanity?

(Sorry, that last one went a long time ago.)

To their credit, my children are getting better.  Mainly because I don't give in anymore.  If you can't find it, I did not eat it.  Sorry, keep looking.

I think I could hide an elephant in their bedrooms, and ask them to find it, only to be greeted by blank stares when I help them look.  "Oh, that elephant..."

Sigh.

When God goes looking, however....

...He finds.

I can't hide the elephant from Him.  I can't hide anything from Him.

"Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?" Psalm 139:7

Am I ready to pray this prayer?

"Search me, o God..." Examine thoroughly, inspect, with the intent of finding out...

"and know my heart..." Become acquainted with, very personally...

"try me..." Test, scrutinize...

"and know my thoughts..." Everything that I am, even the thoughts that I think that I don't even know about or understand, are as an open book to the Lord.

The Lord already knows all of this, but by praying this prayer, I want  Him to know.  I want  Him to examine, to test, to become acquainted with my thoughts and my heart's attitude.  Nothing to hide, nothing to keep back, but everything surrendered fully to Him.

Wow.

Now that's a prayer for today.  May the Lord help me to clean out the sin that clutters up my heart, and allow myself to be scruntinized by God today.

I wonder, what He will find...