Hello fellow friends, family, and occasional stranger who stumbles accross my website,
Nîmes in autumn is delightful. The trees turn golden brown, the cool breeze is welcomed, the swarms of tourists have gone home, and it is q.u.i.e.t.
Though we still get the occasional drunk weeing in our alley-way, bars are not open as often or as late, and things look like they’re about to go into hibernation. The summer ended with a bang on the weekend of the Féria (week-long bull-fighting festival). That was a thing to behold. Truly.
Praying during the Féria
We were so close to the partying that our windows were shaking to the sound of the DJs… for four days and four nights. But we know that God has placed us here to pray so on the Thursday night I roamed the streets praying for the youth and party-goers, and on the Saturday morning we hosted a breakfast and prayer meeting with a few people from our church. After a powerful time of intercession we spontaneously took to the streets to share some croissants and coffee and talk about Jesus to anyone who wanted to listen. Don’t be fooled though, it wasn’t all glory and praise. By the Sunday night, I was so over the noise that I was cursing every single bar in sight (followed by a quick guilty prayer for their owners)!
During the Saturday morning outing, some friends had the opportunity to pray for a guard of the Arena, a christian lady who was going through trials, and three police officers who were blown away by the honour that was showed to them by these ladies. We spoke to a Swedish cynic about Christ for half an hour, encouraging him in his search for truth, and later we spoke to a muslim lady and her daughter.
This muslim lady has been exposed to Christianity multiple times over her life and is very open to Jesus, who she considers as a prophet. Not being in a position to buy herself breakfast, she had prayed to God that morning for a croissant and something to drink for her daughter. A few minutes later, we arrived in front of her with croissants and juice. She was blown away and eager to talk to us about Christ. She’s dreamt of Jesus three times, as well as Mary the mother of Jesus, and her prophet Muhammad. God gave me the interpretation of two of her dreams which I shared with her. We then had the opportunity to pray for her and her daughter. The following week she joined some sisters in Christ for tea where they continued to discuss and pray, and last Sunday she came to church for a breakfast and testimonial service (along with four other muslim ladies!) We continue to pray that God would reveal Himself to them through Christ and that they would become followers of Jesus.
We are hoping that prayer meetings would become a monthly event in our home and have suggested it to our pastor. Please pray that this would be a catalyst for prayer, revival, and ministry in this area of the city of Nîmes.
Testimony of the power of intercession:
When walking around the city during the Féria, I felt a clear difference in the spiritual atmosphere on our street compared to other parts of the city-wide party. It felt lighter and less sinister. I believe it’s because of the seeds of prayer that were sowed over the last weeks and during that weekend specifically… by us and by other believers (there is a christian community centre nearby)!
God working in the life of our child
The other thing I want to update you on and testify about is how God has been taking care of our daughter. Thank you all so much for holding her up in prayer.
Since the start of school, she had been an emotional wreck. Having been used to a relaxed Montessori preschool with gentle and affectionate teachers, the French system has been quite a shock to her. She cried every morning upon waking and every time we dropped her off at the gate (which is twice a day). She was also very anxious in the evenings and during weekends, asking whether she had school the next day and expressing her fear of the strict “shouty” teacher. She found her french classmates nice but intimidating, and the academic learning difficult and boring. As parents, those first four weeks were absolutely draining. We were so tempted to pull her out and whisk her off to the only Montessori school in Nîmes regardless of the price and distance, but we felt very strongly that this experience was part of God teaching our daughter to be resilient. After all, we can’t shield our children from pain and suffering… but we can help them through it.
What has been incredibly beautiful to see is how our child’s heart has opened itself up more to Jesus through this time. We often shared “me too” stories, recounting the traumatic school experiences we went through in childhood so that she didn’t feel alone in her suffering and one thing I kept repeating is that the difference between her and me is that I didn’t have Jesus to help me through those times when I was a kid. We’ve spent a lot more time praying with her, reciting scripture, and repeating the truth of Christ’s love and closeness. This has encouraged her in her faith. In the past, whenever I used to offer to pray with her, she would respond with a sharp “no!” Now, she welcomes it and even asks for it.
Despite the prayer, she was still so distraught about being left in this “wicked” school (as she called it) but two weeks ago something happened and everything shifted. We went away for our church’s yearly weekend away, and it was particularly hard for me because Andrew had been away for the whole week prior and couldn’t make it to this event either. I travelled alone with both kids and they were both very clingy. Our daughter’s anxiety had started affecting all parts of her life making her resistant to gymnastics class and kids’ church. She didn’t want to participate in any of the children’s activities, which was very draining on me, so I was on the brink of throwing in the towel and driving home but I gave ourselves the Saturday evening to see if it would get better. Though I had forced her to try kids’ church on the Saturday morning, I had felt that I should let her stay with me for the evening (with very strict conditions!) After putting our son to sleep, I set our daughter up at the back of the service with paper and crayons. During worship, I felt to encourage her to listen to what God wanted to say to her. The third time I said: “I really feel that God wants to speak to you about your feelings. Just draw something and let Him speak to you.” To my surprise she started drawing and was engaged for the rest of the service. At the end, we sat outside and she explained the meaning of the picture:
“The pink squares are marshmallows and they are better than God” she said. We discussed it and upon her request, we repeated five times: “God is better and sweeter and nicer than marshmallows”. “The blue water is God’s hand over me” she continued “and it’s like a running river, and it takes aaall my worries and puts them away in a reeeally big pocked.” She said demonstrating with her hands.
Just as we were discussing that, three little girls came back from kids’ church and asked us what we were doing. One of the girls was particularly encouraged by our daughter’s picture and shared a story about when God had spoken to her about having a little sister, asking her to take care of her.
Since then there have been no more tears about going to school or being dropped off. Though our daughter still expresses her dislike of school and sometimes says that she’s still a bit scared, she is overall doing a lot better. We still have some very emotional days (is it just her, or are all little girls as irrationally emotional as preganant ladies on steriods?). But she is slowly making some friends, getting used to her teacher (and praying for her!) and making progress in her French!
I know that this wouldn’t be the case if it weren’t for all your prayers, so thank you! We praise God for speaking to our children and we are excited to see Him move in and through the lives of the next generation.
Alive In France 
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