Alive In France

“That we ought not to be weary of doing little things for the love of God, who regards not the greatness of the work, but the love with which it is performed.”
Brother Lawrence

The dust has settled. The leaves have fallen to the ground and almost everything in our home has a home. The challenge now is having to face our humanity in the daily-ness (or -mess) of life. Some of you, if not all, will relate to this dilemma. How do we find hope, peace and joy in the “daily grind”? 

I am ever so challenged by my selfish and sinful ways… How do I behave like Jesus towards my kids, my spouse, my neighbour? Whether you are a missionary in the slums of Napal, a stay-at-home mum in the suburbs of South Africa, or a banker on the high streets of London, there’s no escaping the nitty-gritty things of life. At the end of the day, we’re all really average people serving a really awesome God. And it’s not that easy to find the miraculous in the mundane, to self-sacrifice in the small decisions, and to connect with God in the kitchen…  

This is where my character is truly challenged. Do I lean on God only when it’s a matter of survival?… I do often wonder how long it is going to take me to come to the realization that He is the One that sustains me in all seasons and all things. I take comfort in the words of Brother Lawrence who, even as a Master of the Art of daily worship, always extended grace to himself.

I think what’s hard is to keep one’s mind from wondering. The months of September and October marked a battlefield in my mind. Let’s just say that I was far from following the exhortations of Philippians 4:4-9. But I noticed that there was a turning point for the better after Halloween. I found my mind lifted out of a cloud of negativity and deception. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a correlation… All that imagery of death and destruction guised as window-decor is a lot more pervasive here in Europe. But, it was a good opportunity to talk to our five-year-old about the meaning of Halloween and she seems to have grown a dislike for it. It’s actually been beautiful to see her faith in Jesus continue to flourish over the last few months. I wanted to use the opportunity to do an outreach event on Halloween day, but considering our limited capacity and the age of the kids, we ended up doing a Life & Light party just the four of us, which was lots of fun ✨🍂

So with the start of November and our minds refocused on Christ, we were able to turn outwards from ourselves and think about how to reach our neighbours – the difficulty being that they are mostly restaurants and bars. The few individuals living in our street are hardly seen at all and (we’ve learnt) in France you have to see and greet each other a few times before it’s socially acceptable to start a conversation (unless your tipsy and over the age of 65, in which case it’s completely permissible to strike up random chats with people on the street)!

Anyways, when thinking about this dilemma, I had a terrible conviction that we have two neighbours which we have seen and greeted every day since we moved in but that I have never spoken to: the homeless guys that have (separately) made their beds not far from our place. “They are your neighbors”, I felt God press me. So with the help of a bit of food and drink, I’ve been able to spark some conversations over the last two weeks. The one is English-speaking, equipped like he was going on an Alpine hike, and homeless because of a life-style choice. The other is French, very sloppy, and self-admittedly on the street because of alcoholism. Both are very friendly and happy to chat. There are some other local beggars in town which I am starting to recognize and our daughter & I distributed birthday cake the other day as a means to start connecting with them. Homelessness here is very different than in South Africa. I have yet to understand it but the individuals who find themselves in this situation stand out because there are very few and you have to stray very far from of the government support system to end up there. Either way, now that I know the names of my neighbours, I pray for them more intentionally – trusting that God will open their hearts and give us opportunities to share His good news with them one day. 

I’m also praying for the dancing community downstairs (admittedly with a lot of resentment). We enjoyed the most wonderful and peaceful 6-week break when they closed down the club for light renovations. There was so little activity that I started to wonder if God had answered my prayers and closed it down. But no. It came back, and with a vengeance! Boasting a brand-new multi-colored/gendered SciFi alien/demon look (after all, art is all about interpretation), it opened its doors to the public with a week-long karaoke party… Lord have mercy on me. I find the level and quality of the so-called “music” so selfish that it is currently very hard for me to feel or extend any form of love. It is clear to all that I must die to myself and God must grant me the grace to develop love for this group of people, who after all are no worse than I was when I knew not Christ who redeemed me. 

As for our school-relationships, they are growing very slowly but surely. Our daughter has two friends that she refers to regularly and I managed to give my number to one of their mums! Now I have to wait before she contacts me for a playdate… and even then, it’ll be weeks before I can invite her to stay for tea (#Frenchsocialcues) 😂 A lovely God-moment was when I was doing a prayer-walk in the city, I felt to walk past our daughter’s school and was praying for opportunities to connect with school mums. Instantly as I turned the corner, I bumped into the parents of a boy in our daughter’s class and we got to chat for a bit. Just a day or two later, I bumped into another mum (the one who now has my number). So “yay” for the baby steps…

Needless to say that it’s a bit lonely for our daughter, and us, so we’re making efforts to press into church community. Weekdays are long and schedules are packed so socializing doesn’t happen a lot but I’ve joined a homegroup and Andrew’s joined the men’s sports homegroup. I’ve also started serving on kids ministry, and we do what we can to pitch in here and there. The church is currently running an Alpha group with three regular guests, and every two months we have a breakfast & testimonial service (which has a high attendance rate, especially from a group of Muslim ladies). There’s a lot of life there, it’s great – and we are slowly but surely getting to know people. 

Otherwise Andrew and the kids’ French is coming along nicely, all having made good progress. I’m plowing on with my master’s thesis and Andrew has some exciting opportunities to develop his shows further. AND it’s nearly Christmas! Which, if you’ve ever been in Europe over this season, you’ll know is MAGICAL! 🌟🎄

Sending so much love to you all. We are so grateful for your friendship and support in prayer ❤️

Prayer Points:
> Opportunities to connect with the homeless of our city and share Christ’s love with them. 
> Acceleration of depth of relationships with parents from the school. 
> Lots of grace for the noise downstairs and supernatural love for that community. And if it’s God’s will to close them down, that He would quickly! 😆
> That A & I would find the ability to connect with one another and with God, even in the mundane and challenge of daily living.