Journal - Sunday 3/25/07 - Calvary Chapel Nice

*More excerpts (in italics) from my journal of my trip to France in 2007. I have added comments (non-italics) to the original journal entries.

"Worship was sweet! Sweet and passionate and reverent. All choruses I knew, ending with "How great is our God"!"

They were singing in French and it made me think of all the nations worshipping in their own tongues around the world. It was an awesome experience and one I will never forget and hopefully will experience again soon!

"I was overwhelmed and cried a lot! Pastor Pierre preached in French and his American wife, Nancy translated in English." It was a wonderful teaching on Abigail and Nabol. "I spent the rest of the day with Nancy and Pierre. We stopped and bought kabobs (like a gyro but in a tortilla) and then went to their apartment. We had a great time of fellowship and then a great time of prayer. I am learning that evangelism in France is a long and slow process. we must pray for our brother and sisters laboring in France (that they don't loose heart)....I asked Nancy about going to Strasbourg from Nice and she told me of a sleeping train running from Nice to Strasbourg...sounds like a plan to me! God is good! I only had a little time to get my things together at the hostel and get back to the station...I had asked the hostel if I could stay and extra night. they said, "Ok", but I would need to pack and put my luggage in a storage room and then check back in tonight...so my bags were already packed. I went back, grabbed my bags and told them I would not be staying the night and they refunded my money! "

Journal - Sunday 3/25/07 "Taxi!"

"I found the bus station (to go to church) but realized I didn't know which direction I needed to go and so missed the bus when it came. The next bus would make me 40 minutes late to church. I didn't know what to do. I began to pray and ask for direction and mentioned that if the Lord sent a taxi I would take it. A cab came around the corner and parked across the street...I took it!"

Journal - Sat 3/24/07 Help in Nice

I plan to go to Calvary Chapel Nice tomorrow at 10:30am. I will stay here one more night...just so I don't have to drag my stuff around. Oh, and tonight is daylight savings here...with the change, it's 11:02pm (which is 4.02am US) and I'm whooped. I'm going to read the word a little and then crash. *I have prayed a lot, am at peace, but not hearing from the Lord yet."

Reflection: Looking back I am constantly amazed at this journey the Lord took me on. This is something I would NEVER do on my own. It is amazing to me that the Lord was so present throughout this trip. He continually sent me people to either comfort, encourage or (in some other way) help me.

Journal - Sat 3/24/07 Help in Marseille Station

2:00pm - "On a bus from Marseille airport to the city of Marseille where I will take a train to Nice. I am very tired...have been traveling for 24 hours, can't wait for a bath or shower. The bus is very clean. Royal blue and yellow plush velour seats/ yellow curtains on the window.

I had an interesting experience in Marseille Train/bus station. I figured out the track number my train was on but could not find the car. Tickets (at least this one) are like airline tickets (specific car and seat number are on the ticket). Anyway, a man came up behind me and asked what I was looking for (in) very broken English. I told him, "voiture huite" (car 8). I should mention this train had to be 20 cars long and they didn't seem to be in any particular order. Have I mentioned that things don't seem to be labeled?...like train cars and streets! Anyway this man walked all the way down this train carrying my bag and found my seat and put my bag in the over head...then left. The Lord was watching out for me...

Journal - Friday 3/23/07 On my way - Help in Paris

I have decided to share some excerpts from my trip journal. I did keep a journal because I didn't want to forget anything the Lord might show me...

3/23/07 - 7:55 pm (US)
"Sitting in the airport, this is so surreal. I am at the gate which reads. "Paris, France". I am excited, but at peace. The Lord has been very gracious to me today. He has continually brought me back to center. His peace.

I found the French people, I have spoken to, polite and very helpful. I am praying a lot for wisdom and peace. I am very peaceful. "

A foundation for something else...

I have a terrible memory. That is one of the many reasons I have decided to write a blog. The Lord has been so good to me in so many ways and I forget...not His goodness, but the specific blessings. Which brings me to my point. While researching back through some of the things I have actually written I was reminded of something.

As I prepared for my trip in March 2007, I reached out to the organization which had sent my French Missionary friend to Strasbourg. The following is an excerpt of that email conversation, "...I know it is not normal to venture out alone, as the Lord sent people out in two's, but as I pray, I still feel the Lord's urging. I have a peace about this trip and feel the Lord will speak to me while I am there. I know this must sound sort of weird. I hope to have the opportunity to speak with you before I go. I would very much like to visit Strasbourg and possibly the other areas you minister in to see if this is where the Lord would have me serve.

As far as the relational evangelism, I just feel that is what the Lord is laying on my heart. That this will not be accomplished through street evangelism, but through living among and ministering to, and building relationships with people. I also feel that this will be some sort of foundation for something else. It's odd, but the Lord hasn't shown me much about it. I believe He is asking me to step out in faith - to a land that He will show me...I am trusting the Lord to provide the way for me to do it...if He is truly calling me to it. Again, I know this might sound strange. God has brought me through a lot in the last 10 years."

Before my trip I felt the Lord tell me this would be a foundation for something else. I spoke to my France-hearted friend and she said she felt the Lord had shown her the same thing. This was a great encouragement.

"...Go to the land I will show you..."

As France began to be more and more in my thoughts I was also beginning to explore singing Jazz music. Simple, classic jazz standards like my father used to listen to when I was young. I was sharing with a friend one day about my desire to go to France and she mentioned a couple we both knew that also had a desire to go to France. I approached that couple and said, "I hear you want to go to France" and they responded, "Yes, we want to go and check out the music scene and maybe take a jazz group". This was a wonderful connection for me and again seemed like the Lord. We began to talk about France and what the Lord might want to do with us there. As we prayed and talked I had many confirmations through this new connection.

This same couple was planning a trip to France and asked me to pray about coming along. I began to pray and it was clear to me the Lord was telling me to go. As it turned out this was a bad time financially for this couple and they decided it would not be wise for them to go at this time. So I figured that was that. But then as I prayed I felt the Lord was still telling me to go.

Genesis 12:1, "The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you", kept coming to me. First I read it then I would hear it different times on the radio. I wrestled with this. Was this the Lord? Was He telling me to go even though I would be going alone? But when I would think or pray about it, I still felt that urging. And then I was driving one day and listening to a sermon and the preacher was talking about this verse and he said, "maybe God is telling you to go and you just need to go!". I laughed out loud. Ok, Lord. I guess we're going to France!

My First Confirmation...

It has been a struggle for me when I think about France. My desire is to go and live among the French, learn the language, build relationships and do one-on-one relational evangelism. It has been hard for me to share this with anyone because France doesn't seem like a "mission field" and my calling didn't seem very "missiony" because I wasn't called to a hospital, or orphanage or the like.

Around that time I was about to sell my house and was looking for a place to rent. A friend of mine wrote to me and told me of someone she knew who would be subletting her condo and that perhaps I would be interested in renting it. I asked her where this person was going and she told me, "She's going to the mission field...she was going to FRANCE". My hair stood up on the back of my neck. Up until that point, I didn't even know there WERE missionaries in France.

I contacted this French missionary and, although I was not interested in her condo, asked if I could meet with her about her upcoming trip. We met for lunch and I launched into telling her what was on my heart. I couldn't even look at her as I spoke, I was so afraid I would see a look of disapproval, a look which would betray what I feared - that this isn't the "sort of thing God calls one to do". But, when I finished speaking and finally looked into her face, she was smiling and said, "I am on my way to France, I'm going to study the language, live among the people and do one-on-one evangelism". This was the first confirmation I had that the Lord was indeed calling me to France. I was so excited...so...now what?

I can do anything...

A few years ago there was a moment. I was in my kitchen standing by my sink and thinking. My youngest, my daughter, would be graduating in a few months and moving to California. Then everyone would be gone. Suddenly I had...a moment. In that moment I realized...I could do anything. I could do anything I wanted to do. Everything I had worked for, everything I had struggled to keep together would be changing. That chapter of my life was coming to a close. Wow. I could do anything... I could even go to France....

And so it begins...

Well, actually it began many years ago. Even when I was young I was intrigued by the French language. I would pretend I was speaking French. The elementary school I attended began French lessons in the third grade. I can still remember the first things I learned. I had a good ear for the language, but little patience for writing. I can barely conjugate words in English, let alone French! I learned about the French impressionists, the food, the culture, etc. But that was many years ago.

I had not thought much about France for many years and then an interesting thing happened. I was persuaded to host a short-term French exchange student, Lionel. Listening to the conversations, and hearing about the country again stirred my heart. It was the first of many small things the Lord would use to draw me...