So in April there was the LAM conference. Thanks so much for your prayers it was a great success! There was a lot of fruit and healed relationships during this week, even testimonies of marriages being saved from ending completely. The Sunday after the conference I remember there was such a sweet presence of God unlike any other time I had experienced. I am sure it was fruit from the hard work the couples had done that week. Now a couples group is being put in place for the autumn to continue the process of healing and freedom.
In May the Alsace-Arkansas connection continues and continues and continues... Andy and Christie Moore came to visit and have ended up staying to help out! Yes, I know. I have awesome friends.
In May, the Moores got to know folks here the first weekend when we had a conference with Martin Scott and his wife Gayle. What Martin shared was very encouraging. He talked about needing a Peter conversion. It took God showing him 3 times the vision of the sheet descending with all types of animals and telling Peter, "rise up and eat," before Peter would agree to it. Peter had to have a conversion to be able to line up with God's will. Interesting. I had never seen it like that. The other thing that really sticks with me from that weekend was Martin saying that there will be a movement in the arts that will change society and the culture. I hope Christians will be the instigators and not imitators.
OK, back to Andy and Christie... Nadine, Andy, Christie and I were able to stay with one of Nadine's friends in Brittany and see some of western France. We had a great time. We visited the Normandy beaches and we were really touched by the history there and the sacrifice that was made to free a continent. There is nothing like being on the land where such history was made. I was proud of what my country gave to set men free. Thank you to the veterans and their families. Words can't express... Even just this week we ate with an Alsatian family and the mother thanked us for the part our country had in liberating Alsace. It's humbling. Our country is not perfect, no country is, but there are moments where the USA has really shone brightly.
During this time I mentioned to Andy and Christie that there were some camps in July to work at Daniel School doing lots of fixing up to get classrooms ready and a need to cook for the teams. It didn't take long before they decided to change their tickets (which was expensive) so they could stay and help. They have been working hard for three weeks, Christie in the kitchen and Andy painting,etc. Everyone tells me how wonderful they are to which I whole-heartedly agree. This is the last work week and we will get to chill and see some more sights next week before they head home. It's been so great to have a piece of Arkansas here this summer. I forgot to mention that in May they also did a songwriting workshop and 2 dance workshops and Andy has been adopted by several of our worship bands as you can imagine. They have fit right in and WE, not just me, will miss them when they leave.
Another benefit of their visit is a stronger FOC connection with the school and church here. Greg Burns and Andy have been in touch and I have the impression that Andy has been spying things out and continuing what Greg started on his brief visit here. Thanks guys for looking for God's heart in this connection on how to serve Daniel School!
DON'T MISS THIS BIT!:
OK, so here's one of the most exciting bits of news! Christie had been gluten free for 5 years because of a gluten allergy. Well, we had dinner with some friends one evening and Roland told her that God was going to heal her and that she would feel heat in her stomach when God healed her. One night during our trip to Brittany, Christie woke up in the middle of the night and she said she felt like she was on fire so she threw back the covers and eventually cooled back down enough to go to sleep. Andy said "maybe God's healing you" but Christie didn't think any more about it until later. So a week or so later there were the Healing Rooms here in Guebwiller. The Healing Rooms are made up of believers from several different churches in the area and Nadine leads the team. I went with Christie to translate and a team of 3 people prayed for her for maybe 20 minutes. It was peaceful and the team never even laid a hand on Christie but they were certain that she was healed. Andy and Christie were full of faith and that morning they had bought some lovely French pastries called 'pain au chocolat' before she even came to the Healing Rooms. That evening Christie ate 2 pains au chocolat!! And she's been eating bread, pastries, pizza, pasta, tartes flambées and all types of gluten rich products since without ANY side effects! SHE IS HEALED!! Praise be to God for this gift and the timing of it so that she can fully enjoy being in France with its wonderful cuisine!
That's not the end of the good news. Haha. I'm having fun writing this!
We have had a 'House of Prayer' or 'Prayer Room' at Joshua Church of a couple years now. The Leighs, Emilie Pierre-Elien and Rusty Richards have set the stage with faithful 'watches' over the years. In May, the 'Tente de la Rencontre' (the Tent of Meeting) got an infusion of the Swiss variety. The Tendon family have moved to Guebwiller and we are happy to have them. They have spent 2 years at IHOP in Kansas City soaking in all that God had for them and now they are Swiss missionaries in France. Of course their heart is for the house of prayer. I have also decided to take a watch and there are others who have watches that are not musicians but they bring their color to the prayer and intercession times. My watch is from 7-9 a.m. on Thursday mornings! (Yes, all of you that know me well can now pick yourselves up off of the floor.) It's been really encouraging to see what the Holy Spirit wants to do during each of these times. I'm also getting some great calluses from playing guitar for 2 hours straight. So the expanded hours have made the watch times accessible to more people and has made us get more organized in general. Growth, gotta love it!
On July 6th, a team of French, Germans, Alsatians, Swiss and Americans lead by Rusty Richards participated in a prayer initiative to repent for an act of treachery of the Louis the Pious' sons. The sons, grandsons of Charlemagne, decided to publicly humiliate their father and take his power. This lead to many iniquities that still effect Europe and countries that come from Europe. We prayed and prepared prayers of repentance and blessing beforehand and then spent a whole day repenting and cleansing history and releasing blessing over Europe. We expect big changes to come in Europe because of the repentance that has been done! Jesus blood even redeems history!
The image that I've had for this season is of a wave of God that has come ashore in our community here in Guebwiller. There is a lot of power in a wave and at the same time in churns things up. Since the wave is from God, it's all good. That's the reason for the picture of the wave that goes with this blog.
I will not be in the States this summer. I am saving my trip to go to my niece's wedding in Oklahoma in October! It's my first full summer in France. I am coming up on my fifth anniversary in France and fourth in Guebwiller. Where does the time go? It's been a great adventure. I thank all of you for being a part of this adventure with me through praying, encouraging and all types of support! It wouldn't happen without you. "We are family...all my brother, sisters and me..."
Here are some prayer requests:
~Even though a lot of work and progress has been done this summer at Daniel School there is still a lot to do and the need for the finances is always there. Thanks to all the teams and individuals who have helped out this summer!
~Continued growth and development of the 'Tente de la rencontre' (house of prayer) at Joshua Church.
~Blessings and safe travels for Andy and Christie as they finish working and prepare to travel home to Arkansas.
