What language does God speak?

          Learning another language is a unique experience. It's super hard, it can be very frustrating, but at the same time, amazing. To see things through another voice and culture stimulates you to examine your way of thinking, speaking, doing. I have traveled quite a bit to different parts of the world, but as a traveler, you just get a taste of the language and cultural differences. Living in it for an extended period of time gives you a unique perspective. I am really just starting to understand the French, how they speak, how they think, and I've been at this for 6 months. When I meditate on the fact that God knows each of us on this earth, with the immense variety of language and cultures, I'm amazed. He understands each different word, with it's different pronunciation and it's different tones and points of accentuation. How does He do it? Oh, I guess because He is Almighty God and understands everything. Again, I'm amazed. I wonder what language we will speak in heaven? Does God and all the heavenly host speak their own special language? Will we understand it instantly upon arrival, or will we have to go to language school? (just kidding, that would not be heaven!). Will we all speak the same language, or will we just understand what the other is saying in their language? Sorry, I'm rambling! :)
          I have been reading the Bible in French for a while, along with my other devotions. It not only helps me learn French, but it slows me down, so that I really think and meditate on the words. The other day, my French teacher recommended I learn a certain verse, because it had a certain verb, conjugated a certain way (I had missed it several times on our evaluations). I had been feeling rather stressed, because the content this trimester is very hard and there's a lot of it. To be truthful, I am having a hard time keeping up. I thought to myself, great, just what I need, one more thing to have to memorize! But God knew I needed this verse for more reasons than to learn how to conjugate the "vous" form of the verb "Faire". That night I woke up at 1am and couldn't go back to sleep (stressing about French!). I decided to read and try to memorize the verse she recommended. God used it in an amazing way in my heart and mind. I know the verse well in English, but for some reason, the French translation touched me in a way I can't describe. Here it is in French,
"Ne vous inquiétez de rien, mais en toute chose faites connaître vos besoins à Dieu par des prières et des supplications, dans une attitude de reconnaissance. Et la paix de Dieu, qui dépasse tout ce que l’on peut comprendre, gardera votre coeur et vos pensées en Jésus Christ.”  In case you don't recognize some of the words, it's Philippians 4: 6,7  The first 5 words hit me like a ton of bricks- Be anxious for nothing, but in French "de rien" (aka "nothing") is a very strong statement. It means absolutely nothing, zero, nothing, nothing, not even a speck of something!  Through the French language I suddenly had an "aha" moment of what it meant to be anxious for NOTHING! DE RIEN! No excuses, nothing that we can tell ourselves that it is OK to be anxious about. God says DE RIEN! Wow, strong language that cut me to the quick. So, I laid ALL my anxieties at the foot of the cross, in an attitude of thanksgiving, and went back to sleep! Thank you God, that you created such variety in language, so that we can enjoy all the fullness that you have for us! I can't wait to get to Africa and learn some of the tribal languages. I bet they will be Très intéressant!
          Oh, and by the way, my knee is healing and in a couple of weeks I should be able to get off crutches. Praise God and thank you for your prayers, messages and cards! Plus tard, Sandie

Grounded!

If any of you have teenagers, or did at one time, then you know this phrase well... "You're grounded!" One of my sons (won't say which one) spent a lot of his teen years grounded. While, being grounded is a pain, it also gives you time to think, reflect, hopefully figure out why this occurred, and try to prevent it in the future. Well, for some reason, God has grounded me. About 6 weeks ago I hurt my knee, and I just kept walking on it, doing my normal stuff. When my friends were here from the states, I ran all over Paris (and other places) even though it was hurting a lot. I ignored the clues that I needed to slow down and pay attention to something that wasn't right. The result- I have a severe stress fracture of my right tibia, and now per Dr.'s orders I can't put any weight on it for 6 weeks. Wow, talk about getting grounded. I am only allowed to walk up one flight of stairs twice a day for class, and that is with crutches. Otherwise I am to stay seated with my leg up. As you can imagine this is a difficult thing to swallow. I love taking my walks everyday. I like riding my bike on the bike paths here in Albertville. I like being able to walk to the store, bank, etc., to take care of necessities. Suddenly, I can't do any of that, and I am completely dependent on others to shop for me, do my laundry, go to the bank for me, get my mail, etc. etc. etc.!!! A frustrating place to be! So, I've been asking the Lord why He has grounded me for a time. I don't have the whole answer yet, but I have seen some positives come out of this situation. The first positive is seeing the body of Christ here at the Center rise up to meet my needs. They have grocery shopped for me, done my banking, done my laundry, carried things up to our class for me, taken out my trash. You name it, they've done it. What a joy to see how we can be the hands and feet of Jesus. I am usually on the other side of this, so it's humbling to be receiving the help, but also wonderful. Secondly, I have a lot of time for reading my bible, praying and reflecting on what God is teaching me through this trial. Sometimes we just need to "Be still, and know that He is God". If you're like me, it's so easy to get busy and neglect the really important things, like time with the Lord. Lastly, I have beaucoup time for study, which is really needed. We are going through some particularly heavy weeks of course work, and I need to be hitting the books more than normal. I definitely have time now! So, that's what is going on with me. I'm thankful I have a great view from my window so I can look at the beautiful mountains, even if I can't get out and hike up them. Please keep me in your prayers, that I will endure this time of grounding, that my knee would heal quickly, and that I would continue to seek God for the things He wants me to learn through this. Signing off from my little studio apartment with the great view!