Blessed are the Meek

           Hello from France. Hope you are all, right where God wants you to be! I know I am! In my last blog I mentioned that I was beginning to teach a sunday school class at the church here that I attend. I have 10 students, age 6-13. All of them are new to France, as their families just arrived at the language school the end of August. They are all English speakers, so my goal is to feed them spiritually and also to teach them some French along the way. When I leave in December, they will be incorporated into the all French sunday school class. I have really enjoyed getting these kids. They have opened their hearts to me already and I am getting to know each one with their own special personalities. They are going through tremendous changes and stressors. They share weekly that they miss their friends and family back home. They miss their dogs and cats. They are very stressed having to go into new schools, where all the kids speak French. They are the outsiders. Wow, I thought it was hard for me as an adult to adapt to all these changes. But I chose to be here, I know God has called me to this. They are just kids. Kids who need my prayers (and maybe yours' too if you feel lead to do so).
          I have been teaching through the Beatitudes (Matthew 5: 1-14). Each week, we tackle one verse and memorize it and talk about it's meaning. We have had some lively discussions about how you can be happy or blessed to be poor in spirit, to mourn, (and this week), to be meek. As usual, when you teach you get more out of the lesson than your students, because you have to dig in the word, and meditate on the application in your own life. As my pastor always says, he has had to live with the message for months before he delivers it to us, and God always does a work in his heart long before it reaches his congregation. (I count it a great privilege to sit under the teaching of such a good teacher and still listen to his sermons each week by podcasts) Anyway, this week's beatitude was "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth". So what does it mean to be meek? The word can also be translated as gentile. The definition in most bible commentaries is that "gentile" means "power under control". It doesn't mean Christians are wimps or weaklings. On the contrary, they have the power of God on their side. As you look at the "greats" of the bible, each exhibited power under control. Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David, and the list goes on. But the most important one was Jesus. Isaiah 53 says that as a sheep that is lead to the slaughter is silent, so was he. He never opened his mouth in his defense even though he was falsely accused and sentenced to death. He was the Son of God and could have called a legion of angels down in His defense, but He didn't. My desire is to be more like Jesus, so meditating on "Meekness" was in my thoughts all week.
          God provided lots of opportunities for me to think about meekness. The week started with me having to deliver the "culte" (devotional) in front of the whole school in French. Needless to say, it was a nerve-racking experience and I am glad it is over. While, I was able to get through it, I made a lot of mistakes with pronunciation. The students were gracious, and told me "Bon travail" (good work) and a few even said they understood what I said and received a blessing (a total miracle, if that's true). My teacher, however, was not afraid to point out all my mistakes during my tutoring session. Granted, she did it in a kind way, but I still felt the same way, like a little child being scolded. An opportunity to be meek! I felt like defending myself, but the Holy Spirit held me back. It's hard to be a child again (especially at my age), but that's where God has me right now. Every day, struggling to get the right words out of my mouth, being corrected every other word, homework returned with more red ink than black. Ah yes, it's a humbling experience! Blessed are the meek! Another opportunity to experience meekness was during my laundry time on Friday. We each have a block of time (1 hour) to use the washers and dryer. For some reason, my hour on Fridays at lunchtime seems to be a popular time. I can't count how many times I have gone to put my clothes in and the washers, and or dryer have just been started. I have complained to the director, left notes on the machines, but it continues still. This particular Friday I met the "guilty" person in the laundry room, and I just unloaded on them. I was mad, my "spot" had been taken again! Didn't they know how disruptive to my schedule this was, and on and on. Wow, that afternoon the Holy Spirit just descended on me and I was under severe conviction. I had been mean, nasty and angry, over laundry! Not too much meekness going on that day! (just so you know, I have apologized). If I can't handle the stressors of the laundry room, how will I be able to handle the stressors in Africa? Yeah, still a work in progress, but oh, how I desire to be like Him. Please keep me in your prayers, as you are in mine. Catch you later, Bye!

Back to Reality!

I've had an amazing summer. After finding out that I passed A2 (another miracle of God!), I flew home to the U.S. for 5 weeks and visited with family, friends, church members and neighbors. It was awesome. I took each of the grandkids somewhere special for their birthdays, and was privileged to attend the 1st birthday of my youngest grandchild. It was a little touch and go with Emma at first, but by the end of the vacation she had gotten to know me and would let me play with her and hold her. Hope she doesn't forget me while I'm gone again. The older grandkids know me so well, that we can Skype and Facetime, and keep the relationship going, but it's hard with the baby. Well, God knows this, and He will handle all those details in His time. I had a wonderful time, but was actually ready to come back to France. The goal of going to Africa is getting close, and I'm getting more excited. At the same time I'm a little nervous because I don't feel like I have enough French under my belt to be able to teach in this language. Again, I am having to trust God to get me to that point. I started B1 this week. So far, just review from A2. We have a new student in the class that is a physician, and served at Bongolo Hospital several years ago, so I'm enjoying talking to him. Tomorrow I start teaching primary school age sunday school at the French church. It's been a while since I taught sunday school, and am looking forward to it. It's a good way to get more involved with people at the church and speak more French, and get to know the kids of the people here. I have decided to spend the fall teaching Matthew 5:3-14 (the beatitudes). Pray for me as I try to impart the truth of this wonderful passage to these young hearts and minds. Well, that's all for now. I so appreciate all your thoughts and prayers, as I come back to reality and continue the journey of language learning.