...David and I were on our way to Paris. We knew it would be a fun vacation. We knew it would be an adventure. We had no idea it would change our lives. We planned a memory making trip, but God planned a missionary recruiting trip. I can just imagine how God must have been smiling as David and I debated over where we wanted to go for our anniversary celebration. He knew all along where we we were going, and He drew us there gently but surely.
As we prepare to go back for our exploratory trip (in 17 days! Yikes!) we are so excited to experience France with the knowledge of our call. We pray for four pairs of eyes to see the French people as God does, four hearts to love the French people as Jesus does, and four souls to be united with the Holy Spirit for His purposes.
One day, we are Americans in Paris. A year later we are children of God called to share His gospel of peace with people who need to know His grace. Wait a minute. Isn't that the call of every one of us who knows the Lord? It seems our address may be changing, but our mission stays the same.
I remember you telling me about the love you and David experienced for the people in France. It will be wonderful to share this with your boys as you head back over there for this exploration. We are all excited to see how God will work through you and we know that this is simliar to the way God works through each of us and yet it has the specifically Williamson family name to it.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I just returned from a trip to England. My niece accompanied me. What a treat. We had a couple of opportunities to worship in churches in England. One of those times happened on a Sunday. We went to a church called St. Gile's in the Field. It is an Anglican church. It is located just at the end of the original tin pan alley in London. It has the oldest working organ in all of London (built in the 1700s). And Charles and John Wesley actually preached from their pulpit. There was a house of worship on this site since 1100, but the contemporary church building is only a few hundred years old.
ReplyDeleteWe went to the morning choral service and then also to the following regular worship service. Then we were invited to stay for drinks where we got a chance to talk with members of the church and the pastor. It was really cool.
Well, I wanted to just recall a few lovely things about that experience. One was that the pastor there prayed for hurricane Ike victims in Texas. I was so touched by this, as a person who has many loved ones in Texass, but more importantly as a reminder of the deep and abiding connection we have through Jesus. I have prayed for this church every day since leaving it. It is in one way a prayer for all the churches known and unknown to me. It was so easy to realize that this church could have been praying for me many times over without me either witnessing those prayers or knowing about them. This is the hand of the Holy Spirit.
Also, in this church, as in all the churches I have ever visited in England, getting on one's knees was a physical expression. I was reminded that what is often used as a figure of speech, is an actual call for our physical positioning of humility together as a people of God.
I know that your work in France will bring you into contact with the Christians of France. And I love the blessing of that and can easily relate to it in terms of the many blessings I have experienced in churches in England, like the two I just mentioned experienced at St. Giles in the fields.