But now I am on the other side, that is to say, I AM a missionary. And I find myself in the awkward position of having to ask for that which I, in years past, was unwilling to give.
Having been a reluctant (okay, NEGLIGENT) pray-er means that I have a little insight into how easy it is to forget to pray for missionaries. Therefore, I have created a user-friendly guide that I like to call "3 Simple Ways to Remember to Pray for Missionaries in France!"
Observe:
3 Simple Ways to Remember to Pray for Missionaries in France
by Jennifer Williamson, MiDNoP (Missionary in Desperate Need of Prayer)
1. Make prayer for missionaries into a family game! When you go out, see who can be the first person to find the word, "French" and then commit to offering a quick prayer for the Williamsons whenever the word is found. If you pay attention, you will find the word "French" everywhere! Look in menus (french fries, french dip, french toast, french onion soup, etc), at nail salons (french manicure), at bakeries (french bread), and even in music stores (french horns)! Your young children can be especially helpful with this. The main thing that I want for you to know is that the quick prayers that you offer on the fly during your day to day life really do make a difference. And we need them! (BTW if you come across the word "French" in any funny/unusual/surprising places, I'd love to hear about it.)
2. If you are a wine drinker, and since France is the #1 producer of wine globally, commit to praying for the Williamsons every time you uncork a new bottle--even if the wine is from California! Pray specifically for the FRUIT that God desires to produce through our ministry in France. Pray that we would be POURED OUT as a drink offering to the Lord.
3. If you wear shoes (and I hope you do!), pray for us every time you tie up your laces. Pray that the Williamsons would have FEET that are "fitted with the readiness that comes from the Gospel of peace." And then, while you're at it, go ahead and pray for the entire armor of God to protect everyone in our family AND yours! The spiritual warfare in Europe is intense and unrelenting. We must dress daily for the battle, and we need those of you back home helping to cover us.
And there you have it. Three easy ways to remember to pray for your friendly-neighborhood missionaries in France. Even if you just commit to ONE, we will be encouraged and blessed.
French kiss? Lauren finds the kissing in movies discusting, even though all she has really seen in PG movies is the going in for the big one. Can we some how turn those awkward momemts into prayers for you?
ReplyDeleteThis is so funny... okay, so we pray for you guys every morning during morning devos. But I read your post before we started school today so I added that we are going to "play a game" and every time we see "French" we were going to pray for you.
ReplyDeleteThen, when we jumped into history, I realized we were studying George Washington and the French and Indian War!
So our reading today, went like this:
"Fighting the French, Lord bless the Williamson family... In order to hold this land in the West, the French, Lord protect the Williams family... Washington was to tell the Frenchmen, Lord fill them with Your love... The war with the French, Lord bless the Williamson family, lasted several years..."
You get the idea! It was hilarious! We must have prayed for you 20-30 times in twenty minutes!!
Thought you'd get a chuckle out of that :)