10 days of prayer with SIM

17th May - SIM-ers all over the world are going to try and find time to pray for the next 10 days about worldwide mission, the different aspects of SIM and its projects, their inspiration for their own ministries. Our first day starts with :

We've just finished the campaign 'Pray for France' and have got through one Presidential election. We have just had our National Pastors' Conference where we discussed the Cape Town Committment from the Lausanne 3 conference and whether our churches really consider their part in social action or social justice issues. In each situation we are confronted by the injustices of this world, the imbalances and power plays. We are reminded how much our country is in need of healing - perhaps not physically, because France has abundant resources, but in our relationships, in the balance of power and how decisions are made. We have to admit that not all people who live in this country are treated with respect.

So this verse is very relevant to France as well.

Please pray for these same subjects. I will apply the different points to our Femmes 2000 conference day on June 2nd (for unity in our organising team and for this action to bless many women); for our 2 local churches to be renewed by the Spirit and to seek God's leading for a more direct vision for future actions; that all we do will be for his glory in our Union of Free Churches as we pastor our churches to feed our generation and to communicate our faith to our contemporaries.

Washing Day

Traditionally, Monday has been washing day for generations of women - here in France anyway. But with many now working outside the home and with work hours being so varied, and electricity rates variable according to peak and low-peak periods, the washing gets done all through the week and weekend.

I used to try not to do housework on Sunday - a vague concept of it being the Day of Rest, although there were always meals, sometimes guests for lunch, usual parenting stuff, and for P and I the day usually started with final preparations for the church service or Sunday School. I now have to make sure all our eldest son's clothes are washed and dried and ironed before he goes back to boarding school on Monday morning. My day of rest often ends up being Monday morning after everyone has gone back to school and the house is quiet.

Today I've done 2 loads of washing though and it's drying outside on a beautiful sunny, breezy day. It smells soooo good afterwards. I love doing the washing and ironing. I'm into cleanliness and outside drying and neat piles of flat-folded clothes. (For those who are environmentally conscious, I use environment-friendly washing liquid, washing balls to reduce the quantity of liquid used, no fabric-softener and air-drying - no clothes-dryer. I iron as little as possible.)

Loved this article and poem which has already done the rounds, so you may have seen it already ... I particularly appreciated the advice on hanging the washing. I wondered why I did it that way!

Remembering Mom's Clothesline

There is one thing that's left out. We had a long wooden pole (clothes pole) that was used to push
the clotheslines up so that longer items (sheets/pants/etc.) didn't brush the ground and get dirty.
You have to be a "certain age" to appreciate this one....
(But you YOUNGER ones can read about "The GOOD ol' days"!!)
I can hear my mother now.....

THE BASIC RULES FOR CLOTHESLINES: 
(If you don't even know what clotheslines are, better skip this.)
1. You had to hang the socks by the toes... NOT the top.
2. You hung pants by the BOTTOM/cuffs... NOT the waistbands.
3. You had to WASH the clothesline(s) before hanging any clothes - walk the entire length of each line with a damp cloth around the lines.
4. You had to hang the clothes in a certain order, and always hang "whites" with "whites," and hang them first.
5. You NEVER hung a shirt by the shoulders - always by the tail! What would the neighbors think?
6. Wash day on a Monday! NEVER hang clothes on the weekend, or on Sunday, for Heaven's sake!
7. Hang the sheets and towels on the OUTSIDE lines so you could hide your "unmentionables" in the middle (perverts & busybodies, y'know!)
8. It didn't matter if it was sub-zero weather... clothes would "freeze-dry."
9. ALWAYS gather the clothes pins when taking down dry clothes! Pins left on the lines were "tacky"!
10. If you were efficient, you would line the clothes up so that each item did not need two clothes pins, but shared one of the clothes pins with the next washed item.
11. Clothes off of the line before dinner time, neatly folded in the clothes basket, and ready to be ironed.
12. IRONED???!! Well, that's a whole OTHER subject!

And now a POEM ...

A clothesline was a news forecast, To neighbors passing by,
There were no secrets you could keep, When clothes were hung to dry.
It also was a friendly link, For neighbors always knew
If company had stopped on by, To spend a night or two.
For then you'd see the "fancy sheets", And towels upon the line;
You'd see the "company table cloths", With intricate designs.
The line announced a baby's birth, From folks who lived inside,
As brand new infant clothes were hung, So carefully with pride!
The ages of the children could, So readily be known
By watching how the sizes changed, You'd know how much they'd grown!
It also told when illness struck, As extra sheets were hung;
Then nightclothes, and a bathrobe too, Haphazardly were strung.
It also said, "On vacation now", When lines hung limp and bare.
It told, "We're back!" when full lines sagged, With not an inch to spare!
New folks in town were scorned upon, If wash was dingy and gray,
As neighbors carefully raised their brows, And looked the other way.
But clotheslines now are of the past, For dryers make work much less.
Now what goes on inside a home, Is anybody's guess!
I really miss that way of life, It was a friendly sign
When neighbors knew each other best... By what hung out on that line.

Dad sends me reading material

Ever since I've been living overseas, my Dad has been sending me snippets from the Aussie newspapers he reads. I've always been jealous of the time he has had to read his papers ! And I even have trouble finding time to read the cuttings he sends (greatly reduced these days at my request). It's a precious service he renders though because he sends me things he thinks I'll enjoy reading and which he has appreciated himself, so that brings us a little closer together inspite of the distance. It's not enough to keep me up-to-date with what's happening in Oz, but I get glimpses of current issues and trends in society.

I laughed while reading Good old ways to measure a half-century in mind, body and spirit, by James Valentine (The Weekend Australian, Sept 17-18 2011). Well, I have turned 50 and I'm noticing these things!

On a more serious note, and one which had resonance with what we observe (and probably practise ourselves - let's be honest!) in France, was an article by Bernard Salt : It's all about me: the rise and rise of individualism, (The Weekend Australian but when ??) He notes the transition in the last 30 years between the idea of hard work, reward, the notion of "going without", serving a higher cause and the Me-generations emerging from the boom-years of the '80s. Less kids, more income with 2 parents working, the influence of child psychology trends and materialism.

In this time of elections in France, I found the following comment particularly relevant (because I'm really concerned about the lack of respect for authority at all levels of society and the so-called humour of certain comics in the media who comment on current affairs.)

"Governments used to think they had a mandate to make decisions in the long-term interests of the Australian nation and people. Not so today.

The electoral process merely confers temporal authority to manage daily business.

Any big or strategic decision must, by dent of the individualist's creed, take account of the views of "amazing individuals" who have an opinion on the subject.

Perhaps this is why I think there is a paucity of strategic vision by governments today."

Lack of vision and long-term planning.

A few years ago, France changed from 7-year Presidential terms to 5-year ones. Probably thought they had good reasons to at the time, but in my opinion, it's backfired because change is very hard to achieve in this bureaucratic country - 5 years is not enough. And the President has hardly started initiating any policies before he or she has to start pandering to the electorate.

As a result, the country is more than ever in a state of perpetual motion - swinging this way and that, with no long term goals to work towards. Lobbying and public opinion (though valid to a certain extent) sway political decisions as do strikes and public discord. The population is de-stabilized and I feel our daily level of stress has increased because we have so many things to cope with linked to frequent and shallow changes.

Another issue is honesty and integrity. Who can you believe any more ? Who has the time and mental energy to have thought things through ? Which media allow us, the public, to follow a real debate and to discover people's ideas right through to their logical conclusions ? I find the media to be manipulative, although you can discern real issues and hear good interviews from time to time. Television techniques render things so trite sometimes.

We find in our church work that changes develop really slowly. Time seems to be slipping by yet there are changes to be made and long term stategies to decide upon. We are in a country church but even in city churches people tend to be conservative and looking over the changes on the Evangelical scene that we have noted (and supported) I realize that it takes a generation for real differences in ways of thinking and doing.

Let's keep praying and listening to God. He's the epitome of truth and justice - He knows what we need to become and how to be (like Jesus). He knows which way to go and empowers us to go there.

Elections

It's over! All the buzz and the blabla has stopped just for a few hours because in 4 weeks there will be the Legislative elections.

François Hollande is our new President. But it was close : 51% to 48%. Nicolas Sarkozy has graciously bowed out - he was the youngest president of the Republic ever in office. I think the media finally took its responsibilities seriously and tried to avoid the usual trivia, but it was hard to really follow the different candidate's proposals in the mainstream media. It often turned into mud-slinging and personal comments. Also, the French are terrible for all talking at the same time!!

A protestant ethics organisation sent out a useful summary of the 10 candidates' policies and 3 well-respected theologians wrote articles on our responsibility as Christian voters. I particularly appreciated their advice to not focus on typical ethical questions and vote accordingly because these issues are only a fraction of all the subjects to be considered. Yet we often received exhortations by other concerned Christians to vote against a candidate because of his position on homosexual marriages, for example. Only 3 candidates were against homosexual marriages and adoption; several left the door open to euthanasia being allowed; most had policies on immigration (or not); all made some reference to nuclear power stations and to environmental issues. The big topic was creating employment and avoiding a full-blown economic crisis. One or two talked about leaving the Euro-zone or even quitting the European Union. Several talked of justice and equality, but had different ways of seeing those values put into practice.

Frankly, there was nothing particularly new and I found myself being quite cynical. Several seemed very sincere, but in their own world. Others talked blithely of change, but anyone with some knowledge of how things work in France would be able to see that talking is one thing but actually bringing about change is a totally different ball game. Many people in France still speak and believe along party lines. Our systems haven't really changed or taken into account that our mentalities have.

We need a new approach to running the country - I remember how much Australians talked of consensus when I still lived there. Lionel Jospin is the only Prime Minister of France who had that approach and I thought he was good (except that he supported the 35 hour week which was a big mistake). Nicolas Sarkozy thought out of the mould and made some very interesting choices for his Ministerial cabinet. But as the elections got closer and as certain of his choices made sure people knew they didn't always agree with their President, these people were re-shuffled or shown the door.

Let's pray particularly for honest and lucid leaders. Let's pray that the people of France in all their diversity will have the will to work together for the common good, at least being prepared to discuss intelligently the different options they have and respecting each other's differences.

Objectif France

We are well into the special period of prayer for France that is organized by the group "Objectif France". If you would like a .pdf copy of their prayer guide, write to me.

The first round of Presidential elections is Sunday 22nd April. The second round will be 6th May. So this is a crucial time to be praying for France.

You can also check out the website of Christian Community Foundation for France.

And the direct link to Pray for France in English : http://www.prayforfrance.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/2012PrayerGuide.pdf

“And in His temple everyone says, ‘Glory!’” (Psalm 29:9)

“Lift up your heads, O you gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in.” Psalm 24:7 

OUR PRAYERS ARE WORKING ! For the last 11 years this concerted effort has been growing slowly but surely. There are spiritual openings as never before. We are seeing signs of this in our own little corner of France : we had a great variety of kids (20) at our Daily Vacation Bible club; I'm getting favourable replies for the next big women's conference we are organising (2nd June); other Christian women in our group are seeing lives changed and prayers answered. KEEP PRAYING ! Our God is a mighty God!

A new member of our family

Most mothers know that getting a pet means they will have extra duties inspite of sworn promises to look after the animal by all and any of the children! Pascal and I have been resisting for years and were able to get away with it because our housing conditions were not entirely suited to domestic animals. We are a very mobile family as well so having pets would have meant calling on lots of different friends to help out.

But we are now in this gorgeous house with its own closed in back garden (check out the great stone walls!). Claire is old enough to really understand taking care of animals, so we have started a new adventure. Here is Lollypop girl (the rabbit, that is!)

She's 2 months old and really soft with a funny lollopping sideways kind of jump and she knows Claire well enough to stay with her when we let her out of the cage.

Easter Victory

This is a translation of the article I wrote for one of our national Christian magazines based on the text 1Corinthians 15 : 36-38; 42-58

 

Sometimes I suspect I'm a bit schizophrenic ! I feel like I'm living on two levels. My body lives in the present here and now, while my spirit is concentrated on the future. With age our bodies fail us and even though we can confidently proclaim that with God all is possible, we mustn't always expect the miraculous!!

We humans live in a constant paradox : we are mortal, but have the potential to be eternal. We were created to live in this world with its seasons, benefitting from all this good earth can offer us; yet, we are destined to die and to become dust again.

The good news is that God has planned better than a simple return to dust. When we accept His gift of life, we discover that it is our sinfulness which makes death so horrifying, and the Law which reveals our guiltiness. The salvation that God offers us is made possible by the wonderful victory of Jesus' ressurrection !

And it is at that point in our personal story that this double life starts. We are in this world, but no longer of this world.

Our perspective changes with our conversion. The Holy Spirit who lives in us is the guarantee that we will live in the Spirit after our physical death. And we have already started our eternal life.

We arrive in this world, naked and fragile. As the years go by we grow into adulthood, we head for work, we learn to live in relationship with others; some of us marry, others don't; some of us have children ; we all get older and with age, we get weaker again. That's life on this earth. A life which has its limits ; limits with which we learn to live. Thankfully, in this sort of double life we lead, there is the rôle played by the Holy Spirit.

"Thanks be to God ! He gives us the victory though our Lord Jesus Christ." (v.57)

The liberty we have acquired through the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ means we can be fulfilled in our earthly life. At the end of this passage is a call to wholeness, to fulfilment. Let's go and make the most of our life. Let's live it up because we belong to the God who gives all life. Let's serve Him with energy and commitment because it's not for nothing that He has placed us here. We can accept ourselves as we are because "God gives [the seed] a body as He has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body." (v. 38) and along with this "...stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain." (v.58)

Christ is risen ! He is truly risen !

Al Fresco - in our private garden !

Jérôme helping out in our new kitchen

With Vanessiane at our Christian Counselling course

Pauline came to visit

One of our Women's Groups

Repairing in other ways

Over the last 3 weeks I've had to admit I hurt people's feelings or offended by my words and tone.

I'm very good at self-justification, but I knew I had spoken unkindly or aggressively and it was not justified. Once I reached that conclusion and had apologised to God, I knew I had to ask forgiveness from the people I had offended. Not so easy to repair this kind of situation compared to repairs in our house!

In one case I was not necessarily in the wrong, but had to clear up misunderstandings. We are not always wrong, but when we are aware of a difficulty in a relationship with someone, we become responsible for trying to re-establish that relationship.

So the Lord provided the opportunities and I was able to speak to the different people concerned. It brought us closer together and built up our mutual trust. What a great feeling ! It is so freeing to be able go on knowing we have been forgiven and the relationship is repaired. Admitting our differences but being respectful of each other's point of view is also a blessing.

Thank God we can go back and repair all sorts of things.

The next day I gaffed again and received an SMS letting me know. I apologised for the hurt by SMS and today I could hug the lady concerned. We both love each other as sisters in Christ.

Renovating can be a steep learning curve!

We are loving our new home, but still tied up in renovating the kitchen and have some tiling to do in the bathrooms.

What a challenge it has been! And thank the Lord for those who have willingly given their time to help us. It's quite a business when you want to do it properly!

I've realized yet again how much I hate going back over things or re-doing things. I used to be like that for school and uni work. Even as a teacher I really avoided having to re-do things, go back over things or start again. Which was rather hypocritical, since I always encouraged my students to have a go and not to be afraid of mistakes!!

How stressful that attitude can be! You fix high expectations and put off getting started until you are sure you will get it right. I strive for perfection, I try and avoid making mistakes, and yet I know it's not possible.

Living out one's faith is all about  getting started, taking one step at a time and relying on God to guide and prepare the way. Christians make mistakes. Missionaries make mistakes, see things come undone (not necessarily their own fault), have to stand back and watch others make mistakes because that is the way we learn and advance.

Renovating the house has reinforced my understanding of how important it is to take time to prepare: sometimes it means breaking up or dismantling. If you want a good result, you need a good base, a solid foundation. It's worth making the extra effort and taking the time. It usually means a longer-lasting result and easier maintenance.

God works in our lives in this way. We can also apply these principles to our mentoring and discipling work and in Christian counselling. Sometimes we help to undo - attitudes, false beliefs, recurring negative behaviour - and then begins the hard patient work of re-building on solid foundations. If we don't let ourselves be guided by God's Holy Spirit, the process will never be completed nor solid.

By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one shoud be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

  Paul to the Corinthians (1 Cor 3: 10 et ss)

I'm less scared of picking up a paint brush and of choosing a colour, but I can't bring myself drill a hole - that's too irreparable for my comfort levels!! Maybe in our next house....

An Update

Just to let you know that we are settling into the new house ; still putting up shelves, unpacking boxes, but it's such a pleasure to take our time in order to see how things work out. It's also a pleasure to sort through things again. This winter has been extremely cold all of a sudden, so bedding, linen, household goods, clothes have been distributed to those in need. Lamastre is attracting newcomers who are victims of the crisis and needing to find cheaper housing. Welfare families are struggling to make ends meet.

Pascal and I have taken up our 'normal' ministry activities now. I felt like I was coming out of quarantine ! We can't say we were isolated, because so many people helped us and continue to. But all my energy was put into this move and the first settling in and I felt quite cut off from my friends.

Finally got the washing maching hooked up, so the house looks like a chinese laundry ! I'm so thankful for all the girlfriends who did my washing for me. Nothing like having one's dirty laundry exposed to the public!!

The kids have collapsed in a heap now we are in the first week of school holidays. But, no rest for the wicked! They still have to help - we will be installing the new kitchen starting from next week, and we have various church activities to prepare, plus homework. Claire is planning a pyjama party for her birthday next week.

So life goes on and nothing is ever really predictable. Thank God for God, who watches over us and gives us strength for each day, and for His Spirit which guides us in our choices.

Home at last !!

Last weekend we moved house ! Hallelujah !

1 ave Victor Descours

Helped by a number of friends from the church, we were able to transfer and install most things in one day. They worked so hard. The Reformed Church pastoral couple organised for us all to eat together at lunch time - a lovely example of Christian fellowship. We are so grateful for this new home and I am particularly enjoying setting it up. 

Our first meal in our new home

We have ordered a whole new integrated kitchen which arrives 8th Feb. Probably take another month of Saturdays to install.

Claire in our temporary kitchen

View from our lounge and kitchen

The Town Council is building a hangar for the steam trains which are going to come back in 2013.

We still have the top floor to build up - there are 2 bedrooms and 1 small bathroom, but we are planning to use the space for several rooms in order to have visitors and to hold youth group meetings. We need an attic to store things for us and the church, so more planning and building anticipated.

We are really thankful for this lovely house and looking forward to having many visitors.

Happy New Year for 2012

May 2012 be a positive year for you all with joy to share with all around you, peace to calm stormy waters, love which deepens and matures, strength to get through the inevitable hard days, and the right friends at the right time to support you. God bless each and every one of you.

The Girard Family missed out on the 'Good Health' side of the New Year, with all of us ill - some respiratory infection. 

 We are still in the world record breaking longest house move of all time!! Here is a photo of the consultation regarding the future wallpaper of the dining/living room. We had ripped off the former paper which was rose and grey - very bourgeois, but not in keeping with the very strong floor colour, and a little used up by the previous occupants. So I was feeling the pressure to find something elegant, of good quality, easy to put on the walls (time is passing and it's a huge room with 3m high ceilings!!), and reasonably neutral so any pastoral family could fit their furniture in! There is a lovely rose around the hanging light and elegant cornices to match.

From L-R: Nathalie, Evelyne, Sil Ruddle who spent Christmas with us, me

We are very grateful to some members of our church who have spent hours helping us. And Sil, SIM missionary studying French before going out to serve in Benin, spent a number of days helping us as well. Hopefully, it was a welcome change for her being physical more than intellectual work! 

I cancelled most of December's rendez-vous to be available to help, and Pascal juggled work, visits and renovating until he became ill a few days ago. January is the same - no RDVs, just getting our stuff over to the new house as we finish the rooms. No kitchen until probably the end of February - it's ordered and delivered 8th Feb. We are installing it ourselves. It will be like a giant jigsaw puzzle!

Moving house

For a month now we have been working on the new manse :

* wall-papering

* painting

* setting new floors

* cleaning

* planning (where will we put this or that ? what colours should we use - given what we already have ? How can we modernize 2 bathrooms using the existing tiles, floor tiles (yukky!) and on a budget ?

* moving our stuff over from our flat to the house little by little, box by box (but not too much since if we haven't finished a room, we can't occupy it.

We've run out of heating fuel, the floor boards we had are broken so we had to purchase a whole new batch, one lot of wall-paper was awful to remove and took many people and hours to clean. The carpet we wanted for Claire's bedroom was not available in 2 shops .....

All of you who have launched into the housing adventure (and this isn't even our own house!!) will sympathise with the joys and woes we are experiencing. But one day, we will be settled in and this house is dedicated to the Lord's work, so it is worth it. We are very thankful to some of our church members for their valuable help and impressed by their tenacity and endurance. On the other hand, we are rather ashamed of our own lack of physical condition. We've been living with muscle stiffness for the last month!! Always look on the bright side of life .... we are losing weight !

Pascal still has major pain in his shoulders so each night we put heated cabbage leaves on and keep them there with bandages. It works really well helping to reduce pain and improve mobility. We used to recommend that for breast-feeding mums suffering from mastitis ! So keep using the old-fashioned methods. And it really doesn't smell bad - only at the cooking stage.

The Russian Club

Have you ever looked at the map to see where Lamastre really is? Honestly, it could be in the middle of nowhere! But would you believe that we have a Russian club here??

From L to R: Ljuba (Russian), Tetyana (Ukrainian), Jennie (Australian), Alina (Polish)

There are also 2 other ladies in the area who are Russian, but not attached to our club .... yet! What brings us together ? Write to me with your suggestions!!

Two of these women came to France to marry a French man and found themselves stranded. One is a widow, 2 are divorced. Of the 2 others, one is divorced and the other newly married to an older man. Can you guess the stories behind these situations ?

Christmas Countdown

4 of our teenage girls choreographing one of 2 dances for our Christmas Celebration

Sunday 11th December is our big day. 3 o'clock in the afternoon our church opens its doors to a hopefully big crowd prepared to laugh at the 1/2 hour play our teens are putting on about "who has the central role in the nativity play???", enjoy the 2 dances to Christian music, find the Primary-age kids really cute in their song and dance, and forgive any false notes in our adult choir (singing one modern French praise song, and one traditional Christmas Carol - translated from English to French last century - "Good Christian Men Rejoice" - you know it, right!)

There is a book stand, a gift package of afternoon tea, good atmosphere. We hope it will lead people to put Christ back into Christmas.

The invitation we are giving out to as many people as possible

The Kitchen

This is the kitchen emptied of its fittings, but showing what I hope to be able to have installed. It won't be big enough to eat in, except for counter drinks and breakfast in shifts, but I hope and pray it will be a meeting point for many women and me and the Lord.

Please pray with me for that to happen.

All those horrible mustard tiles have disappeared thanks to today's final effort by one of the ladies of our church.

Our new house

In the midst of the end of year Christmas preparations, we are renovating and moving house! The papers are not yet officially signed, but we have taken the risk of tearing off old wallpaper and preparing new walls ready to accommodate the tastes of 2 teenage boys and one teenage girl. To be honest, the other rooms are to accommodate the tastes (and current furniture) of a 50 year old missionary pastor's wife who's a bit tired of putting up with other people's tastes and economic management of her living space.

This is a beautiful and solid house with it's own closed in garden. Centrally located and with extra space on the second floor and a potential attic floor to be exploited, the Lord willing. It has the potential to be a major asset in ministry as well as being a lovely home to a pastoral family.

Please pray for a creative spirit in preparing a welcoming home with the material we have. Pray for the physical energy we need to get this done. We are such desk-bound workers we are finding it hard on our bodies! We thank the Lord so much for willing helpers in our church who have already done a great amount.

Pray the church's property in a nearby village will be sold so the purchase of this house will be neatly sown up.

We are right next to a bank! Where will we place our security???