…Miracle Worker, Promise Keeper, Light in the darkness, that is who You are…
Dear Friends and Family,
It still seems that we are living in the midst of very uncertain times. The world we are living in seems to be shifting daily. Perhaps this is revealing the truth of our lives that nothing is certain but the goodness of our God and our futures are secured when we put our trust in Him. We are praying for His peace and security to be with each of you and your families.
Reflecting on these past months of rather restricted living from which we are emerging here in France, it is clear to us that God has worked this situation for good for our family. For many of our friends and family it has been difficult, both in terms of health, change in job situations, and dealing with stress related to government restrictions and social distancing measures. Please know our prayers for you and please do reach out if we can be praying together about something specific. Click here to email us directly.
Even when I don’t see it, You’re working, even when I don’t feel it, you’re working, You never stop, you never stop working…
God Working in France
In our ministry here, this has been a fruitful season. France put in place pretty firm restrictions on meetings and leaving the house in early March. From that first week we started gathering online as church via Zoom. All three of the Bless churches that we work with in France gathered together for weekly bilingual services and a midweek prayer and bible study. We were joined by others in our network from several neighboring countries and we were also amazed that we had first time visitors connecting with our meetings. We met online twice a week for 10 weeks straight and have continued meeting every other week as restrictions have eased. God was working in many ways in these virtual gatherings. We saw new leaders step up and teach. Our times of reading the Bible together, prayer and celebrating communion were incredibly rich. One of our friends and a mentor in the Bless community said on Easter Sunday that she felt the Lord had treasure for our community to find specifically in this season and we truly experienced this as we gathered.
Emerging from restrictions, we have been able to gather twice now at Bethanie for what we are calling “Picnic Church”. This enables us to keep good distancing practices but also to sing our worship together and enjoy fellowship. SOS Chai (the Bless ministry with refugees) was able to continue in a limited way during the confinement due to the leadership of one young man, who was a refugee and is now a leader on the SOS Chai team. He lives near where many of the refugees have their squats and was able to identify needs and buy essentials for those who were in crisis. SOS has re-launched this past week, and it is exciting that we are beginning to have small groups of refugees coming to our church building in Caen for language classes and other training.
Jesus Calms the Storm
God Working in us
During this time, we have been growing in knowledge of our identities individually and as a family. It seems that God has used this time to mold our family and take us a few steps closer to his specific callings on our lives.
Tom: Leadership
For the past few months, Tom has stepped in to lead the Bless church and also helped to lead other elements of the Bless Network through the Covid crisis as our friends Gerard and Chrissie Kelly, who direct the Bless network, were in the UK with Gerard recovering from a major health issue. Thank you for praying with us for them, we are happy to report that they are back in France now and Gerard is doing much better.
For Tom, being thrust into a much bigger leadership role helped to remind him of God’s call in his life to lead. As we move into life together after COVID as church in France, Tom has been asked to continue in a leadership role with Bless alongside Gerard and Chrissie. We were surprised and honored when the church gave us a gift of a lemon tree and thanked us for our leadership through the crisis at our first in person gathering on Pentecost Sunday.
Joanna: Painting
Joanna has been spending more time painting to try to improve her skills and find her style. She has painted a few pieces for members of the church as gifts. She also took a course online that taught her how to paint colorful portraits. We are finding that her paintings are having an impact on people and feel that this is an important part of Joanna’s calling here in France.
Family: Sabbath
In this season of being home with the kids all the time and working from home as well, we have found it easy to let our work time bleed into every day of the week and most hours of the day. We recently read a book called “the Ruthless Elimination of Hurry” by John Mark Comer and it has really impacted our lives and the way we desire to walk with Jesus in our family. We are starting to keep a pretty guarded sabbath day on wednesdays each week, where we stop. We celebrate who God is, who we are in our family, and we rest together. We turn our phones off, we take naps, and we worship together. It has been sweet and it is molding us as people who work out of rest. Praise Jesus!
God Making a Way-Opportunities
Music
Tom and Joanna are playing a show with Nashville twinning committee July 3rd as part of an independence day celebration. Our friends Doug and Emilee Irwin are coming out to join us for this show which is going to be such fun. We love the opportunities we have here in Caen to be a blessing to the city and to sing songs of freedom in the city. This concert venue is particularly meaningful as it is taking place at the cafe inside the old city walls which William the Conqueror built about 1000 years ago. We often pray on these walls that overlook the city and it is a privilege to get to sing and play there.
Camping
One of our opportunities to camp will be for the Bless Family Camping Week at the end of August which Tom has been working hard to organize. This will be the big gathering for everyone connected with the Bless Network and it is hosted at a campsite run by our friends Tim and Jane Rocke, who lead a Bless church on site. It should be a great time to refresh and be equipped, and to celebrate all the God is working in this part of the world. We are going to be baptizing some of those who became Christians this past year!
Specific Prayer:
Praise for Lauren
Lauren, our nanny, is returning to the USA this week after being with us for a wonderful and strange 5 months! We are so grateful for all she has done to serve us and become a part of our family. Please pray for smooth travel and re-entry into the US, and blessings abundant!
Prayer for Healing for C
C is a member of our church who became a Christian two years ago. She has really come alive since walking with Jesus and is such a beautiful soul. She recently had a stroke and has been in a medically induced coma for a few weeks and is in an intensive care unit. As a church, we are praying for a miracle. Please join us in praying for her total and complete healing, that would impact her family and neighbors.
