So it's been awhile since I posted. Why? Well, I was without a netbook for a little over a week. Why?
I got robbed.
Yeah, on Sunday, October 19th, on the last day of a seven day period of prayer and consecration with my prayer partner, Winsome, the Lord miraculously brought a caretaker for Jonathan through the American Church in Paris. A young lady named Jacqueline sent me an email that morning - the day that we were believing an answer would come - stating that she would be available for 10/25 and 11/8 and possibly for the dates in 2015 - if things work out that she remains in Paris. She recently graduated from a Grad program in Dance Research and she and her French husband might end up relocating back to her native California. I'll find out for sure in a month. However, the Lord later in the week sent another sweet woman from Morocco who is a nanny by profession, but has weekends free, and if Jacqueline is not available, I will likely employ her for 2015. So, all in all, the Lord moved mightily on my behalf! I'm still numb by how it all worked out.
And then I got even more numb that evening, but not in a joyous way - at least not at first.
In a rush to get to church on this glorious Sunday, after getting that news and having prayer and communion with Winsome to close off our 7 day prayer fest (we're still meeting to pray weekly over our needs and other situations), I forgot to close one of the windows of my ground floor apartment - an absolute no no in my neighborhood. It was a hot day that Sunday, which is why I opened it. How absolutely unnerving it was to arrive home and walk past our apartment to see the window WIDE open and to peer in to see my netbook not on the table. They lifted it. The blessing is that they had to work fast because they did it in broad daylight and in clear view of the neighborhood boulangerie.
I did the slow walk of death to the apartment to open it to see that was pretty much all they had time to get - until I realized later that they also took my $120 travel knapsack that held a lot of my school supplies, some travel books and games for Jonathan, most of my computer, cell phone and Jonathan's Kindle paraphernalia and my mifi - which I hadn't been able to use over here in France, but am still paying for through my AT & T contract (I deactivated it that night, but still need to cancel that part of my plan).
I was depressed, regretful, sad, upset, every emotion under the sun. However, overnight the Lord set my heart straight. I was foolish, this was the consequence, but He IS A GOOD GOD who is able to work all things for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. So, something good will come out of it - and in a way I am grateful it happened. It set me on a course for some other improvements in my life - not to talk about here - but things in many other areas need to change and I guess this was a motivating influence. So I give Him praise!
Plus, it was also a tool of the enemy to discourage me in light of the amazing answer to prayer that the Lord gave me. I was discouraged for a minute, but did not remain despondent. Thank you, Jesus.
I immediately ordered a new netbook from Amazon - more expensive than the one I had (which the Lord had miraculously put in my hands at a discount from Kmart right before I left IBM and it had been an absolute peach of a little netbook the whole time I had it - that still brings me some sadness that such a gift was taken away). Because I can't seem to order anything from Amazon to ship directly to my Paris address, I had to have it shipped to my parents and then my mom shipped it to me. I got it on Tuesday of this week. And it's not working at all like the previous one, and I'll probably have to anoint it with oil and pray over it to get it to act right - to ward off any creeping up of sadness and disappointment that comes over me when I realize this thing is a shell of what I had. I guess it's like the old folks in Haggai who were sad when they saw the restored temple, realizing it wasn't as great as the original. The original had been torn down as a result of their disobedience. My netbook was taken as a result of my carelessness - maybe even pride, as Winsome had asked me a few days before if it was wise to leave the netbook out with the one window cracked (one of the two windows has a burglary prevention bar on it) and I was like, "oh, it'll be fine. The other window is locked and to get into this emergency locked one that's cracked they would have to make a whole lot of ruckus on this busy street." Foolish me. Okay, let me stop - see how quickly the enemy can get you into negative thinking!
Needless to say, I now make sure both windows are closed and locked and that the metal screens are DOWN!!!
Okay, enough of that. More good news to share. The answered prayers haven't stopped. Here's Winsome's story...
So, we were still waiting for the Lord to come through in regards to finding Winsome housing. This past week I had my first class with the cohort - Financial Statement Analysis. I really enjoyed it. We have this final project that most of the cohort decided to meet to work on together that Sunday. I couldn't go because I have Jonathan and he would not have been able to sit still and play for 2 hours.
Winsome normally wouldn't have attended either, but she decided to go ahead and attend. However, it meant that she would have to go to the earlier 11 AM service at The American Church in Paris.
So, she attends that service. The night before she had hit rock bottom and totally surrendered all the circumstances of her remaining in Paris to the Lord - what the great Christian writer Catherine Marshall calls the "Prayer of Relinquishment". She forgot to turn her clock back so she ended up getting there at 10 AM and the Senior Pastor greeted her and then asked her if she'd like coffee. They chatted and she related her story. He prayed for her and then went his way.
The sermon that day was about tithing and giving offerings and Winsome was really tore up by it for brought to memory how she had been faithfully dedicating her tithes for the whole year in preparation for God's sufficiency and care while in Paris, only to see Him not move on her behalf - at least, not yet...
So, still tore up from the sermon, she gets up to leave for the library and the work group, but when she nears the exit, decides to go to the coffee social first, because she had some time to spare.
She heads there and a woman, in a choir gown is standing with a sign that reads "Need Prayer". Well, Winsome thought to herself, what can it hurt - I certainly could use more prayer if it's being offered.
She walks over and the lovely lady engages her in discussion and again Winsome relates her story. The woman starts to tear up and says:
"I want to cry...Winsome, we have a room in our house. Would you like to come stay with us?"
Winsome starts to cry...and cry. They're both bawling!
Winsome moved in yesterday. It's a lovely apartment in the lucrative 15th arrondissment that this American woman shares with her husband and college aged daughter. It will only be till the end of December, but now that she's in a stable place, it will allow her to seek God and be led of Him to secure the funding and additional housing that she'll need until the program ends in July. God will provide.
And yes: God moved. Period. According to our prayer and in such a well orchestrated way that it still astounds me, especially the answer to our petitions for Winsome's housing:
She normally wouldn't do the study group, but decided to go.
She had to go to 11 AM service rather than 1:30 (Jonathan and I attended 1:30 and went to the coffee social, and there was no one there with a sign saying "Need Prayer").
She got there too early and got prayer from the senior pastor.
She then decided not to go immediately to the library after church but to the coffee social.
She sees the woman with the choir gown at the coffee social.
She gets a place to stay.
So, we are rejoicing! If God can do all that - get me a caretaker and get her a home - than all the other incredible requests we're making, well, we're believing He can answer those too.
And WE ARE BELIEVING according to the words of Jesus Himself:
"Again I say to that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them." (Matthew 18:19-20)
AMEN!
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