Comme ci, Comme ça

Bonjour, mes amis!

Christmas is over and the new year has begun. Any New Year resolutions? Lose 20 pounds? Save more money? Read more? Spend more time with the Lord? Those are always mine, plus one added this year – to have a vibrant relationship with the Lord.

2010 will be an exciting year! After Christmas was over, I decided to look at my bank account to see how much I actually spent. [I hate looking at my bank account. Sometimes it scares me.  ] I was expecting to only have enough to get through until my next payday. Somehow beyond my comprehension, the Lord had multiplied the funds, and I had enough to book my flight to Paris. That is how I began my 2010. I’m beyond excited and overwhelmed! I flight out of Houston on February 25th and return on April 29th.

It was January 2008, 2 years ago now, that I heard the Lord tell me to go to France. I’m FINALLY going! The plans are all coming together. I’ve got my list of things to do and get before I leave. While there, I’ll be attending a ‘contextualization’ conference with Grace Brethren in Saint Albain, near Maçon, France, and staying at the Chateau St. Albain. It should be a great conference in St. Albain!

Contextualization allows a missionary to separate a people’s traditions from our doctrinal foundations and apply an appropriate trellis that shapes the new church in its most indigenous form. This allows new believers to grow within a cultural framework that is true to biblical foundations. It helps us avoid building rectangular buildings for people who live in round huts.

Please keep me in prayer as my departure date approaches. I’m overwhelmed and nervous. Pray that the language comes natural to me, and everything goes smoothly. Plus anything else the Lord puts on your heart.

If anyone wants to help out with my material or financial needs, my biggest need right now is an unlocked cell phone (one that would work on GSM 850/900/1800/1900 band/mode.

I thought I would share my devotion with you today. It comes from the Encounters with God Daily Bible, which I purchased at the Bible and Book Center (shameless plug: www.bibleandbookcenter.com).

Our relationship with God has contrasts; the invisible and the visible, the private and the public, the internal and the outbound. Most people seem to be better at one component or the other, but the hard part is having a balance between the two. those who focus on the internal, private ascept of their relationship with God tend to be reluctant to share their faith with others or speak up when truth needs to be shared. Their relationship with God is nobody’s business but their own, and they can resent being challenged in the outward expression of their faith. Those who focus on the outward aspect of their faith can be so busy in ministry and caring for others that they often burn out because their inner spiritual life is too weak to sustain them. They may take pride in eloquent public prayers, the number of hours they spend helping others, or the great sacrifices they make for God’s Kingdom, but they are hollow inside. The balanced Christian life has an inner relationship with God that is vibrant and meaningful and close enough to know where He wants them to invest their time and ministry in the outward Christian life. The public expression of their faith is a genuine expression of their private time with God. this means God empowers them and equips them for the ministries He has called them to. The public ministry reveals areas in their life that need to be addressed in private with God, and their private relationship with God shows them where their priorities in the public need to be focused. Ask God to help you have a balanced Christian life where God can use in public what He teaches you in private.

à la prochaine!

In Christ,
Bethany

Hey everyone!

I’m sorry that this update is LONG overdue! This has been a crazy journey, and I’m not even to my destination yet. I started pursuing France over a year and a half ago. I’ve been through some hard times spiritually, emotionally, and financially. My faith has grown by leaps and bounds since I began pursuing the thing the Lord has called me to do.

Eiffel Tower

Last September I was accepted for an 11-month missionary internship with The Mission Society. The original plan has be changed so much that, those of you who have one of my prayer cards, the wording on it is no longer relevant except for Paris. That is the one thing that hasn’t change. The one thing the Lord called me to go, “Go to France.”

My internship has changed from a long 11-month trip to a 2-month exploratory trip. The original plan was for my to work under The Mission Society’s (TMS) missionary in Paris, help out at La Fonderie, and go to language school. That missionary and his family had to return to the States and TMS doesn’t have any missionaries left in Paris, and it didn’t work out with La Fonderie. As a result, my time was shortened to 2-months and language school was scratched.

We, then, began looking for other avenues, other open doors for me to serve in Paris. We (me and the folks at TMS) began reaching out to our other contacts with other mission agencies to find a mission or ministry I could plug into in Paris. I emailed with a lot of different ministries there, and each time rejected because I am not yet fluent in French. Such a hurdle!

I’m going to make this long story short. I’m sure I could make it longer than it needs to be!

About a month or so ago I was contacted by a friends of a friend who are missionaries in Paris (The Plasters of Paris). They said that they are interested in having me intern with them. I was able to speak to them via Skype (a marvelous invention!) and it went great! They work with university students, pass out Bibles, have Bible studies, but it’s all in French. However, they were still open to having me come work with them when I told me that I’m not fluent. Great News!!! I will be doing ‘acts of service’ and ‘random acts of kindness’. Such as, running errands, helping set up tables and pass out bibles, serving at Bible studies, cooking, and so on.

We have begun the process of the joint internship between TMS and the Plaster’s agency. I’ll have the opportunity, as well, to stay with family while there. Things are moving and getting closer! I know the Lord has something great in store!

The money I had personally saved for this trip I had to use to live on for the last couple of months. I’m working now to replace that. I’m bout $700 short right now. But I know the Lord will provide it and I’ll have everything I need when it’s time to go. (And no dates have been set yet)

Keep me in prayer, and send me your prayer request. I’d love to pray for you!

Follow me on Facebook and Twitter for updates and random thoughts.

http://www.facebook.com/bethany.harrison

http://twitter.com/betharrison

Hey Everyone! As some of you know, I am supposed to leave for Paris around the 15th of September, which is in about a month (35 days to be exact ! There are some things still up in the air right now that I would like to ask you to pray for. I need some final OKs before I can buy my ticket.

The original plan was for me to work with La Fonderie and work under the mentorship of The Mission Society’s missionary in Paris. Well, he and his family have returned to the States last month for support reasons, and La Fonderie had a change in leader recently and isn’t in a place to take me in. So, we are trying to find other missionaries with other agencies that wouldn’t mind me helping them out for a couple months. I am waiting to hear back from OM Paris (Operation Mobilization) working with their women’s ministry, TEAM (The Evangelical Alliance Mission) I believe they do church planting, and Hillsong Church Paris.

Please pray with me that I’ll receive word from (at least) one of these organizations this week allowing me to work with them.

Thanks for all your wonderful support and keep up the prayer!

In Christ,
Bethany