“Parlez-vous Français?”

I woke with a start, covered in sweat.  Terror gripped the edges of my consciousness.  Where in the world had that come from?

I’d been taken back to the summer of 1970, to a French camp nestled in the Sawtooth Mountains near Sun Valley, Idaho.  For two weeks campers were required to speak French for 14 hours of each waking day.  I was 17 at the time.

We were offered three nutritious meals each day.   A menu was even posted at the table, but we were only allowed to eat what we asked for properly in French.  Our counselors judged our pronunciation and syntax.  I remember eating a lot of green beans and bread.

A much more prominent memory was the exasperation and disapproval of one instructor.  She was native French and she seemed downright mean.  In a workshop in the pines, she grilled and chastened me in front of the other students about my woeful pronunciation.  She asked the same question again and again in French, and no matter how I tried, I could not answer en Francais to her satisfaction.  The instructor reddened with anger.  I thought she might strike me!  I had never suffered such fear and humiliation in a learning environment.

Forward 41 years.  Why in the world did I relive this nightmare?  In just three weeks, in May 2011, I had the answer.  Doc and I were asked to pray about serving in France with Greater Europe Mission. We believe this dream was an attempt by satan to discourage us from considering God’s call.

As we’ve followed the Lord’s lead to move to France, we share our mission with prospective financial and prayer partners.

“Parlez-vous Francais?” is a common question.

“Oui, nous parlons Francais - un tres petit peu!”  What a very very little bit!  Doc and I are practicing basic French greetings and travel phrases.  We occasionally use Rosetta Stone, and I’m reading the Psalms in a French-English Bible.  The truth is, much of what I learned in high school and at the French camp has resurfaced as I attempt to read and practice French.

It’s not easy, but God never wastes anything.  I clicked on a colleague’s YouTube post from France recently and caught many French words and their meanings.  This is progress!  Reality sets in when we hear someone who actually communicates in French.  I guess we’ve just been trying it on for size.   But this is no romantic fantasy. We’re surely slower than others, but we’re moving forward in our language acquisition.

“La pluie et la neige tombent du ciel, mais ells n’y retournent pas sans avoir arrosé la terre, sans l’avoir rendue fertile, sans avoir fait germer les graines.  Elles procurent ainsi ce qu’il faut pour semer et ce qu’il faut pour se nourrir.  Eh bien, il en est de mȇme pour ma parole, pour ma promesse:  elle ne revient pas à moi sans avoir produit d’effet, sans avoir réalisé ce que je voulais, sans avoir atteint le but que je lui avais fixé.”  Isaiah 55:10-11

English translation:

 “My Word is like the snow and the rain that come down from the sky to water the earth.  They make the crops grow and provide seed for sowing and food to eat.  So also will be the Word that I speak—it will not fail to do what I plan for it; it will do everything I send it to do.” 

(See also Hebrews 4:12-13 and 2 Timothy 3:16.)

No wonder satan wants to frighten us out of success!  But God has changed us by the power of His Word.  We’ve staked our lives on the conviction that He has called us to this work—that He will speak His Word through us to those who live in France—and that through that Word He will bring many to faith in Jesus Christ. 

“Parlez-vous Francais?”

“Oui, de plus en plus!”  (Yes, more and more!)