I hope all of you are having a wonderful summer so far, I am finally writing you this blog to better explain what I am actually doing over here in France. No, I am not over here for travel. Most of you know, I am working with a mission organization. BLF (Bibles and Literature in French) does what the name says, prints Bibles and literature in French.
After a week and one day has passed by, I feel like I am just beginning to understand the whole printshop process, and what a missionary life is really like. Wow. Looking back at this first week of work, I am amazed to see what God has done in the organization, and in me. I always had thought of myself as an office type girl, but I know I am defiantly not a "girly-girl" Wow. Was I ever wrong. I don't know how I thought I wasn't a girly girl, I mean I am scared of bugs for heavens sake. I don't think you can get more girly than that.
The first day was definitely my hardest as you may have read about a couple posts ago, but thankfully God has given me strength to be stronger than I ever knew I could. I am doing the most manual labor I have ever done in my life. I mean REAL manual labor. I kept thinking isn't there some boys who could lift this for me? Hahaha Wait a second and let me laugh, hahaha! Oh wait.. I have to do this on my own, AND there are men around and I still have to do it. Man God has a sense of humor! I thought I was coming over here to sit behind a desk all day and do sales, photography, graphic design or something. Nope! And I am not disappointed in the least, looking back now at last week, I could not have asked for a better position in this organization. God knew and knows EXACTLY what I needed from this trip- A good kick in the pants! I am constantly dirty, filthy actually. I am constantly sweating, lifting, cleaning, moving, and on my feet. This is no way near an office job like I am used to. But I am GLAD! I realized I am pretty lazy and stubborn and "don't want to get out of my swivel comfy chair." I go into work with the mentality that I am going to serve the Lord and here that means getting dirty. And I never thought I would say this but this beats working behind a desk in heels any day. (Sorry Dona and Steve hehe) I am so incredibly thankful to be able to lend a hand to this organization because it has already helped me in so many ways by just doing the work. I get to see the beautiful results of the hard work we all put in every day to spread the word of the Lord out into France. The people here are continuously searching for something more, something real and good but don't know how to access the information. I was surprised about France because its a thriving country, and there are SOO many beautiful churches you would think people would be able to really know who God is. But most of them don't.
More than anything on this trip I have seriously started to realized how important my relationship with God is. Without him I have nothing. He is the only one I have strength in. I have struggled this past week with a lot of things spiritually. There have been so many different things that have come up that inside I just want to scream. I came here expecting one thing, and God gave me the total opposite. That first day of work I kept asking God WHY am I doing this? This is too heavy! I don't want to lift this! My hands are raw, and numb! Paper cuts! Why do I have to clean?..... Wow..... Like I am better than cleaning? Or better than any of it? WHAT!?! Seriously it hit me like a ton of bricks. "Nicole get a grip!" I realized the real problem with my day was ME. I had/have sooo much pride. I had NO IDEA until then but God brought me here to humble me. That is one of the biggest things I have realized this last work week. I have an incredibly stubborn heart, most of the time I can hide it and still do what is asked. But I know God brought me here to change that. My heart needs to be right with everything I do. Yes even if I don't "feel like it" I am beginning to realize the importance of being genuine inside and out. I hope that this gives you a clear enough picture of what I am going through, but all now all I really have left to say is that I am SOOO THANKFUL I am here! God knew the exact medicine I needed to start to change my heart, and make it right with him. If you are reading this and don't know what I am talking about, feel free to ask me anything. I would love to share with you what God has done in my life as my personal Lord and savior. And how he is continuing to change me into a person better than I ever thought I could be.
All of this in one week! BOY! I cannot wait to see what he teaches me the whole 2 months! I cant even tell you how blessed I feel that God is teaching me all of this, serve in what ever capacity I can, allowing me to be in europe, travel on weekends, and have such great co-workers and new friends at the shop. It is unbelievable! Let me just finish by saying that I am so happy to be here, where the whole purpose is God's glory.
I just basically exposed all my feelings inside so far, and so I thought it would be fit to attach a video I made about the "inside look at BLF" so you can see the machines and the actual building where I am at inside. Please ENJOY! I am also working on the Paris Blog which should be up at the end of this week sometime. If you got all the way to the end of this post thanks so much for reading what I had to say. It means a lot to me to be able to share all of this with you. Au Revior for now!
Hope You liked the Video!
Love and a Hug,
Nicole
