After the traumas and delays of the journey to France, there were fortunately no more bombs (!), and he drive from Caen to Brem-sur-Mer was incident free, despite some heavy rain at the start of the journey. It meant, though, that instead of getting here late Wednesday night, giving me Thursday relatively free before a meeting in La Roche-sur-Yon, I got here after mid-day Thursday, and we had to leave for La Roche-sur-Yon within a few hours, for the first meeting….It was preceded by a lovely ‘afternoon tea’ in a cafe owned by a lovely lady named Liz, a few other people joined us, including a nurse who’d come to stab my derriere!
I know that in UK, there is a ‘the French hate the British and the British hate the French’ attitude…. you know, I’ve been to France countless times, and to this area a few times now, and it really is a LIE. The French are LOVELY: friendly, hospitable, generous, warm, and many are really open to the the move of the Holy Spirit, though it does remain a tough place to preach the gospel: but then that applies to the UK, too….
The meeting was pretty well attended, with some lovely worship. God touched and healed a lot of people during the ministry time at the end, including two ladies with osteoarthritis, whose pain disappeared instantly, and their ‘get-up and moving away’ from the chair proved that both the pain and the crippling infirmity had gone… a lady with a migraine – mild, it seems, by comparison to her usual migraines – went immediately, and I felt without diubt it would be the last migraine she would have. A lady with a number of different internal ‘ladies’ problems had all of her pain and discomfort go. It’s amazing how quickly the names and illnesses disappear from memory, but I know that well in excess of 25 people were prayed for.
People came to me, too, to tell me that they’d been healed 18 months ago when I was last at the ‘Louange Cote Ouest’ conference: it’s always such a blessing when you hear, months or even years on, that someone was healed, and has stayed healed!
Friday lunchtime, we were invited to lunch in a lovely restaurant in Challon: the owner (with her husband) was prayed for Thursday evening, and God did a lot for her, and in her then. It was a joy to go and have a three-course meal and wine in a nice restaurant, and not have to pay! Thank you, Agathe and Bruno! It really is great food, highly recommended if ever you’re visiting this glorious part of the world.
The evening meeting was here in Brem-sur-Mer, one of the many lovely beach towns/villages on this fantastic coast, in the beautiful ‘departament’ – The Vendee. Again, a good number were there – and, as with he night before, a really lovely cross-section of cahrismatic Evangelicals and charismatic Catholics. I’d challenge any sceptic from the UK or the USA to guess who thy were praying for and with – whether that person was a Catholic or an Evangelly… the Spirit-filled Catholics are a delight, and actually – often – much ‘easier’ to pray for, and often far more responsive.
A pretty high percentage of the people on Friday night reponded for prayer: again, many of the ‘usual suspect’ diseases/infirmities/afflictions were in evidence – asthma, diabetes, osteoarthritis (I have a feeling that this infernal infirmity follows me around everywhere!): but many others, too – like crushed vertebrae from a fall, a lovely lad with arthritis (other than osteo!!) from head to feet…all healed. Many emotional issues God dealt with through prayer, too…
I think we left the hall well past midnight, it was 2315 when we left La Roche sur Yon on Thursday, too – but then with an hour and a half journey home…
And the weekend was excellent, too…. next blog!
