Julia and I were holding hands when she said it. “Mommy, my teacher makes us keep our tongues still when we are singing.”

“What do you mean?”

She broke free and ran ahead up our stairs and stood there, singing a sweet French song, but not moving her tongue. It remained pinned to the bottom of her mouth. Her French was a bit garbled as a result of her paralyzed tongue, but she sung in quite a projected manner.

So, there you have it! If you want to be a professional singer, Julia has one bit of advice. Sing with your mouth wide open, but your tongue resting on the bottom of your jaw!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

On another singing note, our cell group met tonight. We ate Greek Gyros, homemade berry iced tea, cous cous salad with cucumbers, tomatoes and mint, and a zucchini casserole. Sitting around our outdoor table was the Heyman family, the Urbanowiczs, and Max and Valerie–the cutest French friends EVER, oh, and us as well. We sang several worship songs as I played the guitar (please pray I would improve!!!). We ended our worship time with the song Your Renown, a Shaun Groves tune that really says why we are here.

Lord it’s Your renown
Your eternal fame
That I live for now
It’s Your name
It’s Your name
For Your name.

We sang that song at Lakepointe church several times before we left to come here and every time we sang it I wept like a baby. Once, Sophie stood next to me and we cried together as we realized that whatever we faced in moving away from everything easy, that it was all for God’s fame, for His glory, for His name to be made great.

As we sang it together tonight (with tongues flapping–sorry Julia!), tears came to my eyes. Our words hushed together as the dusk settled into the song. I could almost see God smile. And I felt grateful that He had entrusted such a task to us. I just pray His renown does resonate here.

Our French neighbor saw me as we were finishing our time of worship and said it was lovely! She was pulling in her shutters for the night. As she did so, she said we sang beautifully and she enjoyed it. God’s renown is spreading note by note, kind act by kind act.

I wonder just how much the pure act of worshipping God touches our corner of the world. Even tongue-flapping worship!