The challenge in France is finding real estate agents willing to speak English. Our French is very primitive.
God will open doors! 🙏
The fifth evening on Sword Beach. And Le reaches the last words of Romans. The doxology. The final Amen. Twenty-one entries — from Aldeaseca de Armuña in Spain to the Normandy coast.
And on the evening she closes the greatest letter ever written, Le brings a very practical burden: the house hunt, and a language she is only beginning to learn.
But look at what she says next — and look at what she said on August 26, the first evening in France, at Saint-Paul-lès-Dax: "Glad to be in France. The way was opened." And tonight: "God will open doors!" The way was opened then. The doors will open now. Same God. Same ability.
And tonight's reading is precisely about that ability: to Him who is ABLE. And Bowen's text: "The Lord God will HELP me, therefore shall I not be confounded." Help is exactly what Le needs — and help is exactly what the verse promises.
Shall I not be confounded. Not confounded. Not stranded. Not stuck. And the pilgrim who has been reading Louis Segond aloud every evening for a month is less primitive in French than she thinks. The God who made the gospel known to all nations — speaks every language in the room.
"Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith—"
"À celui qui peut vous affermir selon mon Évangile et la prédication de Jésus-Christ, conformément à la révélation du mystère caché pendant des siècles, mais manifesté maintenant par les écrits des prophètes, d'après l'ordre du Dieu éternel, et porté à la connaissance de toutes les nations, afin qu'elles obéissent à la foi."
Romains 16:25-26 · Louis Segond"Able." Qui peut. Dynamenō — from dynamis. Romans 1:16: the gospel is the POWER of God unto salvation. The letter opened with God's power. It closes with God's ability. Same root. Same God. The power that saved is the power that establishes — and the power that opens doors.
"Establish." Affermir. Stērixai — to set fast, to plant so it cannot be moved. Romans 14:4: God is able to make him stand. Now: God is able to ESTABLISH you. Not "you must stand firm." He establishes. The pilgrim doesn't hold herself up.
"The mystery kept secret, now made manifest." Le mystère caché... manifesté maintenant. Not a puzzle — a secret now revealed. Hidden through the ages. Now out in the open. Made known to all nations. The gospel that traveled from Jerusalem to Rome to the Jesuits in South America to Brazil — to a motorhome on Sword Beach. Still traveling.
"For obedience to the faith." Afin qu'elles obéissent à la foi. Le — look closely. Romans 1:5: "grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations." Romans 16:26: "for obedience to the faith." Hypakoēn pisteōs — the exact same phrase. The first sentence of the letter and the last. Paul closed the circle deliberately. Sixteen chapters — and the bookends match.
"To God, alone wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen."
"À Dieu seul sage, soit la gloire aux siècles des siècles, par Jésus-Christ! Amen!"
Romains 16:27 · Louis SegondThe last word of Romans is GLORY.
Two days ago, Le said: "glorify God anyway." And Paul ends the greatest letter ever written with exactly that — glory to God. Not glory to Paul. Not glory to Rome. Not glory to whoever understood the doctrine best. To God alone wise — be glory.
Seul sage. Alone wise. Not the scholars. Not the theologians. Not the debaters. God alone. And Le said it plainly yesterday: I am not in a competition to know more than anybody. Paul agrees. The wisdom belongs to God. The glory belongs to God. And the race belongs to the runner God set it before.
"We need help from God to know our helplessness. The greatest of all our enemies is in the royal chamber of our inmost being and rules us with a rod of iron, though it be bound about with ivy leaves."
"He proceeds with unspeakable gentleness. He gives experience of his power to sustain, in various ways. He gives a sense of his own love, wisdom, and faithfulness that prepares the heart to encounter the desolation which it dreads. And by the time that we come into the presence of the dreaded thing, faith has won the victory, and we wonder at ourselves for ever having felt such a shrinking from a trial so easily borne. Then is the Lord glorified."
George Bowen · On Isaiah 50:7Both readings end in glory. Paul: to God alone wise, be glory. Bowen: then is the Lord glorified. Two thousand years apart. Same ending.
"We need help from God to know our helplessness." The first help we need — is to see that we need help. Le: I was mercied. I didn't graduate from sinner to saint. That IS knowing your helplessness. Bowen's image: the man who does not attempt to climb the Alps has no need of a guide. Only the climber knows she needs help.
"A rod of iron, bound about with ivy leaves." What an image. The tyrant enthroned in the heart, holding an iron rod — decorated with ivy so it looks harmless. Sin dressed up as something pretty. Pride wrapped in leaves. And we need God's help even to see it.
"He proceeds with unspeakable gentleness." Bowen's tenderest line. God does not drop the trial on an unprepared heart. He gives experience of His power to sustain — first. He gives a sense of His love, wisdom, faithfulness — before the dreaded thing arrives. So that when it comes — faith has already won.
Le — that is the last six months. The mornings. The devotionals. The Romans study. God giving experience of His power to sustain — preparing the heart. The apartment. The crossing. The heat. The unbearable world. And by the time the dreaded things arrived — the pilgrim wondered why she had ever shrunk from them. Tests are not meant to break you. Nothing is left undone. Glorify God anyway.
"Then is the Lord glorified." 🙏
"The challenge in France is finding real estate agents willing to speak English. Our French is very primitive. God will open doors!"
Le · Lion-sur-Mer, Sword Beach · September 14, 2026 · The last words of Romans — to Him who is able to establish you — and the doors aheadGod Will Open Doors
August 26: "the way was opened." September 14: "God will open doors." Same God. Same ability. Shall I not be confounded.
The Bookends Match
"Obedience to the faith" — Romans 1:5 and 16:26. The exact same phrase. Paul closed the circle deliberately.
Ivy on the Iron Rod
The enemy enthroned in the heart — an iron rod decorated with ivy leaves. We need God's help even to see it.
Unspeakable Gentleness
He prepares the heart before the trial arrives. By the time the dreaded thing comes — faith has already won.