A basic person I was only a straightforward person, one of those you see regularly in the road … Nothing truly unique… I've done idiotic things, not all that much however, and not all the more frequently thananyone else, a really ordinary person at long last… (I haven't drove a pack or killedanybody, sorry!) My folks held a little beverages shop (coke, brew, wine… ) and I now and again worked there after school. I most likely might have taken it over and had a settled life, as common as it gets… But I was inadequate with regards to something more profound, something that I could feel in my guts; something that would taste valid …
Finding a unimaginable fortune!
At some point, at school, I was engaged with an old paper assortment. I went into this specific house that had some sort of Greek segments in the passage. What I didn't know about was that the family that lived there, (and that I didn't have the foggiest idea) had been petitioning God for me consistently.
At the point when I strolled into that house, I could barely handle it: somebody was insane enough to discard a whacking incredible heap of funnies!
Those funnies were designated "Tournesol" (Sunflower).
I began to understand them and something hit me truly quick:
– They're discussing God! God … ? I realized it was something individuals discussed in those houses with a steeple on top and that are constantly shut, something for strict individuals or for a faction, however I was unable to comprehend why for heaven's sake somebody would discuss God in a comic book (!?!) Then I felt a delicate voice, touched with harmony, in my musings, letting me know, – Read on, it's to your benefit.
For quite a while I actually ate up those funnies that discussed the Gospel and of Jesus Christ's huge and unbelievable love for me.
God himself was there in my room (he's all over, really) … and I let him know: – I give you my life … I know it's not a lot … but rather I'm offering it to you. Since the time that day, my life has never been the equivalent … New measurements, an equal world … I got myself a little Bible and began finding God as a companion. I would go through hours looking for him … And finding new measurements and encountering mind blowing stuff! With the goal that's the means by which in 1989, my reality improved, I found a more profound feeling of life; I was 15. That was the start of an existence of experience, (I'm not misrepresenting!) that I can't begin to depict now. Possibly next time … Alain begins with funnies …
Alone, with nothing…
On day, as I was going to a young gathering, the speaker called out: – We all have gifts – … . who needs to serve God with theirs? On the off chance that you do, hold up!
I was at the rear of the room, thinking.
I sincerely didn't trust I had a specific ability, aside from possibly an assortment of awful grades at school … I had no preparation and no activity…
That night, I was one of the main ones that stood up and I told God:
– Lord, I can't do a thing … I have nothing, yet I offer it to you … you accomplish something with it…
Toward the finish of the gathering, the speaker (he had spotted me before) asked me:
– So, what's your ability? – I don't have the foggiest idea, I have nothing uncommon … I attract a little my maths scratch pad… perhaps I could get into funnies … – So that is your blessing? Alright, we should ask! – Huh? Umm, er, sure, alright!"
I would not like to ruin his night.
Fire
I needed to impart to everybody what I had found, what had filled my life. I needed to spread satisfaction and expectation in others' lives. So I began drawing like a crazy person, each night, at times even the entire night. I got into Arts School (that was truly hard for me, I wasn't generally talented). What's more, I graduated 5 years and a half later with a visual creator degree.
Straight down from paradise!
My significant other and I at that point concluded it was time I devoted myself to fulltime drawing.
From the outset, I began with working for a few papers… But the more I drew, the lower the financial balance went. By and by, we realized we owed something to individuals. What I was doing was significant and would meet a genuine need, since nothing like this had ever existed… We both made a deal to avoid discussing our monetary issues with our loved ones, yet just with God.
Alone before an unfilled refrigerator
One morning, I opened the cooler and discovered it almost unfilled, and I unexpectedly got apprehensive: – Am I nuts? … Can God truly mediate and take care of us? I went through the entire day stressing. Luckily, that night, I ran into this section in the Bible:
Matthew 6:31-33: "So don't stress, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will wedrink?' or 'What will we wear?' For the agnostics pursue every one of these things, and your magnificent Father realizes that you need them. However, look for first his realm and his honorableness, and every one of these things will be given to you also." (NIV)
So I approached God to excuse me for stressing, and I expressed gratitude toward him for the food that would be accommodated the next day. What's more, I nodded off calmly.
The following morning, an elderly person was at the entryway, his arms loaded up with provisions. For the seven years that followed, God actually took care of us! I could give you so a lot more models yet … how about we continue with our story.
Demoralization…
I was two months from completing my first comic book and abruptly, I simply needed to surrender everything. Valid, we'd never needed food, yet with my exhausted shoes, my torn pants and my military coat, (it kept me overall quite warm!) I presumably resembled a vagrant. I felt the weight on my shoulders of "what others must think". Individuals around us were going on siestas, possessed one or even two vehicles, had a TV, purchased anything they desired… .while, I returned to the shop to restore void jugs wanting to gather a couple of coins. What's more, as though that wasn't sufficient, Eliane and I were experiencing a harsh time in our marriage. Despite the fact that I continued going to chapel consistently, I simply didn't want to implore any longer.
Mister the fallen angel…
One day as I was meandering in the woodland, "mister the villain" who felt "worried" by my circumstance began to make me think: – Let go of all that, leave your better half, your drawings, your God. You're a junky Christian in any case. (As though relinquishing God planned to fathom anything!) I might have released everything without a doubt, yet not Jesus. As the years progressed, our fellowship had become what I treasure the most. So I said to myself: – #*@ !! No more! This must change in my mind! I will ask till I locate my internal harmony once more.
God came the exact second I made that goal. I felt his tranquility in me by and by.
At a similar period, three or four individuals I scarcely knew came to see me and disclosed to me they felt called with a mission to appeal to God for five individuals in the nation, and that I was one of them (???!!!) It seemed like a joke…
The call
Around a similar time, the telephone rang, and someone I didn't know began to reveal to me this abnormal story: – Sir, you don't have any acquaintance with me, yet I've had a dream of you addressing a great many youngsters … What would i be able to accomplish for you? I was unable to accept what I was hearing and stammered: – Well, ummm, I don't have the foggiest idea … What's your activity? – I deal with an American firm. – Hah! Well if that is the situation … Could you loan me US $ 16 500 so I can print my new book? – I'll hit you up in a couple of days …
He got back to a couple of days after the fact, and said alright.
My first book, "Idées recues 1" (accessible in English as Conventional Wisdom) was self-altered and immediately turned into a triumph. It was trailed by "Marcel", "Robi" (additionally accessible in English), "Idées reçues 2", "Willy Grunch" (which won three honors at the International Christian Contest in Albuquerque), "Les vacances de Marcel" and "Idées recues 3".
I got multiple times the main prize at the International Christian Comic Book Festival, in Angoulême, France. (The greatest celebration of its sort in Europe).
Today, in excess of 100 000 books have been sold in Europe. A few books have been distributed in China, in the USA and in a few different nations that I would never have even longed for… However, I know very well that there are specialists considerably more capable than me.
I consistently get various messages from individuals who were profoundly moved and brought back to life declarations – and that contacts me emphatically.
At long last, in 2013, MOONDOG ANIMATION studios delivered five mysteries of a TV arrangement transformation of my comic "Willy Grunch", in see for it to be offered to significant TV networks with a possibility to arrive at a large number of individuals. This happened to a person without ability who defended Jesus. I'm only a straightforward person, not all that much, yet my Friend is extraordinary …
