Italia

My God is an amazing God.  Giver of blessings, refresher of my heart, and lover of my soul.  He knew in advance not only that I would be going to Italy, but that my soul needed the trip to Italy.  He put it on my high school BFF's heart that she and I finally needed to take our European adventure that we had been planning for 12 years.

I had been so preoccupied with my nervousness about the trip (and I'm usually a travel LOVER) that it wasn't until I arrived to the airport to leave that I was truly excited.  But when I got excited, I was so excited I could hardly stand it!  And the trip was absolutely amazing. I will be posting four different blog postings (sorry) with highlights from each area of Italy that we visited. (Feel free to ignore, if you like, ha!)

When I say that the trip was amazing, it was truly amazing. Starting with the pure awe I felt with seeing ancient buildings and gorgeous beaches, continuing on with safe & fun travel, and ending with getting bumped to first class on my return flight, I felt gifted at every corner.  The Word says that every perfect gift comes from God, and so I will be thanking Him constantly. 

Now that I am back in the States, I can look at the trip and I know the inner workings of what it provided me. It gave me the time away that I so desperately needed after a very exhausting year.  The scenery gave this heart joy abounding. In the midst of seeing thousands of couples in Italy, which started to cause my heart aches of loneliness, God reached my heart the last night when I had alone time with Him, and reminded me how very deeply He loves me.  With every blessing He gave me (including the first class story, which I'll tell later), it was a such a lesson to me. God NEVER holds out on me. EVER. He has every single aspect of my life in order....including those I doubted before.  I hope that I never second guess Him again.

Definitely the trip of a lifetime!! An amazing 30th birthday adventure. Get ready for tons of pictures!!