I recently embarked on an absolutely amazing journey, one that I can only give credit and props to God for. I just spent two and a half weeks in Europe, well to be more specific France, Belgium, and England. I was fortunate enough to join my younger sisters semester abroad for the last leg of their journey which included the three countries I just mentioned. I went with little expectations as to what I would take away from this experience and man was I ever surprised in the end.
If you have read my past two blogs you will already know that some life altering events have occurred within the past 6 months. Well they just continued to pour out as I was in Europe.
Initially I was very hesitant about how I would integrate into the group. There was a total of approximately 33 people, all who knew each other from school and who had just spent the past 5 weeks camping and traveling across Europe with one another. Would I fit in, or would I feel like a complete outcast? Well two days had passed and I was completely convinced that I would not be making any new friends. I told my sister "I don't paint, I don't understand art, I can't play guitar, I am not a writer, I was a science major, I DO NOT FIT IN." My sister convinced me not to make judgements and to just go with the flow. I was trying, truly I was but I wondered if I could or would be accepted for who I am.
Two more days passed and Paris was in our rear view mirror and Belgium a picture painted over the horizon. I was starting to feel a little better about the integration process and really felt like I had made a hasty judgement of the people I was spending the next three weeks with. To be honest I cannot pin point an exact moment or interaction when everything changed, instead it was an accumulation of heart felt conversations where I was able to share who I am, tell people where I have been and discuss where I am heading or hoping to go in my life. It was wonderful; I was finally able to put everything I have learned about myself in the past 6 months into action, and better yet people responded positively to the mask free Hannah. Who would have known? Ironically God did :)
All that validation and healing from the past months that God had been doing on me finally was concreted into my heart by the people that he put in my life.
I have discovered that life is an ongoing renovation and if you allow God in you will be drastically and indescribably transformed in a way that no one can ever put into adequate words. He rescued my heart and so delicately has been doing surgery ever since.
