God Bless Italy.

[[sorry my words are so jumbled. My mind is kind of all over the place tonight!]]

I absolutely love America. I really am quite obsessed with just about every aspect of our country. But the past week or so I have been feeling an overwhelming amount of American pride. I miss the stars & stripes. If I could wear red, white, and blue every day for the rest of my life – I would!!! I thoroughly enjoy southern accents and prefer them to Italian accents any day. My heart seriously races when I see an American flag over here. It might just be the south that I’m obsessed with, but either way, I feel so fortunate to live in America. Thank you Jesus for a country founded on biblical truths and a history of leaders who turned to God & His word for guidance.

Although I do love America with my whole heart, traveling is something I also really love. I like meeting new people, seeing the different architectural structures & scenery that isn’t available in the states. Italy is not the only other country and culture I’ve visited, but it’s the first culture I’ve actually had to fully submerse myself into. I’ve had to become a part of the culture – not just get by for a week or two. By trying to fit in to the Italian culture, my eyes have been opened to multiple aspects that I do not like, or necessarily agree with. Those specific parts of their culture were really starting to weigh me down. With each passing day, I found myself praising the Lord more and more for allowing me to call the states my home.

After realizing that I would make myself miserable by allowing those things to eat at me, I began praying for new perspective about their culture. I desperately wanted my heart to have a better outlook on living in Italy. For goodness sakes – IT’S ITALY! I’m pretty good at putting my girl pants on, mentally talking myself thorough situations, and dealing with it. But that was the last thing I wanted for this trip, to just “get through it”. This weekend was exactly what I needed. My soul feels incredibly refreshed, like I’m back in the ‘honeymoon’ phase of being in Italy, but it’s not a phase any more.

We took a field trip with our art history to class to Siena. We traveled by bus, allowing us to be still for over an hour and completely take in the absolutely breath taking and captivating country we live in. it was the Tuscany we’ve all seen in movies and dreamt of coming to see. The reality of God’s presence in every nation and every corner of the Earth became all the more evident. I arrived to Siena with an extremely happy heart after listening to music of God’s goodness and viewing His strikingly beautiful creation.

While in Siena, these two boys walked into the same museum as our class and joined on with our lecture. At first you can imagine the confusion we were all experiencing as we saw these boys intently listening to Kirk bestow immense amounts of knowledge on us, but I they were just eager for guidance through the museum – especially in English! The boys were from Georgia and one of them asked me where I was from. Needless to say, “Denton” was the key word and his immediate response was “have you heard of Matt Chandler?” It was quite possibly the closest to home I’ve felt the entire trip. I’m half way across the world, in Siena, in a museum, & met a boy from the states who listens to Matt! I felt like it was kind of the Lord’s way of reminding me He is with me every step of the way, He knew exactly when I needed encouragement. Praise Jesus for sweet reminders of His love for me & His people.

After Siena, we spent our weekend in Rome. Oh my landddsss -- absolutely astonishing city! There really is no way my words could ever do it justice. Walking through the Sistine chapel, Vatican Museum, and St. Peter’s Basilica as a believer in Jesus Christ truly was life changing. Being able to see the exact spot that Peter was crucified made the reality and weight of Christ being a human being, once living on the same earth we do, a thousand times more real. It was kind of mind blowing to think how many hundreds of thousands of people visit the Vatican every year, perhaps they don’t believe in Jesus – but there’s no way to walk through those buildings and just simply see art -- all created about the same man, Jesus. Multiple artists created those works of art for God’s glory without receiving any payment. Simply Amazing.

My love for Jesus grows deeper and deeper with every day & experience we have. Even though Italy is no America– it’s definitely stirring my heart for the Lord. There’s something unique about being taken back in history and knowing that that's the same God we serve today. Can't help but Praise Jesus every step of the way!

My new perspective is also teaching me to enjoy eating gelato with my best friends, treasure long talks on the train getting to know other OU students, embrace being a college student by staying in hostels & receiving discounts, and fully feel the presence of the Lord every step of our journey here in Italia.

lovin' Italy more each day,

callyn.