Worth It All.

“I’m desperate in seeking, frantic believing
that the sight of Your face

is all that I need

I will say to You

It’s gonna be worth it
It’s gonna be worth it
It’s gonna be worth it all

I believe this”
- Rita Springer

This week hasn't been the easiest here in Italy due to multiple random things … but the song “Worth It All” has truly been playing on repeat in my head for days.

Natalie, Toni, and I have definitely been stretched in multiple aspects of our walk with the Lord recently. Sometimes we get a little discouraged for believing in Jesus and trying to live a life that glorifies Him, granted that feeling lasts all of about .3 seconds – but needless to say, we haven’t felt that way at home in a very very long time. We are very thankful for these opportunities to grow. We are proud to be who we are, daughters of the most-high King.

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” – Matthew 5:11-12

“Rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.” – 1 Peter 4:13-14

[[ Most Important ]]—we are frantically trying to finish all the details for our fantastic spring break trip!! Being a travel agent and making sure we have every detail figured out really isn’t a cakewalk. Katie Ross & Melissa Hays (two of our very best friends) are traveling Europe with us. We are going to Paris, Cork /Dublin, and Barcelona. I will be able to see my sister / Tally in Cork and we will also be in Dublin on St. Patrick’s Day. I can’t even believe the best vacation of my entire life is starting in less than a week!

Also, my right knee has been hurting since our second week here. I’m not exactly sure what is wrong with it; obviously it’s not an emergency. I’m just veryyy ready for the pain to go away. It’s hard to really expect much improvement considering we walk everywhere. The walk to school is 30 minutes. On Tuesday / Wednesday we spend 2 hours walking to and from school and obviously we travel a lot during the weekend. Sooo... If you think of it, I would really appreciate prayers for my knee to heal :)

In spite of all the madness, the Lord’s mercy and love for us continues to prevail over every circumstance.

• I bought my 4th pair of shoes this week. They are silver Nike high tops. According to Kirk, they are "cinderella high tops" ha. We definitely needed a more practical shoe for traveling. Thank you foot locker.
• We traveled to Pisa for our art history class on Friday. Although, I’m by no means an art or history buff – my love for learning about it is growing. The biblical history with each story Kirk tells us about a piece of art or baptistery / cathedral is phenomenal. We serve a mighty King.
• Toni and I were able to sit in a coffee shop with our sweet friend, Karmen, for a couple hours on Friday! This time consisted of some of our favorite activities: drinking cappuccino, talking about Jesus, communicating with workers in English, and laughing.
• We hiked around Cortona on Saturday. It’s the location of the film “Under The Tuscan Sun” and I’m not jokin’ when I say it was absolutely beautiful. One of the prettiest / sunniest days we’ve had yet. It made my heart so happy to be outside, in the sunshine, with some of my favorite people. We even had a half way normal sandwich for lunch – yayyy!
• Today, Sunday, we were able to sleep in, which our bodies desperately needed…. considering starting tomorrow until after spring break we will be going nonstop.
• This afternoon, we went to get coffee with our sweet neighbor, Carlo, and his friend Mirko. They were even kind enough to buy our drinks!! They took use to this Café we haven’t tried yet and were lucky enough to walk around on the roof. The top level was closed today, but since we are “American tourists” they made an exception! :)

Tonight we will go to bed with extremely happy hearts, knowing that our God is worth it all. Every trial, hardship, good & bad experience is worth it all. Living a life for Him is worth it all. Wouldn’t want it any other way. I pray that our actions and words glorify Him every day. Honored to serve a loving and caring creator.

“Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth.” -Psalm 57:5

“May all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation always say, “Let God be exalted!” – Psalm 70:4

His,

callyn.