I’ve frequently used the term “mountain top experiences” to reference powerful moments where God has moved and showed up in my life. Yet Journey Italy was the first time I had a mountain top experience, well, on an actual mountain. Doing my first ever hike(!!!) up a mountain in Assisi following both my friends in the present and the footsteps of St. Francis in the past, I met God in a powerful way.
Can I be honest? Study abroad was overall incredibly challenging for me. I was away from all of the comforts of home, my fiancé, food I was accustomed to, and little things like door knobs that make sense. On top of all that, God spoke some very challenging things to me as He encouraged me to change, uproot, and reexamine a lot of my previous life. For every step forward I took abroad, at times it felt like I was taking two steps back.
But God- my favorite words in the Bible. But God used Journey Italy to do two things: remove me from a city where I was struggling and felt alone, and place me somewhere filled with His presence, His people, and His promises.
InterVarsity provided me with a phenomenal community to laugh, cry, pray, study God’s Word, eat, play board games (and lose) with, and to simply enjoy. My burdened heart felt rest being in such a holy place that echoed with the history of the faithful and centuries of wearied yet joyful pilgrims. Being able to touch the stones with my hands where saints walked, pray in the same pews, and breathe in the same pure air was spiritually powerful. We traveled to sites of miracles and prayed in ancient churches. We stayed with the kindest nuns imaginable and walked so much my shoes wanted to fall off. We journeyed together.
Maybe study abroad has been a dream for you. Maybe it’s been a nightmare. Maybe it just felt like one long, prolonged, sleepless night filled with every emotion imaginable. Wherever you may find yourself, I encourage you to find some form of retreat. Maybe that’s to Italy and maybe that’s in a room of your flat. Wherever it may be, God is calling you to take a seat at His table. To read His Word. To have communion with the saints. To rest. To journey with Him.
-Katherine
Journey With Us
Study abroad students love to travel in Europe. Journey is a way of turning wanderlust into an opportunity to be transformed into a spiritual pilgrim, renew study-abroad culture, and develop into a world changer who encounters God abroad. Explore all the Journeys we offer!
