Dear friends, will you forgive me for not keeping you more up to date with my happenings and whereabouts? As this journey continues, I am finding it harder and harder to blog. Blogging is not something that comes natural to me and this lifestyle has become so normal now that I forget you all still wonder where I am and what I’m doing!
Today I started El Camino de Santiago. It is a pilgrimage that many people around the world come to walk. Some are searching for a deeper meaning to life while others want to check it off their list of goals. No matter the reason, I have learned in just one day that we are all in this together. We are all connected by this one thing – the journey.
To be honest, yesterday I was feeling completely defeated. We had just come off an overnight bus from Barcelona and I had gotten no sleep. We arrived at our albergue to check in and the more people that arrived, the more injuries I saw. Toes with blisters, swollen ankles, taped up knees, people limping everywhere. I observed their clothing and realized the summer wardrobe I’d been carrying all year wouldn’t do me a bit of good now. Our first day would be cold, rainy, and windy. At one point I became gripped with such fear that I absolutely thought I wouldn’t be able to do this. I haven’t felt fear like that in such a long time. I knew I needed to pray and get out of that mindset, but at the time my mind was completely shutting down and only focused on how hard the next 15 days would be on my body. Praise God that after talking through my fears and focusing on the reality that I only have to take it day by day, I was able to put the fear behind me and have a good night’s rest.
Now that day 1 is completed, I can say that it wasn’t terrible! Yes, it was rainy, windy and cold, but walking with someone and meeting new people along the way made it a lot easier. Knowing that you’re not the only one who is freezing or whose feet hurt makes it feel like you really can go on and finish.
Thankfully, this should be the only rainy day and after today the weather will be a lot better. We will be walking an average of 15 Miles each day for the next 14 days where we will finish in Santiago, Spain. We were able to take a lot out of our packs and send ahead the things we wouldn’t need so my pack is much lighter now! I know there will be days that will be far more physically exhausting. Continue to keep us in your prayers for physical health, that our bodies will get the rest that we need, and that ultimately we will be able to share Jesus with others who are walking the Camino with us.
Fun fact: More than 200,000 pilgrims walk the Camino every year!
