“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord, “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” – Jeremiah 29:11 NLT
A few weeks ago I was cleaning up my iPhone, going through apps, photos, and notes just trying to clear up some storage space. I started through my notes, deleting anything that was irrelevant until I saw a folder labeled “Journal.” Seeming out of place since i’m awful at keeping journals, I open it up and there I see 3 typed letters to God that I had written during my travels through Europe in 2016.
I was reading through one of them and the words I typed a year a half ago are still reassuring me today.
I was still relatively new to my faith at the time, but it makes me wonder, was this God speaking through me? Was this His way of reassuring me of all of my uncertainties I had about returning home? All of the plans I did not have for a future I so badly wanted to know?
This letter was written on October 13th 2016. I can remember the moment perfectly. Erica and I were in Italy on the Amalfi Coast. It was our last day there before moving on to Naples. The day was gorgeous, bright sun with a sky scarcely dotted with clouds. Erica and I got a mid-day gelato and made our way to the jetty. I asked Erica if I could borrow her iPad, which I often did because I broke two phones on the trip, to write. She had her journal, I had her iPad, we settled in to two different places a good distance from each other and began to write.
I was writing everything that was coming to mind. I was writing about how in awe I was of this trip and the daily beauties of normal life I was able to witness, thanking Him for giving me Erica’s friendship and praying for her and her future plans, my frustrations and hesitations for the end of the trip to approach and having to return back to normal life. It felt like hours and mere minutes at the same time. After I finished writing, I closed up the iPad, found Erica sunbathing on a rock closer to the beach, and we just sat there watching. Watching the people play on the beach, watching the cars driving around the cliffside, watching the boats traveling back and forth across the water from port to port.
The day was a simple as it could be. No grands plans, no big gestures, just a nice day with some gelato and a view. A day that turned into to being one of the most memorable days of the trip.
