Moving to France, for me, was an enormous leap of faith. As I began preparing to leave the United States, I had no frame of reference for what the experience would hold. I was just coming out of a very painful season of my life that left me very hurt and feeling ungrounded. I had had a lot of anticipation about what would come of my move to France. Although studying in France has been a magical experience, it certainly required me to face things that no amount of preparation could have helped me with.

For me, it started becoming very apparent that more was expected from me than I originally signed up for with my position on the study abroad trip. It quickly became very exhausting, both mentally and emotionally. I found myself in a position of trying to balance the needs of everyone else with my schoolwork, sleep, church obligations, and more importantly my emotional and spiritual health. I eventually hit a point where I felt very overwhelmed and defeated. I normally pride myself on being able to handle a lot at once and doing it well. I guess you could say, I reached the point where I had to be humble and realize that I couldn’t do it all. Not in this season. This season, the Lord had something different for me.

The Lord was chasing me down to bring healing into my life from the pain I had just gone through. I had to choose to make that my priority. Everything else I was taking on didn’t matter. I shifted my focus and made my emotional and spiritual health my only priority. From there, God did the rest. While my intimate journey with the Lord through my pain is for myself, I will say that one of the most impactful tools He used through it all was Pastor Nicolas and Beatrice. Through my relationship with them, the Lord restored and brought healing to many areas in my life. They were mentors for my time in France and will continue to be a part of my life forever. They truly cared for me, challenged me, and encouraged me. They partnered with God and called forth the good in me and gifting’s in me when I felt empty and like a failure. The wisdom and encouragement I found in them has changed my life more than I could ever explain. They were one of the greatest blessings I received from this experience.