In Germany, I visited the Nazi concentration camp in Dachau, where I cried in sadness for the victims of such a horrific period in our world's history. I will never be able to understand fully what each soul had to go through in order to survive, nor will I ever be able to forget those who perished in the process.
I also visited the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris as it approaches its 850th anniversary in the coming year. I was in awe of those who built this church from the ground up and convinced that but for the grace of God something so beautiful could be built by human hands so long ago yet still exist today.
My take away from this trip is two-fold: 1). I realize how historically young America is in relation to the rest of the world and that I still have so much more to see, and 2). How tenacious humans are in their quest to survive, succeed, hope, create, and thrive.
For me, everything I experienced on this trip was made better by the fact that I had such a difficult and challenging past year. And I know I've said this before, but I can't stress this enough now. I feel blessed that God found me worthy to face such an unthinkable disease such as cancer. He gave me the gift of discovering in myself a deeper faith and inner strength I never realized I had until now. He also gave me new eyes through which to discover and appreciate a new world all around me.
I'm excited to share the details of this trip with my children (whom I miss dearly) and hope to pass on to them a desire to travel or study abroad one day as well. While I wished I'd been to Europe earlier in my life, I can't say I would have necessarily appreciated it as much as I do now.
With that, I give thanks to my husband for planning this trip and taking me, and to God for teaching me what life is really all about.
Enjoy the pictures!
XO
Lisa
2 comments:
Thank you for sharing your journey to Europe! The photos are great...Is that circle window Chartes church in Paris? I had some one send me a story once about how people who worked on those cathedrals and castles knew they would never see them finished ...sometimes it took 100 years to build! I bet you got a lot of info like that...I'm so happy you feel well enough to go and enjoy it all:)XXOO~Aunt Ellen
What an awesome trip! Love the pics. I was thinking the same thing as Aunt Ellen...how the people worked so hard at their craft, never seeing the finished project. So glad you could see it!
XoXo Julie
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