Unpacking Italy

I’m still unpacking from my trip to Italy.  

I’m unpacking my suitcase, perusing all the art supplies I brought home. I’m unpacking what I learned about creating art and living an artful life. I’m unpacking my thoughts about adventure and courage. 

And I’m unpacking the wonder at how God works in my life. 

I have a feeling I’m going to be unpacking from this journey for quite a long time.

Months ago when I first learned about this creative art and faith retreat in Bellagio, Italy, led by Laura McCollough, with guest artist instructors Jeanne Oliver and Stephanie Ackerman, I wasn’t sure why I was so interested in going.

I don’t create art pieces. I’ve never tried hand lettering or art doodling. I’m not a world traveler, since Paris is my lone passport stamp. 

Yet I felt such a strong pull to go, I figured Italy must be calling my name. 

But really, it was God who was calling me there.

Inviting me to widen my perspective, live larger, and paint outside the lines. And at the heart of it all, there he was waiting to show me yet another facet of who he is. 

I considered him in the ancient splendor of the Duomo in the center of Milan, the magnificent Gothic cathedral.

I saw him in Leonardo da Vinci’s stunning masterpiece, The Last Supper, as I stood overwhelmed in the convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie. I remembered back to last summer when I sat in Orlando reading a book about the painting, never dreaming that I would see it with my own eyes. 

I even recognized him in the beautiful buildings of Milan as I walked the streets of the fashion capital of the world, home to the original Prada store.

Through the week, I caught a glimpse of his fingerprints on the hearts of the 24 new friends I first met as I boarded a bus for the curvy drive to Lake Como for the faith and art retreat. 

I had decided to take my chances without Dramamine but at the last minute, the ladies on the bus convinced me to take it. Even though I gripped the seat in front of me the entire way, it wasn’t as bad as I expected. 

{On the way back, I skipped the Dramamine!}

I pinched myself as I stood on the terrace of the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni, a historic elegant hotel overlooking Lake Como, at a welcome reception to kick off our week together.

I was charmed by Hotel Florence, run by the same family for over a century, as I woke up every morning to push open the shutters to see the beautiful vista of the mountains and the lake.

I sat with serious artists while I tried to treat art paper with gesso and pick up a charcoal pencil to make my first attempt at sketching a face. 

I had been hoping for my first art lesson to be a blob of water or a feathery cloud, but here I was trying to line up a nose between two eyeballs {and not very successfully, I might add}. 

When it was time to use scissors and glue to make a travel journal, I felt relieved but not exactly more competent.

I spent the week visiting one stunningly beautiful spot after another. 

Walking through historic villas and gardens, boating over the lake to charming restaurants, savoring the most delicious food I’ve ever tasted in settings I could only dream about.

And I thought about how I got here. 

Four years ago, I wanted to write about a disappointing relationship experience as a guest blogger. But there was just one problem. I was a writer without a blog. 

With the help of some gifted friends, I launched a blog and it has forever changed me.

It has transformed, reshaped, inspired and awakened. It has encouraged, motivated, summoned and revitalized. 

But most of all it has been the passageway for me to find my way to the heart of God and to discover what my own heart has been searching for.

Now that I’m home, I’m realizing this trip to Italy is like a beautiful package swathed in layers of colorful tissue paper that I’ll be unwrapping for a long time to come. 

Every experience revealed the adventure, courage, hope, peace and joy that I was hoping to discover.

Because I found that as I stepped into the ocean, God parted the waters.

I'm linking up with my friends at Holley Gerth's place at Coffee for your Heart and with Bonnie Gray at the Faith Barista. Join me there!