For the past year, I have called Albania my home. This beautiful Mediterranean country is speckled with stone castles, Ottoman bridges, and ancient amphitheaters.  While I loved living and teaching in such an incredible place, I was constantly faced with the challenge of learning a difficult language, strange culture, and new faces every day. The kids in the village where we worked were memorizing a new scripture during our time spent with them.  It was Psalm 139, where David proclaims:

“ 7Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.”  

This passage is reflected in these paintings from Albania. I found that no matter where God had called me, whether that was Tirana, Albania or Louisville, Kentucky, he would cover me with his love and grace.  I am comforted by the thought that with God being at the center of my life, I am never alone, even if that means being called to the far side of the sea.