Fully Known: Sharing My Life
In my last blog post, I shared how special it was to have friends from San Diego come visit me in Bucharest. Well, just two weeks later, I got another incredible gift from God—my parents and my cousin Natali came to Romania for two weeks to see my life here, encourage the church, and spend time with the RevivEE team.
They stayed in the sweetest little Airbnb in Old Town overlooking Hanu’lui Manuc, one of the oldest inns in Europe. Every morning they woke up to the sound of the city I now call home (whether that’s a good or bad thing is for them to decide). They walked the same streets I walk every day, rode the crowded trams, experienced the temperamental March weather, and saw firsthand my rhythm of life here in Bucharest.
Together we explored some of Romania’s most famous sites. We toured the Palace of Parliament—the second largest administrative building in the world—and spent a morning at Therme București, Europe’s largest spa. We wandered through Old Town, shared meals together, and had the kind of unhurried conversations that only happen when people truly settle into one another’s worlds.
My mom and I especially spent hours talking—about life, faith, relationships, purpose, and everything in between. Some conversations were lighthearted and funny, while others were deep and reflective. There’s something comforting about being known by your parents, even as an adult. No matter how independent I become, there’s still something grounding about hearing my mom’s input or watching my dad quietly observe and encourage.
But the most meaningful part of the trip was not the sightseeing. It was having my family experience my actual life here.
They visited my apartment and finally got to see the place I describe in photos and FaceTimes. They met the RevivEE team—the people who have become my family over these last several months. They attended church services, spent time with disciples throughout the week, joined our game days and intergenerational dinners, and fully immersed themselves in the community that has shaped me. My dad even preached on Sunday.
And they loved it! They loved the warmth of the church, the intentionality of the relationships, and the heart behind RevivEE. I could also sense relief from them—relief knowing that I have been cared for, supported, and surrounded by good people while living so far from home.
It was also so fun having my cousin Natali there. Somehow, despite living on different continents, we always find ways to meet up around the world. She lives in Brazil, but within the last seven months we’ve seen each other three times and traveled through five countries together. Natali is adventurous, relational, and effortlessly makes friends wherever she goes, so naturally she fit right in with the RevivEE team.
Overall, having my family in Romania felt strangely like bringing “home” into my new world. These are the people I love most, the people I process life with most honestly, and now they were finally seeing the people, places, and rhythms that have shaped this season of my life.
Because the truth is: you can explain your experiences to people all day long, but there are certain things they cannot fully understand unless they live them with you. They don’t know the streets you walk while on FaceTime with them from the tram. They don’t fully understand what it feels like to live in a place where your language, humor, and culture constantly make you stand out. They can’t quite picture the exhaustion of daily cross-cultural living or the beauty of slowly building a new life somewhere unfamiliar. They hear your stories, but they don’t fully feel them.
For months, so much of my RevivEE experience has felt deeply personal and difficult to articulate. I’ve tried to explain both the beauty and the challenges—the joy of spiritual growth, the emotional ups and downs, and the incredible closeness to God that has emerged through it all. But often, words fail.
And yet, there has always been Someone who fully understood:
“You have searched me, Lord, and you know me… You perceive my thoughts from afar. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” — Psalm 139
David writes with such confidence that God sees him completely—not just externally, but internally. God understands every emotion, every fear, every transition, every joy, and every unseen thought.
So while my parents now understand my life here a little more fully after experiencing it themselves, God has understood it all from the very beginning. He understood the excitement I felt arriving in Romania in August. He understood the story behind homesickness, the identity crisis, the joy, the exhaustion, the spiritual renewal, and the countless moments no one else saw—none of it was hidden from Him.
And maybe that is one of the greatest gifts of following God: even when no one else completely understands your life, He always does. And somehow, that makes me feel deeply known, deeply cared for, and deeply at home.
