The Smokies. — natalia banna

A couple months ago, Keiko, Jalyssa, and myself were feeling spent. With a lot on our minds and a lot of changes going on around us we wanted a get away, but not to another city or to a suburb, we wanted to get OUT. So we planned a trip to the mountains: the Smoky Mountains.

Photo: Jalyssa Valentin ( @jalyssajazzmin )

There's something different about getting out to the mountains or taking a long trip to a nature destination. Getting out in what God created that serves the purpose that God created it for... to bring glory to Him.

And that's exactly what it does, when I was looking out at the mountains I couldn't help but stand in awe of how beautiful and how big His creation is, and How big our God is... It felt like he curated everything over time for that moment of revelation, for that moment of encountering Him. All of us went out there seeking an escape from our normal, because we were getting to complacent in our normal... we needed to get out to seek Him. And we all encountered Him with different revelations on what we needed to hear... how cool is God??

The mountains were amazing at this time of year! We found a KAO campsite and stayed mostly along the New Found Gap Road...

We woke up early early early to catch the sunrise almost every morning (whoops on the first morning LOL) and then headed over to gatlinsburg to grab a coffee before heading on our hike for the day. The hikes definitely were harder than we were expecting... but the views were more rewarding than we could expect! We hiked the Rainbow Falls Trails, the Mingo Falls trail, and the Allum Cave Trails (this one was ROUGH but breathtaking😍 😍 😍 )

This was definately one of the best trips I've been able to take so far and I seriously suggest that if you have a weekend to go out, really get out into nature and ground yourself where you are and experience what's going on around you. Take a day or two to disconnect from home, work, social media etc...whatever was distracting you and connect with your Creator and His creation. I gaurantee you'll come back feeling refreshed and inspired and ready to take on any challenge thrown at you with a new sense of purpose and drive.✊🏻✊🏻✊🏻

Thanks for poppin in🤗

-N