Do you have a favorite place you have visited? Where is it?
People always ask me what my favorite place in the world is, as if I could choose between two countries that have rearranged my soul. But every time, without hesitation, I say France and Korea. Not because they are trendy. Not because Instagram looks prettier when the backdrop is lavender fields or Seoul city lights. I say them because something in me wakes up when my feet touch those lands. Something in me remembers. Something in me breathes deeper.
Travel shapes us in ways we never fully understand until we return home. Matthew 6 reminds me that “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also,” and for me, France and Korea hold treasures I cannot put in a suitcase. They hold the pieces of myself that God is still teaching me to embrace.
So yes, I have favorite places. And here is the real reason why.
Why France Feels Like Breathing
France was the first place that ever made me feel both foreign and familiar at the same time. I fell in love with its rhythm. The way mornings stretch slowly. The way beauty is treated as necessity, not luxury. The way conversations unfold like poetry. I think God wanted to show me what life looked like unhurried. Psalm 23 says He “leads me beside still waters” and that is exactly how France feels for me. A leading. A slowing. A remembering.
Maybe it is the soft light in Aix-en-Provence. Or the way pastry shops smell like grace baked fresh. Or the quiet dignity of people who savor their days. France taught me to breathe again. To trust the simple, steady goodness of being human. Albert Camus once wrote that “in the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me lay an invincible summer,” and every time I walk French streets, I feel that invincible summer in my bones.
It is not just a place. It is a permission slip to be fully myself.
Why Korea Feels Like I Am Growing Into
Korea, on the other hand, is where possibility feels alive in the air itself. The first time I visited Seoul, the city met me with neon, music, warmth, and a pulse that matched my own. It reminds me of how Hebrews 11 describes faith as “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Korea feels like hope in concrete form. Hope in subway stations. Hope in creativity. Hope in the way the culture holds history and innovation in the same breath.
Maybe it is BTS. Let’s be honest, their presence in my life changed the trajectory of my creativity and joy. Or maybe it is the way I can walk any street late at night and feel surrounded by life. The writer Haruki Murakami once said that “where there is creation, there is light,” and that is exactly what Korea gives me. Light. Energy. Reinvention.
If France slows me down, Korea wakes me up.
Soul Insights
1. Belonging is not always tied to birthplace.
Sometimes God hides pieces of us in places we have not yet traveled to. When I found myself in France and Korea, it felt like retrieving lost chapters of my own story. These lands didn’t complete me, but they clarified me. They helped me understand what kind of environments my spirit thrives in.
2. Travel is God’s way of stretching our growth.
Each country showed me different facets of who I am. France revealed my desire for peace, beauty, and space to create. Korea revealed my hunger for passion, inspiration, and aliveness. Together, they stretched my understanding of the life God is shaping in me.
3. Growth rarely happens in familiar rooms.
Both places mirror different eras of my life. France speaks to the woman who seeks rest, grounding, and softness. Korea speaks to the woman who chases dreams, honors her passions, and follows the sparks God places in her heart. The tension between rest and passion is where my most honest self lives.
4. God meets us in unfamiliar places so we can recognize Him in familiar ones.
In France, God whispered peace. In Korea, He whispered purpose. Traveling made His voice clearer. It reminded me that He is the God of every city, every skyline, every continent. The God of lavender fields and glowing Seoul nights.
5. Home is rarely just one place.
It is a collection of moments where our soul recognizes itself. I think God intended it that way. The world is too big, too beautiful, too divinely crafted for our hearts to claim only one corner. Every place that shapes us becomes part of the home we carry inside.
Final Thoughts
Home is a mosaic, and France and Korea are two pieces of mine. One reminds me to rest. The other reminds me to rise. Both remind me of God’s faithfulness to meet me wherever I go. As Psalm 139 says, “If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your hand will guide me.” That is the real reason these countries hold my heart. They are stories God wrote into my journey long before I ever boarded a plane.
Your Turn
Which place in the world has shaped you the most, and why do you think God brought you there at that exact moment in your life? Reflect on it. There is always a deeper reason.
By the way…
While you’re here, I’d love for you to explore my book 17 Syllables of Me and visit my website, SoulPath Insights.
Thank you for taking the time to read! 🤗
© 2025 Amelie Chambord
Soul Path Insights 
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