Life Update & How God Works

Apr 24

Apr 24 Life Update & How God Works

I’ve been holding in a secret for a while now and I am SO thrilled to finally be able to update you all on a major life change:

I’M MOVING TO CHARLOTTE!

So, here’s the story, and here is how God works because let me just say, the presence he has made in my life this past year has been unlike anything I have experienced before.

Let’s back it up briefly: I stopped going to church after college because I didn’t want to get involved in another activity on Sunday morning when the first job I had in Raleigh was destroying my soul. I know that’s super dramatic, but I’m not kidding- I vividly remember crying in my kitchen floor before work and wanting to be in a car accident on the way there so I wouldn’t have to go in. I got another job in March 2018 and it was the most freeing year of my life- I started this blog, found my true passions, moved in with my boyfriend, started playing piano (a lifelong dream since I quit when I was a kid) and never had “Sunday scaries” again.

In September 2018, I was on my way back to Raleigh from spending the weekend in Charlotte. I was emotional in the car and kept thinking about my 5-year plan, which was to buy a house in a really nice neighborhood south of uptown, and once I’m rich enough, just throw my money away for a black Cadillac Escalade. Kidding- but not really.

Then I realized, what am I waiting for? I thought my first job in Raleigh was the reason I hated Raleigh- but when I was in my current job and loving it, I still didn’t like living here. Raleigh is a great area and I am so lucky to have lived in the places I have lived in this city, and I do love it. But my heart is in Charlotte.

So, anyways, how did God talk to me? I applied for a few positions in Charlotte in October 2018 and nothing ever worked out. I started getting sad and wondering what I was going to do. In December 2018, Mack left the apartment at 4:30am to go to the airport for a trip, and I couldn’t fall back asleep. I laid in bed and tried to shut my eyes and got to that weird twilight sleep that happens before you’re actually asleep. And God spoke to me. And I know if I was reading this and I was someone else, I would think, “this chick is crazy” because I never understood when other people said things like that. But He did. He told me He loved me and He wanted a relationship with me. And I no joke sat up in bed and looked around my pitch black room and decided right then my life was about to change. I just knew it. I started a prayer journal that day, which I still write in almost daily, and I poured my heart out. I didn’t realize how many months- years even- it had been since I seriously prayed to God with all my focus and let him in. I even went through a phase of questioning my faith.

Let me just say this now- you are not saved if you go to church. You are not a bad person if you don’t go to church. You are not any less of a Christian if you question your faith and even question Jesus Christ. In fact, I am so much more of a believer now than ever because I questioned everything and came full circle to where I am today. I am a daughter of Christ and He loves me and He loves you no matter what you believe.

Fast forward a few months later, when a great company reached out to me via email. They had my resume on file from FOUR years prior, when I phone interviewed with them for an internship position as a junior in college, and had an opportunity opening up in Charlotte. I had just updated my resume back in October when applying to random jobs, and no joke, my Microsoft Office subscription expired October 31st, so I couldn’t make any more edits to my resume unless I started from scratch on another computer. I sent my already updated resume from back in October and I ended up getting a phone interview.

The phone interview came and I almost forgot about it. I didn't care that much about it at first, and was SO close to not even doing it. But I did. I then had the in person interview. Then, I got the job offer to start two weeks after my lease in Raleigh ends. PERFECT timing!

Except: what about Mack? There was a month of turmoil in my mind trying to stay calm but wondering what would happen. Now that I have this great job offer and it gets me to where I really want to be, what happens to him and us? Are we long distance? And for how long? He is in an amazing job and has been for over 2 years, so I would have never thought to ask him to give that up! I resorted to praying about it every day and not asking God for anything- but just telling Him that I trust his plan.

“Whatever is supposed to be will be because that is Your plan and I trust that You know what You are doing in my life. I want him to be able to move with me, but I know that I don’t always get to choose what happens in this life” are actual words I wrote one morning.

One day Mack was at work and a recruiter in his current company called him out of nowhere and said, “I’ve never heard of this happening in my years of working here, but I just had a manager internally request for me to get you to agree to phone interviews in a few days for a position that we haven’t posted. I don’t know anything about the position or what it’s even called… but can you interview?” Mack says yes. That week he had phone interviews with people on that team that also had no idea what he was interviewing for. CRAZY right?! Then, he gets a call two days later from the same recruiter saying, I know the title of the position now, but there’s still no description, but they want to give you a soft offer”. Mack was like, “uh, I definitely need more information”, and scheduled a time to talk to the manager he would be working under.

The manager ended up matching Mack’s current pay, and the position is in their Charlotte office.

Now, I get to move to a city I love with the person I love and, on a shallow level, I get more salary to support my shopping habits I’ve always had that used to break my parent’s bank account when I was growing up and has been deadly to my own bank account since I was 16 LOL.

Here’s the deal: The universe could have done this, but God created the universe and this isn’t a place for discussion on my beliefs- I really don’t care at all what you believe, just as you shouldn’t care at all what I believe. You do you hunnnaayyyy and let me do me.

But I can tell you this:

God spoke to me one morning and worked on my heart so I would work on a relationship with him. I did that, and he provided me with more than I could have ever imagined. I didn’t go out searching for the job that FELL INTO MY LAP, and Mack accepted the job that FELL INTO HIS LAP… tell me how that is not a divine plan. My mom always said, “When things seem to fall into place without you having to fight for it, it’s meant to be”. She’s never been wrong about anything in my life and I have repeatedly come back to that lesson during the past 8 months of uncertainty.

I cannot wait to share my life in Charlotte with you all, and officially stop using #raleighblogger in all my posts ;)

xoxo, jess