I'm currently in the midst of relocating from Georgia to Ohio, so I thought it was a fitting time to look back at another time in my life where God moved me across the country: I was 24 and single, and moved from my hometown in Ohio to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where I knew one person in the entire state.
A couple days ago, I shared the first part of my story about this leap of faith I took. If you missed it, click here to read Part 1.
I pulled together my application and sent it off. Days later, I got an email that I had an interview with the publicity department while I was in town.
Now I had done this sort of informational interview seeking once before, right after I graduated college and thought I wanted to move to New York City. I couldn’t find a job and decided to visit the city and see what I could do. Before going, I lined up as many interviews as I could, at places like Teen People, Cosmogirl, and YM. (Now it seems kind of silly, but at the time I really wanted to work for a teen magazine.)
So my inclination with this Grand Rapids visit was originally to line up as many interviews as possible, but at this point I only had one. But Something told me to pursue this one avenue—to see it through and to trust. So I fought my urge to blanket the city with resumes and pitches and cover letters. I sat still. And waited.
When we visited in June, it was incredible how people reached out to us. Even before the visit, we seemed to be getting signs that there was a community already waiting for us up there, with people eager to open their homes to us and encouraging us to come.
The one, solitary person I knew in the town let us stay with him and his wife and invited friends over so that we could start to meet people. More people kept recommending folks for us to meet. It was amazing to see that all weave together and the semblance of a community start to take shape for us.
The last day we were in town (a Monday) was the day of the interview. Somehow through the whole process, God gave me an insane peace about everything. And you should know, by nature, I’m a worrywort (as we've already established).
But with Grand Rapids, I wasn’t worried or rushed or stressed or anxious. I just trusted: that God would provide a job if he was going to point me in that direction. That I’d figure everything out with my living situation in Ohio. When people asked me if I’d considered this and what I was going to do about that, all I could do is shrug and say I don’t know yet, and be done with it. How glorious and releasing is that?!
So upon going in for my interview, I could not have been more at ease. I walked in and met with the interviewer, and it was like meeting with a friend. We got along great and talked shop but also talked about life and the way God works. She recommended books to read to me and gave me one to take with me and I made recommendations for her. I walked away feeling like this is a woman I could really look up to and respect, not just as far as a job goes but also as far as having as a sort of mentor in my life. To have that as a boss? That’s pretty phenomenal!
So I walked away from the interview with a good feeling brewing in my stomach–as if I already belonged to this place. My friend picked me up and we went to a cute French cafe and met more new friends before hitting the road for the 6-hour return trip to Cincinnati.
Later this week, I will share Part 3, the final post, in my story about how this all unfolded and what God was doing behind-the-scenes as he prepared to move me to this new town which I could tell was starting to feel more and more like home...
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Hello, I love your site and reading about your life! I also moved far away from my home at age 25 and I moved to a big city in canada called toronto. I only knew one person and not well. This was 1989! I am now 49. I moved also out west twice and did not know a soul there, I had a job lined up the second time at min wage but not the first. The first time I took a male friend with me who was also out of work- he got alot of good work out there but turned out he was an angry person who was bipolar and I did not know this. I left him after awhile and moved to another city that I thought would be good for me. I had no work or did not know anyone but I vaguely knew one man. This was a huge mistake for me I ended up losing my housing. THen I got a job in my field and my employer lent me money for my rent as it was 2000 dollars and I did not have a credit card (I used to). On my first move I fell in love to a man and he was from another country. We were together for 11 years but we were poor. I left him a few times as I missed my home and family (once for 10 months). He was moving out to vancouver in 1998 so wanted me to move with him as his brother was coming to canada. I did not like to be so far away plus i felt he was putting his brother a head of me which meant I was sacrificing and I should not have done this. I was there for 5 years, I was out of work for the first 10 months. Neither of us had family there. Eventually I got a great job but I had h arassment there to the point that I ended up with anxiety. I was 34 at this point. I used to cry all weekends dreading work monday. While I worked he went to college and worked part time, his course was very hard. His lost his brother right in the middle of exams and it was very harsh they would not give him a chance to rewrite at a different time. He did manage to graduate but his first job was only 12 an hour and they worked him hard. At this point all my friends were married with homes, kids, husbands with good jobs and trips including my 3 sisters. I was getting pressure from family to leave him although we got on amazing he was a different race but I really loved him and he did me or at least i thought so. So in 2000 at xmas I went home for xmas (3 years since I was home) and my dad was sick. he just started a new job at a better place that had alot of potential. So I went and my dad had 3 weeks to live with cancer so I stayed and then came back- very d epressed. I had no friends in that city now did he other than 2 acquintances, I was out o work 10 months at this point too. We did get engaged when dad was dying but i felt later that i pushed this guy maybe that was wrong. I knew he would have mar ried me as after all we were together for 12 years. So h e said if your not happy in this city maybe u should not stay and he said its up to you and i said your right Im not (this city is very nasty for a white woman its called vancouver)- so I left not thinking of what i was doing. We talked for 1.5 years on and off after this but it seemed his life was getting better and mine was going to poverty. He was with one girl and it did not work out. Then he was single and bought a home and fixed it up and sold it..then he met another girl and we talked but she got very possessive and jealous so she told him no contact. I lost contact for over 5 years. I have a friend who stays in touch with him. At one point I asked him to help me iwth money and he said get your family to- this kind of shocked me as i helped him for years.....so then he got married 2 summers ago. He told my firend he didnt want contact with me it was so hurtful. I still love him and he is my soulmate it took alot of time and hurtful men to come to this realization that he is the best man for me.........but its a very small chance for us...........he is with her, she is very controlling too and i dont think he will last with someone like that,he married a chinese woman and thats their culture..........so since then i have livedin poverty living in rooms, never got to have kids i am 49 now, never got a stable career.
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