Aaron & I have lived in Alabama for a little over 2 months now (feels like longer though), and the other day I asked myself if I honestly liked living here. Without hesitation, I said, “yes, I love living here!”
I always knew I’d love it eventually, but I never guessed it’d be so quick. But it’s true, I really do love living in Alabama. Last night, I asked Aaron the same question, & he agreed he loved living here as well. Now don’t get us wrong, just because we both love living here does not mean that it hasn’t been hard.
Moving across the country kind of demands planning, especially when you’re leaving everything + everyone you’ve ever known. Our plan consisted of many things, but a couple big ones were “go to Highlands College” and “Sarah’s only job is SMS Photography.” Sounds simple enough, right!?
Well, then life happens. I am writing this blog post this morning in-between my 3 jobs –
- SMS Photography
- Starbucks
- After School Care (where I watch 1st graders for 3 hours every weekday after school until their parent’s pick them up)
Some days (like yesterday for example), I work at Starbucks in the morning, and then the second I get off I’m jetting to my car to make the drive to my next job. I don’t mind my jobs, but it was not apart of the plan.
As for school – towards the end of July, as the deadline for signing up for Highlands College approached, we made the tough decision not to attend this semester. We realized we were doing too many new things at once and we needed to take a few months to focus on working & planting some roots. We do plan on attending – just not this fall semester.
And those two things are only a snip-bit of some of the things that have been tough about living here. Relationships, finances / jobs, future plans, they all have stopped me in my tracks full of questions, doubts, and straight up worry. What do you do when nothing you planed is happening? It’s scary. You’re free-falling with no safety net.
But no matter how rough the day, there was no denying the feeling I had (& still do) that moving here was the right decision. So, to give myself some hope, I chose to seek God, and he revealed this verse to me – 
This verse has been one that’s really hit me lately, because this past month, I’ve learned a lot about prayer. It’s a “hang out time” with God. It’s a chance where I get to tell him what’s been going on in my life, honestly tell him how I feel, what my hopes & dreams are, etc. And then, like any good conversation with a friend, it’s a chance to really ear from him too. Every time I pray (whenever you pray), he tells all of Heaven to be quiet so that he can solely focus on what I have to say.It’s been such a comfort to me to know that God truly cares about what I have to say, and has caused me to pray all the more.
I’m naturally a tough person & a fighter. And I know that good things don’t come easy. Even though it’s rough right now, I’m willing to walk through the tough days, weeks, to get to what I know will be amazing. It’ll be worth it. I know it will. In the meantime, I’m going to focus on the good (because there is lots of it here), no matter how small it may seem, and hang out with my God.
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So there’s the weekly Shaver Crew update. I hope you have a fantastic Thursday! 🙂