When He Says “Move”

Funny enough, I meant to write about how moving across the country can really change your life before the second story happened, but here we go.

First story.

I was interviewing at several companies for my first job, and the only qualification I KNEW that HAD to be met was location.

There was no way in the world I was going to move out of state. Not a chance. Nada. Zilch.

Why? I told myself it was because I would miss my family and friends. I’m a major extrovert, and the thought of being away from my people terrified me. And of course, that was a major reason. The other reason, that I was too afraid to admit, is that I was scared.

Scared of the unknown. Scared of new places and people. Scared of being alone.

I had never lived anywhere but my parents’ – and that was okay with me. I honestly kinda planned on just living with them until I got married. Why not?

So every place I interviewed HAD to be in Minnesota, or remote. The entrepreneurship program I was a part of (Praxis) asked me if I’d interview with some other companies out of state “just for experience” they said.

Sure. Why not? “Just for experience.”

Then came a problem. I started to really really like one of the companies I interviewed with, the founders, and the employees. It was a tiny tech startup based out of San Francisco, California.

In the back of my mind, I KNEW I wouldn’t want to move there… but the company, the mission, the people… it was all so exciting and it felt so…. right.

Almost a year ago, I’d prayed I would be accepted into Praxis. I prayed I’d get an answer, and the answer at the time had been “no.” Fast forward a few months, and the answer was “yes.” I had learned that if you ask God to strengthen your faith and ask Him not to let you turn Him down, that really incredible things usually happened. Incredible things yes, but also terrifying things.

So now, I prayed again. Asking if I was supposed to move halfway across the country to a place I’d never been, to work with people I hadn’t ever met in person, to do a job I was totally new to and unfamiliar with.

The prayer was short. Only like 30 seconds. When I opened my eyes, no joke, I had a new email at the top of my inbox. It was from one of the co-founders of the company I had been praying about, and the email said “congratulations – we want you to come work for us.”

Sometimes God speaks so loudly you can’t ignore it.

So I went. And I cried every night for 2 solid months. I learned you can’t put certain things down your garbage disposal, where to find quarters to wash your clothes, how to navigate public transit, and how to handle apartment situations. I almost got fired trying to figure out how the working world works, grew up a lot, only ate out when it was being paid for by others, traveled to Canada, eventually became a very valuable employee, formed close relationships with my co-workers (one of them became my maid of honor years later in my wedding), and honestly, had some of the best times in my life.

It would be an understatement to say that moving out was one of the best things that ever happened to me, and even better that I was thousands of miles away from everything comfortable in my life. I learned independence, grit, hard work, endurance, and so much more. The memories I have from that whole 9 month experience are ones I wouldn’t trade for the world.

In fact, I would encourage every young person to move out after high school if they can and live on their own. You grow up real fast. In a good way.

Fast forward 4 years. I’ve moved back to Minnesota, met the love of my life, gotten married, and we were living in our first apartment together.

We very much wanted to move out and find a real house. Apartments are nice, but the same can’t always be said about landlords. Plus we wanted to have a bigger space to call our very own where we could someday start a family.

Enter in the house hunt of 2022…. the time when EVERYONE and their mother was searching for a home and you had to bid $50k over asking price in order to even have a chance at getting a house.

You think I’m exaggerating…. nope. Once we got outbid by someone who bid $100k OVER asking. We had been praying and praying for a house. I had prayed that prayer again… the one where I ask God to strengthen faith and not let me turn Him down.

Every house we saw was gone the next day or week. Crazy crazy times. Then one day, Easter of 2022, my mom mentioned that a couple from their church was selling their house and didn’t want it on the market. We got excited and went to look at it… only to get a sinking feeling in our hearts.

It’s too far away.

That was the thought that kept replaying over and over in my head. Too far from friends. Too far from church. Too far from Erik’s parents, too far from…well, everything.

So we said no.

And I went back to praying. “God – please give us a house! Show us where you want us!”

Then the answer came: “I gave you a house – and you said no.”

What?! No! Ouch…

Surely God didn’t want us to move…. THERE? In the middle of NOWHERE? (I’m exaggerating… but it felt like that at the time).

But I was pretty sure He did. “Fine.” I said. “If Erik feels the same way, then we’ll go.” And I thought – there’s no way he’ll feel this way. I’m nuts.

But the next night, I asked him. And he said “yeah…I kinda feel like we should move there. I just have a feeling.”

So now here we are. In the “middle of nowhere.” And honestly, happy as can be. The drives aren’t bad at all, and they give us time to talk. The quietness of a small town is very much what we needed, our new neighbors are a blessing to us, and we’re now friends with the people who sold us the house. In short, we love it here!

Yet again I keep learning, that when God says “move,” it’s always for the best. It’s always an adventure. Might not be what I originally wanted… not at all.

It ends up being better.

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Until Next Time,
Hope Anderson