We're Moving to Charlotte, NC!

It is official, friend. The Rutledge tribe is moving to Charlotte, NC!

I can hardly believe I’m saying this and it’s actually happening, but almost all of our things are packed and in just six days we will be loading it all onto a truck and moving 460 miles away to North Carolina.

Why are we moving to Charlotte?

The short answer is “because God said so.”

This move has been in the making for almost a year and a half. In July 2020 my husband, Tony, came to me and said he felt that God was calling us to move to North Carolina and that he had been feeling that way for months. My first reaction was, “North Carolina??? Bruh, that’s so random!” Neither of us have ever even visited North Carolina or even talked about going, but something inside of me felt like he was on to something.

To give context, I have lived in Florida my whole life. Born and raised in Tampa, I moved to Gainesville in 2009 to attend the University of Florida (go Gators!). I loved my church and friends here so much that I decided to stay after I graduated in 2013, then I met Tony a year later and the rest was history. I have always thought I’d travel the world, but Florida would always be home but now here Tony was telling me God might be sending us elsewhere.

We decided to go on a three day fast together to seek God and determine if He really was calling us to North Carolina, and if He was, to which city. I was partial to Raleigh. Tony felt like the place was Charlotte. So off we set on this fast to get some clarity. Chile, on DAY 1 the Lord began to speak, I was reading something on social media and in the comments people were discussing how “everyone” seems to be moving to Atlanta. As I’m reading (thoroughly engrossed in a conversation that had nothing to do with me lol) I came across one comment that said, “I don’t know why everybody always swears God is calling them to Atlanta. Why doesn’t He ever call people to move to Charlotte?” I stopped dead in my tracks. I was like, “I know God is not answering this fast. Maybe it’s just a coincidence. I need to KNOW for sure that I’m not missing You on this, God. Lord, you’re going to have to come harder than that.”

And come harder He did! Over the next 48 hours I heard or saw Charlotte, NC more times than I can count. It popped up on social media. On YouTube. In books I was reading. It seemed like everywhere I turned I couldn’t get away from this city. Finally, just two days into the fast I said, “OK GOD. I get it! We’re moving to Charlotte!”

The Process

Once we were convinced Charlotte was the place we sat down and discussed when we would move. The lease on our condo was up in December, but we knew five months wasn’t enough time to get up and move three states away. So we decided to renew our lease for another year, and move at the end of the next term, which would be December 2021.

The plan was unfolding great. In August I got a new job which was fully remote and paid very well. My husband’s job was not remote, so he would need to find somewhere to work in Charlotte once we moved. Our plan was to save up enough money to cover our moving expenses and three months’ worth of Tony’s salary, just in case he didn’t find a job before we made the move. The plan was going well. We were saving money aggressively. We even took a vacation to Charlotte in March of this year to explore the area and find somewhere to live. During that vacation we fell absolutely in love with the city so much so that we didn’t want to go back home.

The Pitstop

The vacation was just the motivation we needed though to stay aggressive with our savings plan. Everything was going according to plan until a bomb was dropped on us. On April 29^th of this year, just a month after we returned from our initial visit to Charlotte, my job gathered 50 of us into a Zoom meeting and laid us off, effective immediately. No severance. No notice. Not even a payout of the paid time off we had accrued. I was devastated. Now instead of aggressively saving for our move, we had to live off our savings while I applied for a new job.

Over the next six months I applied to over 200 jobs in the mortgage industry to no avail. Finally, when unemployment and our savings had all run out, I figured it was time to go back to the insurance industry since I had over 7 years of experience working in commercial insurance and finding a job doing insurance would be my best hope.

Within two weeks, I was hired quickly as an insurance adjuster here in Gainesville. While I was grateful to have a job, I wasn’t’ excited about working in insurance and I wasn’t happy that the job wasn’t remote – meaning I couldn’t move to Charlotte without having to find somewhere else to work. To make matters worse, this job paid less than the one I previously lost, which would make it more difficult to save money as quickly as we had been saving before.

I started to get discouraged. I was set to start this new job on November 16^th and I wasn’t looking forward to it. I knew our goal of moving to Charlotte in December was basically dead, so Tony and I decided to push the move back by yet another year to December 2022. I was sick.

God steps in

So that’s where I found myself on Friday November 5^th. It was an uneventful day, and I was writing a draft for the weekly devotional I send out to my email list every Monday (you can sign up for that here). The scripture the Lord had given me for that week was Deuteronomy 1:6-7

“When we were at Mount Sinai, the Lord our God said to us, ‘You have stayed at this mountain long enough. It is time to break camp and move on.”
~ Deuteronomy 1:6-7a

I was writing and encouraging the women to step out on faith, even if they didn’t see how everything was going to come together. And as I was writing, I felt the Holy Spirit speak to me and say, “This word is for you too! It’s time to move to Charlotte!”

I was stunned. How in the heck were we about to move to Charlotte with no jobs lined up there, no money to move, and no money saved up? But I knew God was urging me to just take a step and let Him provide for all the details along the way. So I did. That day I put in 3 applications to mortgage companies in Charlotte. I wasn’t sure, but I felt like these three would be just like the other 200 I had put in before, a dead end.

Breakthrough

To my surprise, two days later one of the companies reached out to me to schedule a virtual interview. We set it for Tuesday the 9^th, a full week before I was supposed to start my insurance job here in Gainesville. The interview went amazing. The next day (Wednesday) they called me and asked me to come to Charlotte for an in-person interview the following Monday (which was the DAY BEFORE I was to start my job as an insurance claims adjuster in Florida).

Full of faith, but also wondering if we were crazy, my husband and I took all the money we had, packed up our car and strapped our toddler into her car seat to drive 8 hours to Charlotte the Saturday prior to the interview. The entire weekend we drove around the city exploring and looking for potential places to live.

That Sunday evening my mind was racing. ‘How was this interview about to go tomorrow? What If they didn’t give me the job? I’d be devastated. But what if they did give me the job? How the heck would we find enough money to move on such short notice? And what about Tony? Would he find a job in time?’

I felt the stress trying to overwhelm me, so I decided to give myself a mini spa night. I put on a face mask, dropped a Lush bath bomb into the tub, and prepared to just soak the anxiety away. As soon as I got into the tub and laid my head back, Tony burst into the bathroom causing me to sit up in shock.

“Ummmm. Can I bring my laptop in here??” he asked me, looking a little rattled.

“Uuhhh … sure. Why? What’s wrong?” I asked as he darted back into the living room.

Coming back into the bathroom, with his laptop and a small smile and a look of pure bewilderment on his face, he looked at me and said, “I think I just got a job.”

And I’ll be darned, he was right. He had applied to a job in Charlotte working in a warehouse and got hired on the spot. They wanted him to come in to complete his new hire paperwork the very next day. His interview was scheduled just two hours after mine.

To make an already long story a bit shorter, I ended up crushing my interview that Monday. When I left the building they told me they would get back to me in a couple of days with their decision. We drove back to Gainesville that night, excited and anxious thinking that this was crazy but it looked like God was really about to do this.

We arrived back in Gainesville at about 1:00 in the morning Tuesday. I fell asleep around 2:00 AM and woke up just a few hours later to get dressed to go to a job I really didn’t want. That day I went through the new hire orientation, and all the first day formalities, hoping the entire time that this mortgage company from Charlotte would call me soon.

I didn’t have to wait long. That night one of the cofounders of the company called me and offered me the job. I screamed in his ear on the phone before he could even fully finish his sentence, “Yaass!! I accept!”

New beginnings

That was on Tuesday November 16^th. Just 11 days after I had put in my application. Three days later we found an apartment and signed a lease. It’s crazy, because three weeks ago we thought we would be stuck in Gainesville for another year, but in just 15 days God provided both me and my husband good jobs, a place to live, and the money to move. He is so faithful!

We are officially moving on Friday December 3^rd and I’m still in shock. On the one hand I’m super excited to be moving. I’m still not sure what or why God is moving us 463 miles away, but I’m ready to find out! On the other hand, I’m sad to be leaving the only state I’ve ever known, and all of my friends, family, and church but hey, that’s life! No season lasts forever; that’s why you have to maximize each one. I can truly say I gave my ALL to Gainesville. From the friendships I nurtured, the church I served in and helped build, man I served well here and now it’s time to go.

I hope this story serves to remind you that when you follow God, He’ll provide for your every need. If He gave you a word, step out on it, no matter how ridiculous or impossible it looks. God told us “move to Charlotte” and we started out on the path but got derailed and discouraged along the way, but God didn’t forget His word! He still made it happen, but we had to do our part and step out in faith. I want to encourage you: whatever God has told you to do, do it with all your might! Throw your whole self into it, trusting that He’ll handle the details that are too much for you.

I hope my story has encouraged you today. As we get settled in Charlotte I’ll be sharing about our experience and how we’re adjusting to our new surroundings. In the meantime, I’ll be packing up my condo and praying the drive to Charlotte goes by as quickly as possible.