Richmond, from what I’d seen on a weekend trip, was nothing more than a big Manassas. Dingy auto shops and chain restaurants punctuated long sentences of nondescript strip malls on both sides of Broad Street. 

Couldn’t I know someone in Miami? A fresh start should be exciting, and not contain the country’s largest concentration of CiCi’s Pizzas. 

Richmond seemed boring, and I knew exactly two people there, and they were married to each other. I was grateful for the offer to live with Julie and her husband, and knew that if I really wanted to focus on my new relationship with God I would need to leave behind the town laden with memories of drunken nights and a unhealthy relationships, including the one I was currently in. I needed a clean slate and a good seventy miles between my old life and the one I was pursuing. Still, I wasn’t expecting to actually like this backwards, slow little city after growing up in the booming metropolis just outside of Washington, D.C.

I needed to think about this.

Laying in bed one night , halfway between awake and asleep, I heard a voice. “Go to Richmond.” Deep and booming, just like you’d expect, but not overly loud. In fact, I’m sure no one else heard it, but I did. “What?” I questioned, internally. God heard, and graced my slow processing by repeating: “Go to Richmond.” “Okay”, I answered eloquently.

That direct confirmation was exactly the push I needed to commit to moving.

In the twelve years since, I’ve grown to love Richmond (and the amazing people I’ve been blessed with here) more than I could ever imagine, and I detest the thought of ever moving back to Northern Virginia. There’s a whole ‘nother world apart from West End Broad Street, filled with beautiful architecture, history,independent restaurants and parks. It’s a city full of wonderful places and people, and there’s always more to discover ( and a new brewery on every corner)!

More than that, I love knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt this is where God has me in this season of life. There’s such comfort in that, and I am here to tell you that I wish he’d speak to me more often, because it makes life decisions a whole lot easier!

Prayer: Pray for God to be present and active as his followers cast off sin and bondage, and for protection from the enemy, beginning with me!

*Pray for J’s lumps and bumps to be miraculously healed and for financial provision.