You're listening to the Water Into Wine podcast, hosted by Grace Valentine.

Hello and welcome back to Water Into Wine podcast.

I know it's been a while and I've missed y'all.

I'm Grace Valentine.

You might know me because I write a lot on Instagram and writing is always, I say, my first love language with God is my

favorite thing to do. I love writing for y'all. But I'm excited about doing the podcast again,

just because it's an opportunity for me to feel like y'all's friend because I truly love

getting to meet y'all when I go and travel and to speak. And it's way more fun to catch you up on life with me and this hopefully will feel like a voice memo to your friend that's too long.

And I'll have some fun interviews and it's going to be a fun time. And so I'm so glad y'all are back. I'm so glad I'm back. And yeah, there's a lot to catch up on. If you haven't noticed on Instagram. A lot has changed in the past year for me and I've had to take some time off doing

all the things and just focused on a couple things while I was writing year for me and I've had to take some time off doing all the things

and just focused on a couple things while I was writing a new book I moved to new city I moved from

Orlando to Atlanta which was a big change I met new friends which was a great feeling and a great

change for me especially in your late 20s it feels so weird to start making new friends because

suddenly you feel like an awkward 12 year old again, so I had to learn a lot about that. I found a new church, which if anyone's ever moved to a new city, or even when you're in a city and you feel like you need to find a different church, it is such a weird feeling when you're single, you're not married, especially when you're in your late mid-20s, and you're trying to find your place at this church. And so I learned a lot through that. And finally just got to the point where I felt like Atlanta was home. And I always say the minute it felt like home for me was when I was at Publix and I ran to someone I knew. And like, nothing like running into someone at the grocery store being like, Grace, is that you? And it was a friend from church. And I'm like, wow, I have finally made this place my home.

Like, I'm running into the people at the grocery store that I know.

And so it's been a wild year. It has been so great. I've loved the time to be intentional in this, and I've learned a lot. I've also made a lot of mistakes. Learn some lessons the hard way, like always. but God has been so evident in this year,

and it was really hard for me to have the courage to move.

And so I want to catch up with you all about everything that's changed. And yes, I'll be talking about my boyfriend because I know some of y'all are like, wow, Grace has a boyfriend, shocking. And I'm just a shock too. I always say I never had imposter syndrome. You know, people talk about imposter syndrome when they're like, oh, do you ever feel like you're not qualified to write a book or do this? I'm like, nah, I've always felt confident enough to do that. But something about being a girlfriend and when you're not used to being a girlfriend, that's the one time my life that I felt like I had imposter syndrome. It still feels so weird to be like, oh, my boyfriend. I don't want to ever sound like that girl who's just like talking about their boyfriend. but it is also a fun season where I'm getting to discern and to learn about someone new and just have fun. And so if you're the girl who feels hopelessly single, that was me for so long. And I even moved to Atlanta yes for my career because it made sense when I was writing for a lot of sororities and traveling to sororities that were in the SEC that are in the middle of nowhere by the way guys like Auburn Tuscaloosa Oxford all of y'all y'all's little college towns are truly in the middle of nowhere not near a major airport well Atlanta

Birmingham and so it was very helpful for me to move but I also moved just hoping and aching

and even praying the god before of hey like I need to make new friends in the season. I'm the only single one in Orlando. Maybe I need to just get at my comfort zone and do something new. And I remember praying and God kept putting it laying on my heart. And I still to this day, even though I'm a girl with a boyfriend now, I promise I will never, ever, ever. I made this promise when I was single and I'm sticking to it. Say it happens when you least expect it because that is the most annoying thing ever. And I promise to God. I promise to so many people that I'd never say it. And I truly look at my life now and I do not believe it happened when I least expect it. I truly felt like God almost prepared my heart to move to Atlanta, prepared me to meet so many people. And also, I was online dating. So I don't think anyone can say it happens when I was least expected if you're on hinge, you're no scrolling. So, but it's been so cool because even that feels like a weird thing to tell people. I've had to learn how to be confident being like, yeah, I was on the hinge and I online shop for my boyfriend. But it wasn't like that, obviously. But I hear people talking about dating apps and make you feel kind of guilty for being on them. And granted, I totally understand if that is not your thing. But for me, that was such a great opportunity when I moved to Atlanta to meet people that I would have never met. I would have never met my boyfriend Matt if it wasn't for a dating app. Like he was going a different church than the church that I ended up at. He is a great guy who was on a different side of town. He was really busy with his career and I was busy with mine and I don't have any like cute boy co-workers really. So truly we would never have met. And I think God is so powerful that something as silly as a dating app can

become a God thing if you make it a God thing. And it can become a good thing. If you give it to God and you don't obsess over it. If you don't idolize it, if you're not scrolling desperately, but if you're just like scrolling with the sermon and be like, hmm, this can be fun. This could be a great guy or this could just be a date and getting lunch with someone. And so that was a mindset I had. But yeah, moving to Atlanta was so much fun, but so nerve-wracking. I packed everything up with my Honda Civic. And I was literally being laughed out at the Buckees. I'll never forget. In my Honda Civic, it was packed to the brim. And before I left, too, I had to just throw so much away to the point where people were coming to my trash can outside my Orlando house and be like, what size cowboy boots are these? I'm like nine and a half. And they're like, yes. And so I didn't even know how they heard. It wasn't even like a yard sale. Just things were laid out and people were taking them. Packed up, moved, got here. And I remember just having this sinking pit of being like holy crap I am in my late

20s and I've just moved again like I always thought at 27 when I moved that I would be in the

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