Sarah Heatwole

In two days, dear friends of ours are loading up their suitcases and heading indefinitely to Belgium to serve as missionaries. For going on eight years, we’ve lived the street over. Our kids, who range from eleven to sixteen, have played together almost daily. They’ve scooter’d around the cul-de-sac, carved pumpkins, crafted forts in the woods, and played countless soccer and four- square games. It is an understatement to say that we will miss them–they leave behind a crater. 

When we moved to Tennessee from Ohio, we prayed our kids would adjust and find friends. God answered our prayers sevenfold. They’ve both thrived and found the best of friends, but now we enter a season of change. 

Read more: Will You Trust?

Within the past year, we will have had three close families move away from us. God has been whispering to me–this is a season of change. Embrace it. I can’t deny what he’s done every other time we’ve entered a season of change. He’s only brought the best–better jobs, deeper seasons of spiritual grown, nicer houses, additional kids, great friends. Why wouldn’t he continue to do the same? Why is trust so hard? 

Exercising our trust muscles comes through time and practice. Blessings may not look like blessings, but through trust we can look back and see how God used circumstances for his glory and our good. 

One pivotal change our family had was four years ago when I found out I was pregnant with Zion. We hadn’t been planning any more kids. In fact, we were both excited that our youngest hit double digits. Then, bam–life completely changed. 

If I am honest, it was a time in my life where I had gone through extreme testing. COVID intersected my leadership in an assisted living, and the stress had become unbearable. I had been contemplating change in my life–now I can see not the good kind of change. Selfish ambitions fueled my desires–but through His mercy God yanked me away from the edge of that and gave me the gift of a son. When I look into his innocent eyes–I think of this. It could have been so different–yet this is the best. 

As the time draws nearer for our friends to leave, we see the floors and walls become bare. The furniture sold piece by piece. This, my friends, is trust in motion. Our friends believe the story God has planned for them is bigger than anything they can see or imagine.

I believe it too. I’ve seen His faithfulness. Will you put your trust in the Lord? 

In Writing News 

I am officially 50% of the way through The Weight of Mercy’s 2nd draft–it’s shaping up so good. Edgar, Paul, Ruthie, Claire are all springing to life and it’s very satisfying to write and edit. I hope to be near the end of the 2nd draft by mid June then do a quick line edit and off to Beta readers.

The Audiobook production of Into the Promised Land has halted. I don’t like to admit failure–but the reality is I bit off much more than I can chew, and it wasn’t filling my cup. Do I want to get it out in the world? Yes. I’m just thinking through the best way to do that.

The event at Barnes and Noble in April went exceptionally well! They invited me to come back for future signings which is exciting! Thank you to everyone that came out! I don’t have many events planned for the summer. I will be in Greenwood Delaware the week of July 20th and plan a quick trip to Pennsylvania on the 21st to visit Masthof Press, the publisher of Into the Promised Land. If you are in either of those areas and want to set up a time to meet and have me sign some books. Shoot me an email!

This year I am taking part in a year long mentorship with Christian Fiction Marketing. This means I have invested a ton of effort into my Instagram page and Threads. If you enjoy Instagram, give me a follow! I try to make it fun.

What I read in April

Both books were 4/5 stars for me. Check out my Goodreads page for the full reviews and what I’m reading next Goodreads

Family News

We are almost at the end of Freshman and Sophomore Year for the two oldest and the youngest is just about done with his first year at CLC (Creative Learning Center) Summer can’t come fast enough, no one wants to get up in the morning anymore, and this mom is looking forward to not having to hustle everyone out the door in the morning.