God Weaves Our Lives Together

From the Archives: Winter 2012

By Adam and Emily Sheffield

Adam: I probably would start my story with my first attempt at college. From the beginning, it was a pretty intense mix of drugs and alcohol. I just could not get a grip on life and continued down this spiral until I was twenty-five years old. I tried to clean my life up, but I just could not get it done. Finally, I was arrested twice and walked through a rehab program. I’m originally from Watauga County, and it is just hard to change your life and turn it around when you are still living with the same friends and engaged with the same community you were in when you were out of control. And that’s what I was trying to do. 

Emily: I grew up in the Boone, NC area. I married when I was eighteen years old and gave birth to my two sons when I was twenty and twenty-two years old. Though it is a huge blessing to have the boys, Raylee and Carson, the early years of marriage were hard on our family. My husband and I separated, and shortly thereafter he was killed in an auto accident. So, I found myself a widow and a single mom at twenty-eight years old. I had no interest in starting over in a relationship; I was definitely not looking to fall in love again. I was just hoping to keep my head above water, take care of my sons, and find a stable life. I took a job working in Human Resources at a local retirement center, Appalachian Brian Estates. 

Adam: So, that’s how we met. I was looking for work after rehab, and Emily was hiring workers. Though I didn’t like my job, I somehow knew God was involved in it, so I stayed at it. 

Emily: God definitely was in it. When we first started dating I can remember praying, “God, I don’t want to go through this again.” But, Adam was just what I and the boys needed – a real answer to our heart-prayers. It’s one thing to sense it, to have faith that God’s working, and such a wonderful thing to get to see how He unfolds what He’s doing. 

Adam: Within a month we started dating. About six months later, we were engaged to be married. My mom was not a fan of our relationship. She kept telling me, “You can’t be taking care of someone else, especially someone with children! You are the one who needs to be taken care of!’” But, it really was unstoppable. We both had a strong sense that as we were falling in love, there was a force greater than ourselves bringing us together. A year later we were married. 

Emily: It has been so wonderful how Adam has taken on the instant family he stepped into. He’s wonderful with the boys and they love him. About a year after we were married, on the first Sunday after Christmas in 2007, we decided to visit Banner Elk Christian Fellowship. As soon as the service started I started crying, and I could not stop crying. It felt like I had just come home for the first time. Something just broke in me. We’d discovered a community of people who we could follow Jesus with. In April of 2008, Adam and I were baptized together. It is so special being part of a church body that loves us and prays for us. I love the diversity of the church. There are folks from all across the country and folks who’ve spent their whole life in Avery County. There is real community and caring. I swear I can tell when the prayer chain starts praying for our family. Adam helps out on the worship team by playing the drums. We are both really just drawn to people in the church and deepening relationships with them. 

Adam: So much has been happening in these recent days. We have a new little baby, Lucy, who’s just three months old. She tried to come six weeks early. The doctors at Mission Hospital in Asheville put Emily on strict bed rest in the hospital for over two weeks. Things worked out fine with Lucy’s health, and Emily got some unanticipated rest. During that time I broke my elbow while skateboarding and had to have surgery. Instead of the crazy hectic time that we should have been experiencing, we ended up with a wonderful family time together. Emily had hoped for a couple weeks to shuffle schedules and catch her breath as a new mom, but instead we had six great weeks of the boys being out of school and all of us hanging out together. It was amazing how God stitched it all together for us. 

Emily: Our family is learning something through all of this. When things fall apart – and that will happen at times- we don’t worry any more. We’re learning to look back and recognize that God will carry us through it all. We are beginning to trust, to pray, and to be thankful to God – not just when things seem good, but all the time. 

Adam: Even in the last month, it has been amazing how He has opened the door for me to be able to go back to college at App State. These last five years have been full of big life-changing events, unplanned and unimaginable. But God has worked them all out for our good. We are finding it so true what God says in Jeremiah 29,”I know the plans I have for you... plans for good and a future.” 

Adam and Emily Sheffield live along the Watauga/Avery County line with their children Raylee, age 13yr.; Carson, age 11yr; and Lucy, age 3 months.