Healed from a traumatic childhood and awed that God saved her
seriously troubled marriage, she writes with a reverential awe of the God who
unearthed her once-buried gift of communication and gave her the courage to
make it grow.
Julie is the
Critique Groups Director for Proverbs 31 Ministries, and serves on the
editorial team of P31 Woman magazine. She is passionate about helping women:
· * Pray
with boldness, confidence, and certainty that God hears
· * Switch
negative, critical thinking with healthy, godly mindsets
· * Develop
faith and perseverance to pursue their dreams
· * Increase
their ability to recognize God’s voice
Julie is the
joyful wife of Keith, mom of two soldiers and one civilian, and grammy of four.
She loves hanging out with the entire gang at home, especially on days when her
house is clean.
My Writing Story
I wrote my first
book at the age of nine. 28 pages long, it featured a hand-colored front page
and three staples on the left. But the
gift of communication got buried beneath a traumatic family life, and
eventually, that gift faded so far into the background of my survival-mode life
that I literally did not remember it existed.
After I gave
my heart and life to Jesus in my late 20’s, God slowly began to bring healing
and change to my heart, my mind, and my attitude. Then a curious thing
happened: I began to have the same dream over and over. In it, I became aware
of a tiny baby that I had completely forgotten about. I’d discover a
languishing infant in one room or another of my house, recognize it was mine, and
then feel an utter sense of panic. Why do
I keep forgetting I have this baby? I need to find a bottle. I need to feed
this baby! I couldn’t understand why I didn’t remember my baby, and I’d desperately
try to care for it.
Then I’d wake
up. Time after time I puzzled over the meaning of this disturbing dream. And
then, it finally occurred to me to pray and ask God what the dream meant.
He answered with
a sweeping saga of a dream. In it, large, evil men with big, black guns were
assigned to a group of citizens. Their task? To force each person to give up
their cell phone—at gunpoint—or surrender their lives. I won’t go into all the
details here, but when I came face to face with the vile evil that demanded my cell
phone, though I quivered and could barely breathe for fear—God hid my phone
from the evil man’s sight, sent a S.W.A.T. team to rescue me and all the other
people, and I walked out of that place holding my phone.
At the end of
the dream, I walked outside and noticed a man beckoning me with his arm. I felt
compelled to walk toward him, this silent man with an otherworldly gaze. As I
moved closer, he stooped down and used his bare hands to begin digging in the
dirt. Riveted, I stood watching him scoop clumps and pieces of brown dirt into
a pile. Suddenly, he unearthed a tiny, nearly dead, barely whimpering baby. He
tenderly brushed the dirt from the baby’s body, then stood up and held the baby
out to me, his eyes locked onto mine. Stunned, I instinctively realized that
this was my baby. My heart pounded in
my ears, and as I reached out to take the baby, I said I didn’t know I had this!
Then I woke
up.
God used that
dream to help me understand that He had entrusted me with a gift—all babies are
gifts—and that I had buried my gift (in this case, it was communication, hence
the cell phone). But God cares about our destinies. And He unearthed that gift and
handed it back to me—and though He spoke no words, my heart clearly understood.
Cherish this gift. Nurture it. Make it
grow. Because you love me and you are called according to My purpose.
And that is
the very abbreviated version of my writing story and the dream that finally woke
me up to my destiny.
And that’s
what I believe God does for all of us. Those words He spoke to me He also
speaks to you, because we all have a divine destiny. Jesus stooped low—left
heaven and became a man and died a grueling death on the cross—so that we could
find forgiveness and eternal life…but also so that we could trust Him, love
Him, serve Him, and in so doing, live out the dreams and use the gifts He has
entrusted to us.
There is
nothing God cannot do, and wherever you are in life, know this: it is not too
late, it’s not too hard, and you can still follow your dream.
If the Lord
used me, a high-school drop-out who lacks any formal education, to publish over
100 articles and, wonder of wonders, a book, then He can use you. Just ask Him.
Trust Him. And believe Him.
And honor Him
by pursuing the dreams He has placed in your heart.
On a Lighter Note
I’m an
introvert who loves people, loves laughing, and loves the smell of a
doughnut-producing apple cider mill. I adore autumn, movies that make me think,
and I especially like it when someone else cleans the bathroom.
Most proud of: I wouldn’t have given you a plug
nickel for my marriage initially. But through God’s grace, lots of prayer, and
a willingness to believe and hope in spite of how things appear, I hung in there, and God
transformed a once-ugly, ugly situation into something beautiful. Keith and I
recently celebrated our 26th wedding anniversary. To God be the
glory.
Most challenged by: Pets that deposit all manner of fur (and
other unfortunate items) onto my formerly clean floors. *sigh*
Most embarrassed about: My forgetfulness. Clearly my brains
cells are racing down a steep, rough dirt road on a rickety old bike. And let’s
just say more than a few of those brain cells have landed in the dust.
Most happy when: I’m with my family (especially my
four grandkids!) during the holidays. I love a jam-packed house with loads of
crazy, snorting laughter, lots of kiddos, and enticing aromas emanating from my
kitchen.
Most want to: Take a cross-country road trip in an
RV with my entire family. I can picture it: a mighty RV convoy chugging over
the Grand Tetons. The Wild West will never be the same.
