About Us
Staff
Meet Julie
I begin my story at the age of 15 when I accepted Christ as my personal Lord and Savior. What little bit of religion that I understood did not prepare me for life and at the age of 16, I found myself unmarried and pregnant. It ended in a miscarriage, but we got married anyway. My husband was an alcoholic and had been raised in an alcoholic and abusive home. He had been programmed from childhood that abuse was how to show your authority and he reminded me of this fact frequently. I went through another miscarriage. After a near death experience from one of his tirades, we moved across the country to Oregon. His lazy, drunken state and continual abuse finally peaked and after becoming pregnant for a third time, I headed back home. The pregnancy went full term, but we were divorced.
I met husband #2 and after living a life in total chaos and continual abuse, it was a huge adjustment to live as a “normal” person. We attended church regularly and were active as Youth Group leaders in our church. Because I was not firmly grounded in the Lord, the devil enticed me into an affair with a man that was in prison. I had known him from Jr High School. A friend had told me that he had come to know the Lord and I was very happy for him. I wrote him a letter to encourage him, but the devil used it to open a door that led to destruction. I left my second husband and set up housekeeping in another city and state and awaited the arrival of my soon to be husband #3 as he was released from prison. It didn’t take me long to figure out that everything he said had been lies. He hadn’t quit drinking or drugging. This relationship was simply unbelievable. He used my credit card to get cash to buy his dope. He would go to buy cigarettes and be gone for 2 or 3 days at a time. Eventually he was arrested and sent back to prison. I put everything in storage, moved and filed for a divorce and bankruptcy. I went through a period of extreme depression. If it hadn’t been for my belief that if I were to take my own life I would burn in hell, I probably would have tried. I continued on with a life of drinking and worthless relationships.
After a few years I met husband #4, a nice man with a psycho daughter! I went into this marriage thinking I could be the mother that she never had. Her behavior and her father’s lack of discipline led me to weekly visits with a Psychiatrist. After 3 years of Paxill, Zoloft and Prozac, I decided that I wasn’t the one that was messed up and I moved out and got yet another divorce! (If I had known in advance I probably could have purchased a package deal for a lower rate! I can joke today, but it wasn’t funny then.) Praise God for a sense of humor.
At this point, several years had passed since I’d seen or spoken with husband #3. The devil once again enticed me into contacting him and to make a long story short, we remarried. Over time, all the same habits resurfaced. Alcohol, drugs, lie after lie. One night he became very violent and broke my arm. He was, however, kind enough to drive me to the emergency room! I could tell story after story, but there are too many to recall. In fact, I believe the Lord has actually protected me from remembering them all. It came to a head when he lied about a trip out of state and I discovered the trip was actually to the dope man’s house for some cocaine. I sold nearly all of my furniture to the neighbor across the street, loaded up what I could and headed back home….Again!
I returned to Iowa with no vehicle, no money, no job and no home. I was full of anger, resentment, bitterness towards God and everyone else. I lived with my mother for a while. That wasn’t working out very well. By mid spring of 2003 I had met yet another man! We dated a few times and even though I knew he wasn’t the kind of man I should be hanging around, in October he asked me to move in with him. I saw it as an answer to my problem. We lived together and I began living his lifestyle. Nearly every night was spent at the bar. After a year of this, the Holy Ghost put the squeeze on me! I mean in a Major Way! I felt like I was going to snap. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to move back in with my Mother. I didn’t make enough money to pay my bills and live on my own. I just didn’t know what to do.
A gal at work told me about New Hope Counseling Center. I made a call and the woman I spoke with sensed my desperation. After a brief waiting period, she got me into Counseling. I faithfully came every week. I came with an “attitude” and I didn’t think anything was working. I didn’t “feel” any different and I was still living in the same situation. I believed that God was out to get me. I thought I had done way too much to ever be forgiven. I had been repeatedly told by men that I was stupid, fat & ugly. I had no self esteem. I wanted to quite, but the Holy Ghost was pushing me forward. Each session I would learn more and more about God, My Heavenly Father, and that He truly did Love Me. That He created me to share an intimate personal relationship with Him. He wasn’t “out to get me” and I “could” be forgiven for all of my past. He wasn’t like the world…He doesn’t hold a grudge! It was so hard to give up the worldly ways. My flesh hated every bit of it. I fought it all the way, but I wanted God more. I wanted Him to be in control of my life and I knew there was no going back. I kept on going and I made the ultimate decision to Totally Surrender my life to the Lord.
My life is actually written in God’s Word. I knew it was in there, but it wasn’t until I started eating up God’s Word that He led me to it again. John 4:6-29 tells the story of a Samaritan woman whom Jesus spoke to at a well where He asked her for a drink. Jesus spoke to her about water that she could drink and she would never thirst again. He told her to call her husband and come hither. To which she answered, I have no husband. “Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband”. That was Me! I’d had 5 husbands and the man I was living with was not my husband.
God had been working in my life all along, but it wasn’t until I reached the point of Total Surrender that He started showing Himself in ways that I could not have imagined. He provided a home for me. He provided financial blessings. He provided an awesome church family and a Pastor that preaches the Word of God. He’s changed my heart and my entire life.
The man I had previously been living with called me on February 24, 2006. He needed my help. Long story short….He was diagnosed with a Brain Tumor. I prayed about it for a long time and I felt like God was asking me to step up.
I wanted to be sure that he knew the Lord. He had told me that as a child he went to Sunday School, but that was years ago. One afternoon while we were setting in the parking lot of the facility he was staying at while receiving radiation, I talked to him about how sometimes God doesn’t answer our prayers the way we would like and if God didn’t heal him, was he sure that he would spend eternity in heaven? He repeated the sinners prayer that day and I knew God was right there with us. I knew why God asked me to step up. I put my life aside to become his caregiver 24/7. This man had been given 6 months to live. What was 6 months out of my life? When his life was over, mine would go on. After several weeks of Chemo and Radiation, I brought him back to his home. The house that I couldn’t wait to get out of I moved back into. I cared for him until he went to be with the Lord in September of 2006. I learned so many lessons about life and death and about stubbornness and pride. It was difficult, but God walked with me through it all. God’s promise of eternal life comforts me because I know I will see my friend again someday.
I am now on staff at New Hope. God is working in my life and I look forward to my future with Him and what He has for me. I know how difficult it is to surrender. I know how hard it is to fight satan. I was a faithful servant of his for many years and he didn’t want to let me go. But today I know “Who I am in Christ” and I know that “Greater is He who is in me than he that is in the world" 1 John 4:4. He gave me the strength I needed to take one day at a time. I do not regret my past. I am grateful for each and every trial, because had I not gone through them all, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I want to help others that are going through what I’ve been through. To share with them that there is Hope for a future and how very much God loves them. My past seems like it happened so long ago. I even have a hard time believing it myself. I have been so blessed. If you or someone you know is in a similar situation and you need someone to talk to please share my testimony and feel free to contact any of us at New Hope. God created us to share in an intimate loving relationship with Him and He Desires to Bless His Children. Trust God’s Word and BELIEVE that HE LOVES YOU and HE CARES ABOUT EVERY DETAIL OF YOUR LIFE. Nothing is too big for God.