Julia's Story 10 Feb. 2018 - Joyce Meyer Ministries. "Finally, after another drug relapse, I had reached my rock bottom…and I heard God say to me, 'Are you done running?'" Hear Julia's powerful story above!
full text Julia's Story 10 Feb. 2018 - Joyce Meyer Ministries
Julia: my childhood was pretty chaotic. I never had a relationship with my father, I never knew him, and so my mom raised me by herself. And my mom was physically and verbally abusive towards me throughout my childhood. So, I had a really chaotic home life. My mom was a christian when she raised me, but because she was representing a christian, I felt very angry towards God. I experienced sexual abuse on numerous occasions throughout my childhood, for the first time when I was 4 years old, and then numerous times after that. At a very young age, I started struggling with an eating disorder. I think it was to try and control something because I felt like everything else in my life was out of control. I had so much pain on the inside that I didn't know how to express in any sort of words, and so cutting was a way to release that pain. But then immediately, I would be filled up with so much shame and guilt, it was like a cloud of darkness would just come over me. I found cocaine and crystal meth, and was drinking by myself heavily, and was in and out of drug rehabs and psychiatric hospitals, where I was put on numerous medications and diagnosed with all kinds of mental illness. And I've been in handcuffs, I've been strapped down, I've been in straitjackets. I mean, stuff you see in movies, I lived that. Every day, I thought about dying and thought of ways to kill myself. And I just remember, like, crying out to God and just asking like, "are you going to help me? Because I have absolutely no hope."
Finally, after another drug relapse, I had reached my rock bottom, and I heard God say to me, "are you done running?" Melanie: she needed to make the choice of, is she was going to deal with the root issues so that she could be the person that she wanted to be. Julia: I didn't realize that I was rebellious and defiant until I had conversations with so many of the staff here that were willing to tell me the truth. They were very direct and bold in their conversations with me, but it was all wrapped in love.
Melanie: she was able to really look at what was causing her to act the way she did. And so, at that point, she really began renewing her mind. Julia: it was the first time that I read and was taught to write out scriptures and truths that I could speak out loud to renew my mind, and line my thought life up with the word of God. And once I did that, I experienced so much freedom in my thoughts. I mean, I was tormented daily. And to have that discipline has been life-changing for me. So many of us have dealt with toxic thinking and lies, but if we don't know that they're lies, we're just going to continue to accept them. And so, "battlefield of the mind" does a great job of pointing out what thoughts are from the enemy, and then what thoughts are from God and are based on his word. My heart was healed here, and my mind was healed, and I learned a relationship with Jesus and what that looks like. And that's been the thing that has sustained me all these years is the relationship with Jesus. Jesus can set anyone free. Any issue, any problem, he can set you free, and so we just have to be willing to do the work. My mom has gone through her own healing journey, and we've been able to heal individually and then also together in our relationship. God has brought other young women into my life who are dealing with very similar issues that I've dealt with, and I've been able to walk alongside them very closely, and share my story, and share about Jesus, and just go through the journey with them. Thank you to all the joyce meyer ministries partners because your giving helped save my life. And my life is one example of hundreds of thousands of lives that have been transformed.