shaking up my life

Hey!!!!
I realize that it has been basically forever since I last posted. I do apologize for not informing everyone what God has been doing in my life. He has just been so busy shaking me up that I've simply forgotten to tell everyone about it.

On Friday, October 29 I needed to have all of my school tuition paid for my lecture session here in Kona plus enough money to pay for my plane ticket to Hawaii. This sum was around almost $4,000. In crazy ways God provided more than enough money to finish all my lecture payments and purchase an $1,800 plane ticket. God is so good. I had people just walking up to me and handing me wads of cash. It was incredible. I ended up giving away a bunch of my own things, including my computer, which also explains why it's taken me so long to post anything. I know that God will continue to provide what I need. He is so faithful.

That week at school we had a crazy intense teacher named Andy Byrd. The fire of God just pours off of this man. I woke up on that Monday (October 25) with this burning passion in my soul that God was going to bring deliverance to my life and that I needed to fast. God met me like crazy. I was just lying on the floor, crying my eyes out, weeping in my soul. The next day a bunch of students in my class all got together to be baptized in the pool. I felt like this was something I needed to do as an outward sign of the new person I was inside. God has changed me so much that I don't even remember the person I used to be. On Wednesday I just got hit with the power of God. It was so crazy intense. I had also decided to fast Wednesday thru Friday in order to raise the money for the trip. The whole week was so incredible.

After a super intense week with Andy's teaching, I had hoped the next week would be a bit more laid back. I could not have been more wrong. We started off strong right away on Monday. Our class was divided into our Outreach groups and given a topic to discuss. After discussing our topic in my China group, we selected one member to present/preach what we talked about. Of course, that person was me. I went in front of the class and received the microphone. Instantly the power and confidence of God blew through me. I honestly could not tell you what I all talked/preached about for a good five minutes. It was simply God's words coming out of my mouth with my voice. I now that God has given me the gift of both preaching and teaching. I began to reach deeper into the heart of God to seek after the other gifts he has for me.
The rest of the week was super intense just growing closer to God and discovering what He all has in store for my life and my future. We heard some super powerful messages about truly living our lives for the gospel of Christ. I'm going to say these things and they are true. And the truth may cut deep and hurt:
Gossip is a sin. Talking about anyone negatively is a sin. God has given us our tongues to speak life into people not to cut them down.
Harry Potter is witchcraft. God hates witchcraft.
Rebellion is also witchcraft. (1 Samuel 15:23) So is any form of drug use that alters the state of your mind.
Lust, sexual immorality, and pornography are sins that hinder you from entering heaven. (1 Corinthians 6)
Worshiping God with music downloaded illegally is still stealing.

This past week has been so amazing. We have been going thru a book called "Freedom Class Manual: Knowing Christ Intimately, Experiencing Life Abundantly" by Brain Brennt and Mike Riches. Both of them have been speaking to us these past two weeks and have been teaching us about breaking thru strongholds in our lives. It has been a radical week. I have never felt so free before. In order to break down a stronghold in your life (such as anger, fear, passivity, shame, rejection, and unforgiveness) you must:
Repent of the sin. (Acts 3:19)
Receive God's forgiveness and cleansing. (Psalm 103:8-12 and I John 1:9)
Rebuke the enemy's hold on you because of this sin. (Matthew 4:10 and James 4:7)
Replace all lies with God's truth. (Galatians 2:20 and Ephesians 5:18)

God wants to give you freedom in your life as He has done in mine. I am not the same person I was six weeks ago when I got on a plane and flew to Hawaii. God has radically altered and shifted my life.

This past week I have been fasting from all foods and most drinks, besides tea, milk, and water. I started on Sunday, November 7 and will finish my fast tomorrow on Saturday night. God has just been drawing me so close to His heart. He has been showing me so many things and answering the questions I've been wanting to know for awhile. I have also been pressing in to Him for the gift of evangelism and healing and for even more outpouring for the gift of prophecy.
I want to share a story that happened this past Wednesday. A group of us were getting ready to go downtown into Kona to witness to people and tell them that God loved them so much and desired a relationship with them. Before we left I prayed and felt that I was going to find a man who: did triathlons, had wanted to do the IronMan here in Kona, had not be able to compete in it, and also had knee problems. So our group set out to the town. We talked to a bunch of people and asked if we could pray with them. We got rejected over and over, which quickly helped me get over my fear of man. You get used to rejection really quickly. We saw two men talking to each other on the beach and decided to talk to them. Don was Lutheran, and Dennis was Catholic. We talked with them for a while. Don was wearing a shirt that read something like "Tiki Triathlon," so I asked if he ran triathlons. He did and talked about how he had always wanted to do the IronMan in Kona. I knew instantly that this was the man that God had showed me before. I asked him if he had knee problems, and he did. I told him that God had told me that I was going to meet him and that I wanted to pray for healing. I also began to prophesy to him about things that God wanted to do in his life. He said we could pray for him but didn't really believe that God could heal. We prayed for the two of them and said goodbye. It was super amazing.

I don't know if Don was healed right then, but I do believe that God wants to heal him. I know my God heals. Yesterday I was praying with a girl in my class because she was suffering from a hemorrhoid for the past couple of weeks. She told me today that God instantly healed her. We also prayed for a little boy in class today that was unable to see out of one of his eyes. The doctors had said that his brain had stopped receiving images from that eye and that he may be blind. We prayed for him, and he started seeing. God is so good.

As you can probably tell, God has been doing super amazing and crazy things here in Kona. I am so excited what He will continue to do in the next 6 weeks here and also in the 3 months in China. My team leaves December 28 for China. Because God provided the money for the ticket, I am able to go. I still am in need of all the money it will cost for me to live in China for three months. This is probably going to be around $3,000-4,000. I also need to buy a plane ticket from Hawaii back home to Michigan, which is at least $500. Lastly I need to buy a new passport and have that expiated so that I can apply for a Chinese visa, which will be around $200. So, I need at least another $4,000 buy November 24. I know that my God can provided that. He is so big and so great.

Thank you all so much for helping support me in your prayers and also financially. Do not stop praying. I always need it. Please ask God if He wants you to give more or if you know of someone who would love to be a part of what God is doing thru my life.
And if anyone knows anyone with a spare Mac laptop, I am praying and trusting God that He will provide me one to replace the computer I gave away. :)

May God continue to richly bless you.

Julianne