INSIDE VL Magazine - Julie Seals: All My Hope is in Jesus

Hey IFAM, this is Ashley and I'm on the team with Victorious Living and welcome to Inside VL Magazine. So all of you, I'm hoping, have gotten this magazine in your facilities and maybe you've read it. Not this particular one, but we have lots of different ones, some old, some new coming out. And so here we're just going to a deeper dive. You're going to hear from some of our authors and our writers and just how they share their story. They're going to read it to you. They're going to share some deeper, in-depth thoughts about what was going on in their mind and how they felt a certain way. And so our authors are true stories of real people sharing with you kind of where they got to the point where they surrendered to God. And so we're excited for you to be with us on this journey and we hope it inspires you to also take a step closer to God. In today's episode, we're going to hear from Julie Seals and how she overcame so many trials, sickness, incarceration, death of family members, and how she came back to all her hope is in Jesus. And so we hope that encourages you today. Hey there, my name is Julie Seals and it is such a privilege to have my testimony in issue three of 2026 Victorious Living Magazine. Some of you may recognize me. I am the newest member of the Victorious Living team. I help with content creation, creative content. Anyway, welcome to a corner of my living room. What I want to do now is I just want to read my story to you and I'm just super glad that you have joined me. So I'm just going to be myself. So this video is not going to be perfect.

It's just going to be me, Julie, and it's not, there's no perfection here. Trust me. Anyway, I'm going to put my glasses on and you see I've got my swag, my Victorious Living hat and shirt. I love swag. Anyway, I'm going to read you my story. And like I said, it is such an honor and a privilege for my testimony to be one of the testimonies in this issue. So I'm going to show you, this is the cover and you'll see I have the same denim jacket on right now today. Anyway, the title is All My Hope Is In Jesus because the truth of the matter is that is where all my hope is and has been for the last 25 and a half years. So here's my story. I was born with a birth defect called spina bifida. The doctors told my parents that I wouldn't survive. And if by chance I did, I would never walk or develop normally. Now I'm going to take a sidetrack here. Can you see that I'm walking? I'm walking. Yes. What does that mean? That means doctors don't have the final word. Jesus does. Okay. Heartbroken, my parents took me home to die. At six months old, I was still here and I underwent an operation where the doctors were able to remove most of the tumor that had wrapped around my spinal cord and protruded through my skin. They also pushed my spinal cord back inside my body, but they had little expectations for me.

God had a different plan. Psalm 139, Jeremiah 29, 11, and Ephesians 2 and 10. We'll read those at the end of the article. Actually, you know what? We're going to read them right now. Those are my life verses. Some of them, Psalm 139 says, you created my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother's womb. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them ever came to be. That is two verses out of Psalm 139 and Jeremiah 29, 11 says, I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. As to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a hope and a future. And Ephesians 2 and 10 says, you are God's masterpiece created in Christ Jesus to do the good things that he had planned for you to do since before time began. Not only did I survive. I miraculously grew into an energetic little girl who walked before age one and read the newspaper before age three. As I grew older, however, I developed neurological complications in my feet and legs. So you can see I'm reading to you. And by age 12, I had lost all feeling in both my feet. By the age of 18, I developed pressure ulcers on the bottom of my only left foot. Well, we all have only one left foot, right? I told you this wasn't gonna be perfect. Okay, just just just go with me on the journey, okay? Okay, I developed pressure ulcers on the bottom of my left foot when I was 18 years old. I went under 12 surgeries over the next 10 years on my left foot and then gangrene set in. I woke up one day in the emergency room packed in ice from the neck down as the doctors tried to lower my 106 degree temperature. They amputated my left leg below the knee the next morning. For the next several years, I struggled with alcohol and drugs as I dealt with self-doubt and insecurities. In the midst of all this, I was caught in a toxic marriage and doing my best to be a good mother to my only child, Tyler.

Deep down, I knew I needed God in my life, but I didn't know how to find him. I also didn't know what to do with all my problems, so I ran. I took my beloved son and moved cross-country to start a new life in Tennessee. I found a church there and got baptized, hoping that when I came up out of the water, I would be a new person, but nothing changed because I was only going through the motions. I hadn't given my heart to God, nor had I committed to following Jesus. I still consider myself a victim of life and its cruel circumstances, and I didn't think that I was a sinner in need of a Savior. I went to church for about a month. After every service, I would stand in the parking lot holding Tyler and hoping that someone would invite us to lunch. I was desperate for fellowship and clueless about how to live for God, but every Sunday, people passed by, got into their cars, and smiled and waved as they drove away. I felt so rejected and alone, and instead of reaching out, I withdrew and eventually stopped going to church. Self-pity took over, and I convinced myself that those church people didn't care one bit about me. Truthfully, I've never given them a chance to know me. Isolated, I reached for substances again to ease my pain. I started hanging out with a different crowd where I quickly felt accepted. Soon, I was trapped in an old familiar cycle of self-destruction. A couple years later, Tyler's dad found us, and we went through a very bitter divorce and custody battle, and I panicked at the thought of losing my precious son, and I fled to Mexico. I took Tyler and I fled the country, and I went to Mexico. That was a really bad idea. Once I got there, I realized I had no next step to my genius plan, so I was crossing back over into America to try to straighten things out with the authorities, but it turns out they were waiting for me. As soon as I crossed the border, I was taken into secondary, and I was detained. The authorities put Tyler in one police car and me in another one, and as we drove down Interstate 5, they let me listen to his little voice come over the police radio, and he said, Hi, Mama. I love you, Mama. My heart was ripped out of my chest that day. I was in jail for three weeks for misdemeanor child stealing. After my release, I was given a six-month restraining order forbidding me to contact Tyler or my ex-husband. The

day the restriction lifted, I rushed to call, but the phone number was no good. My ex had taken Tyler and disappeared, knowing that my son was gone. on broke me, but before I could process that loss, I learned that my dad had lung cancer. We didn't even know he was sick. The doctors predicted my father would be fine and they scheduled surgery to remove the bottom third of his right lung. But when they opened him up, they saw that the cancer had spread to the chambers around his heart. He never left the hospital alive. My dad died. And at that point, I gave up on life. I no longer cared whether I lived or died. My son was gone. My dad was dead. What was left for me? Nothing. You ever get to a point where you just think nothing's left? This is the end? I packed a bag of clothes and I fled to Mexico with one goal in mind, to stay inebriated so I would never have to face reality. I had no coping skills for pain other than substances. And I lived that way for the next two years of my life, consuming a steady flow of alcohol and drugs on the beaches of Ensenada, honestly hoping to die. I felt nothing but despair

despite the beautiful ocean sunsets that surrounded me. And then I connected with a group of people who manufactured crystal meth and sold it and trafficked it. First Corinthians 15 and 33 says, do not be misled. Bad company corrupts good character. Well, I know this to be true. At first, I knew better than to associate with these people. They were constantly under police surveillance. But when you have nothing to live for, you don't think logically anymore. Also, when you're doing alcohol and drugs, you don't think logically. It wasn't long before the Mexican federales were raiding my house. And these men were no joke. They were dressed all in black, wearing full face masks and armed with machine guns drawn. One morning as I made my way to the liquor store to spend the last bit of my change on a 40 ounce can of beer, I heard a voice inside me say, Julie, you're going to hell for the way you're living. And I was shocked. I really never spent time worrying about heaven or hell. So I knew that this was not my thought. But regardless, something in me even knew that hell was what I deserved. That afternoon, I had an appointment to see a doctor because of complications, that's a complicated word, in my only remaining foot.

My condition, osteomyelitis, had resulted in an infected ulcer and my foot swelled up to the size of a football. The doctor told me that my right leg too would have to be amputated or I'd die from the infection. That news was the last straw for me. Yet another last straw, I had many of them. But I had already lost one leg, not to mention I lost my son and my dad. And now my remaining leg was gonna be amputated. And the anguish over who I had become, the anguish over the life I was living, it just overwhelmed me. Inside, I knew I could either keep running toward death or turn to God. See, I believed in God, but I just didn't know how to get from the death grip of addiction to a place where I could encounter God. I returned home from that doctor's appointment and collapsed in a heap of gut-wrenching sobs on my living room floor. And suddenly, I sensed what I now know to be the Holy Spirit of God fill the room. He pulled the blinders off my eyes and helped me see that I, Julie, was a sinner in need of a savior. And as I became painfully aware of the person I had become,

I cried out, God, I need you to become the center of my life or I'll be lost forever. Help me, God. I don't know how to pray and I can't stop drinking or doing drugs. I'm trying, but I can't quit. I can't even meet you halfway, so do whatever it takes to set me free. That's right, I went so far as to say, God, do whatever it takes. And that's the best thing I could have done. I woke up the next morning, but I didn't feel anything. I assumed God didn't hear me or wasn't answering my prayer. And I decided I had nothing to lose. And I went ahead with a plan to smuggle meth across the border. I felt numb as I walked to the pedestrian crossing of the Mexico-San Ysidro border at San Diego with four pounds of crystal meth duct taped around my waist. I was arrested before I got across. During my first week of incarceration, a small group of women volunteers came into the prison. Volunteers, just like Victorious Living Ministry. And one neatly manicured lady sat on my bunk and smiled and said, did you know that Jesus loves you very much? Tears streamed down my face as she went on to tell me about the forgiving heart of almighty God. He was a God who desperately wanted not only to save me, but also to change my life.

You can pause this video if you want to right now and look at scriptures, Ezekiel 18 and 23, John chapter three, 17, and first Timothy chapter two, verses three and four. I want you to also look at second Peter three and nine and third John one and two. I know that's a lot of scripture, but trust me, grab your Bible, look them up and read them. I got on my knees in front of my cold metal prison bunk and I surrendered my life and my heart to Jesus Christ and a heavy weight, I felt it lift off of my chest, off of my heart. And there I was in federal prison, I was facing 17 years to life. I was at risk for losing my only leg. And yet for the very first time, I felt free and full of hope. I was still dealing with an infection in my foot and I requested to see a doctor. He took one look at my foot and told me that without a doubt I was gonna lose that leg and very soon. But I couldn't agree with him because I had just read Isaiah 53 and five that says, by his wounds, we were healed. And I believed with the simplicity of a child that Jesus had not only died to save me from my sin, but to heal my sickness and my inner wounds. And I told that doctor, no, I'm not gonna lose this leg. Jesus is going to heal me. He laughed, but God had the last laugh.

Every day after that, a small group of faith-filled women and I prayed together, speaking healing over my body and over that infected foot. Two months later, the ulcer was gone and new skin had grown over where the hole in my foot used to be. The doctor couldn't believe it. I went to show the doctor and he declared it was a miracle. And he looked at me and he said, I know Jesus did that because that's impossible. Incredibly, I served only 22 months in federal prison with my last stint at FMC Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas. There, I completed a 500-hour residential drug abuse program. Excellent. I highly recommend it. I had requested the program, even though it wasn't required because I knew I needed practical skills to live a clean and sober life on the outside. And you know what? My mom was so supportive. Despite all the pain that caused her and my dad, she sensed the change in me when we were talking on the phone and she was excited for me to get out of prison and come and live with her. She sent me cards with pictures of clothing she had bought for me. The clothes that she was buying me

were hanging in the closet that was going to be my bedroom in her apartment. But six months before my release, the chaplain called me to his office and told me that my mom, who was anxiously awaiting my release, had just died in her sleep. I was devastated. My dear mom, who had only seen me mess up my life, was never going to know the change that Jesus had made in me. Tears poured down my face as I asked God, what am I supposed to do now? And as clear as a bell, all of a sudden, the Lord answered me in my heart, and he said, Julie, it's time for you to depend only on me now. I didn't really have a choice. I had depended on my parents my whole life to bail me out of legal and financial troubles, and I had no family left who believed in me or wanted anything to do with me. I was released from federal prison on November 20th of 2002. I had to fly from Dallas to San Diego to report for my probation, because that was where my crime had been committed. I clutched my Bible as I walked through the airport in Dallas, Fort Worth, and I repeated 2 Corinthians 5, 17 out loud over and over. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, she is a new creation. The old has gone.

The new is here. And that verse got me all the way to my destination. As I continued to depend on God, he was faithful to provide my every need. He placed wonderful people in my path to support me. He provided a safe place to live, and he made a way for me to go to college and keep my promise to my mom. I graduated from San Diego City College with honors, and I received the Chancellor's Award, which was the highest honor given to any college student there. And then, on Christmas Eve of 2005, he brought a mighty man of God into my life. His name is Mike, and his story is in the same issue. I met Mike at a dinner party at my pastor's house. We were set up. I tried to scare Mike away, if I'm being honest, by telling him everything about my past addiction and my prison time, and I even showed him my prosthetic leg right here. And then, you know, trying everything I could to scare him away, because I just figured that once he knew my story and everything that there was to know about me, he would run. So I was trying to push him on off there. But it didn't work. He looked at me in that dinner, and he just smiled, and he said,

I'm not going anywhere. Mike is a U.S. Navy senior chief. He met Jesus after losing his first wife of 20 years to breast cancer. Like me, he had been desperate when God rescued him. We got married in 2006, and so this year we're celebrating 20 years of marriage. And not long after that, Mike became a prison chaplain. So today, as I'm sitting here making this video, my husband, Mike, is at prison as a senior chaplain with the Florida Department of Corrections. Mike often encouraged me to look for Tyler, and he helped me. And we prayed for Tyler, my son, every single day, didn't know where he was. Eventually we found him on Facebook, but I felt the Holy Spirit tell me, do not reach out to him yet. He's not ready. So I waited, trusting that God's faithfulness and timing would be perfect to reunite me with my son. While I was still in prison and praying for Tyler, God had led me to Isaiah 49 and 18. That verse says this, lift your eyes and look around. All your children gather and come to you. As surely as I live, declares the Lord, you will wear them all as ornaments. You will put them on like a bride. Well, that, you know, I got excited when I read that verse,

but I thought, okay, well, that's a little weird. But I showed that verse to Mike. And for the next several years, we both prayed and fasted, clinging to God's promise. And then on May 12th of 2013, my miracle happened. Tyler found me on Facebook and reached out. And three months later, Mike and I were at the airport picking up my son who was coming to see us for a visit. visit, I stood on my tiptoes, peering down the corridor as passengers rolled their carry-on bags towards us. And suddenly Mike, who saw him first, he goes, Julie, there he is, look, go, go. And he had my phone, cause he was going to take a picture. And I went walking, running to Tyler, and he saw me and he came running towards me and he dropped his duffel bag and he threw his arms around me and embraced me, arms wide open, full forgiveness. We had a wonderful visit and not long after that, Tyler packed his stuff and he drove across the country and he moved in with us. We had our challenges as a blended family, but God saw us through every challenge. And today, Tyler is married to a beautiful woman named Laura, who loves the Lord. And here's where that promise from Isaiah comes in. I got to walk Tyler down the aisle at his wedding while my husband, Mike, married them. And here's the picture of me walking Tyler

down the aisle at his wedding. Now listen to this verse again. Lift your eyes and look around. All your children gather and come to you. As surely as I live, declares the Lord, you will wear them all as ornaments. You will put them on like a bride. And there I am, wearing my son like an ornament, putting him on as I walk him down to marry his bride at his wedding. I have goosebumps right now. When God gives you a promise from his word and he gets your heart excited and you feel like the Holy Spirit is saying, that's what I want you to pray, that verse right there. Can I just encourage you? Do it because God's got a miracle waiting in the wings for you. All right, let me read the rest of this story. Today, Tyler is married to my daughter-in-law, Laura, and they have a precious daughter, which means that I am a grandma now. So only God, I want you to know, can write a redemption story this powerful. In 2023, I launched Julie Seals Ministries and I published my book. It's called, All My Hope, A Prisoner No More. It's distributed in prisons and recovery centers in the United States across the US and abroad in other nations.

It's also translated in Spanish. And if you are listening to my story from inside prison walls, which this is why I'm making this video for you, I want you to know this. I want you to know that your story is not over. God sees you. He knows your name. He knows your pain. He knows every mistake that you've made and every wound that you are carrying in this moment. And He loves you. And He has a plan, especially for you. Trust Him. He will walk beside you through the valley of the shadow of death. That's Psalm 23 and verse four. And He will bring you out shining like His son, Jesus. I am living proof that God is real and that nothing is impossible with Him. He can turn your mourning into dancing. That's in Psalm 30, verse 11. He'll turn your ashes into beauty. And that is Isaiah 61 and three. And He'll turn your mess into a miraculous message. That's for me, Julie. Don't give up. Don't give up. Keep praying and believing, no matter the odds and trust God's timing.

You cannot clearly see now everything God is doing behind the scenes, but He is at work. Read 1 Corinthians 13 and 12. You can't see what God's doing behind the scenes, but He's at work and your miracle is coming. So what I wanna do is I want to read a couple reflection questions to close out this video. And first of all, okay. I'm looking at my cheater notes to make sure I don't leave anything out, because you are that important. I pray that you have found yourself or seen yourself in the pages of my story. I pray that in the pages of my story, you've recognized your own mess and that you have found hope that what Jesus did for me, He wants to do and can do and will do for you if you'll put your trust in Him and give your heart to Him completely. It's got to be full surrender, though. It can't be part way and no conditions, no surrendering to Jesus and saying, well, if you do this thing for me, I'll follow you. But if things go wrong, I won't. It's got to be full surrender. I prayed that my mom would stay alive until I got out so I could live with her and go to college. And that prayer didn't come to be. And that's where we have to trust or we have the choice, I should say, to trust. God, am I going to still follow you when things go wrong, when it doesn't go my way? I know no other answer than, yes, God, I will follow you. It's not going my way, God, but I will follow you and I'll never turn back. And I can tell you something, there is no better decision than that. And I'm looking forward to making more of these videos for you, not just with this article, but with other pieces of my story. God is a miracle working God. So in closing, here are some questions I would like you to consider and maybe even journal if you like to journal. If you don't, pick up some paper and a pen and start because it's really powerful. The first question I want to know, what pain are you running from or numbing instead of facing? For me, it was the pain of my own mistakes. It was the pain of abuse. It was shame, guilt and despair over who I had become and things I had done. It was losing my dad, having my son taken away. Some of that's not my fault, but some of it was. The stuff that was, there's that added shame, guilt, despair, hopelessness, self-hatred. But I ran from it and I numbed it with alcohol and drugs. What pain are you running from or numbing instead of facing?

And what might that be costing you? For me, all my running, it took me longer to get to the foot of the cross and the arms of Jesus. And as long as I was running, I was making a bigger mess. So what might your running be costing you? Who or what have you depended on instead of God? I depended on my own understanding. I was determined I was going to do life my way and nobody was going to tell me what to do. Well, that caught me in federal prison and a lot of trouble. I also depended on my parents to bail me out. I depended on drug, meth cooks to supply me with drugs when I ran out of money. Who or what have you depended on instead of God? And the final question, what small steps could you take toward trusting God? What small steps today can you take towards trusting God? I want to pray for you. God, I thank you so much for every man and every woman watching this video. God, I thank you that it's not a mistake that they hit the play button, that they found this video and that they hit the play button. God, I thank you for Victorious Living Magazine and for the articles, the real true life transformational stories that help men and women see the hope that is found only in a personal relationship with Christ Jesus. And God, I pray for every man and woman watching this video. I pray, Holy Spirit, that you would make yourself real to them right now. I pray that you would reveal your love to them and reveal the fact that you have a good plan and a good purpose for their life. I thank you God that when we put our trust in you we don't have to worry about anything because you are behind the scenes taking care of everything. God I pray for men and women watching this video who are separated from their children. I pray God that even now that you would be doing a restorative work. God I pray that you would restore what the enemy has stolen and right now I pray that those who are choosing to put their faith and their trust in you Jesus

I pray that they would feel your love washing away all their sin and that your love would become greater than fear, guilt, condemnation, self-hatred, and depression. I pray Holy Spirit that you would encounter these men and women as they're watching on their tablets and that you would take them on a journey that will forever transform them all for your glory. God I thank you for your faithfulness. Thank you that you love the one watching this right now because that's why I'm making this video is for that one and even as tears are streaming down their face I pray Holy Spirit that you would be doing a powerful inner work and that they would know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you not only have their answer but you are their answer and it's in Jesus name that I pray this. Amen. God bless you. I'm praying for you. Thank you for watching our broadcast. Are you an incarcerated brother or sister who needs encouragement? Write to us at Victorious Living Correspondents P.O. Box 2751 Greenville North Carolina 27836. To view Victorious Living magazine in its entirety, please have your chaplain contact us at 352-478-2098 or email us through our website at vlmag.org. We are happy to provide our Victorious Living magazine free of charge in bulk with or without staples.