Good morning…
I wake early this morning, remembering Julie. Julie Harlan, a dear friend, was a longtime member of our Friday morning class and a committed attender of our young moms’ studies at Northside Church. Julie was humble and faithful, a prayer warrior extraordinaire. Shockingly diagnosed with stomach cancer at age forty-one, Julie battled through harsh treatments for thirty-eight days before she was welcomed into our heavenly home.
The day was April 2nd, 2017. It was fittingly a Sunday, a day to rest with God.
I keenly remember that surreal Sabbath day. After church, two of my best friends had taken me to see the movie The Shack for my spring birthday season. When we got back to the car, I received word that Julie had just passed from earth to heaven. Sad. Deeply sad. I felt so deeply sad for Julie’s husband, their two precious young boys and Julie’s large, loving network of extended family and friends.
Later that week I found two special symbols forever connecting my soul to Julie, two original paintings which still hang in our home. The first, pictured above, is a depiction of the shack, our intimate, living/breathing place of honest conversation with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Both Julie and I have spent countless hours within the “shack” of sacred solitude with God. Both of us incorporated our journals to pour out our deepest selves to the God who knows, who sees and who loves each ounce of us every single one of us.
The second is pictured below, a delightfully disheveled garden, a colorful fractal of God’s fruitful abundance described in the movie as “Wild and wonderful, and perfectly in process. Magnificent!” The garden of our friendship was quietly spectacular. Like in any deeply mutual relationship, it was impossible to determine who was giving and who was receiving as God mysteriously multiplied among us so many great gifts.
Why do I wake remembering Julie? Because our friend Julie died with a big dream growing out of her heart. Tonight is the annual Dream Big event hosted by the non-profit started by family and friends in Julie’s honor. The stated mission of Julie’s Dream is “to give disadvantaged children in Atlanta the hope and love of Jesus Christ through awesome wilderness experiences and outdoor adventures.” Since our first fundraiser in January of 2018, it has been amazing to witness God expanding the big dream of Julie Harlan to meet deep needs in the soul of our city.
From 12:00 to 3:00 pm today I will help with with final event preparations, and at 7:00 pm my husband and I will gather with a huge ballroom full of spirited supporters. But for now, in these wee hours, I sit in silence remembering. Oh how I savor the powerful presence of Julie in my life. She is with God as I am with God and we, spirit-to-spirit, are forever blossoming.
Jesus taught them this parable: “How can I describe God’s kingdom? God’s kingdom is like the smallest seed that one might plant in a garden. When it grows, it becomes a huge tree, with so many spreading branches that various birds make nests there” (Luke 13:18-20, TPT).
Wild. Wonderful. Perfectly in process.
Magnificently God!
…Sue…
