A Sad Time of Tribute

We received very sad news this morning that is very painful for us. Our most recently adopted daughter who we have lost contact with for the past few months has died in a diabetic coma. She died last Wednesday after spending two weeks in a coma. This was after going into six comas over the previous month and being involved in a high speed car accident just days before her last coma.

We loved Julie very deeply even though she had abruptly left us and cut off all communications with us after being encouraged to believe false insinuations about us. We have considered her a precious daughter and an intimate part of our close family through all the good times and the bad. We are going to miss her very much.

Julie was a very unique and special girl. She had a spirit of kindness and gentleness like I have never seen in anyone before. She was so sensitive in her spirit that even many animals, even wild animals at times, seemed to respond very quickly to her and would come to trust her in amazing ways. She also had a natural and strong attraction with children who felt very comfortable in her loving presence.

She was very gifted with artistic skills and longed to expand her abilities. She dreamed of going into a career in high-fashion clothing design. She was definitely not a conformist stuck with boxed in thinking in many ways but she also struggled to know how to deal with a lot of internal pain and confusion in her life. Because of very painful past experiences, beliefs and relationships she often did not know how to express her feelings consistently or perceive circumstances or other people's actions accurately. We realized that her perceptions of reality were often confused by misunderstandings or misinterpretations and were very easily influenced by her intense desire to please whoever was in her immediate presence.

Julie spent much of her attention in concern for others who might be in pain or going through difficult times even though her own life was often as bad or worse than theirs. She had a very high level of sympathy and compassion that was surprising at times. She had a sweetness and softness that would immediately invite the trust and friendship of anyone open to her influence and was almost always welcome everywhere she went.

Julie had very deep struggles that she never resolved in her attitudes and beliefs about Jesus. Her heart had received so many negative messages and lies about Jesus throughout her life that she had come to view Him with deep suspicion at best. Based on this misinformation she understandably wanted nothing to do with Him though her attitudes about God were very different. She felt that she could hear God in her heart and often learned things from Him that she would apply to her life.

She realized a few years ago that it was important for her to let go of the bitterness and resentment from many of her past experiences and relationships or it would destroy her heart. She relayed to us that at times when she was in a coma she would feel immense peace and would sometimes feel impressed with truths like embracing a spirit of forgiveness and releasing all negative thinking so that she could enjoy true freedom. She said that there were times that she felt so good while in a coma that she sometimes did not really want to return to consciousness.

She is gone now and is at peace. The repercussions of this untimely death will affect everyone who loved her for some time to come, but the deep love that we feel for her has never changed. The beauty of Julie's life will glow in our hearts and memories for the rest of our life.