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My guest today is Julie Roberts. Her incredible singing voice made her a country music sensation very quickly. She has shared the stage with Rascal Flatts, Reba McEntire, and Keith Urban. Her country hit, “Break Down Here” catapulted her music career at lighting speed. Along with her passion for music and performing, we talk about the things that are most important to her: her dogs, her husband, and her Mama.
As an animal lover, Julie shares with us the depth of love for her pups. They have been with her through the greatest and worst times. She would rescue every single dog if she could!
Julie is newly married but she tells us how it’s almost a miracle because she never believed that true love could exist for her.
As a child, Julie shares that she didn’t have “normal” family life. Her father was an abusive alcoholic. This made it especially hard to trust someone to share life with. So many of us come from broken homes that influence the way we see men in our lives. I was thankful for Julie’s ability to share a rough part of her life that many of us can identity with and can feel encouraged that there is hope for love regardless of what sort of example we were shown of marriage and family.
Julie tells us it’s her mama that saved her life in so many ways. She cultivated her love for music and protected her during the dark times of childhood. Ever since Julie could, she’s given all that she could to return that love and protection to her Mama, her best friend. Mama has sacrificed so much of her life for Julie. She’s a strong, caring woman. And if you listen toward the end of the episode, you’ll find that Mama is pretty funny too! 🙂
Julie’s book, Beauty in the Breakdown, highlights a pinnacle point of her health and her music career:
At the height of her singing career, life was turned upside down when she had an attack on her body as she was performing on stage. Blind and partially paralyzed on stage, Julie pressed on singing, and chose to tuck those scary symptoms away until she could return home from her tour.
After a trip to the doctor, Julie was diagnosed with MS.
Julie wanted nothing to do with the diagnosis. She decided to ignore it personally and hide it professionally. Because of her tumultuous past, she felt like she was good at hiding the real truth in life.
In self-denial, Julie cut off her opportunity to learn more about the disease and the treatments available.
The bad times got worse as she lost her record deal the same week that the Nashville flood wiped away all of her possessions.
At this point, the stress of the situation took a physical toll on Julie’s body and she could no longer ignore the fact that MS was a real part of her life.
Listen to Julie’s story as she hit rock bottom but found what was most important in life through her trials. Believing she was saved from the Nashville flood for a reason, Julie took her first steps toward treating MS and caring for her body and her soul. She now helps advocate for people diagnosed with MS and other diseases that initially steal your hope.
Finding love, trusting Jesus, and walking in her passion despite the misconceptions of her health, Julie is an inspiration not only to those who struggle with MS, but to anyone who is in the middle of a hard road.
And, we had such a great time laughing! Listen to the end of this episode to find out how pig-sitting gets you THE MOST GORGEOUS lashes and the best advice I’ve ever heard about facing a near-death experience on an airplane!
