Ashley Julian – From Addiction and Brokenness to Redemption and Restoration

No one is too far gone for God.

No addiction is too strong.
No past is too broken.
And no life is beyond the reach of His grace.

In this powerful and deeply moving conversation, John Martin sits down with Ashley Julian to share a testimony of radical redemption, restoration, and the life-changing power of surrendering everything to Jesus.

At first glance, many people see Ashley’s joy, peace, and bright spirit and would never imagine the darkness she once walked through. But behind her smile is a story marked by years of addiction, brokenness, pain, and hopelessness.

Ashley shares how she struggled with addiction from the age of 12 until she was 35 years old. During those years, her life spiraled deeper into destruction. She lost custody of her children, battled alcoholism, and found herself trapped in cycles she could not break on her own.

She tried different ways to escape the addiction, but nothing truly worked.

Then one day, everything began to change.

A friend invited Ashley to church. At first, she resisted. She didn’t feel worthy, didn’t want to go, and had no idea that one invitation would completely alter the course of her life.

That night, Ashley attended a Pentecostal church service and encountered the presence of God in a way she had never experienced before. Later that evening, she made the decision to be baptized.

And when she came up out of the water, something changed.

Although she didn’t fully understand it at the time, God had begun setting her free.

Soon after, Ashley’s life took another dramatic turn. Facing multiple warrants and legal trouble, she found herself standing at a crossroads. In one of the most powerful moments of her testimony, Ashley shares how the Holy Spirit spoke clearly to her while she was hiding from police—telling her to stop running and walk out the front door in surrender.

That surrender became the beginning of true freedom.

While serving time in jail, isolated and stripped of everything familiar, God met her again. Through prayer and obedience, Ashley applied to Path of Grace, a long-term faith-based recovery program in Florida. Despite every obstacle and every fear, God opened the impossible doors for her to leave Wyoming and begin a brand-new life.

At Path of Grace, Ashley not only found sobriety—she found Jesus.

There, she began learning who she truly was in Christ:
Redeemed.
Chosen.
Forgiven.
Loved.

Through counseling, discipleship, church community, and time in God’s presence, her entire identity began to change. The shame of her past no longer defined her future.

And God wasn’t finished restoring her story.

Ashley also shares how her marriage, which was headed toward divorce, was miraculously restored after her husband encountered Jesus as well. Today, they remain married, reunited with their children, and living as a testimony of God’s power to heal families and rebuild what once seemed lost forever.

This conversation is filled with hope for anyone struggling with addiction, depression, shame, fear, or hopelessness:
God still restores.
God still heals.
God still redeems.

Ashley encourages listeners to:
Spend daily time in God’s Word.
Get connected to a Bible-believing church.
Surround themselves with godly community and accountability.
And most importantly—fully surrender to Jesus.

Your story is not over.
There is still hope.
And freedom is possible through Christ.

What’s one area of your life where God may be asking you to stop running and fully surrender today?

Contact Ashley Julian:
📧 Ajprov356@icloud.com

For more information contact us at
rtrdestiny@gmail.com

Transcript

Welcome And Meet Ashley

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to Road to Redemption. I'm John Martin, your host today. I'm excited to be here with my friend Ashley Julian. Ashley? How are you?

SPEAKER_01 0:14

Great, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 0:15

So good to meet you. I I've I've known you for a while. I've been playing tennis over there with Red and the folks at Hidden Dunes. And I would see you over there, and I'd be like, wow, she has got a bright light coming through her. Every time I saw you, I was like, she has the joy of the Lord. I was like, you know, didn't know anything about your background. And then, you know, we kind of found out a little bit. We had some common connections. So I said, you gotta come road to redemption and share. So to tell us just a little bit about

Addiction Years And A Church Ride

SPEAKER_00 0:46

you and your story.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

Okay, so I'm 39 and I um was caught in addiction from I'd say about 12 um till 35. Um I tried several um ways to get out of it. Um you know what I was just lost, broken, um, my children got taken from me. And um this one day this girl came and said, Do you want to go to church? And I said, No, you know, I was an addiction. I don't want to go to church. Um, and she's like, you know, please just come with me. And she drove all the way to get me, probably like wow 30 minutes to come get me. And I I was drunk and you know, like didn't really want to go, but I went and it was on my birthday, it was July, uh September 27th, 2021. And she they said went to the church service, it was a Pentecostal church, and that would freak most people out. But me, I was like, what is this? Like, I gotta like it. Like, I I want to speak like that, yeah. You know, when they were speaking in telling and they said, Do you want to come back and get baptized tonight? And I'm like, uh, sure, didn't really know what that was, but I did it, went back that night, um, got baptized, and when I came up out of that water, I didn't know it at the time, but I was set free. So a couple months go by, and I started feeling like a change of heart. Like, I don't want to be an addiction, I don't want to be here anymore. Like, I need a way out. Well, my um sister who had my kids down here in Florida told me about Path of Grace, and I'm like, okay, we can try, you know, they accepted me immediately, and I'm like, then I got scared the enemy come in, like, don't do that. Like, yeah, that's far away. Mind you, I live in Wyoming. Wow, they're like the enemy come in, and so I stopped contacting them. And then on March 23rd, okay, so it was 2020 when I got baptized.

Surrender Outside The Front Doors

SPEAKER_01 3:41

In on 2021, is I was at this facility, gambling place, and the cops were outside, and I had several warrants for my arrest, and I was going in the bathroom to change because I was gonna go out the back door. And when I went into the bathroom, the Holy Spirit spoke to me, God spoke to me and said, Go out the front doors. And I'm thinking, why would I go out the front doors when there's cops out there and I have warrants? And I did it, I went out peacefully, um, with my hands up, like here I am. I have several warrants for my arrest, but it was that surrender is what I needed to fully surrender.

SPEAKER_00 4:35

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 4:36

So I went, of course, I went to jail, and while I was in jail, um I got in trouble. I was put on 23 and 1. Um, so I had to stay in myself for 23 hours, and I had one hour out, and I lost all phone privileges, and I the God spoke to me again to apply for Path of Grace, and I ain't no way the judge is gonna let me go from Wyoming to Florida, and I thought, why not try? All they can do is tell me no. So I apply. They said yes, I could go. You know, Eddie accepted me again, and so I petitioned the courts, and I was I'd been there for three in jail for three months, and I had a year-long sentence. And when I went to the judge with, you know, I want to go to Path of Grace, it's a two-year-long program, and they were kind of looking at me like you're nuts. But they let me, they said, You have another judge, let's see if they'll accept you to go. Put it on recess, and I'm like, oh man, this is it, you know. And he comes back and he says, You can go. This is what I need from you. Proof of plane ticket, proof of who's taking you to the airport, proof of um

Jail To Path Of Grace Acceptance

SPEAKER_01 6:11

that I still had a bed, and all those things, and I came, of course, enemy comes in, you know. That's a long ways from family, like you ain't, you know, you you don't know anybody there, and still getting on that plane. I I was a little nervous, yeah, but I still felt peace walking through that. And got here, went to Path of Grace, stayed there for 19 months, and that's where I learned about God because back then even still this whole I didn't even realize that it was like God working in through all of this. Um, I have had a counselor, y'all's very own Valerie. Yeah, and her her first, you know, I go in for my first counseling session, and I'm telling her all these bad things that is going on. And she asked me one question that I'll never forget. Where was God in all this? And I said, nowhere, like not in my life. And she said, Can you just go meditate on this for a week and then we'll revisit? And it just started like I was like, Oh my gosh, I went back in so excited, like God was there, like I should have been dead here, here, like here, and so that was really cool. And so then I graduated and um started going to a church in Fort Wallmine Beach called Champion Life, and there's where I started learning more of my like identity in Christ, and you know, that I am redeemed and that I am chosen, and um just all the things that God says about me, you know, and I'm learning and believing all those things, and I haven't looked back in it's five and a half years I've been sober.

SPEAKER_00 8:22

Wow, that's awesome. Praise God, so cool. Well, it's it's a great and and I you know you can see it. You you have so much joy, and and I love that you're you know, you're you're very bold about your faith and you you want to share. Uh a lot of what we're trying to do on this show really is just reach people that you know need hope. And you know, there's there's a lot of people out there that are in pain. You know, addiction is a big one. I mean, it it just is. I mean, um, you know, it's it's it's it's through all ages and types. And and a lot of people, I think they, you know, they've gone through multiple rehabs and you know, and they and they just probably feel like they're too far gone or you know, but why did you talk to to any of those that are listening out there that you know maybe you're in in addiction and maybe you know they feel like yeah, I believe in a God, but you know, is there can you talk to them?

SPEAKER_01 9:26

One thing I would say is it's not too late, and God will meet you right where you're at. He did me, and um you're loved and chosen. Jesus loves you,

Hope For Anyone Still Struggling

SPEAKER_01 9:40

yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:42

Yeah, and and and he'll provide a way to get whatever it is you're dealing with, he'll provide a way, and uh you know, the the enemy, the devil, he wants to stop every way of you know, and and he will come into your mind, and you know, like with you when you were trying to get to Path of Grace, he'll try to stop it, yeah, and and put in there, oh, it's too far, it's too long, I can't go anywhere for two years or however long it might be, you know. But but God just really wants us to surrender to him. Yep, and um wow, that's so powerful.

SPEAKER_01 10:21

I'd say, like, just make that first step. Go into a church, you know, and find somewhere that feeds you.

SPEAKER_00 10:33

That's so good. Yeah, it's something we talk about on Road to Redemption every show is you know, with our three key pillars, is first to get into the word of God, to spend time with the Lord every day, really every morning. Just get up in the morning and open the Bible, whether it's your hard Bible or your Bible app, and just read the Bible. He will speak to you through his word and just spend time with him. He wants our time, he's a he's a jealous God, and we give so much time to other things, and then um get into church. You know, he doesn't want us to do this alone. Yeah, get into a Christ-centered Bible-believing church, and then lastly, get into a group, get into a small group um of people we can do life with, we can make ourselves vulnerable, we can make ourselves accountable, kind of like you we do, like you're doing on the show, like when you make yourself vulnerable, you know, that people that would meet you, they would never think that you had any challenge with addiction and you lost your kids and you know you were in jail. Nobody would ever, ever believe that. Now that you you make yourself vulnerable and you share this by doing that with others, you know, in a small group, that's how how God, you know, can provide right healing. So what else? Ashley, is there anything else that you know you would

Marriage Restored And Kids Back

SPEAKER_00 12:05

that's on your heart that the Lord wants you to share with our listeners?

SPEAKER_01 12:10

Two, another thing that I didn't share was um when I had gotten out, I was filing for divorce um from my husband, and um just as I was about ready to um send the divorce papers, he was in prison, and he we get a call saying he's being released, and I'm like, no, like I'm not ready for him to be released. I gotta get these papers um put in first, and he got released, but that was another part of like God stepping in because he got out on a Wednesday, went to church on Sunday, and got saved. We're still married.

SPEAKER_00 12:56

Been um wow, that is huge 11 years, almost 12.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

It'll be 12 years in September that we've been married. Um started his own business.

SPEAKER_00 13:06

So he came down here with you to Florida from up in Wyoming.

SPEAKER_01 13:11

Yep, we have our um two children back, and we're about to um go to our daughter. Well, it's my daughter, but his stepdaughter's graduation down in uh Wyoming. Um, it'll be my first time going back there, but I'm very confident that it's you know yeah, it's gonna be okay. And I think people seeing me um different is gonna be maybe life-changing for that town.

SPEAKER_00 13:42

Because you are different, you know. Uh I really think it's a lot in our redemption story. It's it's not really so much what we say, it's just the presence of God in us. That light, it's something people see there's something different about you, you know. So it doesn't I mean, yeah, it's good to you want to share Jesus in your testimony, but you know, you are different, you know, and I I I I believe you and your husband are gonna have a great impact on a lot of people, you know, to help him bring others to know Jesus and the freedom that y'all have. Because that that's just remarkable. I mean, you know, a a a family that had you know a lot of brokenness with was on its yeah for divorce on its way to that, and children taken away, and now you're you know, you're back together together. And that and that's what that's God.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

It's all God. All God. I mean, I couldn't

Prayer For Freedom And Salvation

SPEAKER_01 14:45

have done it without God.

SPEAKER_00 14:48

Wow, what an amazing story. Give so much hope.

SPEAKER_01 14:52

Yes, there's still hope.

SPEAKER_00 14:55

So much hope. Well, this has just been so good, and I'm gonna pray before we go, and just always want to make sure if there's anything else that you want to say before we go, you now's your chance, anybody listening. You've said a lot already, but it's been really good. Um well, let's let's pray, Ashley. Oh, Heavenly Father, we love you, we worship you, and we thank you. Thank you for these redemption stories. Thank you for Ashley and redeeming her, putting her back with her husband, her children. She has a a job. Uh we are just so thankful for what you've done in this family's life. And Father, we just lift up right now all those that are listening that are are are struggling, you know, with with whatever it may be, and they don't they don't really see a way out. We just we pray that you meet them right now and they surrender their lives to you, and they right now they say, Father Jesus, I accept you as my Lord and Savior. I repent of my sins and I give my life to you. And and and anyone listening now, if you say that you are saved, you you are part of the kingdom of God. We believe God's gonna bless you. You he's gonna open doors for you to get set free and take steps. Um so we just seal that right now,

New Life And An Unexpected Tennis Job

SPEAKER_00 16:35

all those listening that you're gonna see great great new opportunities and blessings in your life. And we pray this in the name of Jesus, amen. Oh, it's been so good, thank you. Thank you, and I I know I'll be seeing you a lot out on the tennis court. She's great, she's a great tennis manager, right? Yeah, amen.

SPEAKER_01 16:59

Well, that's another thing. I didn't even know anything about tennis, yeah. And when they asked me if I wanted to be work at the tennis center, I said no, I don't like tennis, I don't know nothing about tennis, and I was gone opening another door.

SPEAKER_00 17:19

And you're I love tennis. I know. What isn't that great?

SPEAKER_01 17:22

I never would have thought.

SPEAKER_00 17:24

You get to watch Red and his family, they're all so good. I'm I'm so impressed with that.

SPEAKER_01 17:31

Now I'm like, it's my day off. I gotta run and play clinic, I gotta do tennis, and I'm like, who never would have thought.

SPEAKER_00 17:39

What an awesome story. Thank you. Wow. That's so good, Ashley. I I I you know, these stories is just amazing, and I I really because yeah, like you said, every everybody thinks they meet these people, and everybody thinks everybody's great.