Julie Bayles, a mom to seven children, recognizes the power of community. Through faith, collaboration, and a boatload of coffee, she is a strong advocate for the marginalized. Julie is well-respected for her ongoing efforts to pave the way for a more promising future for patients and their caregivers. She, her husband, and children are the seventh and eight generation to reside on the family's midwestern farm.
Lynn Eldridge is an acclaimed author, motivational
speaker, mentor, teacher, life and inner healing coach,
entrepreneur, and an international minister based in
Nashville, Tennessee. Her newly released, gripping and
raw book, Bipolar to Beloved, is the true story of Lynn’s
journey from battling bipolar symptoms (age 15),
depression, anxiety, eating disorders, drug additions,
suicidal thoughts and a failed marriage to, 35 years later,
finding true freedom and healing.
Lynn was born in Illinois into a difficult family situation,
having been conceived out of wedlock to parents who
got married out of family pressure instead of love. Even
though her family was heavily involved in the church, the
environment at home was full of resentment, control and
rejection, especially from her Mother. She felt her Mother
resented her Father’s love for her. Lynn rebelled and
discovered drugs at age 15, where she entered the party
scene. At age 17, she moved in with her 30 year old
boyfriend, who was a drug dealer.
Next, she found herself carrying hundreds of thousands
of dollars for drug cartels in Florida. Because she was a
minor, the authorities (FBI) gave her parents a chance to
get her out of town, before they made arrests. Lynn’s life
was in danger, because she knew the drug dealers and
their criminal activity, and she could be a possible
witness. So her Mother said, “We will put you where they
will never find you - Bible College.” It was there she
encountered the love and power of God. But Lynn didn’t
have a revelation of how to stay free, so she reopened
every door the Lord had shut. Hosea 4:6 says, “My people
are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”
After going into a treatment center, Lynn was diagnosed
with bipolar and borderline personality disorders. For
years she tried multiple medications and therapy, but she
found herself continually pulled back into her old lifestyle.
Out of fear of dying and crippling depression, Lynn cried
out to God and her family for help. She checked herself
into Baylor University Hospital’s mental institution in 2011.
But her transformation didn’t occur until after she was
released and walked into a healing room, where she
experienced a powerful touch from God.
Lynn had been told that there was something wrong with
her and she believed the lies. Today she knows the truth,
Jesus Christ and what the Lord says about her. “It began
to dawn on me that I had unforgiveness toward myself.
Then I realized I also had unforgiveness toward God.
That’s when the walls started coming down — the walls of
pain; the walls I had built up in my heart, to keep people
out, God out, and emotion out. The walls actually kept
the pain trapped inside where it was destroying me,” says
Lynn. “As I began to realize that I had all this hurt, anger
and unforgiveness in my heart, the pain inside me started
breaking.” Today, Lynn continues to live in freedom and
joy. She likes to tell people, “If your god can’t do this for
you, you’re welcome to borrow mine.”
Lynn has developed exceptional course materials and
published testimonials to help those who might find
themselves “stuck” and in need of change and restoration
in their lives. Her empowering teachings, Time for a
Turnaround, weave together evidence from neuroscience
and wisdom gathered from her own journey, as living
proof that mental disorders can be healed. Lynn also has
written a devotional with the same title, Time for a
Turnaround, available on the YouVersion Bible App.
Gary and Kim Elliot are devoted to knowing God and His ways. They gave their single years specifically to knowing His ways in the romantic and experienced an unmatched fullness in Christ through undistracted devotion and fulfilled promises in God’s perfect timing. As co-founders of God of the Romantic Presentations, they are passionate for the unmarried to rest in God’s design, desire, and providence for the romantic desires of their own hearts. Having authored a number of books to help singles grow in faith with the God of the Romantic, they are also frequently requested teachers, storytellers, and personal waiting coaches. They reside in Nashville, TN.
Amanda Lauer is the author of the award-winning Heaven Intended Civil War series, time-travel novels Anything But Groovy and Royal & Ancient, and the sweet contemporary Christmas romance A Very Chapel Falls Christmas. Amanda and her husband John have been married 44 years, have four married children, and eight grandchildren.