BIO:
Julie Ann has been a successful professional artist for more than twenty years, ten of which were with the UK’s leading fine art agency. Her oil paintings are bought and exhibited worldwide. As a Christian, she also paints prophetically and is a live performance artist, using her abilities to help raise charity funds. She has painted prophetically at many events and has just completed a commission for the official image for the 2025 US National Day of Prayer, which will be distributed across America and the world. Julie Ann’s book, ‘Stand’ features nine paintings depicting the miracles of World War II, accompanied by a prophetic message. These WWII paintings are being toured widely and have been exhibited inside Windsor Castle and St Mary’s Woolnoth church in London (the famous church of Sir John Newton, writer of ‘Amazing Grace’) to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings. She currently lives in Dorset, England, with her writer husband, Damian, and has two grown-up daughters.
INNER VIEW
Kathleen Cooke: I was honored to meet you at Windsor Castle recently, see your fantastic artwork, and hear how you listen to God’s voice in what you paint. Can you share what He has taught you about obedience even when it doesn’t immediately make sense?
Julie Ann Scott: 8 Years ago, God commissioned me to paint nine large oil paintings on WWII and how the Lord saved us of the greatest evil by being called to national prayer seven times by King George VI. When putting this work out at a women’s prayer conference in Windsor Castle, I noticed an unfinished area on the painting of Roosevelt and Churchill. I knew the painting well and was perturbed that it looked wrong. I then consulted my book on the exhibition called ‘STAND’ & saw that the piece was indeed very finished at the time it was photographed for the book.
A few days later, I was speaking on the work at a Church in London on the evening of the 80th Anniversary of Day. A young woman approached me at the end, saying she felt a very strong sense of the Holy Spirit, and the Lord brought her attention to an area that looked unfinished by Roosevelt’s elbow on the painting of him and Churchill talking. Now I was listening. She said she saw a woman’s face. Sure enough, I looked closer, and suddenly, I could see it. Having just come from a strategic prayer summit at Windsor Castle which brought together U.K. and U.S.A. women, I knew God was highlighting the fact that He was raising women up in this hour for such a time as this. Just like on D-Day, England and America would stand together.
That night, I recalled this to a friend, and the following morning, she sent me a photograph with a message saying, “Is this the woman in the painting under Roosevelt’s elbow?”
It was indeed the woman, and her name was Eleanor Roosevelt. Unbelievable to you? We can expect miracles when we step out and obey God when He leads us and when we wholeheartedly do it with a fully surrendered heart. Go find out!
Kathleen: As artists, it is always challenging to trust God with our influence and success, and especially with our finances. What has God taught you about relying on Him and trusting that He will provide all our needs?
Julie Ann: At age 40, God told me he wanted me to be an artist. So, I taught myself to paint in one year. After some success in selling art, my friend asked me to attend a large trade show with her. We both rented a small wall to display our art at nationwide galleries. The following year, my friend said, “Let’s do it again, but I’m going to rent a bigger wall this time. I project success and project success to big art agents so they will be interested in my work”. I replied that if God wanted to give me a contract with a large art agent, he didn’t need me to rent a bigger wall.
Upon arrival, my friend was hanging art on her LARGER wall. I was hanging my art on a small wall again. Suddenly, the building manager asked me why I didn’t rent a large wall like my friend. I said to him, “I didn’t really need one, I’m happy with my small wall like last year”. To this, he said, “I will give you a larger wall for free; in fact, you can have a large wall, too, where people will see your art.”
That year, the largest Fine Art Agent in the UK wanted to promote my work and sign me up. My friend was spitting nails, but she did learn that my God was a big God. I was signed to the agent for ten years and sold over 2,000 paintings.
His yoke is easy. Easy is simply that. Easy is not striving. I am not complicated. Not stressful. I have learned that if you trust Him, things will happen. The key is in one prayer. “Not my will but your will”. Yes, we will have to face some hard things in life…but if we strive too hard for success, power, glory, money, or honor, the road is much more challenging. Struggling causes uneasy burdens and sickness that do not come from God. I took the first step of showing my art to the world & God did the rest. Are you making Him entirely in control over all your talents and dreams?
Kathleen: God calls us to not fret and take a breath—to rest. Yet artists must also be business leaders, marketers, and PR spokespersons, so we’re juggling not only our artistic work but multiple responsibilities in business affairs. How have you learned to rest when the pressure is on?
Julie Ann: Rest is complete surrender to Him. Until we understand that, we will continually argue and fight with Him about control of our lives, careers, family, and futures. The Israelites didn’t enter into His rest because they couldn’t trust the Lord and REMEMBER when God had done incredible miracles in the past. They forgot & grumbled. If we can’t remember His goodness in our past, we don’t trust him with our future. Rest isn’t just a day on the beach. It’s a position of the heart that allows us to be on the beach daily inside our entire beings. It is not what we do that defines our worth. Rest is understanding our identity as a girl of the King. A daughter of a father who owns everything, even the money we earn or the clothes we put on our backs. The house, the car, the country, the stars, the oceans…everything in all the earth is His.
I was in a meeting once and felt so sleepy that I almost fell asleep during worship. I never fall asleep anywhere except in bed, so I was pretty shocked. Then, the leader asked us to ask the Lord what He wanted us to do for Him. So, I asked Jesus, and he answered, “I want you to rest.” I argued with Him, “That can’t be right, rest is for ME, what do YOU want? He replied, “But when you rest, it IS for me because I love you.” The penny then dropped. I wanted my children to rest after a long day at school because they needed it, and it was for their good, but ALSO, it pleased me so deeply to see them just lying around on the sofa eating biscuits. It was for me, too. Why? Because I loved them.
I’ve learned that rest is not an action we strive to do, it’s a warm bath that we lie in every day trusting an unknown future to a known God. Make a list today of how deeply and profoundly God loves you!
Kathleen: Who has influenced you and impacted your career and life?
Julie Ann: At the age of 21, I was asked by my Jewish fiancé to renounce Jesus in front of a Rabbi in order to marry him. It forced me to make a choice. The next day I decided to take God seriously, go back to the U.K. and fast and pray for God to answer my prayer of why I couldn’t feel Him in my life anymore. My auntie and uncle lived in Yorkshire; he was the vicar in a small rural village, and they had been missionaries during the Rwanda genocide. So, they clearly knew how to help me. Before leaving Israel for the U.K., I saw a beautiful card in a shop window and bought it. I was drawn to it for many reasons (which I can’t go into), not knowing that the words were from the Bible (Isaiah 1:18). I thought it was just a sweet poem. But it completely had the theme of a poem I had written when I rebelled against my family and had run away to work in Israel on a Kibbutz.
When I returned to the U.K., I told my Auntie Ruth, “I’m not eating until God speaks to me.” She replied, “Then I won’t eat either. While praying for you on your journey here, God gave me a verse from the Bible for you.” She then read out Isaiah 1:18
Never in my entire life had God let me know that He knew me intimately until that moment. On the fourth day of fasting, God spoke powerfully to me, and I became fully born again and was never the same again. I went on from there to join a Christian drama company in California and tour for two years, and I didn’t get married or renounce Jesus.
Now, today I am 58 and God has used me to influence many people over the years, through art and my voice. Recently, I was commissioned to paint the image for the 2025 USA National Day of Prayer. That image of my work was accepted and will be released on September 12th, 2024. I painted the painting from a vision God had given me. He filled me with His spirit in a powerful way to accomplish what he had placed in my mind. I know the Lord will use this image to influence the entire United States of America and beyond for His Glory and the saving of souls.
When we listen to God and obey, each one of us can change a life. Our lives can even change nations. Thank you, Auntie Ruth. I can’t wait to see you in Heaven.
Connect with Julie Ann:
Website: www.julieannscott.com