Looking out the Window: Author and Speaker Julie Cosgrove Talks about Jesus's Love and Hang on Every Word, Book 4 in The Wordplay Mysteries. Giveaway.

 

A Warm Welcome to Julie Cosgrove

Julie will give away two free jigsaw puzzles and a free prequel short story to the Wordplay Mysteries to those who comment below. Please leave your email address with your comment.

Jesus's Love                            

There is an old saying that both pride and sin have “I” in the middle.  When we open our hearts to love, we take our thoughts and actions off ourselves. We place them on the object of our love.  

However, we can get tripped up if we think love is only an emotion. It is not. Jesus meant it to be action verb. We should love everyone, even those who are unlovable.

Loving someone takes courage. We must push beyond our own hurts, anger, and prejudices―and we all have them in one form or another! ―to extend our hand to another human being. That requires a sacrificial attitude, one that goes against our human nature. We humans are herd animals. We stick to our kind. It takes great effort to step out of our comfortable circle of friends and reach out to an outsider. Yet this is exactly what our Lord tells us to do.

 “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.  And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.  And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.  Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:32-36 ESV). 

Jesus goes on a step further in the next verse to say we are not to judge. Judgement thwarts love. It puts up barriers and demands conditions. Jesus wants us to practice unconditional love. He shows us how in the fact that “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 ESV, emphasis mine).  

How can we possibly succeed at such a monumental task? Only through the love of Christ and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Like Carrie Ten Boom did, when years later she came face to face with one of her concentration camp abusers, we must ask God to act through us because we cannot possibly do it by ourselves. We must ask Him to help us empty ourselves of our preconceptions so His love can flow through us.  

That is how we win souls. That is how we are sanctified. That is how we act in love―even in the secular workplace … and in the supermarket, at school, in our neighborhoods, and to the homeless, the addicted, and the nonbeliever. It is even how we are to act towards each other in our church communities―and sometimes, that can be the hardest thing of all! 

About Julie's WordPlay Mysteries

In the Wordplay Mysteries, Wanda Warner loves four things: her Lord, her small community of Scrub Oak, her nephew (who happens to be a cop in town) and playing word games. As chairperson of the neighborhood watch teams, she stumbles into crime and tries to help solve it with her keen intuitive skills. Thing is, she is good at it! But she struggles with pride and people misinterpret her motives.  

About Hang on Every Word, Book 4 in Julie's WordPlay Mysteries

In the latest one, book #4 called Hang on Every Word, God grants Wanda a secret dream―to design word puzzles like Hangman for the local newspaper. When the answers to the puzzles coordinate robberies, some people in tiny Scrub Oak, Texas wonder if she's masterminding the thefts so she can "solve" them in order to bask in more glory. Then her own nephew hauls her into the police station as her neighbors look on. The totally embarrassed Wanda is determined to crack this treacherous word puzzle crime spree but can she do it before her fellow citizens hold a lynch party?

A Peek at Hang on Every Word

 A secret dream of hers came to fruition with her response that yes, she'd contribute to the weekly newspaper. No one, except perhaps God, ever knew of her desire to create word games. Wow. Then a prickly thought popped her ballooning excitement. Lately, word games had led to crime clues. Please, Lord, not again. 

“Did you hear? Anne Graves, the owner of the new restaurant, Good Gravy, was robbed.”

“Inside the restaurant?” How had they gotten in? Had they hidden in it all night?

“No. While walking to her car with the contents of the till from the previous night. Somebody smacked her from behind with a trash can lid, snatched the bank bag, and dashed down the alley.”

The alley?

Wanda groaned. Alley was the first clue in the Hangman puzzle in the newspaper.

Fix-It Finn dashed inside. “Just heard on the police squawker. The Bird Nest has been robbed. They knocked poor Gloria out with a twenty-five--pound sack of sunflower seeds, snatched all the money in her till, and ran out the backdoor.”

Gasps sounded all over the restaurant.

Wanda stared at her plate. No, no. Not possible. Coincidence that the answer to today’s Hangman had been nest, right?

"No fingerprints were left behind, so he or she wore gloves. He or she knew the tills would be full. These robberies appear to be planned out, as most are. Not spontaneous as if the puzzles helped them decide who to hit.”

“How long does it take to grab gloves?” She waggled a finger at her nephew. “Pardon me for saying so, but these three all seem like hit and runs, no pun intended. My guess is the burglar lives elsewhere.”

“I hope you’re right. Vicki is an old friend. And Mason seems like a great guy.” He leaned in and brushed her cheek with his lips. “And I’m rather fond of my aunt as well. I don’t want to see any of you handcuffed." Todd rose, put on his police Stetson, and left her kitchen.

Wanda stared as he closed the door behind him. Did he seriously think she might be involved? Surely not.

Images zipped across her imagination― red flashing lights, squawking highway patrol radios, and herself in handcuffs slammed face down against the hood of her car.

Oh, get a grip.

Bio:

Freelance writer, award-winning traditionally published author and speaker Julie B Cosgrove leads retreats, workshops, and Bible studies. She writes regularly for several Christian websites and publications. She has written eleven faith-based “mysteries with a message” and is under contract for four more. 

She has won "One of the 50 Writers You should be Reading" in 2015 & 2016 by the nationally syndicated radio The Author Show and is a Grace Award finalist, INSPY semifinalist, and winner of the Best Religious Fiction 2016 winner and Best Cozy Mystery 2017 by the Texas Association of Authors.

But her passion is story-telling and she loves to read mysteries and suspense as well as write them. She currently has three mystery series: The Bunco Biddies Mysteries, The Relatively Seeking Mysteries, and the Wordplay Mysteries.

Learn More About Julie

on her Website

and visit her blog: Where Did You Find God Today