Where Did You Find God Today?

  If you’d like me to speak to your group, or lead a retreat, please contact me at  www.juliebcosgrove.com

My Story:

At thirteen, I dedicated my life to Christ when He saved me from being engulfed in a fire. Yes, I know it was God. At that time, I didn’t think my life as worth saving. He did. If you want to read that story, here’s a guest blog I did called Up in Smoke.

I decided that God wanted me to teach others about His mercy and grace. So, I set out to make that my career. As a religion major at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, I received the American Bible Society’s Religion Major of the Year Award. I then studied for three semesters in seminary – until life happened and God shut that door. I got married, had a son, and became a working mom. It would be thirty years before He opened a window – writing and speaking about Him. When my husband was alive, we moved a lot. No, we weren’t military. He just had a hard time finding a stable company in the construction steel industry. They have a tendency to come and go, so we did as well. It became harder and harder for me to find employment, since we moved every 18 months to 2 years.

Three people in three states told me I should write for a living. They always liked the articles I wrote for the church bulletin or newsletter, or my catching-up emails. They said I had “a knack”. I had taken creative writing in high school and college and loved it. Yeah, I was the nerd who actually liked to do research papers. I’d always loved the smell of libraries. (Funny how you forget these things.) So I took a quickie online course and began to bid freelance work. I got several jobs right off the bat. I figured this had to be a God-driven thing, so I told Him I would tithe my writing day first to Him. That was in 2008.

Now, I am a member of Advanced Writers & Speakers Association, American Christian Fiction Writers,  The Christians Writers Group, and Christian Writers Fellowship International. I am also a Daughter of the Holy Cross (an inter-denominational and international women’s group dedicated to prayer, service, Bible study and evangelism).

In the past ten years, I’ve published literally hundreds of web content and articles with secular and Christian themes, and I’ve led over 25 retreats, workshops, and Bible studies. I write devotionals on a regular basis  for several Christian websites and publications.

This lead me to become a Digital Missionary in 2017, which means I am on staff as a writer and editor at The Life Project, the internet ministry of Power to Change(CRU Canada.) Our two websites, Issues I Face and The Life , reach around 600,000 people each month around the world with articles and devotionals to help them in their life journey, and encourages them to seek out confidential volunteer mentors to walk with them for a while. Via digital doorways, we can truly fulfill the Great Commission.

If you would like more information, comment at the bottom of any devotional blog entry* or visit my The Life Project page. 

My two cats, who hang out on top of my desk, are helping in that effort.

 

I’ve authored the following nonfiction works, which are available on Amazon.com in paperback or Kindle: (click on them to preview)

*P.R.A.Y.I.N.G.: Bringing Power and Purpose to Your Prayers (2009),

*Song Notes: Devotionals from the Book of Psalms (2010),

*What Can She Tell Us? (2011)

Between the Window and the Door (2012),  

 Squeeze More God-Time Into Your Day (2013),

The Present of His Presence (2015).

I also have a passion for fiction.

Focused, a contemporary Christian novel set in the Texas Hill Country, which follows a woman’s journey to find God in her empty nest, was released in 2012.

My  suspense-romance novel,  Hush in the Storm, released in the summer of 2014. The sequel, Legitimate Lies, (which won Best Religious Fiction by the Texas Association of Authors 2016 and was an INSPY Awards Semifinalist 2016) released in January, 2015. The third in the Trilogy, Freed to Forgive, (A Grace Awards finalist 2016) released in October, 2015.

I had three contemporary romance novellas published in 2016 – Navy Blues, Greener Grasses, Hill Country Homecoming.

Now, I write cozy mysteries. The Bunco Biddies Mysteries series launched in 2016-2018: Dumpster Dicing, (Best Cozy Mystery 2017 by the Texas Association of Authors) Baby Bunco, Threes, Sixes & Thieves, and Til Dice Do Us Part. 

 

Watch for my new mystery series, the Relatively Seeking Mysteries, to launch in 2018-2019: One Leaf Too Many, Fallen Leaf, Leaf Me Alone.

 I will keep writing because  our Lord’s acts of merciful grace need to be shared. Since His mercies are new every morning, this is one topic that will never run out of ways to tell it, because we each have a story. We each have the opportunity to discover His loving tap upon our souls during our day.

Yeah, I guess you can say He has blessed that promise I made to Him back in 2008 – but then He always does that when His children are in obedience. Not that I have been the entire time, nor has it been a smooth path.  In the process I lost my husband, lost the use of my right hand until I had surgery to release a pinched nerve and got 70% of it back, and have had other challenges such as being wheelchair and walker bound. I’m not getting rich, but am eking by. He knows my needs – the greatest of which I discovered when I was thirteen. Jesus saves, so I must write and tell others of His mercy and grace. These are available to us each and every day. You just have to have the faith eyes to see it. Sometimes, it is like a game of Hide and Seek, but He can always be found.

Life without God is like an unsharpened pencil – pointless.

 

 

 *NOTE: Any info you leave in the comment section will only be used for the intended purpose to contact me. Any replies I make will be through this secured WordPress site and sent only to you. I will not share any contact information to any one else. By commenting, you accept this agreement.

 

 Header picture of storm clouds purchased through membership in dreamstime.com – by Olga Vasilkova “Clouds Over Mountains”. Fire photo also through dreamstime.com.