Scroll to end of blog for new contest!
My beloved is mine, and I am his; he grazes among the lilies
until the day breathes and the shadows flee.
— Song of Solomon 2:16-17
Goodness, it’s been a while since we’ve talked because I’ve been spending most of my time traveling and writing book 3 in the Isle of Hope Series, His Steadfast Love. But I wanted to come out of hiding to let you know about a cool interview I did for InD’tales Magazine and announce a new contest.
As many of you know, my tagline is “Passion With a Purpose,” which means my whole purpose for writing novels in the first place was to provide a romantically (and spiritually) passionate alternative to secular romance, which as we all know caters to a world view that is amoral at best. So when InD’Tales Magazine — a secular review magazine begun by a Christian reviewer — asked me to be her featured author interview for the month of Easter to talk about my “Passion With a Purpose” style, I said yes.
Why? Because yes, there are sweet romances in the secular market without gratuitous sex, but you will go a long, LONG way before you find secular romance novels that line up with God’s precepts as far as sexual morality. And likewise, in a $1.08 billion-dollar industry (in 2013) you will go a long, LONG way before you find Christian romance novels that offer the romantic passion that most secular readers are looking for.
Before I was published, I read a statistic from an evangelical Christian polling firm called The Barna Group that totally shocked me. It claimed that “nine out of ten women in the U.S. profess some form of Christianity,” and yet the moral climate in our world would suggest otherwise.
The results of national survey published by USA Today in 2016 revealed that “more than three out of four (76 percent) of 18-to 31-year-old American couples living together consider cohabitation before marriage to be fine and acceptable.”
“About a quarter of women move in with a romantic partner before the age of 20, and more women than ever live with a partner before they get married,” according to a new report by the National Center for Health Statistics.
“The stark reality is that 65 percent of ‘altar-bound’ singles — many of whom identify as ‘Christians’ — now live together before marriage,” says Charisma News Contributor Larry Tomczak.
I don’t know about you, but this bothers me A LOT because it’s not God’s precepts that have changed, it’s our world.
According to CNN, the blockbuster book and movie, Fifty Shades of Grey — labeled “mommy porn” by some — “has topped best-seller lists around the world, selling over 125 million copies worldwide by June 2015. It has been translated into 52 languages, and set a record in the United Kingdom as the fastest-selling paperback of all time.”
Why? Because passion is important! Not just to romance readers, but to everyone on the planet. We were created that way by a passionate God who analogizes His own depth of love for each of us in a very passionate love letter called “Song of Solomon.” And what happens? The world uses this beautiful, God-given gift to shove sin down peoples’ throats, and I, for one, am really sick of it. I want to use passion the way it was intended — to teach people God’s precepts and therein, His love. It’s the cry of my heart, and I hope and pray that for my readers, my stories of romantic passion translate into passion for God.
Giveaway!
So … I’ve decided to run a contest in honor of my interview in InD’tales AND my Seeker blog this upcoming Wednesday, April 12, which will feature the editor-in-chief of InD’tales Magazine, T.J. Mackay speaking about “Christian Fiction in a Secular World: A Light Under The Bushel?” There will be a giveaway of choice of my books, so I hope you stop by. Here’s the link:
JULIE’S GIVEAWAY ON SEEKER BLOG WED., 4/12/17
New Contest Begins Sat., 4/8 at midnight!
My interview in InD’tales Magazine is one of the most in-depth — and most important — I’ve ever done, so I hope you check it out! And to motivate you to do so, here’s a chance to not only have a character named after you in my next book, His Steadfast Love, which releases this summer, BUT … receive a signed copy of His Steadfast Love PLUS your choice of any two of my books, e-book or paperback. The contest runs through April, and further details are in the Rafflecopter box below, so GOOD LUCK!
Hugs and Happy Weekend!
Julie
