Yesterday I did a few radio interviews. Greetings to those who tuned in from WMBI Chicago and from all the states who listen to Family Life Radio!

One of the questions I was asked concerned Valentine's Day, which is fast approaching. First the interviewer asked me if we have any Valentine's Day traditions, and actually we do. (Or at least I'm hoping it will become a tradition!)

John and I used to go out for Valentine's Day, but the crowds were crazy, the service wasn't that great, and the food took forever to get. Plus, it felt like Prom as we waiting for a table with teenagers all dressed up and starry-eyed. So, the last two years John has made dinner for me at home. He's cooked from scratch and then he paid the kids to dress up and serve us! It was SO fun. He made Fettuccine Alfredo both times ... He got the recipe from a friend who saw it on a cooking show!!!

Anyway, I was thinking about this and I was wondering if there were any FUN Gen X inspired Valentine ideas? Then I knew if anyone could come up with them it would be YOU. Send your ideas to me at bookmarketing@triciagoyer.com and I will post them. The post with the most comments will WIN Generation NeXt Marriage ... and a personalized Gen X mug ... and a Gen X bumper sticker! So think up the most creative Gen X Valentine's Day idea you can come up with ... maybe it includes big hair, leg warmers, and Tina Turner????

Let your imagination go crazy!

Whoever has the most comments on their post on Feb. 13th will WIN! Too fun!!!


Stop Lurking! Every week I will draw names for a free Tricia Goyer book from those who comment on my blogs. Winner's choice! Tell your friends. (Last week's winner was Beth B!)

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Today, I am making a new holiday! Yes, I decided that on my own, and I think you'll want to add it to your calendar.

BE A FRIEND DAY.

I got started thinking about this when I read the 'thoughts from the editor' from the Feb. 08 Issue of Christian Single (which is a great magazine that I read even though I'm not single!) Anyway, the editor, Larissa Amanlt was talking about the struggle of trying to keep up with all her friends ... and the problem of added one more. Yet how can we say no to one more friend? I know I can't. Here is what Larissa said:

"I'm learning something here that's coming as quite a shock--friendship is not all about me. It's not cramming my schedule with people who make me feel full, but it's stepping out on a limb for someone who might need it more than I do ... realizing that a small piece of my time could make a difference in someone else's life gave me a change of heart."

So on BE A FRIEND DAY the task is to schedule time with someone new--someone God has placed on your heart. It can be going out for a cup of coffee or just chatting on the phone. Either way, be the friend ... be the difference!

And ... if you have a few minutes email THIS FRIEND and let me know how it went. I'd love to hear!


Stop Lurking! Every week I will draw names for a free Tricia Goyer book from those who comment on my blogs. Winner's choice! Tell your friends.

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Have you every heard the phrase, "Time to put on your thinking cap." Usually, when we hear this we know that something's coming that will mentally challenge us, and after serving God for eighteen years, I can honestly say the most mentally challenge thing I've faced is changing my thinking--of setting my mind on God and allowing Him to transform my mind and thoughts.

Changing our thinking is hard because it involves changing how we see the world and our place in it. Even though I was seventeen when I gave my heart to the Lord, I was pretty set in my ways. I knew what I liked, who I liked, and I saw the world one way. Thankfully, God doesn't expect us to change overnight. Transformation is a process. The journey through life is ... uh, a journey. We won't arrive until we take our first step into heaven.

This morning I was reading the second chapter of Mark and I realized I'm not the only one who had trouble changing my thinking. During Jesus' time on earth there was one group that struggled with this the most. Before Jesus came, the job of the religious leaders were to be big know-it-alls. They knew "the keys" to making God happy, and this involved a series of rituals and duties, prayers and public display. And more than any other group, they didn't want Jesus bucking the system. Their minds were set, and anything different than what they knew to be true was something they opposed with everything in them. Mark 2:18-23 shares Jesus' response to their concrete thinking:

18 Once when John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, some people came to Jesus and asked, “Why don’t your disciples fast like John’s disciples and the Pharisees do?”

19 Jesus replied, “Do wedding guests fast while celebrating with the groom? Of course not. They can’t fast while the groom is with them. 20 But someday the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.

21 “Besides, who would patch old clothing with new cloth? For the new patch would shrink and rip away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger tear than before.

22 “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the wine would burst the wineskins, and the wine and the skins would both be lost. New wine calls for new wineskins.”

Jesus knew these men needed a new way of thinking. Their old ideas (old wineskins) were rigid and were unable to hold what he was about to do--what he was already doing. He was literally telling them, "Change your thinking, for I'm going to blow your mind!"

Jesus' statement to these leaders made me stop and think of my life. Are their any areas where my thinking is rigid? Are there any old, concrete thought patterns that need to be blasted out of the water? It's something I'm prayerfully bringing to God, because more than anything I don't want my old thinking to keep me from being filled up with as much of Jesus as I can!

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“My heart needs Thee, O Lord, my heart needs Thee!  No part of my being needs Thee like my heart.  All else within me can be filled by Thy gifts.  My hunger can be satisfied by daily bread.  My thirst can be allayed by earthly waters.  My cold can be removed by household fires.  My weariness can be relieved by outward rest.  But no outward thing can make my heart pure.  The calmest day will not calm my passions.  The fairest scene will not beautify my soul.  The richest music will not make harmony within.  The breezes can cleanse the air, but no breeze can cleanse a spirit.  This world has not provided for my heart.  It has provided for my eye; it has provided for my ear; it has provided for my touch; it has provided for my taste; it has provided for my sense of beauty but it has not provided for my heart.”

--Springs in the Valley, Mrs. Chas. E. Cowman, January 4.

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Athena Hall (she's our area coordinator for MOPS) sent this to me...I just had to share!

Our Homeschool Family

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I love getting fun confirmations that God is at work. A few weeks ago, I taught at "Writing Club." I teach writing to homeschoolers once a month and they LOVE it. They were saying they wish I did it every week! (One kid said every day. :-) Some of those kids have been meeting monthly with me for almost four years! It's so awesome to see their writing progress!

Then there was a phone message from a local friend. She sent a few of my books to her unchurched sister. Well, the sister didn't know what to think of 10 Minutes to Showtime when she got it last year. And then this year they read A Valley of Betrayal in her book club. Well, I guess now she is so excited about my books that she gave 10 Minutes to Showtime to ALL her friends for Christmas. VERY cool.

It just reminds me that God is working even where I can't see it!

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My name is Tricia and I confess ... I have office envy. I've been talking my some of my novelist friends lately and they have pretty nice offices ... A comfy chair? A lamp? A mini fridge??? Sweet!

I share my 12 x 12 office with four other people. We have five computer stations, and all MY mess. As the bill payer, calendar scheduler, mail sorter, homeschool teacher, and (yes) writer, I usually have a few piles. (Currently, I have two on the floor and one of the desk.)

Now that I just finished another novel, I can sort, organize, and whip the office back into shape. In fact, it's safe to say my family can tell how close I am to deadline from the size of the piles ... 0-2 feet and counting. :-)

What are my office must-haves? I LOVE my color laser printer, my docking station for my notebook computer, my two large filing cabinets, and my various sorters and stackers filled with research, notes, contracts, and paper products. I also have a view of the Rocky Mountains (3 miles away as the crow flies) that's to die for.

The thing is that many people think they need a private office to write. They don't. They think they need to be totally organized before they start page one. Not true. Because the truth is that the BEST office must-have is a person who has a prayer on his/her lips and who plunks their butt in the chair and sets a goal ... even a small one. You'd be surprised how many of my books were written in 30-minute increments!

Go ahead. Try it!

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Yesterday, I finished my novel Sweet September (Guideposts). It is an amazing story about acceptance. And about coming to terms with the course God has designed for you. It's also a story about realizing that sometimes we need to stop looking at the destination (of striving to get "someplace") and instead discover joy in the journey. It's realizing that the hardest times are those that transform us and bring us closer to the ones we love and the One we love. (And isn't that the same lesson we often learned by the time the credits rolled on shows like The Brady Bunch and Leave it to Beaver?)

I don't know why I strive to do, do, do as if doing makes God happy. I don't know why most of the time I'm so focused on the destination (a finished book, a cleaned house) that I miss zeroing in on the moments.

Today I was reading the Sermon on the Mount, and I was surprised to (re)discover that there is only one "do": "God blesses those who work for peace" (vs. 9) The rest of them are "who are" phrases:

God blesses those ...
who realize their need for Him
who mourn
who are gently and lowly
who are hungry and thirsty for justice
who are merciful
whose hearts are pure
who are persecuted because they live for God
(Matthew 5:3-10 NLT)

All these things can be summed up by the words of one of David's prayers: "Teach me your ways, O Lord, that I may live according to your truth! Grant me purity of heart that I may honor you" (Psalm 86:11 NLT).

To be all the Creator desires us to be--to become a son or daughter who brings Him pleasure--we need to be two things: teachable and repentant. Only if we seek God's teaching, will we BECOME who He desires. And only when we repent will our hearts be PURE once again--a clean slate for Him to work with.

Of course to "be" these things there is one thing we must DO. We must realize we (as the favorite song says) are weak, but He is strong. We seek Him, knowing His teachings will transform us and His cleaning will change us--from the inside out.

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I always get TONS of requests on info on how I do everything, so just in time for the new year here are some Time Management tips for balancing family, hubby, life, job, friends, house, etc.

I’ll be sharing advice from my friends and a few things I’ve done that have WORKED…like this:

Last year, I connected with Judy Baer to be my life-coach. Beyond my salvation, it was the best thing I’ve done for my peace of mind. Judy helps me “think through” the schedules, priorities, etc. instead of just “doing life.”

One thing I’ve discovered is I’M IN CHARGE OF MY SCHEDULE. Breaking news!
I actually use my calendar to schedule in exercise, paying bills, making dinner *gasp*, and having lunch with friends. I make the space/time work for me, instead of being a slave to the calendar. I will NEVER have everything done. So I can either enjoy life … or work myself to an early grave.

Before, I was setting myself up for failure, exhaustion, and no time to enjoy my family and friends. Now, I schedule in lunch dates, small group, and group Bible Study FIRST.

The work gets done, my family is happy, my home is peaceful, and I feel content. I fill up in order to be poured out, and everyone benefits.

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