interview with author tricia goyer.. :)

I recently had the opportunity to ask a Tricia Goyer, a favorite writer of mine, some questions about her life and her work as a part of her blog tour...

Tara: How did you get started as a writer?

Tricia: I sold an article to Light and Life Magazine at the very first writer’s conference I attended. I didn’t sell another one for two years. I think that first article was God’s encouragement that I was on the right track.

Tara: Which of your books has been your favorite to write so far? Why?

Tricia: Wow, that is a HARD question, but I'd have to say my favorite to write so far is my next novel to be released this fall A Shadow of Treason. That book was fun because I was able to continue on with the characters from A Valley of Betrayal. A first for me! It was fun because a minor character--someone I'd least expected ended up becoming a MAJOR character and deepening the plot in an exciting way. It was also fun because there is a mystery involved that totally was a blast to research and figure out. I was able to take a true part of history and create intrigue around it. Fun!

Tara: You have worked a lot with MOPS, right? If you could give young mothers some encouragement and/or advice, what would you tell them?

Tricia: I would tell moms not to get too overwhelmed with trying to do everything right ... according to what the world thinks is best, but instead to turn to God and seek His opinion. So many times we want to do everything/be everything for our kids and this is impossible. Yet, when I get away, pray for my kids, bring them before God, and seek His wisdom I'm amazed how he simplifies things and reminds me the heart is the most important part.

Tara: What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

Tricia: I like to hang out with my family. We travel A LOT during high school basketball season--on the road nearly every weekend from November to Feb. We watch TV shows together, watch movies, play board games, and DDR (Dance, dance revolution). In between books I try to get up house organized and catch up on what fell behind during deadline, but it doesn't work too well because I get a lot of new ideas when I'm cleaning and organizing, and I end up back at the keyboard! I also go to lunch with friends and take my grandma shopping, which she loves.

Tara: Who or what inspired you new book, A Valley of Betrayal?

Tricia: When I was researching for my novel, Arms of Deliverance, one of the autobiographies I read was from a man who was a B-17 bomber pilot over Europe --but before that he was an American volunteer for The Spanish Civil War. I had never heard of this war before, which happened right before WWII in Spain . I started researching and I was soon fascinated. Some people call it "the first battle of WWII" because it's where that Nazis first tried their hand at modern warfare.

Tara: Do you have anything in particular you'd like to mention about A Valley of Betrayal?

Tricia: This book was very challenging because I knew nothing about The Spanish Civil War before I started. Yet, I felt sure that God was leading me to write these books, and God (again) taught me to trust Him. When He gives me an idea for a novel it is so BIG. I mean there is so much to pull together. Yet, God has shown me time and time again that He is faithful. He gives me ideas, leads me to the right research books, and even brings people into my life to help me!

One example with this book is that God brought someone also to help. A man named Norm Goyer contacted me because his was working on his family tree and he wanted to know if we were related. We weren’t related, but Norm ended up being a airplane expert and consultant for movies. Norm ended up helping me with research on my German pilot in Spain . I think it was an awesome gift from God!

This again shows me that what ever God brings before me, He also has the power to help me succeed.

Tara: What is a Bible verse that means a lot to you? What is special about it in your life?

Tricia:I LOVE Zephaniah 3:17 (NIV):
"The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."'
It says SOOO much in so little. God is with me. He saves me from the troubles of life (in addition to saving my soul!). He quiets me when I get stressed out ... and He delights and me and rejoices over me with singing. That just does something for my heart. As someone who always notices my weakness I'm reminded that I'm a delight to God!

Tara: What made you get involved with speaking in addition to writing?

Tricia: I think that people assume you speak when you're a writer. You have a platform with your books, and they like to hear the message spoken too. Personally, I'm FAR more comfortable sharing my heart via my keyboard than speaking, but I LOVE connecting with people. I love hearing their feedback and seeing how my words encourage or inspire them.

Tara: Anything else you'd like to add?

Tricia: My next novel, A Shadow of Treason, picks off where A Valley of Betrayal leaves off. It starts THE DAY the first book ends. It continues on in Spain in the lives of these characters, and ... well, soon they discover that more is at stake than what any of them originally thought. It's also published by Moody and it will hit store shelves September 1, 2007.
Generation NeXt Marriage will be released in January of 2008 and My Life unScripted, a teen devotional for girls, this summer. And, of course, I've got several other projects in the works, including A Whisper of Freedom, which is the next novel I have to write.
Thank you so much for having me. God Bless!

Thank you, Tricia!!

Be sure to visit Tricia's blog at It's Real Life..

how do we love each other?

"attitude check - everybody's got x-ray vision
spot a fake, walk away
'cause he's not worth my time, precious attention

does it make you scared to think you stand for something bigger?
but will i ever know 'til you say it with your life?

how they love each other
how they shine
and they follow One
we would like to know ourselves

not your fancy talk, not your upright walk
they're not enough, so chalk one up for love again
here's the same old good news
when you love, you give
and you can never lose, no never

does it make you scared to think you matter in the bigger picture?
but will i ever know 'til you show me with your life?

make a believer
make a believer out of me
just give me a reason
give me a reason..."

~ "how they love each other".. by downhere

John 13:34-35 says that people are going to recognize us as followers of Christ because of our love for each other. Are we loving each other? Sure, we all like to think we are.. but are we really loving each other enough so that others will pick up on that love and know we are followers of Jesus because of it??

I have mentioned before a guy I work with who grew up in the Methodist church and then decided to become wiccan.. I have another friend who, just the other day, said something very similar. She grew up Catholic and was pretty much forced to be Catholic, making her absolutely hate it. She considers herself an agnostic/athiest (I'm not completely sure which..) now.

The hypocrisy of the church -- as a whole -- is killing our world. It turns people off, and honestly, I cannot say that I blame anybody who is turned off by it. It is just sickening.. it is so sad.. We're pushing away the people our love is supposed to draw in.

When you go out in the world and say "hey, I'm a Christian," people do not see that as a good thing. They see it as a label that we give ourselves, and they immediately think we're a hypocrite. Why? Because so many "Christians" are hypocrites. When I started at my college, I decided I was going to try an experiment.. I decided I was not going to come right out and tell people that I'm a Christian. Not out of shame, because I am not ashamed of my faith. "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes..." (Romans 1:16a) I decided on this experiment because I wanted to be able to show people who I really was. I did not want to be stereotyped and have a reputation before I had the chance to make a testimony for myself.

I have found that.. even without going and telling people that I am a "Christian," other believers and I tend to recognize each other. It is there in the way we talk -- or in the way we don't talk -- and in praying before our meals, it is in the genuine interest in people and what they are going through, it is in the way we dress and act... See, true Christians are going to live it. The fake ones are not.

"You can say what you like, but you are going to live what you really believe."
~ Mark Hall, Casting Crowns (I know.. I've quoted him on that before.. it's appropriate though; it just fits.)

There is nothing wrong with being called a Christian - so long as you live what you claim. I tend to like to say I am a follower of Christ. :) It catches people off guard and makes them ask questions. I've had people at school ~ even people who are not believers themselves ~ ask me very bluntly, "Are you a Christian?" Yes, I am. I love Jesus, I am His child, I belong to Him.

It is so ridiculous how, as the church, we are not doing our job. We are called to love others.. not to accept or agree with sin, but to love the people. Yet here we are pushing people away.. judging, shunning, ignoring the very ones we should be reaching out to and inviting in. We are the ones who are tearing up our generation, pushing them out of the church.

It is our job to love, and to make sure our speech and our actions line up with each other. We have a responsibility to do this.. we need to reach out in love. We are called to be real Christians.. followers of Christ. Not just somebody who calls themselves a "Christian" and might even go to church but then does not live it out.

someone's searching..

"face lost in the crowd
feet wandering empty streets
voice crying out loud
heart aching with every beat

someone searching
searching for someone
everywhere and endlessly
wishing, waiting
could there be someone
searching for
someone searching

sould battered and bruised
pride wounded and left for dead
ears deaf to good news
eyes tear-drenched and sleepless red

oh i hear the cry
and i know the pain
can it be denied
that everyone has been
and will be someone searching

love standing alone
hands scarred by the nails of hate
hope suffering long
faith urging that it's not too late

someone searching
searching for someone
everywhere and endlessly
loving, longing
always there's someone
searching for someone
someone searching..."

~ by ginny owens... "someone searching"...

At work yesterday afternoon, a friend of mine and I were talking with a mutual friend that we work with, and somehow the conversation turned a little more personal than it started out as.. Our mutual friend/co-worker said that she's mean to people because she's tired of being nice. She said she cares too much and gets hurt every time, so she doesn't want to do it anymore. That just broke my heart. This girl's attitude and our conversation with her have been the topic of my thoughts and prayers so much since then. I'd occasionally seen her come to class crying before, when I didn't even know her.. but she is not one to be very open. Yesterday was something rare, that she actually shared that much with us. She's not one to let people get close to her like that.. which I find incredibly sad.

My whole way home from school/work, the radio was filled with songs like Third Day's "Cry Out to Jesus" and "If This World" by Jaci Velasquez.. songs that invite the lonely, encouraging them to cry out to Jesus and let Him Love them and hug them. Then later on, this song by Ginny Owens came to my mind, and I thought of how appropriate it is.. how much it applies here.

This girl is so in need. She needs to know that she's not alone.. I want to be friends with her, to let her know that she is Loved. By us in the LC, and more than that, she is Loved by God. It hurts me to know that she doesn't want friends because of her fear of getting hurt. Nobody should have that fear.

People are going to let us down.. that's just the way it is. We are imperfect people in an imperfect world. We can't be everything we were meant to be because we're sinful. That doesn't mean we shouldn't make the effort to be friendly and to have friends though. It makes it all just that more important. We need each other, you know.. we need to help each other and be there for each other.

While people we can see are always going to let us down, God is the opposite. He is never going to let us down. He will never, ever, ever leave us. I love the way the Amplified Bible says it in Hebrews 13:5. ~ "Let your character or moral disposition be free from love of money, including greed, avarice, lust, and craving for earthly possessions, and be satisfied with your present circumstances and with what you have; for He Himself has said, 'I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. I will not, I will not, I will not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let you down or relax My hold on you! Assuredly not!'" I remember one time in youth group, Pastor Brian was speaking on this passage, and he said it literally means "never, ever, ever will I leave you." Like "don't even think of it, because it is not going to happen." That has stuck with me ever since. I always think of it when I read or hear or think of that verse.

As long as she's looking for someone visible to satisfy her desires, she's not going to find it. She will be let down.. every time. That is just the way we are. Even when we don't mean to hurt people, sometimes we end up hurting them anyway. She doesn't know - or is running away from - what she truly needs. She is so in need of God to satisfy her and change her attitude and heart. I don't mean it in a critical way at all; I'm sharing what is so heavily on my heart right now.

It isn't often that she lets someone see that deep inside her heart.. she doesn't normally open up like she did in this conversation. I have just right about two more months with her here at work before we graduate in May. Pray with me, please, that God will give me [us] the opportunities we need to share with her the One she really needs who will never, ever, ever let her down. Pray that He will soften her heart and open her to Himself so she'll really listen and realize what she needs. Pray that God will give us the words to share with her, because we really can't do it on our own.. it will fail if we try. But in listening to Him and His words, to what He wants us to say, He will work through us.

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." ~ Hebrews 13:8

..and i am so in love with You..

"i am sure all of heaven’s heard me cry
as i tell You all the reasons why
this life is just too hard
but day by day
without fail
i’m finding everything i need
and everything that You are
to me

every time i breathe You seem a little bit closer
i never want to leave
i want to stay in Your warm embrace
oh basking in the glory shining from Your face
and every time i get another glimpse of Your heart
i realize it’s true
that You are so marvelous God
and i am so in love with You

now how could i after knowing One so great
respond to You in any way
that’s less than all i have to give
but by Your grace i want to love You not with what I say
but every day
in a way that my life is lived

wrapped in Your mercy i want to live and never leave
i am held by how humble
yet overwhelmed by Your majesty
captured by grace and now i’m finding i am free
You are marvelous God
and knowing You is everything"

~ "every time i breathe".. by big daddy weave..

Every time I hear this song.. oh my goodness.. it has to be one of my favorites ever. :) It's amazing.

No matter what we go through, even when we think life is so unfair and just too hard, God is here.. He is everything we need, and He will show it to us through our experiences if we'll just let Him. I guess I could sit here and complain that I feel so overloaded in one of my classes, or I could complain that life is hard. Hey, God never promised us that life would be easy or that everything would work out the way we plan it. He never promised me I'd never lose a friend, or that people would always agree with me and respect me. Throughout everything I go through.. I am so constantly seeing God's fingerprints. He is showing me His beauty and Love through it all.

So maybe it isn't always easy, but really, knowing how great is our God and knowing Him personally, how can I respond in any way other than giving Him all of myself? My every breath belongs to Him.. and He's the only reason I have any breath at all. ".. by Your grace I want to Love You not with what I say, but every day in the way my life is lived.." Yes - I want to Love my Jesus with what I say. But words without actions are meaningless, and that is what this is talking about... My actions have to prove that what I say is true. Actions speak louder than words. If I say one thing and do another, you're going to believe my actions rather than my speech. So let my life speak of how great He is.

Pretty much this song just speaks for itself. But I had to share it, and I had to expand on a little, sharing my thoughts and just what this song says to me. "You are marvelous, God, and knowing You is everything." What can I add to that? It is such truth. Such an attitude of humble worship. I am absolutely nothing without God. He's my everything. It is so important to not only remember that, but to also live my entire life, my every moment, letting my complete dependence on Him shape my actions and my words. Let my Love for Him show. When I am completely overwhelmed with being in Love with Him, it is going to shine in my life.