Book Tour-Generation NeXt Marriage and Give-Away!!

"If you are a GenXer, your marriage has challenges and potentials that no other generation has known."

Most of us know that our generation, "Gen X," grew up during a huge divorce boom in our country. My own mom has been married three times; I experienced the typical broken home scenarios, split holidays, visitation, and pain of divorce. I thought I turned out just fine, completely whole, despite it all... until I got married. That is when I realized I did have scars and holes that I hadn't recognized before. And I know I'm not alone!

Tricia Goyer is the author of Generation NeXt Marriage: The Couple's Guide To Keeping It All Together. She looks at marriage for the Gen Xers and offers hope, teaching, and advice in many areas. The book is peppered with quotes from "our" music and interviews and thoughts from other GenXers.

I loved the idea of this book tour; we were each asked to write about one chapter that stood out to us.

Several chapters really spoke to me...Dealing with Unrealistic Expectations (Yup; been there),
Revisiting Your Relationship Role Models (Yup; needed to do that),
Finding Balance (Yup; working on that).

The chapter that spoke to me the most was entitled "Dreams and Goals." Tricia quotes Gary Chapman, "The purpose of life is to know God and bring glory and honor to His name. For most people, marriage enhances the possibility of achieving this objective."

Recently a sweet friend asked me what my dreams are. I've given a lot of thought and prayer as to why I couldn't answer her question well. I've had dreams, and some of those God has graciously allowed me to see fulfilled.

I've had other dreams that no one knows about. A couple years ago, I shared a dream I had with a friend. Instead of encouraging me or asking questions or challenging me, she showed very little interest and basically shot me down. After that, I did not share my dream with anyone else. Satan got a foothold that day, telling me I could never do it; I wasn't good enough. I stuffed that dream down. (And I'm still not brave enough to share it with you!) :)

Through my other (encouraging) friend's recent question, our follow-up discussions, reading I've done recently, prayer and journaling, my dreams are now back to the forefront of my mind, so I was definitely tuned in to the Dreams and Goals chapter in Generation NeXt Marriage.

My husband Scott truly is the one person who believes in me, encourages me, and supports me in my goals and dreams. He is a gift. I want to be that same way for him! (Read this post; you'll see I am a greatly blessed woman.) Tricia writes, "Husbands and wives share the checkbook, the house, the refrigerator, their kids, and their bodies; sharing their dreams adds a layer of intimacy that is unparalleled. Once you step out together, you will discover unity as you never imagined."

My favorite part of the chapter included practical advice Tricia had received and put into practice. She encourages readers to look back at and write our own personal stories, hitting the high and low areas. She then asks us to highlight certain points with different colored markers. Those points are: key people, key events, key lessons, and lies. Through this activity, themes will probably emerge. "After all, the messages God speaks through our past are often the life messages He builds on later."

Tricia then asks us to consider these questions:

What interests are you most afraid to admit to others?
What would you do if you know you couldn't fail?
What would you do if financial constraints were not an issue?
What stirs your heart and makes you excited to get out of bed in the morning?
What would you regret not having done if you knew your life was ending tomorrow?

Powerful, challenging stuff! I'm looking forward to doing this myself.

I can give away two copies of Generation NeXt Marriage! To enter to win, simply leave a comment sharing:
1- A great line from an 80s love song
and/or
2- How have you and your spouse supported each others' dreams? Do you have a dream?

Now... Go dream about what God can do through you!

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him."
(I Corinthians 2:9)