Family and Home Archives

Connecting Spiritually with Your Spouse

How to spiritually connect with your spouse may be one of the most misunderstood concepts in marriage.

Couples tend to think in terms of spiritual activities they ought to dotogether: Read their Bible, pray, go to church together, memorize Scripture.

Certainly, those are important spiritual disciplines, and they fit the personality of a lot of people especially well. Some couples are so structured they treat devotions like mini-church. They gather together each night, read verses from the Bible, share their thoughts, and close in prayer for one another.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, faith, husband, marriage, spouse April 11, 2019 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Of all Barbara Bush Accomplished, She Considered This Her Highest Calling

The new biography on First Lady Barbara Bush is in the news, and it’s a timely moment to remember what Mrs. Bush considered her most important job: motherhood.

Today, Focus on the Family is excited to release a book by Linda Weber called The Eternal Mark of a Mom. In it, she defends the value of motherhood while urging women to embrace the value and power of their role.

In this excerpt, Linda speaks to how Barbara Bush felt about her greatest calling in life:

Over the years, I’ve received many letters from mothers who had gained a new perspective about the worth of being a mom, telling me of a fulfillment they hadn’t thought possible.

Topics: Family and Home April 9, 2019 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Abortion Survivors Tell Their Stories

You’d think the United States Senate would consider the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act a “no-brainer.” The bill would have guaranteed medical care for children born alive after an attempted abortion. Of the 100 US Senators, the measure needed 60 votes to pass.

It received 53.

Nearly half of the United States Senate voted to allow infanticide – the killing of infant children.

A preponderance of abortion supporters reason that the legislation isn’t necessary. “The problem doesn’t exist,” they say.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: abortion, broadcast, pro-life April 9, 2019 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Training Sons to Be Confident, Capable Men

It’s been said it’s “easier to build a boy than to mend a man.”

I agree.

A startling number of boys today are alone, left to figure out for themselves what it means to be a man. They don’t have a father in the home who will engage them.

Oh, dad may be there. But he isn’t present.

There are a lot of great dads out there, but too many men are disengaged. They don’t see manhood as a quality for them to intentionally bestow upon their son.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, faith, kids, parenting, sons April 8, 2019 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Helping Your Daughter Understand Romantic Relationships

Do you have a daughter who’s a “crushaholic”? That term describes a young lady who is constantly seeking affirmation from boys.

I don’t have daughters myself, but I do have two boys Trent and Troy, so Jean and I are seeing the upheaval of the teen years up close. The physical, mental, and emotional changes can be intense.

Did I mention the emotional changes?

They can be especially pronounced in girls who tend to be emotional creatures by nature, more so than boys.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, daughter, faith, kids, parenting April 4, 2019 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Craving God, Not Food

“I struggle with food.”

That statement resonates with millions of men and women. Maintaining a healthy relationship with food can be difficult for physiological, mental and spiritual reasons.

God designed food for function and for pleasure. Hunger compels us to eat, which sustains our lives, but God also created us with the ability to enjoy flavors, textures, and the experience of eating itself (Ecclesiastes 3:13).

The trouble is, that beautiful gift can get twisted. Research is confirming that certain foods and additives can have the same addictive effect as drugs, which causes us to continue to feel hungry even though we’ve already eaten.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, faith April 1, 2019 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Leaving Planned Parenthood

Abby Johnson was an abortion clinic director for Planned Parenthood for eight years. She considered herself a Christian and believed she was helping women. But her heart was conflicted. As she described it, “I facilitated abortions on Saturday, and sat in a pew on Sunday.”

She was able to rationalize that dichotomy, in part, through Planned Parenthood’s skewed perspective. They never talk about the baby. Their focus is, and always has been, the woman. In fact, Abby was instructed never to refer to the baby at all.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: abortion, broadcast, faith, planned parenthood, pro-life March 28, 2019 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Finding Hope for Your Desperate Marriage

You can’t change your spouse.

Period.

So what do you do if your marriage is in a desperate place?

Many couples believe there are only two choices: “I can stay here and be miserable for the rest of my life, or I can get out of this and hope that I’ll find happiness somewhere else down the line.”

Dr. Gary Chapman says that’s a myth. There’s a third option: “With God’s help and with godly counsel from others, I can choose to positively influence my marriage in such a way that it creates the greatest possibility for my spouse to choose to change their behavior.”

The idea that you can change your spouse is a myth.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, faith, husband, marriage, wife March 26, 2019 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Shining a Positive Light on Down Syndrome

Trevor Hendershot is quite a young man. I think you’d like meeting him.

Cheerleaders in his high school once made banners to cheer him on, and he was so popular he was voted homecoming king. He was a little quirky, too. He had a habit of loudly singing Christian songs in the hallway before, during, and after school. He gave everyone he talked to a high-five, a hug, or a fist bump.

He’s now in his mid-20’s and works for the Los Angeles Angels, a Major League Baseball franchise.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, Down syndrome, faith, kids March 21, 2019 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

How to Fight Fair

Did you know that researchers can predict with almost 95-percent accuracy whether a couple’s marriage will succeed or fail?

Their predictions are based on how a couple fights – not how frequently the couple fights or even what they fight about, but howcouples engage each other in conflict.

Researchers discovered four elements to marital conflict that are destructive to a relationship. Dr. John Gottman calls them “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.” They are:

Criticism
Defensiveness
Contempt
Stonewalling

Wouldn’t it be great if couples could avoid the Four Horsemen and use conflict to invigorate their marriage rather than allowing it to burn up their love life?

Topics: Family and Home Tags: arguing, broadcast, faith, fighting, marriage March 19, 2019 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura