Family and Home Archives

Nothing Stops a Father’s Love

David Jones is living proof that you should never underestimate a father’s love.

For months, David looked forward to walking his daughter down the aisle. But then Hurricane Helene came along, causing catastrophic damage, knocking out power for millions, and shutting down hundreds of roads, including the ones David needed to get to his daughter’s wedding.

Under normal conditions, his drive from South Carolina to Tennessee takes two hours. After the hurricane, he spent seven hours in traffic that ended at a road block almost 20 miles from his destination.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: family, parenting February 4, 2025 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Showing Love in Everyday Relationships

Author Dave Willis witnessed the life-changing power of love on a visit to an orphanage in Guatemala called Casa Shalom, which means “house of peace.” The privately run Christian orphanage serves about a hundred kids at a time in a place where most orphanages are government-run and fraught with corruption. Some of the children served by Casa Shalom have been sex-trafficked, exploited by the very people who should have been protecting them.

On his first visit there, Dave was introduced to a young Guatemalan girl named Margarita.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family February 3, 2025 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Rethinking Godly Sexuality in Your Marriage

A lot of couples will be interested in my conversation with Dr. Juli Slattery on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly.

Dr. Slattery is a clinical psychologist and the president of Authentic Intimacy, a ministry devoted to reclaiming God’s design for sexuality. Her book God, Sex, and Your Marriage served as the basis for our conversation.

She says few couples experience the intimacy that God intends for their marriage. Sexual problems are a hidden, shameful secret for many because they don’t know how to navigate their pain and frustration or even communicate about it effectively.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: marriage January 29, 2025 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

What to Do When Tragedy Impacts Your Family

When I was 14 years old, a small airplane crashed across the street from where I lived. I called 911 then ran to the plane and helped two 20-somethings out of the burning wreckage. I thought they were the only two in the plane at first. I soon realized that their fathers had also been aboard. They were dead.

I also experienced tragedy in my personal life. My mother died of cancer when I was nine.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family January 28, 2025 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Surprise Your Kids with Unforgettable Faith Lessons

My wife Jean and I did devotions with our boys throughout their childhoods. “What kind of devotions?” was the issue we always had to resolve.

Jean preferred formal times of Scripture reading and devotion. Her degree is in biochemistry, so it fit her personality to whip up a lesson with the creativity and skill of a schoolteacher.

As for me, I’m spontaneous and loose. I chatted with my boys about the Bible when we were engaged in routine activities, like driving back and forth to school.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family January 27, 2025 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Bumpy Road

Has parenting been a bumpy ride for you? Some days may be so stressful you’re left wondering, “Is all of this worth it?”

I believe the answer is a resounding yes, but you may not fully appreciate why until after your children are grown. The turbulence can blind you to the reward. On summer vacation one year, my boys and I signed up for a helicopter ride over Bryce Canyon in Utah. The day of our flight the helicopter was under repair, so the pilot took us up in a small Cessna he owned instead.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: family, parenting January 24, 2025 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

The Glow of Faith

Sooner or later, we all face circumstances that are beyond our control. The question in those moments is what do we do when there’s nothing we can do?

Future astronaut Jim Lovell faced that situation in 1954 as a navy pilot. He was on a routine training mission over the Sea of Japan one moonless night when his instruments failed. Without warning, his whole world became darkness. To make matters worse, he had no way to visually spot his carrier because the lights had been turned off to avoid enemy detection.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family January 23, 2025 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

American Renewal Will Come from Marriage and More Children

It’s called “Natural Decrease” – the term used to describe what happens when more people die than are born.

Since European settlers arrived in Jamestown in 1610, the population of North America has seen a meteoric climb. From the 300 or so people who first settled in Virginia, the United States Census Bureau currently projects our population at just over 341 million people.

But all is not well when it comes to fertility and mortality across the country.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family January 22, 2025 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Simple Steps to Improve Your Marriage

Could you use a simple tip to improve your marriage?

How about 100 simple tips?

Matt and Lisa Jacobson, my guests on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, actually have them for you.

After 25 years of marriage, Matt and Lisa looked at each other and decided, “Let’s each write down one hundred things that we’ve done to create a loving marriage.” When they compared notes, they realized that big decisions are important, but most of the magic in a relationship is the result of small decisions that stack up over time.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family January 21, 2025 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Using Kindness to Open Doors in the Culture

I think about kindness a lot because I believe it lies at the heart of the Gospel. I’ve never heard of anyone becoming a Christian as a result of judgment, condemnation, or ridicule.

It occurs to me that Scripture never tells us to be “nice” but to be “kind.” Nice is usually a thin veneer of kindness with nothing of substance underneath.

One of my favorite verses is Romans 2:4: “Or do you … not know that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” It is God’s kindness that opens people’s hearts to God’s message.