Daly Focus Blog
Dave and Linda’s story is all too common, one that’s repeated again and again across thousands of marriages.
It works like this: They have a disagreement and erupt into conflict. They think they’re angry with each other about the specific issue they’re fighting about, but they’re not. There’s something much deeper at work.
It’s like the time Dave came home from work thirty minutes late. Linda was furious and gave him an earful the second he stepped inside the front door.
Happiness is serious business in America.
Our Declaration of Independence says it plainly: We all have the right to pursue happiness. And pursue it we do. We leave no stone unturned in our search for true happiness.
People marry because they’re happy and divorce because they’re not. Advertisers promise happiness to us if we’ll just buy their car, their beer, or their latest technological gadget.
But do we ever stop and ask ourselves – as believers who live in a land of abundance and opportunity, and who have virtually every material blessing right at our fingertips – why are so many of us miserable?
To go into debt, or not to go into debt?
That is the question – one many college students ask themselves as they think of how to afford a college education.
You hear horror stories about twenty-something college graduates leaving school with a four-year degree in one hand and a load of debt in the other they may spend the next couple of decades trying to repay.
Is it worth it?
And if it is, what’s the best way to keep the debt at a reasonable level relative to future earning potential?
Has the Holy Spirit ever prompted you to go outside your comfort zone?
It recently happened to one of our team members, Sue McFadden.
Sue is a fun lady with a witty personality. She’s a regular on Facebook where she entertains her friends with her love of the Broncos as well as bits and pieces of her life. This weekend, Sue penned a post about what started out as an ordinary, mundane trip to the grocery store… but ended with a divine appointment.
“I’ll never forget the day when I said to God, ‘I’ve done everything I know to do, and it’s not working.’”
You might expect to hear a comment like that from the average husband or wife trying to learn how to build a successful family. But would it surprise you to know that the person who said those words is now one of the most respected family experts in the world and has been married nearly 40 years?
It was while she sat on the beach that Vicki realized her life was crashing down around her.
She watched up and down the coastline as families played together, building sand castles, splashing in the waves, creating memories.
But Vicki sat there alone, sobbing. Her kids were hundreds of miles away with a babysitter. Her husband, Bill, was back in their hotel room, sick, trying to survive withdrawals from his drug addiction.
The weight of her emptiness and loneliness was crushing.
I heard a story not long ago about a young man who didn’t receive the grade he felt he deserved in one of his college courses. Right there in the middle of class, surrounded by nearly 200 fellow students, he dialed his mom and complained to her.
If this was your son, what would you have done?
This mom said, “Put your professor on the phone.”
The young man marched to the front of the room and handed the call over to his professor.
Give her an opportunity, and Pamela Christian will gladly tell you about the day she died.
It all began during an afternoon of tennis with some girlfriends. She had been battling stomach problems all morning, a problem she dismissed as indigestion. But after just a few practice swings she realized she was feeling short of breath and light headed as well, too much for the amount of exertion her warmup should have required of her.
In only a matter of minutes, she knew she was in trouble.
There’s a war waging over your marriage … and a lot of days you probably don’t even recognize it.
The epic war movie “Saving Private Ryan” opens with one of the most riveting battle scenes in film history. It depicts in graphic detail the D-Day invasion of Omaha Beach in Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944. It’s a vivid reminder of the tremendous sacrifice asked of our soldiers and their heroic bravery.
But I think it also illustrates the intensity of the spiritual battle that’s waging for your marriage and mine.
Dr. John Townsend hits a parent’s struggle during the teen years right on the head when he says it’s “because we’re needed the most and wanted the least.”
Our teenagers need us as much as ever in their final years at home before they venture into adulthood, but they don’t exactly want us interfering in their lives.
Remember when your teen was a 10-year-old? They were more likely to say, “Mom and dad, can you help me with this?” Teenagers, on the other hand, say, “I’m a grownup; I don’t need your help.”
The unofficial mantra of teenagers everywhere is “Come close.
Jim Daly is a husband, father and President of Focus on the Family and host of its National Radio Hall of Fame broadcast. His blog, Daly Focus, is full of timely commentary and wisdom designed to help you navigate and understand today’s culture. His latest book is Marriage Done Right.
