Family and Home Archives

Don’t Marry Who They’ll Become

A common mistake in marriage is to marry who you hope your spouse will become instead of who they already are.

When a couple is dating, they tend to overlook each other’s bad habits. They get so caught up in the euphoria of the relationship that they ignore how they feel about their mate’s poor behavior. Or they minimize the problem thinking, “Once we get married things will change.” That’s a dangerous game to play.

It’s not unusual for conflict to erupt between a new husband and wife over behaviors that were present all throughout the dating season.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: marriage September 2, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Building Bridges with Your Adult Children

Here at Focus on the Family, we regularly talk to parents about helping young children develop a strong foundation that equips them to make good choices. But when children transition from adolescence to adulthood, some veer from the path we hoped they’d follow.

We’re encouraging parents of adult children who have strayed from how they were raised and are making poor decisions on our Focus on the Family Broadcast “Building Bridges with Your Adult Child.”

Our guest, author Brenda Garrison, raised her children like many Christian parents.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: parenting September 1, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

New Branches of Life

When life gets tough, we want solutions. Immediately. We want heartbreak, confusion, and physical pain all to just disappear.

But overcoming life’s obstacles is rarely easy. It takes faith. And patience. That’s how reality is constructed.

A few years ago, here in Colorado, a late spring snowstorm dumped a couple feet of heavy, wet snow. Tree limbs all over the neighborhood were broken. In my own backyard, one tree lost almost a third of its branches.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith September 1, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Jackhammer The Foundation

You won’t believe what I did the other day. I rented a jackhammer and used it to chip away the concrete foundation of my home. It was a lot of work, but I was determined to finish the job. When I did, about a third of my home was perched atop a large, gaping hole.

I didn’t chisel away the foundation as part of a home improvement project. I wasn’t making way for a new addition.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith August 31, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

When it Comes to Abortion, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Robert Menendez Embrace Saul Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals”

It’s been just over two months since the Supreme Court’s 5-4 vote reversing Roe and sending the issue of abortion back to the states – and propelling abortion activists into full-fledged panic mode.

Earlier this summer, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) introduced a bill that’s ironically called the “Stop Anti-Abortion Disinformation Act” – legislation that’s supposedly going to address false advertising from pregnancy resource centers. The bill calls on the Federal Trade Commission to issue rules “prohibiting disinformation in the advertising of abortion services.”

Only these clinics don’t deceive women at all – they simply educate, inform, and ensure that mothers are aware of the full range of assistance that exists for them and their baby.

If there’s any “deception” it comes from the abortion lobby and abortion mills like Planned Parenthood.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: pro-life August 30, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

They Mean Well

The best way to build a happy marriage is to do what happy couples do. And what’s the number one thing happy couples do? According to research, they trust in each other’s love.

That means happy couples trust that their spouse means well even when they communicate poorly or make a mistake: they didn’t do something thoughtful when they had the chance. Or they didn’t mention an online purchase they made. Or they worked late and didn’t call to let you know.

Topics: Family and Home August 30, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Building a Bridge to Forgiveness

Popular author and relationship expert Dr. Gary Chapman illustrates conscience as a five-gallon bucket strapped to our backs. Doing wrong against our spouse or anyone else is like pouring in a measure of liquid.

After a few mistakes, the burden we carry gets heavier. After a few more, heavier still. Eventually, our conscience becomes so full, so heavy to bear, that the contents spill out in unhelpful ways, on us and our spouse.

In Acts 24:16 of the King James Bible, the apostle Paul says of himself: “And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men.”

The word “exercise” is the Greek word gymnaso, from which we get the English word, “gymnasium.” The word can also be translated as “discipline.”

Paul says, “I discipline myself.” To do what?

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith August 30, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Celebrating The Bodies God Gave Us

In junior high school, I was embarrassed to go to swim class because everybody pointed out the freckles that covered the back of my legs.

For many children, teasing begins in elementary school.

And thanks to social media, the ridicule no longer ends at the classroom door.

On our Focus on the Family Broadcast “Celebrating the Bodies God Gave Us,” we’re talking with Justin and Lindsey Holcomb about how to help your children embrace the knowledge that they’re made in the image of God.

Topics: Family and Home August 29, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Overcoming Barriers

One of the most important qualities to being an effective parent is a willingness to overcome personal barriers that get in our way. My own dad provides a sobering example of how destructive it can be when a parent stays stuck.

One of the few times he showed up to one of my baseball games, he was stone-cold drunk. When I came to bat, I was so mortified I couldn’t move. Dad yelled awful things at the umpire as pitch after pitch zipped past me.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith August 29, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Clearing Out the Clutter

Years ago, when Jean and I moved into our current home, the truck was unloaded, and we pulled the lid off each box one by one and looked through every item.

So much stuff went into the trash that I thought it would be helpful to get one of those big trash bins used at construction sites. It was fantastic. I was throwing stuff away left and right.

That’s when the trash fairies showed up.

I’d spend an evening happily tossing one item after another into the garbage.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith August 26, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura