Daly Focus Blog
Years ago, while working as a camp counselor, author Craig Jutila floated on a canoe to the center of the lake for a few quiet hours alone. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and the water was completely still.
It was after hours, and no other boats were out. So he did the only sensible thing: With an extra life jacket for his pillow, he nestled in for a short nap.
An hour later, he woke up to the voices of strangers.
Imagine your boss asking you to train someone so well that you’d no longer be needed. What would you do? That’s an important question to answer because that’s precisely your role in the life of your child.
As your children grow older, they’ll naturally and progressively seek their own identity apart from you. That path toward independence prepares them for adulthood, but it can be painful for you. It’ll feel like they no longer need you.
Do you watch Tucker Carlson’s show on FOX News?
A few weeks ago, the popular television host offered a bold and pointed commentary on how the decline of marriage and family is driving the majority of the poverty in our nation. (You can watch and read the text here.)
He didn’t so much lay this decline at the feet of declining morals, but poor economic policies perpetuated over the last few decades by the growth of Big Government.
Imagine waking up drenched in sweat, your heart pounding, your legs convulsing. The ER doctor reports that your blood pressure is 190 over 170. You’re convinced you’re having a heart attack, but after chest x-rays and an EKG the doctor says there’s nothing physically wrong with you. His diagnosis: “You’re having an anxiety attack.”
That scenario happened to Pastor Louie Giglio back in 2008. He fell into a pit of darkness, depression, fear, and anxiety so disabling that he thought he might never stand in front of another person to proclaim the truth of God or to serve others again.
Comedian Ken Davis was 65 when he told his audience, “These are some of the best years of my life.”
He wasn’t joking.
He’d been a Christian for years, but it wasn’t until he was older that he’d begun living the truth of Philippians 3:10, where Paul says that he desired “to know Christ and the power of His resurrection.” Christians will experience the fullness of Christ after we die, of course, but Paul reminds us that we can also know the power of God’s resurrection in this life!
There’s good news about bad marriages: No matter how dire your circumstances, there is hope. When a marriage enters dangerous territory, the journey out isn’t easy, but the results can be beautiful.
Dr. David Clarke has a proven 90-day strategy for getting a broken marriage on track toward healing and intimacy. He says healing begins by identifying the type of marriage you’re in:
First is the couple who admits they’re unhappy and struggling, but are willing to work on it.
I want to tell you about a unique partnership we’ve recently forged that involves some of my favorite things: faith, family, friends, food – and football.
The popularity of the National Football League has taken a bit of a hit these past few seasons. Once a near universally beloved entity, many loyal fans have grown weary of the on-field player protests. While the controversies have seemed to die down a bit this year, I know the feelings and concerns still run deep, and rightly so.
Deborah Pegues is the author of the book 30 Days to Taming Your Tongue. The idea for the book came to her after she didn’t control her tongue with a friend.
She thought she was helping when she told somebody else something she wasn’t supposed to tell. Her attempt to help backfired, and she discovered firsthand what happens when we don’t use our words wisely.
That’s when Deborah decided to go on a “tongue fast.” For 30 days, she refused to speak negatively about anything – not the traffic, not the weather, nothing that she couldn’t directly positively influence.
The statistics are heartbreaking: One in 4 girls will be sexually abused before her eighteenth birthday. For boys, the number is 1 in 6.
Sexual abuse isn’t an easy conversation, but the information we have to share with parents on our broadcast “Protecting Your Child from Sexual Abuse” can help your children avoid becoming part of the disturbing statistics.
An overwhelming percentage of abuse – close to 90 percent – comes from someone the child knows and trusts, like a family friend or someone from within the family itself.
Lucille Williams was washing vomit out of her clothes when she thought, “This is marriage.”
She was on her honeymoon with her husband, Mike. It was the last night of their cruise, and they were enjoying a final dinner with friends they’d made that week. Suddenly, an unexpected bout of sea sickness hit Mike, and he began vomiting uncontrollably. Their dinner guests scrambled to get out of the way, but it was too late for Lucille.
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.
