Daly Focus Blog
Sooner or later, every couple gets bored with their marriage. Once the wedding and honeymoon are over, life settles into a daily routine. Careers are chased. Children are born. And there’s always a pile of laundry to wash and bills to pay. It’s inevitable that romance will fade.
The question is, what can you do about it? Left unchecked, a mild case of the yawns can become two people living separate lives. Before long, you’re thinking your best years of marriage are behind you.
Childhood adversity and childhood trauma are different.
Every child faces adversity. It’s part of being human in an imperfect, fallen world. Trauma, on the other hand, is a profoundly distressing experience that impacts a child’s sense of safety, trust, and control.
I experienced a lot of both as a kid. My parents divorced when I was five. My dad was in and out of my life for years afterward until he died addicted to alcohol, broken and alone.
My wife, Jean, and I took doing devotions with our boys seriously throughout their childhood. Along the way, we discovered that “serious” didn’t have to mean “boring.” We also learned that there was no one “right way” for passing our faith on to our children.
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.
Marriage is a beautiful gift from God — but that doesn’t mean it’s always easy.
That’s good to remember if you or someone you love will soon be standing at a wedding altar. Most people get married anticipating good times together — laughter, adventure, years of building a family together — but we don’t give much thought to the hard moments to come.
Seasoned couples who are asked what they didn’t anticipate in their marriages often give answers like:
• “I didn’t know we’d have to survive betrayal.”
• “I didn’t know we’d have to rebuild trust.”
• “I didn’t know illness would change our lives.”
• “I didn’t realize how career decisions would uproot our lives.”
Author Leann Murphy has said all of that and more in her nearly 40 years of marriage.
What dragons do you need to slay?
Author Melanie Shankle says we all have one because life is a journey through difficult situations that teach us to trust God and by His grace grow through adversity. Sometimes dragons rise up out of an unhealthy, toxic childhood.
That was certainly the case for me. My parents divorced when I was five. My dad was in and out of my life for years afterward until he died from alcohol, broken and alone.
Sports are close to my heart. Not only was playing quarterback in high school a great learning experience, but my high school football coach led me to the Lord. I am a living example of what can happen when Christians show the love of Jesus to others through athletics.
But there’s a problem developing within youth sports. It’s becoming an avenue for turning young athletes into a commodity. As we’re all aware, athletics is a profitable industry.
March 21 is World Down Syndrome Day, a day to raise global awareness about Down syndrome and to celebrate the vital role people with Down syndrome play in our communities.
In recognition, I’m airing a conversation on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly that I had with Heather and Josh Avis, who found God’s grace in their own lives by adopting a child with Down syndrome.
Heather and Josh walked a long, difficult path through infertility.
At Focus on the Family, we frequently hear from moms who want to parent their young sons well but who struggle to understand how to raise a good and godly young man out of a young boy who is loud, messy, and full of energy.
If you’re a mom asking that question, I encourage you to listen to my conversation with author Molly DeFrank on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly. We discussed 8 ideas that she says every mom of boys should focus on in her parenting.
Teen girls live in a toxic social world, so toxic that an increasing number of girls are suffering emotional trouble, from low self-esteem and anxiety to depression and eating disorders.
What’s the solution?
The answer isn’t as much a “what” as it is a “who.” A teen girl’s greatest hope for navigating her social world is you, mom.
To address why and to guide you in helping your daughter shape her identity in Christ, author Heather Holleman is joining me on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly.
Dr. Juli Slattery never anticipated that her marriage would suffer from sexual issues. She grew up in a loving Christian home, became a Christian as a young child, attended Christian schools, and became a psychologist with deep spiritual values. Despite all of her biblical and therapeutic training, however, she and her husband still encountered sexual challenges.
She isn’t alone. Many couples who contact Focus on the Family feel ill-equipped to navigate sexuality from a biblical perspective or to pass along those values to their children.
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.
