Family and Home Archives

A Mother’s Story of Loss and Redemption

Few
parents have experienced the heartbreak of losing a child.

Fewer
still have endured that suffering twice.

Lindsey Dennis and her husband, Kevin, know the depths of that heartache. They also know how God’s comfort can bring beauty out of terrible circumstances.

Lindsey
and Kevin are sharing their tragic and touching story with us on our Focus on the Family
Broadcast “A Mother’s Story of Loss and Redemption.”

At
what was supposed to be a routine prenatal visit, the couple was given shocking
news: “We can’t find your baby’s skull.” Their baby was diagnosed with anencephaly.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, faith, tragedy August 22, 2019 by Jim Daly

A Poignant Day in the Daly Household

I’ll cut right to the point.

Jean and I are grieving a
little bit this week – not over the death of a loved one or a dire medical
diagnosis – but grieving nonetheless.

Our oldest, Trent, left for a
nearby college earlier this week.

We couldn’t be happier for
him, of course, especially seeing how he’s matured and grown over these last
few years. We’ve been impressed with his choice of friends, his attitude and
his overall goals and sense of direction.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: children, faith, parenting August 21, 2019 by Jim Daly

Equipping Christians to Understand Sexuality

Take
a look at these alarming statistics:

41% of practicing
Christians believe that cohabitation is a good idea.60% of people on
Christian dating websites say they have no moral inhibitions against sex before
marriage.32% of Christian
men ages 18 to 30 admit to having an addiction to pornography (not casual use,
mind you, but an addiction).

How
did we get so far away from God’s design for sexuality?

I’d
love to read your thoughts in the comment section below.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, faith August 19, 2019 by Jim Daly

Following God’s Pace Instead of Your Own

It’s
easy for us as Christians to lose track of God’s timing in our lives. Our
culture is driven, and we often fall prey to busyness. We work hard at our
jobs. We volunteer at church. We have hobbies and responsibilities around the
house. Some days there’s not much left of our time or our energy to keep our relationships
in order.

That
was true for Terry Looper. His goal was to become a wealthy businessman.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family August 16, 2019 by Jim Daly

Heroic Moms Raising Godly Heroes

“We
practiced an active shooter drill today.”

Those
words from Lee Nienhuis’ grade-school aged son, Ryan, felt like a gut punch.
She could barely hold herself together when he told her, “We pile up in the
corner like puppies, and we hide.”

That
wasn’t the only time Lee was confronted by the darkness her children face in this
world. Another incident happened in church. The congregation was singing the
hymn I Have Decided to Follow Jesus.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family, parenting August 15, 2019 by Jim Daly

Growing Your Marriage in Times of Stress

Does your
marriage stress you out? If not, there’s still a good chance that you’re
bringing stress into your marriage.

Either
way, how do you handle it?

The natural
inclination for a lot of couples is to seek stress relief in non-relational
ways that enable them to hide – things like drugs and alcohol, or even
behaviors like shopping, gambling, excessive cleaning, or binge-watching
television – all of which lead to addiction, unhealthy obsessions, or lashing
out at other people.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, conflict, faith August 12, 2019 by Jim Daly

Redeeming a Marriage and Childhood Wounds

Grammy-award
winning singer and songwriter Russ Taff grew up in church, but he was an adult
the first time he was truly able to understand God’s love.

His
dad was a pastor who preached what Russ calls a “hard Gospel.” That means there
were rules about clothes, rules about hair, rules about attitude. Rules, rules,
rules – so many that his father couldn’t live up to his own standards. His
father relapsed with alcohol again and again for years and, ultimately, didn’t stop
drinking until he died.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: Domestic abuse, faith, marriage August 8, 2019 by Jim Daly

Discovering the Best Ways to Educate Your Child

So
here’s the scenario. It’s a weeknight, and your child has spent most of the
evening on the same school assignment. It’s pretty clear he doesn’t understand
the information. To top it off, he’s brought home a note from the teacher warning
you about a failing grade.

What
do you do?

Many parents immediately assume the worst. They
think their child has a behavior problem, difficulty learning, or is just plain
lazy. But most of the time school challenges like this aren’t a crisis.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, children, faith, parenting August 5, 2019 by Jim Daly

Cultivating a Healthy Single Life

Imagine two keys.

Now imagine threading those keys
onto a key ring.

Here’s the question: are either of those keys more complete now that they are joined together than they were individually?

Answer: no.

And neither will you be if
you’re single and hoping to be married one day. “Singlehood” is often considered
synonymous with “incomplete” – as in, there’s something unfinished in you that
only a spouse can complete.

As romantic as Hollywood makes that
scenario sound, it’s not really true.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, faith, singleness August 2, 2019 by Jim Daly

Facing Confrontation with Grace

Deborah Pegues was once vice president of MCA Universal Studios. She headed up the venture capital division that was responsible for starting new companies. It was a high-risk, high stress business. Her role frequently required her to confront people.

You might even say she got good at it.

Which is precisely the reason we’ve invited her to our studios to talk about how to confront someone effectively. We’re airing the conversation on our Focus on the Family Broadcast titled “Facing Confrontation with Grace.”

Deborah says most people try to avoid confrontation because it’s hard, and it doesn’t feel good.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, confrontation, faith, Grace August 1, 2019 by Jim Daly