Daly Focus Blog
“I’m pregnant.”
Would you know what to do if your teenage daughter made that announcement? It’s not a pleasant situation to think about. But that’s why you should.
It’s the moment of truth for you as a parent. When you first hear the news, you’ll feel like the floor has dropped out from beneath your family. How you react sets the tone of your relationship with your child moving forward. It’s a scary, uncertain time for you and for your daughter.
Note: This article by Focus on the Family President Jim Daly appears in full on Fox News.
Once upon a time, the vast majority of Americans were affiliated with a particular faith community or tradition: Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, or Jewish, for example.
In recent years, though, secularism has been growing and a new wave of either atheism or agnosticism is rolling across the country. It may be true that a degree of “unbelief” has always existed, but with rising rates of people unaffiliated with any church or faith at all, the likelihood of interacting and being influenced by a person who believes in a higher power is similarly depressed.
Today, I’ve got a simple idea that will help you build a great marriage. It’s fun, too.
Laugh together.
Studies show that couples who laugh are healthier, happier, and more connected to each other. Even little giggles between you and your spouse can play a meaningful part in creating bonds that you’ll share forever.
That’s because laughter is a powerful connecter. In fact, at its heart, laughter is mostly about connection. It’s only partially about humor. Studies show that we laugh more when we’re with other people than when we’re alone.
The Depression-era generation used to say, “Use it up. Wear it out. Make do. Do without.”
There’s wisdom in that. But a lot us should throw some stuff out.
Did you know that there are more self-storage facilities in America than there are McDonald’s restaurants? At last count, there were 48,500 self-storage facilities in America compared to 14,350 McDonald’s.
We’re bursting at the seams with stuff. Our homes should be places of comfort and peace. Instead, we’re overwhelmed with clutter.
Sex is the one activity that differentiates marriage from every other relationship. You can have a great conversation with a friend. You can have lunch with a co-worker. You can go on vacation with a family member. But if you’re following God’s design for relationships, sex is only rightly expressed through marriage.
Milan and Kay Yerkovich say that dynamic is hugely consequential to a couple’s relationship when they can’t negotiate their sex life in healthy ways.
A + B = C.
For some of you, that’s basic Algebra.
For some of you, that’s an approach to parenting.
You see raising children as a formula. If you apply the right ideas in just the right ways, you believe you’ll get the right outcome. Every time! Your goal isn’t to be a good parent, or even a great one. Your goal is to be perfect.
On the surface, perfection appears to be an admirable goal.
We live in a culture of contradictions.
When it comes to issues of race and sexual orientation, society shouts the virtues of human dignity from the rooftops. But when it comes to preborn babies, the terminally ill, or the severely disabled, society’s tone changes. Suddenly, ideas like “choice” and “quality of life” trump human dignity.
The Bible says we were created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26). We all have tremendous worth and value to God from the moment of conception to natural death.
Christina Bennett begins her testimony like this:
“I could have been a statistic, just a number. I had an appointment to die. My mother went to a clinic to have me aborted, but God stepped in at the eleventh hour and rescued me. And I’m going to tell you what He did.”
What follows is a remarkable story of God’s intervention in Christina’s life that has made her an overcomer. Far from being a victim of abortion, she has championed the pro-life cause, particularly in the African American community, which she believes has been targeted by pro-abortion advocates.
Human beings are designed with five core needs – five desires of our hearts that must be met for us to live lives of wholeness.
Security – who can I trust?Identity – who am I?Belonging – who wants me?Purpose – why am I alive?Competence – what do I do well?
Each of those is in their correct order, by the way. If you feel safe and secure, you’ll feel empowered to discover your identity – your deepest passions and strengths.
Dating can be tough. You probably already know that if you’re single. It’s no small matter pursuing a relationship with someone who has the potential to be your spouse one day.
What is God saying to you about marriage?
I made a commitment in my early 20s to serve the Lord through singleness if that were His plan for me. On a Wednesday night about a year and a half later, I encountered God in a way unlike anything I’d experienced before or since.
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.
