Family and Home Archives

Seeing the Value of Every Person

Being pro-life means much more than being against abortion. Our value statement on the sanctity of human life reads:

We believe that human beings are created by God in His image. Therefore, every person, from conception to natural death, possesses inherent dignity and immeasurable worth – including preborn children, elderly individuals, those with special needs and others marginalized by society. Christians, then, are called to defend, protect, and value all human life.

Author and speaker Emily Colson has lived the truth of that statement up close and personal.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, pro-life December 2, 2019 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

How Advent Changed My Perspective on Christmas

Years ago, a friend asked Asheritah Ciuciu if she was excited that the Christmas season had arrived.

“Actually, no,” she said.

Christmas had both a joyful side and a dark side for Asheritah. She and her parents lived in Romania for ten years during the communist regime while her father pastored five churches – one officially recognized church and four underground churches. They lived under intense persecution and death threats.

Asheritah’s childhood Christmases had so many hard memories that she grew up wanting the season to be over with as soon as possible.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, christmas, holidays November 29, 2019 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

The Beautiful Struggle to Forgive

Emmy Award-winning sports journalist and former ESPN producer Jason Romano remembers the day he got the phone call. How could he forget?

On the other end was his father, who was in tears with terrible news. Patty, his second wife and Jason’s stepmother, had been killed in a house fire. Jason was devastated.

Then he discovered it was all a lie.

His father had been drunk and made up the whole story. For money? For sympathy?

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, relationships November 26, 2019 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Are You a Good Listener?

Pastor Ted Cunningham says, “Social media is a place where people share their opinions without sticking around for the conversation.”

He’s right. A lot of people like to share their opinions, but few like to listen. Beyond social media, that’s also a big problem in marriage, in parenting, and in interactions with friends and extended family.

Listening has become synonymous with approval, agreement, and wholesale acceptance of someone’s opinion. The natural response, then, is to talk over people and to express our point of view to the exclusion of all others.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, relationships November 25, 2019 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Understanding the Two Different Sides of Love

Skyscrapers are amazing feats of engineering. They need to be strong enough to resist the forces that come against them, like gravity and wind. That’s why skyscrapers are built with steel.

They also need to be flexible enough to withstand the forces that come against them … like gravity and wind. That’s why architects design skyscrapers with a certain amount of sway.

Strength and softness. The two sides of a superstructure. Two sides of love as well.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, marriage, parenting, relationships November 22, 2019 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

You Can Have a Healthy Family (Even If Yours Wasn’t)

When you think of a family tree, you think of strong branches that represent generations of your family reaching to the sky.

But what do you do when those branches are broken by the storms of life? How do you become a good husband or wife, or a good father or mother, when your past has been marked by abandonment, divorce, or the death of a loved one?

My family didn’t have a family tree. We had a “family bush.” My mother died when I was nine years old.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, family, marriage November 21, 2019 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Guest Post: In a Generation that is Staying Single, Here’s Why I Got Married

By: Kathryn Andersen

My name is Kathryn, and I’m a statistical anomaly.

I’m one of the 27% of millennials who are married.

Student debt, cohabitation, and the “failure to launch” phenomenon have all been blamed for the plummeting marriage rates for people my age.

While those may certainly be factors, I think there’s one, huge, underlying issue that is mostly to blame. The best way I can explain that issue is through my story of cliff jumping.

Ever since I can remember, just the sight of a place called the “Hole in the Rock” — a tall cliff jumping spot on the lake my family frequently visited — was enough to make my heart pound and my hands sweat.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, marriage November 14, 2019 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Saving Your Marriage with Love and Respect

You never know how God will intervene in a time of crisis. In the darkest part of Lisa Shea’s marriage struggles, hope showed up in her mailbox in the form of a book.

Her marriage was in trouble as soon as it got started. In their first 14 months together, she and her husband experienced most of life’s biggest stressors. They both got new jobs after they relocated out of state away from friends and family, and they got pregnant and had a baby.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, crisis, marriage November 14, 2019 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Getting Organized for Christmas

Is it too early to start thinking about Christmas?

It’s not if you hope to have a smooth December and enjoy a stress-free Christmas season. That can be tough to do if you’re not organized.

Christmas is supposed to be a time of joy. A time for us to reflect on our Savior who came as a baby in a manger and soon took upon Himself the sins of the world.

Instead, we get caught up in all the “stuff” of Christmas: the lights, the decorations, the shopping.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, christmas, family, holidays November 12, 2019 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Healing the Wounds of War

Happy Veteran’s Day!

Today on our Focus on the Family Broadcast “Healing the Wounds of War,” we’re paying tribute to every man and woman who has worn a uniform to protect this great land.

Joining us in the studio is Dave Roever. If you’re not familiar with him, you’re in for a blessing. Dave is a U.S. veteran with an incredible story. He is the living embodiment of Romans 8:28, which tells us, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

Dave was 21 years old when he married 19-year-old Brenda and joined the Navy.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, faith, military, veterans November 11, 2019 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura