Daly Focus Blog
King Artaxerxes commissioned Nehemiah to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Nehemiah and his men set to work with trowels in one hand and with swords in the other, defending against enemies on all sides (Neh. 4:17).
In many ways, married couples face a similar challenge. With one hand, they’re building their marriage, their children, and their careers. With the other, they’re wielding the sword of the Word of God and defending their families against a culture that’s increasingly hostile.
Forgiveness is never easy, but how do you forgive evil?
For Polly Sheppard and Reverend Anthony Thompson, that question is no mere hypothetical. Polly was a member of a weekly Bible study led by Anthony’s wife, Myra, at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
On the evening of June 17, 2015, 12 members of Myra’s group came together for study. A few minutes in, they welcomed a young white man who unexpectedly came into the church.
Social media. Cyberbullying. Peer pressure. Drug and alcohol abuse. Pornography. Depression. Suicide.
Parenting teenagers is not for the faint of heart.
Moms and dads play a critical role in guiding their children through the challenges that arise in the teen years. Their mission is not to protect their children from every adversity, but to train them to develop the faith and strength of character that will carry them through it.
A helpful goal is to parent your teenager toward becoming a responsible adult rather than toward short-term obedience.
Everybody has moments where they feel a little sad. But some people encounter depression so fierce they don’t know if they’ll ever come out of it again.
Counselors identify six things that lead us to feel overwhelmed, hopeless, and helpless:
A traumatic eventStrained relationshipsSerious health problemsCrushing disappointmentUnchangeable circumstancePainful loss
Kay Warren has experienced all of those. Kay co-founded Saddleback Church with her husband, RickWarren, in California in 1979. She had been sexually abused, battled cancer and depression, and spent years trying to help her son, Matthew, battle his own depression – a battle she and Rick lost when Matthew died by suicide at the age of 27.
Is there a secret to a happy marriage?
That’s a common question. It’s also a tough one.
On the one hand, who doesn’t want a happy marriage? Everyone walks down the aisle believing they’re committing themselves to a spouse who will fill their life with joy and fulfillment. On the other hand, when couples reach out to Focus on the Family, many are struggling because their marriage isn’t making them as happy as they thought it would.
Wonder Woman.
Batgirl.
Black Widow.
The Invisible Woman.
Wives.
What do all of these women have in common?
Well, they all can be strong and fierce in character. They’re all capable of having bold convictions and standing firmly behind their decisions. Really, the comparisons could go on and on.
There’s really only one difference: Fictional superheroines are esteemed because they stand on their own and lead their lives independent of men.
God never intended Christian wives to do the same.
When Pat decided to have an abortion, she was convinced it was the right thing to do.
Her first marriage had ended a few years before as a teenager when her husband, also a teen, abandoned her, leaving her with a newborn son. She tried to pick up the broken pieces of her life by enrolling in college, despite the responsibilities she carried as a single mom. As a student, she wrote articles for the National Organization for Women and wholeheartedly supported abortion as a woman’s right.
Yesterday’s Supreme Court decision that upheld Indiana’s fetal remains law – legislation that requires burial or cremation of a baby’s body following an abortion – was welcome news regarding a very uncomfortable topic, of course.
It’s hard to even fathom why anyone would oppose these types of standards, but Planned Parenthood’s wicked and evil opposition to anything that hints at the rights and respect due pre-born life shouldn’t shock us anymore.
At the same time, there was disappointing news within the same decision.
Today, on a special Memorial Day edition of our Focus on the Family Broadcast titled “Honoring America’s Veterans,” we’re raising the flag in honor of those families who paid the ultimate sacrifice so that we might celebrate freedom.
As Scripture says, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 5:13, ESV). In our case, we owe gratitude to generations of military personnel who have helped secure and maintain our freedom.
Every couple walks down the aisle dreaming of love, romance, and a life of happiness together. In fact, our marriage team here at Focus reports that 93 percent of Americans say a happy marriage is one of their chief objectives in life.
And, yet, the statistics also show that a significant percentage of relationships will end in divorce, and about half of those will occur within the first seven years of marriage.
Why? How does the beauty and promise symbolized in a wedding ceremony deteriorate into a failed marriage and the ugly reality of divorce?
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.
