Daly Focus Blog
No one begins a journey expecting a detour or anticipating tragedy along the way.
Author Rachel Wojo sure didn’t. She came from a great home. Her mom and dad were Christians who believed in working hard and in raising their children to love God and each other.
When Rachel struck out on her own, she married a guy who had his sights set on Bible college and serving as a youth pastor. Five years into their marriage, however, she discovered that he had been having an affair for four of them.
A few months ago, I got a chance to visit with Greta Henry. She’s the director of Living Alternatives Pregnancy Resource Center in Champaign, Illinois. She’s also their director of adoptions and oversees their residential program for women called Merci’s Refuge.
She asked me to come and speak at the pregnancy center to almost 1,000 workers and supporters. I was happy for the opportunity to share my heart with people who are so dedicated to standing for life.
Years ago, while working as a camp counselor, author Craig Jutila floated on a canoe to the center of the lake for a few quiet hours alone. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and the water was completely still.
It was after hours, and no other boats were out. So he did the only sensible thing: With an extra life jacket for his pillow, he nestled in for a short nap.
An hour later, he woke up to the voices of strangers.
Imagine your boss asking you to train someone so well that you’d no longer be needed. What would you do? That’s an important question to answer because that’s precisely your role in the life of your child.
As your children grow older, they’ll naturally and progressively seek their own identity apart from you. That path toward independence prepares them for adulthood, but it can be painful for you. It’ll feel like they no longer need you.
Imagine waking up drenched in sweat, your heart pounding, your legs convulsing. The ER doctor reports that your blood pressure is 190 over 170. You’re convinced you’re having a heart attack, but after chest x-rays and an EKG the doctor says there’s nothing physically wrong with you. His diagnosis: “You’re having an anxiety attack.”
That scenario happened to Pastor Louie Giglio back in 2008. He fell into a pit of darkness, depression, fear, and anxiety so disabling that he thought he might never stand in front of another person to proclaim the truth of God or to serve others again.
Comedian Ken Davis was 65 when he told his audience, “These are some of the best years of my life.”
He wasn’t joking.
He’d been a Christian for years, but it wasn’t until he was older that he’d begun living the truth of Philippians 3:10, where Paul says that he desired “to know Christ and the power of His resurrection.” Christians will experience the fullness of Christ after we die, of course, but Paul reminds us that we can also know the power of God’s resurrection in this life!
There’s good news about bad marriages: No matter how dire your circumstances, there is hope. When a marriage enters dangerous territory, the journey out isn’t easy, but the results can be beautiful.
Dr. David Clarke has a proven 90-day strategy for getting a broken marriage on track toward healing and intimacy. He says healing begins by identifying the type of marriage you’re in:
First is the couple who admits they’re unhappy and struggling, but are willing to work on it.
Do you find it difficult to sit through church without touching your phone?
Does technology tend to decrease your productivity?
Do you often check your phone for calls, emails, or texts?
If you answer yes to questions like these, you may be nomophobic – you have a fear of being without your mobile phone.
Researchers at the University of Washington and the University of Michigan studied families with children between the ages of 10 and 17.
Theresa had a stroke 18 years ago. She doesn’t have control over her hands the way she once did. She has a hard time doing simple things in life, like styling her own hair. When she goes to the beauty salon, she leaves with a smile. She feels beautiful. But as soon as she washes her hair it falls flat, and she can’t get it to look the way the stylist does.
Andrew, Theresa’s husband of nearly 45 years, knows how much joy a new hairstyle brings her.
Do you teach your children to clean their rooms?
How about to do their homework, to brush their teeth, or to match their clothes?
How about to give money, save money, and to spend it properly?
If you said no to that last one, it might be because you see your child’s allowance as simply an economic transfer instead of as a chance to develop their character.
Our guest for the next couple of programs is the money guru himself, radio host and bestselling author, Dave Ramsey.
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.
