Family and Home Archives

Craving God, Not Food

“I struggle with food.”

That statement resonates with millions of men and women. Maintaining a healthy relationship with food can be difficult for physiological, mental and spiritual reasons.

God designed food for function and for pleasure. Hunger compels us to eat, which sustains our lives, but God also created us with the ability to enjoy flavors, textures, and the experience of eating itself (Ecclesiastes 3:13).

The trouble is, that beautiful gift can get twisted. Research is confirming that certain foods and additives can have the same addictive effect as drugs, which causes us to continue to feel hungry even though we’ve already eaten.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, faith April 1, 2019 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Leaving Planned Parenthood

Abby Johnson was an abortion clinic director for Planned Parenthood for eight years. She considered herself a Christian and believed she was helping women. But her heart was conflicted. As she described it, “I facilitated abortions on Saturday, and sat in a pew on Sunday.”

She was able to rationalize that dichotomy, in part, through Planned Parenthood’s skewed perspective. They never talk about the baby. Their focus is, and always has been, the woman. In fact, Abby was instructed never to refer to the baby at all.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: abortion, broadcast, faith, planned parenthood, pro-life March 28, 2019 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Finding Hope for Your Desperate Marriage

You can’t change your spouse.

Period.

So what do you do if your marriage is in a desperate place?

Many couples believe there are only two choices: “I can stay here and be miserable for the rest of my life, or I can get out of this and hope that I’ll find happiness somewhere else down the line.”

Dr. Gary Chapman says that’s a myth. There’s a third option: “With God’s help and with godly counsel from others, I can choose to positively influence my marriage in such a way that it creates the greatest possibility for my spouse to choose to change their behavior.”

The idea that you can change your spouse is a myth.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, faith, husband, marriage, wife March 26, 2019 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Shining a Positive Light on Down Syndrome

Trevor Hendershot is quite a young man. I think you’d like meeting him.

Cheerleaders in his high school once made banners to cheer him on, and he was so popular he was voted homecoming king. He was a little quirky, too. He had a habit of loudly singing Christian songs in the hallway before, during, and after school. He gave everyone he talked to a high-five, a hug, or a fist bump.

He’s now in his mid-20’s and works for the Los Angeles Angels, a Major League Baseball franchise.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, Down syndrome, faith, kids March 21, 2019 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

How to Fight Fair

Did you know that researchers can predict with almost 95-percent accuracy whether a couple’s marriage will succeed or fail?

Their predictions are based on how a couple fights – not how frequently the couple fights or even what they fight about, but howcouples engage each other in conflict.

Researchers discovered four elements to marital conflict that are destructive to a relationship. Dr. John Gottman calls them “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.” They are:

Criticism
Defensiveness
Contempt
Stonewalling

Wouldn’t it be great if couples could avoid the Four Horsemen and use conflict to invigorate their marriage rather than allowing it to burn up their love life?

Topics: Family and Home Tags: arguing, broadcast, faith, fighting, marriage March 19, 2019 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

How to Help Your Angry Child

Author Tricia Goyer says she never thought she had an anger problem … until she had to deal with children who had anger problems. She and her husband had three kids of their own and adopted seven others.

Their adopted children had emotions that Tricia didn’t know how to handle. They struggled with pain from their past. They were angry from being away from their biological families. Some of them had faced difficulties in foster care.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: anger, broadcast, faith, family, kids March 18, 2019 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Taming Your Child’s Tongue

Has one of your children ever thrown a world-class fit in a store?

My son Trent did that once when he was little. He wanted a candy bar while he was with his mom in the checkout aisle. I was out of town, so Jean was alone with him. Trent had a meltdown because he couldn’t have the chocolate he was after.

Jean was a new mom and was embarrassed that she couldn’t get Trent under control.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, faith, family, kids, parenting March 15, 2019 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Defeating the Darkness of Abortion

On today’s edition of our Focus on the Family broadcast, “Defeating the Darkness of Abortion,” we’re going “behind the scenes” of an abortion clinic. Our tour guide is Kathy Sparks, and as you’ll hear, she trained in every area of an abortion facility – from the telephones to the surgical room.

She has a riveting story to tell.

Kathy was raised Catholic and pro-life. In college, feminism drew her to adopt a pro-choice outlook.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: abortion, broadcast, kids, pregnancy, pro-life March 12, 2019 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Making Peace with Unfulfilled Dreams

Has reality set in on your dreams yet?

It will, you know.

Not on all of them, of course. But enough.

Maybe you never got the career you wanted. Or the marriage you dreamed of. Or the baby you hoped for.

The question is, how do you come to terms with your unfulfilled dreams?

Author Chrystal Evans Hurst understands what you’re going through. She’s also walked the road of discontentment before.

In college, she didn’t handle her freedom well and became a teenage mom.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, dreams, faith March 8, 2019 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Motivating Your Kids to Reflect the Character of God

Teaching character to children and motivating them to embrace change can be a challenge. So where do you begin?

Dr. Kathy Koch says you do it by strengthening your relationship with your child. You can help your child feel known and understood and intentionally impart character qualities like resilience, humility, self-respect, respect for others, and self-control.

It comes through relationship. You first model those qualities, then you guide your children as they learn to interact with life the same way.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, faith, family, kids, parenting March 7, 2019 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura