Family and Home Archives

Returning to a Godly Perspective on Sex and Romance

One of the most powerful forces God created for humanity exists in the realm of love, sex, and romance. The potential for both pleasure and blessing is virtually immeasurable. So is the potential for destruction.

As a group, Millennials and younger generations don’t tend to believe that. A significant percentage see sex as a purely physical experience. That shouldn’t surprise anyone. From an evolutionary standpoint, there isn’t anything sacred about sex. If there is no God, then sex is strictly biological.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, husband, intimacy, marriage, wife May 17, 2018 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Disciplining Your Kids with Grace

It wasn’t the first time that Karis Kimmel Murray was confronted with how to discipline her young daughter, Riley, properly, but it was one of the more memorable.

At the end of a shopping trip at Walmart, Karis stopped by the shoe aisle for a new pair of flip-flops. Her daughter decided she’d sat patiently in the cart long enough. Karis allowed Riley down, but Riley didn’t just want out of the cart, she wanted out of the store … and Karis stood between her and that goal.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, discipline, family, kids, parenting May 15, 2018 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Why Moms Should STOP

Mom, could you use some practical ways to place God at the center of your relationship with your children? Do you have the right identity balance between “mom” and “me”?

In answer to those questions and others like them, author Brooke McGlothlin has this suggestion for moms: STOP.

Submit your thoughts to Christ.

Tell yourself the truth.

Open your eyes to understanding

Persist in prayer

Moms can be passionate about creating the ideal childhood for their kids.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, faith, kids, parenting May 11, 2018 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Where Is God in Our Darkest Hours?

“Honey, does life get any better than this?”

That’s what Carol Kent asked her husband one October night as they strolled hand-in-hand along the St. Clair River, watching the beauty of the changing seasons. She believed they were entering a time of change themselves.

She was right about that … but not in the way she had hoped. Little did she know that they were about to face the darkest chapter their family had ever encountered.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, events, faith May 10, 2018 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

I’ll Never Forget These Four Things My Mom Told Me Before She Died

It’s been over 46 years since my mother slipped from this life into the next.

I was just 9 years old when she died, and her death disoriented me in ways big and small. In a very practical way, her passing marked the abrupt end of my childhood. Already reeling from the abandonment of my father at 5, it came at the worst possible time, though it’s never a good time for a child to lose a parent.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: kids, parenting, relationships May 9, 2018 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

How Should Christians Respond to Domestic Abuse?

Of the many calls, emails and letters we receive at Focus on the Family, those involving the tragic subject of spousal abuse are among the most heart-wrenching. They’re also inquiries that demand an unequivocal response with no room for misinterpretation.

I raise this issue today in light of the current controversy involving Southwestern Seminary President Dr. Paige Patterson. The former head of the Southern Baptist Convention, Dr. Patterson has been rightly credited with helping lead a conservative theological revolution within the denomination at a time when progressives were attempting to liberalize the understanding of Scripture.

Topics: Current Events/ Family and Home Tags: Domestic abuse, paige patterson, southern baptist convention May 8, 2018 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

How to Put Christ on Display in Your Marriage

Most couples come into a relationship with a sense of idealism. They’re so much in love and so much alike and so happy.

Over time, though, they discover that they’re really not that much alike – and maybe not so happy, either. That’s when a marriage ends up being all about “me” and “my happiness,” instead of “us” and “our happiness.”

Dr. Larry Crabb says the central problem in marriages like that is “unrecognized self-centeredness.” We ask, “What can my spouse do for me?” rather than “What can I offer my spouse that would make a difference in their life?” Instead of ministering, we manipulate.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, faith, husband, marriage, wife May 7, 2018 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Harnessing the Power of Word Pictures

Early in their marriage, Dr. John Trent’s wife would get up early and cook him breakfast. One morning, he came into the kitchen and instead of bacon and eggs, he found a book. It was one of John’s textbooks from college.

She said, “Do you remember when you first got this book? You couldn’t wait to read every page. Now you use it as a door stop for your study.” She paused then said, “That’s what our marriage feels like.”

John’s wife had given him a word picture.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, husband, marriage, wife May 4, 2018 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Helping Your Child to Embrace Their Future

Making big decisions can be frightening for teenagers. They get overwhelmed thinking about buying a car, deciding on a college, choosing a career, and even eventually getting married. We want to help them in these big decisions, but we don’t always know how.

I’ve got good news for you. John Ortberg is our guest, and he has some great advice for parents who are trying to help their teenagers decide their next steps.

His ideas resonate with me.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, kids, parenting May 1, 2018 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Alfie Evans is a Victim of the Culture of Death

The plight of Alfie Evans, the 23-month-old boy from Liverpool, England who’s been diagnosed with a neurodegenerative disease and blocked by court-order from leaving the country for alternative treatment, is a tragedy on many levels.

Sadly, it’s also a microcosm of the evolving and expanding death culture gripping modern-day society.

Alfie was taken off life support earlier this week, a move dictated by Great Britain’s Supreme Court. They determined further treatment would be “unkind” and “futile.”

Little Alfie’s parents, Tom Evans and Kate James, vehemently disagree, and have been petitioning the courts to simply let them take their child to Italy for treatment.

Topics: Family and Home April 27, 2018 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura