Family and Home Archives

This is What Happens When You Affirm Your Husband

Marital relationship studies generally examine the factors that contribute to the downfall of a marriage. One revolutionary study took an opposite approach. It followed 373 happy, successful couples for 22 years and looked at what went right.

One of the pivotal conclusions the study reached was that couples enjoyed higher marital satisfaction when wives affirmed their husbands. That’s a simple enough premise, but it can be surprisingly difficult for many women to do.

Christian women desire to be good wives and desire to connect with their husbands.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, marriage, wife November 17, 2017 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Escaping the Prison of Your Past

“Why should I focus on my past? It’s over. I can’t change anything about it.”

Answer: If your past still affects your present, it’s not really in the past.

Wounds from our past can imprison us within ourselves. Satan is a master at dredging up old hurts and using them against us. Sinful and dysfunctional behavior today is often in reaction to the pain that litters our yesterdays.

Guilt, shame, bitterness, resentment, and anger are a long, slow path to destruction.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, church, faith November 16, 2017 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

What’s the Best Family Dog?

Several years ago, I asked whether or not you thought pets went to Heaven.

The response was robust!

Personally, I’ve always appreciated how Dr. Billy Graham responded to that question:

“God will prepare everything for our perfect happiness, and if it takes my dog being there, I believe he’ll be there.”

But today I thought I’d ask a less eternally minded question, but a practical one nonetheless:

What’s the best family dog?

According to the American Kennel Club, here are the ten best:

Topics: Family and Home Tags: family November 15, 2017 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Simple Tools for Raising Great Kids

What can you do tonight to deepen your relationship with your children and empower them to develop strong character?

Simply this: in a genuine way that fits you and your child, make an effort to connect. It doesn’t have to be expensive, complicated, or excessively time-consuming. Even the simplest gesture of love, affection, and physical touch can strengthen the relationship between a parent and a child.

That advice comes from clinical child psychologist, Dr. Todd Cartmell, my guest on our Focus on the Family Broadcast “Raising Kids of Character.” He’ll be providing equally helpful answers to questions that many parents ask:

How do I get my children to listen to me?

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, family, parenting November 13, 2017 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

In Honor of Veterans Day

John Murphy was on a routine training jump at Fort Bragg when it happened.

He’d just gotten home from a deployment to Afghanistan a couple of months before. John was a proud soldier who was so eager to serve, he dropped out of a full Army ROTC scholarship at Michigan State so he could go straight into active duty.

John grew up with godly parents who loved the Lord and who loved him. But he was a nominal Christian at best.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, church, faith November 10, 2017 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Inspiring Boys to Become Men

It’s been said it’s “easier to build a boy than to mend a man.” I agree. So how do we build the next generation of boys into men?

John Wooden was the men’s basketball coach at UCLA for nearly thirty years and is widely recognized as one of the greatest coaches in the history of the game. The dominance of his teams remains unprecedented into the modern era.

Surprisingly, though, his lessons on the court had more to do with being a man than with basketball.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, discipline, kids, relationships November 9, 2017 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

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, intimacy, relationships, sex November 7, 2017 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Guest Blog: The 8 Ways Adoption Has Changed Your Life

I know what you’re probably thinking.

The headline of this post is a bit much. It’s a bridge too far. A significant overstatement.

Sure, you have a great deal of respect for adoption and adoptees, but has the institution of adoption really changed your life and the way you live?

After all, the odds are pretty good that you weren’t adopted. Just between two and three percent of American children are.

Maybe you know somebody who was adopted – or whose family adopted.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: adoption, broadcast, family November 1, 2017 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Singles, Here’s the Secret to an Enduring Marriage

“Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33, ESV).

If you’re single, have you ever applied that verse to your dating relationships and search for a godly spouse?

Many Christian singles seek the same things in a mate as non-Christian singles. They focus on whether or not they’re attracted to one another, share common interests, enjoy each other’s company, or even if they share sexual chemistry.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, marriage, relationships October 30, 2017 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Help! I Don’t Have Time for My Spouse… I’ve Got Kids

Remember when you were first married? You and your spouse talked, had fun every weekend, and always seemed to have time for one another.

Then you became parents.

Now it seems every moment is busy with sports practice, dentist appointments, and school programs. Once a couple has children, it can be tough to fit each other in. Their marriage routinely gets pushed down the priority list.

It seems justifiable in the moment because parenting does require a lot from parents.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, marriage October 27, 2017 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura