Created by God for a Purpose

Have you ever wished you could change something about yourself? I’m sure we all have. We wish we were taller or shorter, that we had curly hair or straight, or that we could throw a ball or play an instrument like someone else.

It’s not unusual to wish for strength in areas where you’re weak, or talent where you’re not gifted. But it’s a short leap from that common desire to losing sight of the purpose for which God created you.

Especially for children. The suicide rate in our country is frightening, tripling in the last 10 years. Suicide is the second-leading cause of death for 10-to-14-year-olds. We want our children not only to be pro-life, but pro-living. We want our children to believe that life is worth living and that their futures can be bright.

How?

Dr. Kathy Koch shares a unique perspective on how to help children appreciate their God-given attributes and how to overcome what they see as limitations on our Focus on the Family Broadcast “Created by God for a Purpose.”

In this message recorded at a staff chapel before the pandemic, Dr. Koch teaches parents to see the word “smart” as a word of power. Children who believe they’re smart excel more in school and approach life with greater confidence. But children who don’t believe they’re smart struggle to apply themselves.

The key is for children to learn that “smart” applies to more than academic excellence. For your children to discover how smart they are, motivate them to:

Learn and study with all eight kinds of smarts: word, logic, picture, music, body, nature, people, and self
Accept and affirm their unique smarts
Reawaken “paralyzed” smarts
Redirect misbehavior in new, constructive ways

Hear Dr. Koch’s full message on your local radio station, online, on Apple Podcasts, via Google Podcasts, or take us with you on our free phone app. It’s never too late to start helping your child be all that God designed him or her to be.

Throughout the month of January, we’re celebrating the Sanctity of Human Life. God doesn’t use an assembly line for humans. He is a personal, intentional Creator and deliberately chooses each of our attributes, so that we may faithfully serve Him (Psalm 139:13-16).

Dr. Kathy Koch was a contributor to a collection of resources we’ve developed called Alive to Thrive: A Biblical Guide to Preventing Teen Suicide. Alive to Thrive is a free six-session program that includes video interviews with experts and roundtable discussions on how to prevent suicide. It is specifically designed to help you reach your children, tweens, and teens. It also includes interviews with suicide survivors and provides hope to kids in troubling situations. Best of all, this is a digital resource that we can put into your hands today. Check our website for full details.

We offer this resource for free, so we can get the information out to as many parents, teachers, and youth leaders as possible. We are able to do that because of generous donations by so many friends of Focus on the Family.

If you’d like to partner with us in preventing teen suicide, please make a donation of any amount today! When you do, we’ll send you a copy of Dr. Kathy Koch’s book, 8 Great Smarts: Discover and Nurture Your Child’s Intelligences, as our way of saying thank you for touching others with the love of Christ. For more information, call 1-800-A-FAMILY (232-6459) or visit our website.