Jim Daly

Effective Habits to Embrace in Parenting

What kind of tools are in your parenting toolbox?

In a regular toolbox, like the one in your garage, you’ll find hammers, screwdrivers, and different sized wrenches – tools with very particular uses for specific problems around the house. There’s an old saying: if the only tool you have is a hammer, everything will look like a nail after a while.

There isn’t one tool to rule them all.

It’s the same with parenting. Some moms and dads only have one tool in their parenting toolbox that they use in every situation – like anger, overly strict rules, or permissiveness.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: family, parenting

GUEST POST: The Example We Set

By David Kier

“…in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified, sound in speech which is beyond reproach, in order that the opponent may be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us.” Titus 2:7-8 NASB®

In my early years at college, I met a few guys from out east who had brand new fancy cars and really nice clothes and wondered why they were at a small midwestern college.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: faith

More Government Spending Won’t Strengthen What’s Weak in America

The president returned to familiar turf inside the United States Capitol on Wednesday to meet with Democrat lawmakers to discuss the budget, a massive spending proposal that promises to plunge the country deeper into debt.

Since we were kids, we’ve been told that money doesn’t grow on trees, but you wouldn’t know that from the way Congress has been doling out dollars of late. Based on media reports, the Senate majority are expected to ask for somewhere between $3.5 trillion and $4 trillion dollars for the upcoming fiscal year.

Of course, contained within those trillions are vital and critical items – military spending to ensure our nation’s safety, infrastructure to keep America operational and, especially in the midst of a global pandemic, measures intended to protect our citizens’ health and well-being.

Yet, also included are dollars many liberals and radicals want to “transform” America – i.e., turn upside down and inside out fundamental values and traditions that have distinguished the United States for well over two centuries.

Sadly, there seems to be a prevailing philosophy in Washington these days that money will solve any problem, and the more money we spend, the fewer problems we’ll have.

It’s just not true.

Take for instance our ongoing battle to eradicate poverty.

Since President Johnson declared a war on poverty in 1964, nearly $26 trillion in taxpayer funds has been spent to fight it.

Continue ReadingTopics: Current Events Tags: government

Making Virtues a Daily Part of Your Family Life

One of your most important responsibilities as a parent is to pass your faith and values on to your children. It may also be one of your most challenging tasks. A shocking turn of events at the 2008 Summer Olympics illustrates why.

Both the U.S. men’s and women’s 4 x 100 relay teams were expected to compete for the gold medal. Instead, neither team made it to the finals. Their exit from competition wasn’t because another country outran them.

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Getting on the Same Team Financially in Marriage

My wife and I approach recipes differently. Jean has a degree in biochemistry. She’s smart and sees life as a series of precisely calculated moves. To her, recipes are a detailed road map to be carefully followed. If the instructions call for one cup of flour, she’ll measure exactly one cup. She’ll even use a knife to scrape off the excess.

I’m more of a free spirit with recipes. I don’t see them as “a roadmap to follow” as much as “a few things to keep in mind.” I kinda, sorta measure ingredients, but not very carefully.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: finances, marriage

Experiencing God’s Healing Hand

Have you ever witnessed a miraculous healing? You’re about to!

On our Focus on the Family Broadcast “Experiencing God’s Healing Hand,” you’ll hear the actual moment when Pastor Duane Miller’s throat was healed, after three years of only being able to speak in a whisper.

In January 1990, Duane became sick with influenza. He spent 10 days in bed with his throat swollen shut as if someone was squeezing his windpipe. Medication helped, but for three years, Duane could only whisper.

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The Spiritual Battle for Your Marriage

You thought you married the perfect person. Then, over time, you began to notice flaws. Your spouse wasn’t as kind and loving as they used to be. Now you fight with each other, you blame each other, and you never really discuss tough issues because that leads to more conflict. You wonder if you made a mistake.

What if there’s something deeper going on? Is it possible that Satan is attacking your marriage and you’re experiencing spiritual warfare?

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GUEST POST: How to Raise an Anti-Woke Daughter

By: Michelle Easton

How can you be sure your daughter remains a conservative woman of faith once she leaves your home? Given toxic social media, radical indoctrination in schools, and a popular culture that promotes non-traditional values, parents can’t assume she’ll stay conservative because she went to church. The best parenting mimics the way our heavenly Father loves his children, so our default parental setting should be to return to the immutable and transcendent Judeo-Christian truths that shaped America’s founding.

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Leaving a Legacy of Love

Bill Butterworth had something of an awakening when his father died.

At the funeral, Bill stood behind the lectern and spoke as the family representative. As important as what he shared about his father is what he didn’t share about his father.

Bill didn’t mention his father’s career or his real estate holdings. He didn’t talk about his father’s bank account or his stock portfolio. Instead, he shared about what his father believed and valued, and recounted some of the meaningful life lessons his father had taught him.

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Going on Mission in Your Front Yard

Kristin Schell discovered the value of community during a summer immersion program in France. Although she was a stranger in a foreign land, she had never felt so welcomed, loved, and connected before – and she couldn’t even understand the language. Many European countries are like France: community takes place around the table. Family and friends join together to celebrate food, life, and each other.

That sense of community came back to Kristin years later. By then she was a wife and a mom who spent more time with her children in her minivan than she did around the kitchen table or the fire pit talking about life and God.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: evangelism