Daly Focus Blog
For you and me to experience wholeness, five desires of our hearts must be met:
Security – who can I trust?Identity – who am I?Belonging – who wants me?Purpose – why am I alive?Competence – what do I do well?
Each of those are listed in their correct order, by the way. If you feel safe and secure, you’ll feel empowered to discover your identity – your deepest passions and strengths. Out of those, you’ll discover your purpose and develop competence.
Satan wants to destroy your marriage.
That’s no scare tactic. Satan hates marriage because it reflects God’s divine image and is a mechanism through which He influences the world. Strong, healthy, god-fearing marriages produce strong, healthy, god-fearing families and communities. One of the most powerful forces on Earth is a loving, committed couple who use their gifts to love and serve others.
The way Satan attacks couples is through lies that promote relationship myths and fairy-tale expectations.
Remember the days when your boys climbed jungle gyms and went up and down slides? They cultivated friendships and learned to navigate their world on the playground.
Now that they’re teenagers, the playground is social media. They connect, form relationships, and shape their identity by measuring themselves against “influencers” in the virtual world.
Your son’s online presence could be summarized by “more accessibility, less accountability.” Back in the day, things like pornography and dangerous worldviews were “around,” but they weren’t finding their way into a child’s world through every Wi-Fi signal in the house.
Sex is the one activity that differentiates marriage from every other relationship. You can have a great conversation with a friend. You can have lunch with a co-worker. You can go on vacation with a neighbor. But if you’re following God’s design for relationships, sex is only rightly expressed through marriage.
Milan and Kay Yerkovich say that dynamic is hugely consequential when a couple can’t negotiate their sex life in healthy ways.
They say each of us identifies in some way with one of the following love styles:
Avoiders are emotionally distant and detached.Pleasers can be excessively nice and always want harmony.
The rollercoaster ride of school closures and remote learning in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic has put an extra bright spotlight on the classroom.
At the same time, pandemic or not, we regularly hear from parents who are concerned about their child’s education. It’s often about what their instructors are teaching. Other times it’s what they’re not being taught.
Lately, we’ve heard from moms and dads who feel like people of faith are increasingly unwelcome in public schools or that their deeply held convictions are incompatible with the curriculum.
Kids experience big feelings inside little bodies, which means they can easily feel overwhelmed and confused. They don’t understand their feelings, so they don’t have the language to talk about them. And if they can’t talk about them, then they can’t ask for or receive help.
The problem for parents is that helping children identify their emotions and find words to express them is like trying to explain the color blue.
How can you help your children manage their feelings in healthy ways?
Has it ever occurred to you how many holiday traditions sterilize the historical truth of Christmas?
This time of year, the joy of the season is everywhere. There are lights and decorations; the smell of cookies, pies, and freshly cut Christmas trees; and music that remind us of snow, sleighs, and reindeer.
But all of that beautiful imagery stands in stark contrast to the difficult circumstances surrounding the very first Christmas. Consider the lives of three women who lived it: Mary, Elizabeth, and Anna.
“The story of Squanto is one of the freakiest miracles in history.”
With an introduction like that, I know you’ll want to tune in to our radio program today while you’re preparing Thanksgiving dinner and keeping an eye on the football game.
Our guest, author and radio host Eric Metaxas, is sharing the true story of Squanto you’ve probably never heard. The very founding of our country might never have happened had Squanto not walked out of the woods and had his heart prepared by God, like Joseph when he was sold into slavery by his brothers (Genesis 37-50).
If you’re already counting down the days till next year this Thanksgiving week, eager to be out with the old and in with the new, especially in this pandemic-torn year, I’d like to recommend that we still pause to count our blessings in 2020 – and even name them one by one.
Why?
Gratitude provides perspective and level sets today’s troubles, trials and tribulations.
I presume everyone could assemble their own individual list, but here are 20 things that I think many of us can be appreciative of as we approach Thursday’s celebration of Thanksgiving.
1. Doctors, nurses and medical professionals: Even at great risk to their own health, they have cared for millions of infected patients this year.
2. First responders: Because they’re willing to be available at all hours, you and I can sleep soundly each night.
Although your family Thanksgiving and Christmas get-togethers may look different this year, you still may be worried about spending time with that one family member who is sure to make the holiday season … interesting. Whenever they’re near, there’s friction.
What can you do to manage that relationship better and find peace in the midst of chaos?
We’re having a conversation with Dr. Mike Bechtle, author of the book People Can’t Drive You Crazy If You Don’t Give Them the Keys, on our Focus on the Family Broadcast “Living in Peace with People Who Drive You Crazy.”
Dr.
Jim Daly is a husband, father and President of Focus on the Family and host of its National Radio Hall of Fame broadcast. His blog, Daly Focus, is full of timely commentary and wisdom designed to help you navigate and understand today’s culture. His latest book is Marriage Done Right.
