Daly Focus Blog
Odds are, you or someone you know has stepchildren. According to a recent statistic, 40 percent of families in the United States are blended.
That is a lot of people who are trying to build something new out of the ashes of their former lives. Divorce. Death. Blended families come together for many reasons, but they each face a number of challenges.
On our Focus on the Family Broadcast “Cultivating Love in Blended Families,” authors Dr.
If I could, I’d love to bring you behind-the-scenes of Focus on the Family’s SEE LIFE 2020 production.
Since early this summer, the team’s been hard at work interviewing and filming many of the leading voices in the pro-life movement today:
Abby Johnson, Lila Rosa, Alveda King, Christina Bennett, Candace Owens, Mike Singletary, Jeanne Mancini and Melissa Ohden.
The team spent a week in Nashville recording soul-stirring, life-themed music with Selah, Phil Stacey and Danny Gokey – and many others.
Sara Williams and her husband, Paul, have learned how to trust God by walking through the fires of suffering.
A routine 20-week pregnancy scan revealed a problem. Sarah’s baby had a lethal skeletal issue called thanatophoric dysplasia, a malformity of the skeletal structure where the bones don’t develop sufficiently to allow the proper development of the lungs. The baby was safe inside the womb but would die at birth or shortly thereafter.
Sarah remembers the shock of hearing that the best medical recommendation for her situation was to terminate the life of her baby.
Author and speaker Patsy Clairmont is well known for her wit and sense of humor. But she also has an amazing testimony of overcoming a chronic anxiety disorder and panic attacks.
Anxiety is about the scary “what ifs?” in life. Patsy imagined horrible scenarios about everything that could happen and rehearsed them over and over again in her mind. Her anxiety was so acute that she felt emotionally paralyzed and hid away at home.
Patsy says:
“Fear has friends – anger, guilt, shame.
I never knew my grandparents, but family friends – Mr. and Mrs. Hope – became surrogate grandparents to me. They led my mother to the Lord and treated her and me and my siblings as part of their family.
Some of my fondest childhood memories are visiting with Grandpa Hope. He would sit in a big recliner in his garden atrium, play checkers with us kids and – like any good grandfather – lose on purpose often enough to build our self-confidence.
Don’t let anybody ever tell you that kids can’t do big and significant things.
I’ve had the privilege and pleasure of meeting some remarkable children in my lifetime. In fact, I met one just last week here at Focus on the Family.
His name is Sawyer Hagberg, and he is 12 years old.
Sawyer was playing a video game one day this past summer when a Focus on the Family video came on. It’s a special spot we created to help call attention to our SEE LIFE 2020 online event that’s scheduled for Saturday September 26th at 8 P.M.
Some of you recognize Lacey Sturm as the former lead singer for the alternative rock band Flyleaf and now as a solo artist. If you’re not familiar with her journey to new life in Christ, it’s an amazing story.
Lacey Sturm was just 10 years old when her three-year-old cousin was beaten to death by his stepfather. The tragedy rocked Lacey’s world so hard that she lost all assurance that God noticed or cared about her.
Have you heard of the popular MTV programs “Teen Mom” and “16 and Pregnant”? I’ve only caught a random segment or two, and only to keep a pulse on the culture and the messages it communicates to our children.
You have to dig to find redeeming value to such “entertainment.” If you’re not familiar with these shows, they’re so-called “reality” TV programs that follow the lives of young girls between the ages of 13 and 16 who are pregnant, having babies, and involved in intimate relationships.
Mike Singletary is a great example of the word “overcomer.”
Although he is best known as a Hall of Fame linebacker who won a Super Bowl with the Chicago Bears, Mike’s challenges began before he was even born. His mother already had nine kids when she became pregnant with him, and she was struggling in a bad marriage. Her circumstances seemed so dire that some encouraged her to abort Mike.
Mike’s mother refused. Before he was born, she said to him, “Son, I want you to know that there’s greatness in you.
By now you’ve likely seen the images of the maddening maelstrom outside the White House last Thursday night following President Trump’s acceptance speech to conclude the final night of the Republican National Convention.
Mobs of individuals behaving in a vile and vicious manner harassing and haranguing departing attendees, including Senator Rand Paul and his wife, Kelley. The Pauls believe they would have been killed if not for the police escort that surrounded them as they walked along the sidewalk after departing the grounds of the Executive Mansion.
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.
