Jim Daly

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Did you know that you can subscribe to Thriving Family, Focus on the Family’s marriage and parenting publication, for free?

This magazine is perfect for today’s busy families – it offers great, practical advice and Bible-based insights to help you carry out the toughest (but most important) jobs on earth. With timely content on everything from meal prep to family devotionals, I am confident that Thriving Family will be a blessing.

You can check Thriving Family out online or sign up for your free subscription here.

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How to Answer the Tough Questions Kids Have About Christianity

A recent study found that children ask about 300 questions a day. Often they’re easy ones. But as our children grow and mature, the questions often get tougher.

And then there are times when the questions our kids ask have eternal significance.

“Are there other ways to get to heaven?”

“How can Jesus be God?”

“If God loves us, why are some people going to bed hungry tonight?”

Have you ever had your child ask one of those questions?

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: faith, kids, parenting

Let Churches Burn in Egypt?

The terrible violence besieging Egypt and the attacks on the nation’s Christian minority are heartbreaking. And in fact, for many of us here at Focus, we’ve been receiving daily updates about the bloody unrest from our friend, Sami Yacoub, who is the regional director of Focus on the Family Middle East, which is actually headquartered in Cairo.

Sami is a godly man whose spiritual maturity has been shaped in part by the hardships of living in a country undergoing sociopolitical turmoil.

Continue ReadingTopics: Current Events Tags: church, news, religious liberty

School’s Back in Session, and Values are Put to the Test

It’s back-to-school time. Kids are filling their backpacks with their new supplies. Parents are taking pictures of smiling children before waving goodbye. Teachers are welcoming their new students. It’s time for these youngsters to learn reading, ’riting and … sexually explicit lessons? The promotion of same-sex relationships and gender confusion? Negative portrayals of some religious beliefs?

Sound a bit too alarmist?

Sadly, that’s what is going to be the case for students in too many classrooms across the nation.

Continue ReadingTopics: Current Events Tags: homosexuality, kids, news, parenting, pop culture

Finding Good in Adversity

Recently I blogged about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, a serious condition that someone who has experienced any sort of life trauma may experience.

While PTSD may most commonly be associated with war veterans, people with any sort of trauma, including childhood disturbances, are vulnerable.

As some of you may know, my childhood included a lot of trauma. I spent the first part of my years in violence-riddled Compton, Calif. I witnessed a gang-related murder outside of my bedroom window when I was 8.

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Is Intentional Childlessness Biblical?

Time magazine’s provocative cover story last week, “The Childfree Life,” explores why some couples are choosing to deliberately not have children and taps into a larger, worldwide trend towards smaller families.

A good portion of the piece is rooted in cultural observation and fact.

Not surprisingly, some of the causes are found in modern life. Young couples are marrying later, if at all, and instead of having children, they’re increasingly choosing to pursue college and advanced degrees and becoming more active in the work force.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: adoption, kids, parenting

VIDEO: Watch the Duck Dynasty Wedding

The 12 million viewers who tuned into this week’s Duck Dynasty season premiere, got more than laughs – they got a lesson in true love and commitment.

In the episode, Phil and Kay, the Robertson clan’s patriarch and matriarch, finally had the wedding ceremony they missed out on when they were married almost 50 years ago. While the episode had its expected hijinks and redneck jokes, the wedding ceremony itself was heartfelt.

To be sure, Phil and Kay aren’t your typical Hollywood characters, so they make for unconventional centerpieces of a highly-rated TV show’s main love story…and yet they are.

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VIDEO: This May Change How You Talk to Your Kids

Positive affirmation is generally considered a good thing, but would it surprise you if I told you that letting your child know that he or she is smart may be detrimental to their future success? According to recent studies, it’s true.

An interesting article from New York Magazine, “How Not to Talk to Your Kids,” outlines why parents may want to stay away from praising their kids’ intelligence: it might cause children to stay away from things they may not be initially successful at.

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Cops Surprise Accused Criminal… with Grace

When was the last time God prompted you to go out of your way to help someone?

That’s what happened to Ryan Willard and Duane Fields, two West Virginia law enforcement officers whose response to a typical shoplifting call will inspire you.

According to a report from The Charleston Daily Mail, Willard and Fields arrived at a local K-Mart to look into allegations a young woman had tried to steal from the store.

What they found in the small backroom went beyond the cold, hard facts of the case, however.

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Tweets Between the Sheets

Smartphones and tablets are becoming more and more ubiquitous. Increasingly they’re our constant source of news and entertainment. Sometimes it seems like these devices are surgically attached to our hands – but this reliance on smart technology is also demanding us to make decisions about what we prioritize and how we will steward our time.

Today I want to share with you a post written by one of our young staffers. In it, Chelsey, a newlywed, explores how she waded through the choices her iPhone forced her to make:

The phone alarm wakes my husband.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: husband, marriage, relationships, wife