Daly Focus Blog
Childhood adversity and childhood trauma are different.
Every child faces adversity. It’s part of being human in an imperfect, fallen world. Trauma, on the other hand, is a profoundly distressing experience that impacts a child’s sense of safety, trust, and control.
I experienced a lot of both as a kid. My parents divorced when I was five. My dad was in and out of my life for years afterward until he died addicted to alcohol, broken and alone.
Former Senator Ben Sasse was looking forward to many more productive years. After beginning his professional career with two of the most prestigious management consulting firms in the world, he represented the state of Nebraska in the U.S. Senate from 2015 to 2023. He then served as president of the University of Florida from 2023 to 2024.
Then, just before Christmas 2025, at age 53, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Unfortunately, cancer in the pancreas doesn’t always reveal itself immediately, which means by the time a person senses there’s a problem, it’s too late.
My wife, Jean, and I took doing devotions with our boys seriously throughout their childhood. Along the way, we discovered that “serious” didn’t have to mean “boring.” We also learned that there was no one “right way” for passing our faith on to our children.
Jean preferred formal times of Scripture reading and devotion. Her degree is in biochemistry, so it fit her personality to whip up a lesson with the creativity and skill of a schoolteacher.
Some people say, “Truth doesn’t exist.”
Is that statement true? If truth doesn’t exist, then the statement itself is self-refuting.
Arguments against Christianity usually fall flat when we peel back the layers. The deeper we look, the more biblical faith blossoms. Even so, as logically coherent as Christianity may be, many of us struggle with knowing how to communicate that beauty to others.
I’m talking about how to do that with Greg Koukl, Christian apologist and founder and president of Stand to Reason Ministries, on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly.
Marriage is a beautiful gift from God — but that doesn’t mean it’s always easy.
That’s good to remember if you or someone you love will soon be standing at a wedding altar. Most people get married anticipating good times together — laughter, adventure, years of building a family together — but we don’t give much thought to the hard moments to come.
Seasoned couples who are asked what they didn’t anticipate in their marriages often give answers like:
• “I didn’t know we’d have to survive betrayal.”
• “I didn’t know we’d have to rebuild trust.”
• “I didn’t know illness would change our lives.”
• “I didn’t realize how career decisions would uproot our lives.”
Author Leann Murphy has said all of that and more in her nearly 40 years of marriage.
What’s the first thing you do in the morning?
Pray?
Read Scripture?
Scroll through your phone?
How we begin our mornings significantly impacts how we move through the rest of the day. That’s an important consideration given that so many of us reach for our phones first thing.Instead of positively orienting ourselves with prayer and biblical encouragement, our hearts and minds are flooded with conflict and discouraging news. Which means our hearts are being shaped by fear and distraction instead of peace and clarity.
God values listening.
James 1:19 says, “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear [and] slow to speak.” At the heart of that wisdom is listening well. Effective listening deepens a relationship by:
• Intimately connecting the person listening with the person talking, and vice versa.
• Creating safety within which partners can be vulnerable without fear of judgment, correction, or rejection.
• Fostering the mutual respect necessary for long-term stability.
• De-escalating conflict.
The problem is many of us spend a lot of time sharing our thoughts, our opinions, our stories – that is, talking or waiting for our turn to speak instead of truly hearing one another. We are more distracted than ever, bombarded by stimulation from every direction all day. As a result, we’re losing ourability to be fully present and attentive to each other.
What dragons do you need to slay?
Author Melanie Shankle says we all have one because life is a journey through difficult situations that teach us to trust God and by His grace grow through adversity. Sometimes dragons rise up out of an unhealthy, toxic childhood.
That was certainly the case for me. My parents divorced when I was five. My dad was in and out of my life for years afterward until he died from alcohol, broken and alone.
Sports are close to my heart. Not only was playing quarterback in high school a great learning experience, but my high school football coach led me to the Lord. I am a living example of what can happen when Christians show the love of Jesus to others through athletics.
But there’s a problem developing within youth sports. It’s becoming an avenue for turning young athletes into a commodity. As we’re all aware, athletics is a profitable industry.
At Focus on the Family, we care about all of your relationships but especially your relationship with Jesus. He is the One you can count on even when you don’t “feel” His presence.
The problem is not that God doesn’t speak to us. More likely, the problem is that we don’t stop to listen to His voice. When we are too busy to pray, we’re too busy to see God moving in our lives.
When we understand God’s invitation to a relationship with Jesus, every moment of life becomes an opportunity to experience Him.
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.
