Daly Focus Blog
The suggestion that, “It’s never too late,” may be good advice if you’re thinking of going back to school or your diet is out of whack. But when it comes to mending broken family relationships, there’s no time like today.
Tina and her father were in such severe conflict that they didn’t speak to one another for decades. As the years rolled by, the girl – now a woman – began to regret the split and decided to reconnect with her dad, who was nearly eighty.
Every married couple has disagreements. Some of those arguments happen because of misunderstandings about what our spouse is really thinking.
Take Dan and Barb for example. Barb asked her husband a couple of weeks ago to fix the kitchen sink, but Dan hasn’t gotten around to it, yet. Barb is tired of waiting, so she reminds him that the sink is still broken. And – boom! – misunderstanding and conflict.
Barb sees the situation her way: Her husband has had plenty of time to get the job done, but he hasn’t taken the initiative to do the work.
On our Focus on the Family Broadcast “My Passion for the Harvest,” we’re airing a recorded message by Greg Laurie, pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California and founder of Harvest Crusades, which has reached over nine million people since the 90s.
Because of his mother’s promiscuous lifestyle, seven marriages, non-stop partying, and constant relocating from place to place to place, Greg had a tumultuous childhood and was lost in a lifestyle of drugs and alcohol by the time he was in high school.
Do you believe in miracles?
You should if you’re clinging to hope. Because success doesn’t always boil down to skill or hard work. Victory often requires something intangible – a miraculous intervention when the odds are stacked against you.
The “miracle on ice” on February 22, 1980, was a classic David versus Goliath tale of victory. That year, Russia was expected to win the Olympic gold medal in men’s hockey. Their players were the best in the world.
Do you have a fierce marriage?
Authors Ryan and Selena Frederick describe a “fierce marriage” as radically pursuing each other in light of Christ’s relentless love.
They experienced the truth of that idea firsthand two years into their marriage. After taking jobs in Switzerland, Ryan developed a persistent cough he dismissed as the flu. Doctors gave him antibiotics and painkillers and told him to return for a checkup in a few days. His health soon took a terrible turn for the worst, and he was diagnosed with a congenital defect called endocarditis, a life-threatening inflammation of the inner lining of his heart chambers.
In a horrifically tragic and ghoulish turn, a Canadian Parliamentary committee has recommended that its nation’s lawmakers legalize euthanasia for sick children whose deaths are “reasonably foreseeable” or who may be suffering with a disability or those who are in the country’s child welfare system.
Even worse – they think the children should be able to make the decision even without parental consent.
Canadian law already allows terminally ill and chronically ill adults to receive medical assistance to kill themselves, but expanding the legal coverage to include children is but one more heartbreaking development in the movement.
Single moms face unique challenges when it comes to raising boys. A single mom is always interacting with her son because she’s the only parent, but that doesn’t mean she’s connecting with him in the way she wants or in the way he needs. Unlike a mother and a daughter, who both relate to the female experience, the gap between a mother and her son widens as he grows older.
How can a single mom step more deeply into her son’s world?
I saw a video that powerfully illustrates the incredible influence that fathers have in the lives of their daughters. It captured a dad in his living room, watching a basketball game. He jumped and yelled in support of his favorite team.
Right beside him, his three-year-old daughter copied his every move. She jumped when he jumped. She clapped when he clapped. She even copied his expressions of excitement.
Then the mood changed. The dad started shouting at the television.
The phone company made me mad.
At least, I thought it was their fault. I couldn’t get them to understand that their customer service was terrible. They continually overcharged me and disconnected my boys’ phones even though I hadn’t asked them to do it. I had to call them repeatedly for months and had a terrible time getting my account straightened out.
I tried to stay patient, but I finally reached the end of my rope, and the poor customer service representative got the brunt of my attitude.
In order to stand at a wedding altar and say, “I do,” with confidence, individuals must first understand who “I” is. Genuine intimacy in marriage can only occur between two people who are sufficiently in touch with who God created them to be as individuals that they can give to the marriage as much as they receive.
A thriving marriages doesn’t erase individuality. It celebrates it and puts it to work in service of the relationship, molding two whole individuals into one, while keeping their individual flames burning bright.
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.
