faith Archives

Offering Hope to Families Experiencing Drug Addiction

More than 72,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2017.

Numbers like that are the latest sad statistic from a culture of drug abuse that broke into the open in the 1960s and 1970s. The cost of illegal drugs in terms of crime, lost work productivity, and the impact on the health care system is estimated at $200 billion a year. To that figure, you can add another $80 billion in prescription drugs.

Despite the staggering numbers of traffic deaths, overdoses, and a new generation of “stoners” who would rather get high than pursue productive lives, there’s growing momentum in the United States to legalize drugs.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: addiction, broadcast, faith November 6, 2018 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Adoption: Making a Difference in the Life of a Child

Can you open your heart to a child who needs a family?

If you answered no, you’re not alone. Many couples wrestle with whether or not they should adopt, or if there’s some other part they should play.

That was how Mike and Kristen Berry’s story began.

Kristen assumed she and Mike would adopt children when they married. Adoption was Kristen’s family legacy. Her grandfather and his brother grew up in the foster care system, but they were never adopted.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: adoption, broadcast, faith, family, kids November 5, 2018 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Combating Bullies in Your Child’s Life

Author Jonathan McKee remembers contemplating suicide as a teenager. He was standing on the edge of a cliff, staring all the way to the bottom. One step, and all of his pain would be over.

The pain was caused by incessant bullying. The pinnacle was in eighth grade when a group of classmates started what they called the “Kill John Club.” They made T-shirts with the letters KJC and a caricature of John’s face, complete with enormous buck teeth – a feature braces had fixed, but classmates continued to torment him over – and a gun scope target over his face.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, faith, kids, parenting November 1, 2018 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Loving the Story of Your Marriage

Brad Rhoads didn’t think he had a problem with his marriage. He was putting a lot of energy and creativity into building a law practice. His clients and colleagues all thought he was attentive and engaged.

Not his wife, Marilyn. She thought Brad invested so much of his energy into his work that he had nothing left to invest in his marriage.

There was no affair, no huge blow-up. But Brad had taken his eyes off the Lord and his wife, and their relationship was suffering a slow leak.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, faith, family, marriage October 30, 2018 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Developing a Love of Prayer in Your Kids

In our Welcome Center here at the Focus on the Family campus, children have the opportunity to leave their prayer requests with us.

One of my favorites is from a 9-year-old boy who wrote, “Please pray for my brother. He wets the bed. And pray for me. I share the bed with my brother.”

Some prayer requests are much more serious, like an 8-year-old boy who asked God to help his dad stop drinking, so he could be healthy again.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, faith, family, kids, prayer October 29, 2018 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Encouragement for Moms

I want to introduce you to Erin Hawley, Focus on the Family’s newest author. Erin is a wife, mother to two young boys and also a practicing lawyer and professor of law. This following excerpt comes from her wonderful new book, Living Beloved: Lessons from My Little One About the Heart of God.

If you think of someone who needs this does of perspective, please consider passing it along. I’d also like to encourage you to pick up a copy of her book in our store – and let me know how this message resonate with you by leaving your feedback in the comments section below.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family, kids, mother, wife October 24, 2018 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Understanding How Your Teen Thinks

We had Jeramy and Jerusha Clark on our Focus on the Family Broadcast last year to talk about what’s going on in our teens’ brains. It was fascinating.

We learned that teenagers often can’t articulate what they’re feeling. They don’t recognize that they’re lonely and insecure, or that they need more attention from you. Since they can’t ask for specific help, they often express their emotions through behavior.

We have Jeramy and Jerusha back with us again to discuss the way teens think.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, faith, family, kids, parenting October 23, 2018 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Experiencing the Best Marriage for You and Your Spouse

According to some reports, Americans spent $72 billion on wedding ceremonies last year. That puts the average cost in the neighborhood of $30,000 per ceremony.

By contrast, most married couples will never invest a fraction of that amount into the marriage itself.

A successful marriage isn’t the by-product of an extravagant ceremony or an expensive honeymoon. If that were the case, celebrities would routinely set the standard for strong, healthy marriages.

A happy, fulfilling marriage isn’t about the big day, it’s about the every day.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, faith, marriage, relationships, wife October 22, 2018 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Discovering What It Means to Be a Man

In 1927, Charles Lindbergh became the first man to successfully fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. The flight took him thirty-three hours, thirty minutes and thirty seconds.

Lindbergh didn’t sleep for nearly 55 hours. His flight from New York to Paris required him to dodge storm clouds at 10,000 feet and skim over wave tops as low as 10 feet. He continually had to alter his altitude to keep ice from building on The Spirit of St.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, faith October 18, 2018 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Evangelism It’s Easier Than You Think

Jesus said to believers, “You are the salt of the earth,” and “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:13 and14, ESV).

What did Jesus mean? Lee Strobel – well-known as the former atheist who wrote the best-seller The Case for Christ – says that Jesus meant if you’re going to follow Him, make people thirst for God. Shine His message of hope, grace, love, redemption, and eternal life into areas of darkness and despair.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, evangelism, faith October 16, 2018 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura