Daly Focus Blog
Have you ever felt alone and unloved?
Have you ever felt rejected by friends? Coworkers? A family member?
All of us have felt that way at some point. But what if that isolation lasted for years and you saw no way out?
On our Focus on the Family Broadcast “A Man Called Norman,” we’re airing a timeless message about friendship, hope, and love, even in a hopelessly lonely situation.
If you’ve not heard it, or if you’re new to Focus on the Family, allow me to briefly introduce this program to you.
Anxiety is rampant in our culture. It’s rampant among Christians as well. Anxiety is a pandemic all its own. We’re stressed relationally, emotionally, financially, and many of us physically.
That’s no accident. Relational, emotional, physical, and financial health are the four legs of a chair that give our lives a sense of security and peace. They’re also the four areas of our lives that are subject to intense stress and anxiety.
During these times, we can find comfort in the words of Jesus: “In the world you will have tribulation.
Mom, are you tired?
Research says that you are. Studies show that the average mom changes over 2,000 diapers a year, does almost 200 loads of laundry, and loses almost 900 hours of sleep! And many moms work outside of the home as well!
Motherhood can be exhausting. Moms give, give, and give some more. Especially when the boys were young, my wife Jean often felt like no one saw or appreciated everything she did each day.
Six months
ago, none of us has could have imagined what American families would be going
through right now because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Thousands
continue to get sick and die. Millions are out of work, and our nation is still
only in the very beginning stages of re-opening. There’s plenty to fear.
Or is
there?
What do
passages like Philippians
4:6-7 mean? It says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by
prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known
to God.
You remember the story of the Prodigal Son. Traditionally, it’s told from the point of view of the younger son who demands his father’s money and comes crawling home in shame after he squanders it all.
But I wonder if we should call it the story of the prodigal sons. The older son stayed home, but he didn’t have the heart of his father. He rejected his brother and wouldn’t even come to celebrate that his younger brother had been rescued from the clutches of death.
Everybody has moments where they feel a little sad. But some people encounter depression so fierce they don’t know if they’ll ever come out of it again.
Counselors identify six things that lead us to feel overwhelmed, hopeless, and helpless:
A traumatic eventStrained relationshipsSerious health problemsCrushing disappointmentUnchangeable circumstancePainful loss
Kay Warren has experienced all of those. Kay co-founded Saddleback Church with her husband, RickWarren, in California in 1979. She had been sexually abused, battled cancer and depression, and spent years trying to help her son, Matthew, battle his own depression – a battle she and Rick lost when Matthew died by suicide at the age of 27.
When Pat decided to have an abortion, she was convinced it was the right thing to do.
Her first marriage had ended a few years before as a teenager when her husband, also a teen, abandoned her, leaving her with a newborn son. She tried to pick up the broken pieces of her life by enrolling in college, despite the responsibilities she carried as a single mom. As a student, she wrote articles for the National Organization for Women and wholeheartedly supported abortion as a woman’s right.
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.
