Daly Focus Blog
“Why do bad things happen to good people?”
It may be one of the most common questions we ask when we’re in pain. Maybe that’s because suffering is more than just an inconvenience. It shakes our lives to the core, leaving us so disoriented and confused that nothing seems to make sense.
Suffering is universal. At one time or another, all of us will have our world turned upside down. In fact, Scripture and life itself plainly teach that every one of us will take our last breath one day.
Each December and January we re-air a selection of our best-loved broadcasts of the year. It gives our listeners a second chance to listen and benefit from the God-centered, practical marriage and family advice that has become a hallmark of the Focus on the Family broadcast. It also gives our friends an opportunity to recommend a favorite program to a friend.
The next few weeks will be busy for everyone. In order to make things easy for you, I wanted to list the upcoming broadcast schedule.
Wonder Woman.
Batgirl.
Supergirl.
The Invisible Woman.
Wives.
What do all of these women have in common?
They can be strong and fierce in character. They’re capable of having bold convictions and standing firmly behind their decisions.
Really, the comparisons could go on and on, and I think it’s important that a woman’s strengths be celebrated.
There’s just one catch: Fictional superheroines are esteemed because they stand on their own and lead their lives independent of men.
Everyone knows that alcohol addiction can destroy a marriage. In fact, my own father could never break free from the battle with the bottle.
But it doesn’t have to be so.
Today, I want to share with you a story about an Indiana couple who reached out to us for help. Their story might be yours or someone you love and care about. If so, please share it with them.
Focus on the Family’s National Institute of Marriage can help couples get back on the path towards a healthy, stable relationship.
A few times a year, our radio program highlights what for many can be a very sensitive topic: sexual intimacy within marriage.
I agree that it’s a conversation that should be handled with respect and a certain measure of discreteness, but it needs to take place.
Confusion about sex and sexuality is rampant in our culture, and the negative influence on the Christian community is pervasive. God’s design for sexual intimacy is too important an issue for the Church to politely ignore.
Today is Friday the 13th, a day some associate with bad luck. Just saying the phrase brings to mind other (imagined) connections with misfortune, like black cats, broken mirrors and an open umbrella indoors.
While as Christians we should steer clear of these “silly myths,” (1 Tim 4:7) the reality is we have a few “superstitions” we believe, too. Ours might not be rooted in magic or chance, but in a misunderstanding of what Scripture truly teaches.
It’s really true: opposites do attract.
If you’re married, then you’ve likely experienced it in countless ways. Your spouse sees the world through entirely different eyes. You fall asleep to noise, but your spouse needs quiet. You’re a night owl, but your spouse enjoys mornings. For the most part, with a little communication, these differences can be navigated.
But sometimes it’s differences in communication itself that are the problem.
That dilemma is captured imaginatively in the title of a book written by today’s guests, Bill and Pam Farrel: “Men Are Like Waffles, Women Are Like Spaghetti.”
It’s a simple word picture to illustrate the inherent differences between men and women.
We’re inspired by love stories because of their happy endings. But, more often than not, before the “happily ever after,” fairy tale couples usually have to travel a lot of hard road.
That was certainly the case with Irene and Domingo Garcia. In fact, the beginning of their story was characterized by so much brokenness and conflict it was unlikely they could have ever had a happy ending.
Irene was 13 when she first met Domingo, a 16-year-old, street-wise tough guy who was already an alcoholic.
If a couple in your church was headed for divorce, would anyone be able to see it coming before it was too late?
Chances are less likely than you might think, according to a new study that Focus on the Family sponsored through LifeWay Research. The study found that in the three months leading up to divorce, churchgoing couples in troubled marriages show similar levels of involvement as those in healthy marriages in four areas:
Attend church once a week or more
Involvement in a small group
Serve in community ministries
Hold positions of responsibility at church
What’s even more astounding is that nearly one-third of churchgoers who divorced never told anyone in their congregation that they were experiencing marital problems.
If you made a list of all the things in your life you never thought would happen, situations you never could never have imagined yourself being in, what would you write down?
For some of you, picking up the broken pieces of your life and starting over again with a blended family might be at the top of that list.
This new chapter of life may have come about through death or divorce or some other circumstance, but the challenge is the same: how to overcome the difficulties common to blended families and to give this new part of your life its best chance to thrive.
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.
