Daly Focus Blog
Today’s broadcast has me thinking a lot about one of my favorite verses in the Bible. It reminds me of how I ought to conduct myself in the name of Christ. In Romans 2:4, Paul tells us that it’s “God’s kindness that leads us to repentance.”
Kindness is a fruit of the Spirit – an expression of God’s nature through us – and one of the most powerful tools for Christians who wish to be the hands and feet of Jesus to the world around them.
Week Ending December 10th
1. Forgive, Let Go, and Live by Deborah Smith Pegues
2. Men Who Love Fierce Women by Leroy and Kimberly Wagner
3. Your Teenager Is Not Crazy by Dr. Jeramy Clark and Jerusha Clark
4. Pure Pleasure by Gary Thomas
5. Adventures in Odyssey: The Blackgaard Chronicles #1 – Opening Moves
6. Cherish by Gary Thomas
7. Live Original by Sadie Robertson
8. Adventures in Odyssey: The Blackgaard Chronicles #2 – Pawn’s Play
9.
Fire can cook you a nice steak, or it can burn your house to the ground. The difference lies in how well you harness its power.
It’s the same with a strong-will. There is a lot of good that comes from having what LeRoy and Kimberly Wagner describe as a “fierce” personality. But a strong-will gone wild can wreak havoc in a person’s life.
Fierce doesn’t have to mean obnoxious, loud, or rude. A fierce woman can be strong and beautiful.
Marital relationship studies generally examine the factors that contribute to the downfall of a marriage. One revolutionary study took an opposite approach. It followed 373 happy, successful couples for 22 years and looked at what went right.
One of the pivotal conclusions the study reached was that couples enjoyed higher marital satisfaction when wives affirmed their husbands. That’s a simple enough premise, but it can be surprisingly difficult for many women to do.
Christian women desire to be good wives and desire to connect with their husbands.
“We were doing all the right things. We knew each other’s love languages. We went on date nights. We spent time away, just the two of us. We thought we were doing all the right things and yet, infidelity became a part of our story. That’s when we realized it wasn’t a lack of big things that were robbing us of intimacy. It was all the deeper emotions under the surface that went undiscussed that pulled our hearts away from each other one centimeter at a time.”
That’s how Mark and Jill Savage describe their marriage’s slow descent into a dark abyss of infidelity and near-divorce.
Whether it’s our marriage, parenting or our profession, it’s common for us to get so consumed in our own little world of trouble that we forget that every problem we face has, in some form or fashion, also been a problem for prior generations.
Nowhere is this more true than in marriage. In fact, in doing research for my book, Marriage Done Right, I reviewed plenty of old pamphlets and books that were full of marital advice.
Does this routine sound familiar? Fold the laundry, change the diaper, buy the things for that science fair project, make dinner, walk the dog. It never seems to end!
When you’re in the middle of a long to-do list it’s easy to fall into the temptation of measuring a day’s success by how many of those items you manage to cross off. That’s why in this post, I’m not going to share tips with you on how to get it all done.
Today I want to share some sad news, and to remember a good man.
Fred Stobaugh, the elderly widower whose love song for his wife of 75 years went viral in 2013, passed away on Nov. 23.
“Oh Sweet Lorraine” eventually made Fred the oldest person to appear on the Billboard’s Hot 100 – and even helped save marriages in the process. Truly, the love he had for his wife was inspiring.
I want to honor Fred today, as well as his sweet Lorraine, by re-running the original post I first shared three years ago.
They say the eyes are a window to the soul.
If that’s true, husbands, then what are the eyes of your wife telling you?
Do they seem alive and vibrant? Or are they tired and withdrawn? The difference could lie in how she sees herself in your eyes.
God’s Word couldn’t be more clear about the incalculable worth of women. Genesis 2:18 says, “Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him’” (ESV).
If you’re married, chances are you’ve encountered some challenges when it comes to sleeping together – and I don’t mean that kind of “sleeping together.” I mean getting some actual shut-eye.
Who can sleep through loud snoring, after all?
Or perhaps you’re married to someone who can’t stay still – there’s tossing, turning, and even “stealing” the blanket.
What about those couples who have mismatched sleep patterns or preferences – the night-owl who marries the early-bird?
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.
