When Lives Collide: Navigating Remarriage and Stepfamily

Many couples who enter a second marriage naïvely believe their new stepfamily will bond quickly and fix everyone’s loneliness and loss. When some problems get worse instead, questions and doubts arise until the couple reaches a crossroads: do we hang on? Or do we give up and quit?

How does a new family find its identity?

We’re answering that question on our Focus on the Family Broadcast “When Lives Collide: Navigating Remarriage and Stepfamily.” Our guest is author and speaker Sabrina Beasley McDonald. Sabrina married Robbie in 2013 after her first husband, David, was killed in a car accident and Robbie’s first wife, Kari, died from cancer. Sabrina now helps new couples prepare for remarriage and resolve issues that arise in the formation of a stepfamily.

Connecting and communicating well as a couple and raising children together is challenging in first marriages. But blended families face additional complexities. They are born out of loss – whether through divorce, death, or abandonment. Remarried couples and their children often carry shame, guilt, and grief into their new relationships. Building trust and acceptance, healing from past wounds, and learning to forgive one another is often an uphill climb.

Hear our full conversation on your local radio station, online, on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, via Google Podcasts, or take us with you on our free phone app.

If this discussion raises any concerns for you about your own remarriage or stepfamily, I hope you’ll contact us. We have caring Christian counselors on staff, and it would be their privilege to offer you a free consultation. Call us, leave your name and number and they’ll get back to you as soon as possible. The number during business hours is 1-800-A-FAMILY (232-6459).

While you’re online, why not take a few moments to try our free Marriage Assessment online tool? It will help you quickly determine what’s working well in your relationship and identify areas where you may need some improvement.

Sabrina’s book A Home Built from Love and Loss: Coming Together as a Blended Family is available for a gift of any amount. For more information, click here.