In Colorado, we're locked in the throes of winter. Cold. Snow. Ice.I can't wait for the return of summer because summer means camping for my family. We love getting outdoors. We love parking our fifth wheel in some remote location where the sounds of nature aren't drowned out by cars and busyness.When there's a lake nearby, the first thing my boys do is grab rocks to throw into the water. The bigger the better.The post Making Parenting Fun appeared first on Jim Daly.

Winter can stir up sadness within the happiest of hearts. Depending on where you live, the weather can be dreary this time of year. The days are short, the air is cold, and clouds often hide the sun for weeks.If you're struggling to escape the winter blues, take heart – spring is coming! The days are growing longer, and in just a few weeks, the temperature will get warmer. Before long, you'll see signs of new life – blue skies will appear and flowers and green grass will emerge.The post Winter Blues appeared first on Jim Daly.

Friday's release of footage from Tyre Nichols's fatal traffic stop in Memphis earlier this month has justifiably sickened, saddened and horrified the nation. Images of Mr. Nichols being repeatedly kicked and beaten with batons is gruesome and unconscionable.? Five police officers have been fired and charged with second-degree murder. This week, two additional officers with a connection to the incident were taken off duty.It's difficult to watch the body cam footage, and painful to read about the details surrounding the incident.The post Call Out the Evil – and Pray for Law Enforcement appeared first on Jim Daly.

Most Americans believe that the secret to happiness is having more, going faster, or working harder. In reality, happiness is a byproduct of balance.Balance is hard. Our natural tendency is to overreach, to go too far, and to want too much. It's like the reporter who asked billionaire John D. Rockefeller who, when asked “How much money is enough?” answered, “Just a little bit more.”We all answer, “Just a little bit more,” in some area of life.The post Balance for a Good Life appeared first on Jim Daly.

Few things damage a marriage more than adultery.Nevertheless, it is possible for couples who have experienced the devastation of an affair to find healing, forgiveness, and restoration.Rick and Tiffany Bulman, founders of Mended Ministries, help conflicted couples strengthen and rebuild their marriages. They can attest to God's ability to redeem relationships. They've seen it happen in countless marriages, including in their own.Rick and Tiffany's relationship looked good on the surface. They had four happy teenagers and were actively involved in the church where Rick served as senior pastor.The post Overcoming the Betrayal of an Affair appeared first on Jim Daly.

Morality has rapidly declined in America in the past few years. Culture seems to be descending into chaos on many fronts. I'd describe it as a cultural tsunami in which tolerance no longer reflects a willingness to listen to different points of view. It now means joining a revolution that seeks dominance.How do Christians reach out in the name of Christ to a culture that is drifting further and further from its biblical moorings?Renowned theologian, popular public speaker, and award-winning author, Dr.The post Living a Life of Bold Faith appeared first on Jim Daly.

Bitterness will lie to you. It'll trick you into believing that you build a better future by holding on to the past. The truth is the past eventually spills out.That's what happened between Stacy and Janet, who were friends from high school. They were so close for so long that Stacy asked Janet to be her maid of honor at her wedding.On the big day, the ceremony was beautiful, and Stacy was all smiles … until the reception.The post Better, Not Bitter appeared first on Jim Daly.

In order to stand at a wedding altar and say, “I do,” with confidence, individuals must first understand who “I” is. Genuine intimacy in marriage can only occur between two people who are sufficiently in touch with who God created them to be as individuals that they can give to the marriage as much as they receive.A thriving marriages doesn't erase individuality. It celebrates it and puts it to work in service of the relationship, molding two whole individuals into one, while keeping their individual flames burning bright.The post Inviting God into Your Dating Relationship appeared first on Jim Daly.

Kirsten Watson's husband, Benjamin, played for six NFL teams and won a super Bowl in 2005. Much of the time over those 15 years, she found herself on her own in a new city with no support and the responsibility for handling a household of seven children, including twins. At one point, her stress was so severe that she suffered from migraines and was told that her pain would continue unless she made some changes.Maybe you can relate to the pressure Kirsten felt.The post Hope and Encouragement for Moms appeared first on Jim Daly.

They say behind every great man is a great woman. But just as often, great women take the lead.In 1865, Emily Roebling married her husband Washington. He was the chief engineer who oversaw construction of the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City. Two years into the project, he developed? decompression sickness while he was working underwater. He was debilitated so severely that he lay bed-ridden for nearly a decade.Meanwhile, there was still a bridge to be built.The post Beside, Not Behind appeared first on Jim Daly.

The phone company made me mad.At least, I thought it was their fault. I couldn't get them to understand that their customer service was terrible. They continually overcharged me and disconnected my boys' phones even though I hadn't asked them to do it. I had to call them repeatedly for months and had a terrible time getting my account straightened out.I tried to stay patient, but I finally reached the end of my rope, and the poor customer service representative got the brunt of my attitude.The post Choosing the Right Attitude appeared first on Jim Daly.

Single moms face unique challenges when it comes to raising boys. A single mom is always interacting with her son because she's the only parent, but that doesn't mean she's connecting with him in the way she wants or in the way he needs. Unlike a mother and a daughter, who both relate to the female experience, the gap between a mother and her son widens as he grows older.How can a single mom step more deeply into her son's world?The post Help for Single Moms Raising Boys appeared first on Jim Daly.

Do you have a fierce marriage?Authors Ryan and Selena Frederick describe a “fierce marriage” as radically pursuing each other in light of Christ's relentless love.They experienced the truth of that idea firsthand two years into their marriage. After taking jobs in Switzerland, Ryan developed a persistent cough he dismissed as the flu. Doctors gave him antibiotics and painkillers and told him to return for a checkup in a few days. His health soon took a terrible turn for the worst, and he was diagnosed with a congenital defect called endocarditis, a life-threatening inflammation of the inner lining of his heart chambers.The post Centering Your Marriage on Christ appeared first on Jim Daly.

Do you believe in miracles?You should if you're clinging to hope. Because success doesn't always boil down to skill or hard work. Victory often requires something intangible – a miraculous intervention when the odds are stacked against you.The “miracle on ice” on February 22, 1980, was a classic David versus Goliath tale of victory. That year, Russia was expected to win the Olympic gold medal in men's hockey. Their players were the best in the world.The post Do You Believe in Miracles? appeared first on Jim Daly.

On our Focus on the Family Broadcast “My Passion for the Harvest,” we're airing a recorded message by Greg Laurie, pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California and founder of Harvest Crusades, which has reached over nine million people since the 90s.Because of his mother's promiscuous lifestyle, seven marriages, non-stop partying, and constant relocating from place to place to place, Greg had a tumultuous childhood and was lost in a lifestyle of drugs and alcohol by the time he was in high school.The post My Passion for the Harvest appeared first on Jim Daly.

In a horrifically tragic and ghoulish turn, a? Canadian Parliamentary committee? has recommended that its nation's lawmakers legalize euthanasia for sick children whose deaths are “reasonably foreseeable” or who may be suffering with a disability or those who are in the country's child welfare system.Even worse – they think the children should be able to make the decision even without parental consent.Canadian law already allows terminally ill and chronically ill adults to receive medical assistance to kill themselves, but expanding the legal coverage to include children is but one more heartbreaking development in the movement.The post Canada Calls for “Mercy Killings” of Children – Without Parental Consent appeared first on Jim Daly.

Every married couple has disagreements. Some of those arguments happen because of misunderstandings about what our spouse is really thinking.Take Dan and Barb for example. Barb asked her husband a couple of weeks ago to fix the kitchen sink, but Dan hasn't gotten around to it, yet. Barb is tired of waiting, so she reminds him that the sink is still broken. And – boom! – misunderstanding and conflict.Barb sees the situation her way: Her husband has had plenty of time to get the job done, but he hasn't taken the initiative to do the work.The post Misunderstanding in Marriage appeared first on Jim Daly.

The suggestion that, “It's never too late,” may be good advice if you're thinking of going back to school or your diet is out of whack. But when it comes to mending broken family relationships, there's no time like today.Tina and her father were in such severe conflict that they didn't speak to one another for decades. As the years rolled by, the girl – now a woman – began to regret the split and decided to reconnect with her dad, who was nearly eighty.The post Be Mindful of the Time appeared first on Jim Daly.

Is a happy marriage possible?I believe the answer to that question is yes. But there is a catch: happiness isn't dependent on good things happening to you. It's dependent on you choosing to be happy.Author Kevin Thompson learned that happy marriages are no accident by observing his grandparents. They were married for 70 years! After such a long time together, a lot of people suggested that they were “lucky” to have so many things go their way.The post Happiness is No Accident appeared first on Jim Daly.

Dr. Robertson and Muriel McQuilkin were thriving in life together. And then Muriel began forgetting things. Thus, began a harrowing – yet, triumphant – story of a love that endured the ravages of Alzheimer's disease.Dr. McQuilkin served for 22 years as President of Columbia International University before leaving that position to care for his wife, Muriel, for over a decade. Theirs is an amazing story of loyalty and devotion.On our Focus on the Family Broadcast “Love in the Midst of Alzheimer's,” we're featuring the McQuilkin's honest and compelling story of dedication in the midst of tragic illness that will inspire married couples to keep the vows they made to love “for better or for worse” and fill caregivers with encouragement and hope.The post Love in the Midst of Alzheimer’s appeared first on Jim Daly.

I encourage you to join us for our Focus on the Family Broadcast “Accepting My True Identity in Christ” with guest Rosaria Champagne Butterfield.It was in college on her path to academia and an earned Ph.D. in English literature, that Rosaria first noticed her interest in women. At age 28, she came out as a lesbian. Like many – perhaps most – who identify as homosexual, her pronouncement didn't come with a political agenda.The post Accepting My True Identity in Christ appeared first on Jim Daly.

Satan wants to destroy your marriage.That's no scare tactic. Satan hates marriage because a loving, committed couple who use their gifts to serve each other and their community is one of the most powerful forces on Earth. Strong, healthy, god-fearing marriages produce strong, healthy, god-fearing families and communities.To corrupt marriages, Satan attacks couples through lies that promote unhealthy fairy-tale expectations and destructive relationship myths.Dr. Greg Smalley and Dr. Bob Paul have seen these lies at work in many couples' marriages.The post Combating the Lies That Can Destroy Your Marriage appeared first on Jim Daly.

Even when life is dark, one moment can change everything.That was beautifully illustrated in a social media post watched over 30 million times in just a few days. The video captures the moment that a marriage was rescued.In the video, Caitlin and her soon-to-be ex-husband are celebrating their three-year-old son's birthday. The little boy's eyes light up when he sees his cake, covered with candles. Then, Caitlin's husband looks into her eyes … and his eyes lit up, with love for her.The post Changed in a Moment appeared first on Jim Daly.

If a loved one is dying, what should you tell your children?My mom died of cancer when I was nine years old. For reasons I still don't fully understand, my stepdad and my older siblings never told me how sick she was. All I knew was that she spent most of the day asleep in her room, and I was rarely allowed to see her. Then, one day my 19-year-old brother Mike said, “I've got bad news.The post Telling Kids a Loved One is Dying appeared first on Jim Daly.

On our Focus on the Family Broadcast “Trusting God That Hope Is on the Way,” our guest, Dove and Grammy Award-winning Christian alternative and rap figurehead TobyMac, is sharing his journey of faith, family, and music, and encouraging listeners to find hope in God through difficulty, loss, and tragedy.TobyMac has suffered plenty of all three. His oldest son Truett, an aspiring rapper, died tragically at age 21 in 2019 after a drug overdose.The post Trusting God That Hope Is on the Way appeared first on Jim Daly.