Family by God&#039;s Design

Resolve: Enjoy a Year of Christmas

I wish we would celebrate Christmas all year round. I mean…I’m not big on the hustle and bustle, the rush and hurry. I can do without the Christmas tree needles spreading through the living room and the whole house. But the Christmas spirit…I love the Christmas spirit, the heart of Christmas. I’d like to keep...

Celebration

emotional health family intimacy generosity healthy development kindness

October 25, 2025

Finding Sleep in a Grocery Store

Do you ever struggle to get a good night’s sleep? Do your children? A lack of sleep has many problematic outcomes ranging from a craving for foods higher in fat and sugar to increased suicide in teens. However, a study led by researchers at the University of Chicago Medicine and Columbia University offers a way...

Family Shepherds Honor

diet emotional health mental health sleep

October 11, 2025

A Happier Family for Pennies a Day

Research out of Shenzhen and Peking Universities suggests a way to decrease depressive symptoms and increase positive emotions for just pennies a day. They conducted 3 randomized, controlled trials with a total of 880 participants. These participants all exhibited enough symptoms of depression to reach diagnostic criteria. For the purpose of this study, they were...

Celebration

challenge depression emotional health family generosity

September 8, 2025

Your Brain on Forgiveness

Forgiveness is one of the necessary ingredients for a healthy marriage. It is also a hallmark of a healthy parent-child relationship and a crucial component of any healthy community. A lack of forgiveness, on the other hand, devastates relationships and it ripples out to impact so much more than just the relationship between the offended...

Grace

brain emotional health forgiveness

August 11, 2025

Nature, a Chat, & Family

I read the summaries of two studies, and I’d like to share the results with you and your family. The first study involved over 220 participants in a program of weekly “nature-based activities” for either 1 to 4 weeks, 5 to 8 weeks, or 9 to 12 weeks. The “nature-based activities” included one of three...

Celebration Family Shepherds Honor

communication connection emotional health family family intimacy happiness nature

August 4, 2025

Challenge & Joy of Connection

Research seems to suggest that each generation reports a lower sense of happiness and well-being than the generation preceding them. In the past, happiness and well-being was high in young adulthood, dipped some during middle age, and rose again in older adults. Now, it simply seems that each younger generation has a lower sense of...

Family Shepherds Honor

connection emotional health relationships

July 21, 2025

How to Deal with Difficult Emotions

Every family experiences difficult emotions. Family life can be hard at times. Life, in general, can be hard. Learning to manage and regulate our emotions helps us maintain our safety, happiness, and health. It helps us enjoy fulfilling relationships, which is important for our marriages, our children, our families. So how can we regulate our...

Family Shepherds

emotional health emotional management parenting

May 17, 2025

An Amplifier Your Family Needs

Gratitude doesn’t come easily. We have a built-in “danger alert system” that keeps us keenly aware of the threats and dangers around us. This negative bias captures our attention, screaming warnings about safety and caution, keeping us ever vigilante of potential dangers. Of course, this does play an important role in our lives. The danger...