Family by God&#039;s Design

Brain Rewiring Words

We often communicate with one another by using words. Words, however, do much more than simply express our thoughts and share information. Words shape the way we think; and, spoken at the right times, words rewire our brains. For instance, positive feedback activates the reward centers in the brain and creates positive emotions, increasing the...

Family Shepherds Honor

acknowledgement brain encouragement power of words praise

September 15, 2025

Alcohol Abuse, Romance, & Genetics

I recently read that a person’s genetic makeup accounts for approximately 50% of their risk for some type of alcohol abuse disorder. Notice, it accounts for the “risk” of alcohol abuse, not the actual abuse of alcohol itself. Other factors play a role when it comes to a person actually abusing alcohol. One factor that...

Celebration Honor

alcohol emotional management marriage

September 13, 2025

One Way to Increase Your Child’s Honesty

Children lie. I know it comes as no surprise to parents, but, nonetheless, children lie. (In reality, so do adults, but that’s a different blog.) Even though children lie, parents list honesty as a top priority in building their children’s character, with responsibility and respect coming in second and third (see Parent Survey). This begs...

Family Shepherds

honesty moral development parent child relationship parenting

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

September 6, 2025

A Family with Purpose

We had another wonderful Family Camp at Camp Christian this year. The main speaker, Jeff Bush from the MVA Church of Christ, shared important principles for families, including the importance of love, respect, honor, and accepting influence (also known as mutual submission). Although the messages and the music were wonderful, that is not what makes...

Celebration Honor

blessing family family camp purpose

September 1, 2025

A Story to Greater Happiness?

There’s a myth that aging through midlife and into late adulthood is a time of crisis. You know, the midlife crisis. However, late midlife can actually be a time of personal growth and greater “self-transcendence.” A study from a psychologist at the University of Buffalo supports the idea of late midlife as a time of...

Celebration Honor

aging development grandparents happiness

September 1, 2025

Yelling at Children, The Rest of the Story

Every parent will experience frustration and anger in the process of raising their children. They will likely raise their voice, even yell, on occasion. It happens to all of us. But we do not want that to be the typical interaction, the pattern. We don’t want yelling to become the norm. Why? The simple answer...

Family Shepherds Honor

discipline parenting yelling

August 25, 2025

You & Your Children’s Goals

What type of goals do you want your children to have as they become adults—extrinsic goals or Intrinsic goals? Extrinsic goals are goals that center around external rewards like wealth, fame, or prestige. In general, extrinsic goals are easily measured. The number of “likes” received on a social media post is an extrinsic goal. Making...

Family Shepherds

child development goals priorities role model values

August 23, 2025

Clear the Clutter, Enjoy Your Family

We live in a time of clutter that interferes with our life and our family life. I’m not just talking about the clutter of stuff either. It’s true that too much stuff can clutter our lives and our families’ lives. It takes up the physical spaces in our homes and can contribute to a feeling...