Family by God&#039;s Design

Raising Children Happiness

Raising happy children takes intentional effort these days. Perhaps it always has. Fortunately, a study from the University of Bristol suggests seven basic practices that can promote happiness…and so raise our children’s happiness. In this study, 51% of the participants maintained the practices that promoted happiness and reaped the benefits “during the following years.” We...

Celebration Family Shepherds

October 21, 2024

Don’t Make Your Marriage a Hell on Earth

Marriage can be a little taste of heaven on earth. However, when a couple does not nurture their marriage and it slowly dies, it can become a hell on earth. What are some reasons that a heavenly marriage may not last? What can turn a marriage into hell on earth? Develop your communication skills. Take...

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October 12, 2024

Don’t Take Your Marriage for Granted

It is easy to start taking our spouse and marriage for granted. We live them every day, day in and day out. We naturally develop routines and patterns to help us navigate the busy-ness of life and, before long, we begin to feel like we’re in a rut—same routine, same conversations, same schedule. But it...

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October 5, 2024

Fuel Your Life, Not Your Anxiety

The Mayo Clinic News Network suggest that no more than 10% of the calories in a healthy diet come from saturated fats. The University of California, Davis, notes that the average American exceeds this by eating about 12% of their calories through saturated fats and 36% of their calories from fat in general. (Dietary Guidelines...

Celebration Family Shepherds

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September 30, 2024

Family Weapons of Resistance in a World of Division

At first glance our world appears divided and broken beyond repair. Various factions spew words of anger and hatred at one another, words armed with sarcastic ridicule and demeaning labels. Conspiracy theories abound to implicate “the other” of horrid motives and intents. These things are dangerous and each side of the aisle “feeds the beast”...

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September 28, 2024

The Power of Belonging

A family ought to be a place where each person feels they belong. Each person—mother, father, son, daughter, young, and old—needs to know they belong, that they are accepted and valued by one another. Having that sense of belonging in the home helps us navigate the world with greater confidence and assurance. It empowers us...

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September 23, 2024

A Quick Priority Check

Life gets rushed. I’m sure you’ve noticed. In the midst of the rush, the turmoil of the news, the rhetoric of politics, and the general pace of life…our priorities can get lost. I don’t mean our “believed priorities,” the priorities we hold to mentally. I’m talking about our “lived priorities.” Our actions and words so...

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September 14, 2024

A “Very Good Indeed” Relationship

“God saw all that He had made, and it was very good indeed.” The earth, the sky, the waters, the birds, the fish, the animals, the people…it was “very good indeed.” Not only was each aspect of creation individually “very good indeed,” but how each part interacted with and related to every other part was...

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July 6, 2024

The Work of Children…and Adults

Fred Rogers is credited with saying, “Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.” I agree. Alison Gopnik also agrees. She reviews research in her book The Gardner and the Carpenter which suggests: Review that...