According to a recent report from the Family Research Council, 55 percent of teenagers live in families where their biological parents have rejected one another. Of the 12.8 million teenagers ages 15-17 in the U.S. in 2008, 7 million were living with one birth parent only, with a birth parent and a stepparent, with two cohabiting parents, or with...... >Read More

Tags: child of divorce, children, divorce, families, grief, guilt, parents, relationships, separation, sex and love, teenagers

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April 12th, 2009 forced a change in my life. I remember making my way across the darkened parking lot and slipping in behind the wheel of my car in silence. Rain slipped down the windshield and I opened the window ever so slightly, hoping that the chilled air would remind me to breathe.  For 10 days I had sat... >Read More

Tags: adult children, better parenting, challenges & conflicts, change, character development, communication, death, divorce, family issues, hardship & suffering, healthy marriage, improving your marriage, job los, Joyce Simmons, new career, out of your control, parenting essentials, priorities, protecting your marriage, relationships, resolving conflict, Self, teens, values

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This fall my 18 year-old son, my first-born, my newly minted young adult, will be leaving home to start university.  I have never been an overly protective mother.  Over the years, he has often left home, even for extended times.  At 8 years old, he spent a week with members of our extended family whom he barely knew. After that... >Read More

Tags: adult children, better parenting, children, college, Family, leaving home, letting go, mothering, parenting, parenting essentials, relationships, son, teenagers, teens

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Christian marriages should be different. Why? The answer is because we have Jesus Christ. He enables us to have all the tools we need to make a marriage work. Three of those tools are: love, prayer, and forgiveness. You may be thinking, “Hey wait, these aren’t unique to Christians.” But because of Jesus they are different in our lives....... >Read More

Tags: commitment, communication, FamilyLife Canada, forgiveness, healthy marriage, improving your marriage, marriage, prayer, priorities, protecting your marriage, relationships, resolving conflict, spouse, values

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I'm going to start with something really basic. Men want to be wanted. They don't want to be placated.  So when it comes to intimacy, we women need to step up to the plate a little bit more. You may think you're meeting his needs because you're making love a few times a week, but he won't feel loved... >Read More

Tags: communication, husband, improving your marriage, intimacy, marriage, relationships, romance, Romance & Sex, sex, sex and love, sexual intimacy, sexual problems, wife, Women

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Apparently it took God until the 21st Century to release an updated version of the seventh commandment.  According to one pastor, “Thou shalt not commit adultery” should now read, “Thou shalt not Facebook.”  After counseling roughly 20 couples with Facebook-related marriage issues, Reverend Cedric Miller has had enough.  Rev. Miller issued...... >Read More

Tags: challenges & conflict, commitment, communication, Facebook, family issues, healthy marriage, improving your marriage, internet, marriage, online affairs, priorities, protecting your marriage, relationships, resolving conflict, sex and love, values

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I can still remember where I was standing and the way my daughter Aubri looked at me that fateful December day.  She came to me and said, “Dad, Dan really wants to talk to you to ask if he can be allowed to date me.”  I knew this day would come. I answered honestly, “Do you know how difficult this... >Read More

Tags: adult children, better parenting, dating, daughters, engaged couples, Family, family values, father daughter, parenting, parenting essentials, relationships, values

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