Ambassador Programs

Approximately one in five children struggles with some form of mental illness. Dr. Nicole Wilke helps parents to create a safe, supportive space for their kids where they can develop resilience and heal from trauma. Growing up with over 70 foster siblings in her lifetime, Nicole has extensive experience with vulnerable kids. Using biblical principles and scientific research, she’ll offer practical advice for overcoming adversity to thrive in life.

Receive a copy of the books Overcoming: What Scripture and Science Say About Resilience and Caleb Koala’s Comeback Ride: A Journey to Overcoming -- plus an audio download of "Helping Children Overcome Adversity and Trauma" -- for your donation of any amount!

Get More Episode Resources 

If you enjoyed listening to Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, please give us your feedback.

You know, most of us have heard words like this when we're going through a hard time, "Oh, I understand how you feel." Maybe you have muttered under your breath, "You have no idea." One situation in which those words should probably never be spoken, are a man to a woman in labor. Yeah, that's right! Now, I've been through labor with my wife three times, but I can not say I understand how she felt. Labor is easier for some women than others I understand, but having a baby is not easy for anybody. I still remember vividly our first time around the maternity track. My wife's increasingly frequent contractions and the trip to the hospital, and then the hours of intensifying pain, and then the last most intense pains of all. And suddenly, a baby girl! Now, I know it's easy for me to say, but I know my wife would have always agreed. It was a painful process with a glorious result. And you know, the result has lasted a lot longer than the pain.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Good In the Pain."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Romans 8. Here we're going to meet a man with the credentials to talk about pain, about hard times. Paul has been brutally slandered, he's been beaten, he's been attacked, he's been left for dead, he's been arrested on false charges, he's been in prison unjustly, been ship wrecked, deserted. What a list!

In Romans 8 he talks about "our present sufferings." And he even speaks symbolically of this world "groaning as if in the pains of childbirth." And then later on in the chapter he mentions trouble, hardship, famine, sword, and then he says this, "In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." How can that be with all the worst pain in life? It goes back to a God-given perspective on the pain of your life. And that's in Romans 8:28. He says, "And we know that all things are working together for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to God's purpose."

So, what's the good in the pain? Well, it says, "For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son." In other words, the good that comes out of the pain is to make you what this world needs so desperately; someone who is more like Jesus.

Now, God doesn't send all the pain; some of it He allows. But it can't come to you unless your Heavenly Father okays it. And how does God decide what He will allow to come into your life? I think He's asking, "Could this make him or her more like Jesus?"

My consistent experience has been that the hardest things I've gone through have been God's most powerful tools in my life: faith, humility, compassion, mercy, learning the power of prayer, closeness to Jesus. They have been the blessed results of pain that made me know and trust God as never before. And like the pain of our daughter's arrival, my wife has enjoyed the result a lot longer than she had to endure the pain.

Because God's agenda in our lives is eternity, not just 70 years. The payoff will always be much greater than the pain. You may be in a hurting time right now and you don't have a choice. But it really matters what you focus on. If you focus on the pain you're going to become bitter and self-focused, burned out, and worn out, and negative. But if you focus on how God can use this pain to make you more like Jesus, you'll have the baby that the pain is supposed to give you. The tragedy will be if you get the pain but you miss the point.

If you're hurting today, remember that your loving Father, who sent His Son to die in your place, is using your hurt to bring about a beautiful result, which you will be enjoying long after the process is a distant memory.

‘The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants’ puts our porous pal right into the nefarious clutches of the Flying Dutchman.

Read the full review.

If you've enjoyed listening to Plugged In Reviews, please give us your feedback.

Are a bride and groom ever more married than they are the first day? The vows are made, the certificate signed—could they be any more married than that?

Imagine fifty years later. They finish each other’s sentences, order each other’s food. They even start looking alike—a thought which troubles my wife, Denalyn, deeply. Wouldn’t they be more married on their 50th anniversary than on their wedding day? Marriage is both a done deal and a daily development.

The same is true of our walk with God. Can you be more saved than you were the first day of your salvation? No. But can a person grow in salvation? Absolutely. Like marriage, it’s a done deal and a daily development. Be secure in your salvation. And at the same time, grow in your salvation.

Read more He Chose the Nails: What God Did to Win Your Heart

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

South Dakota Governor Larry Rhoden recently signed a volley of pro-life legislation into law. One of the bills, HB 1313, requires that public schools provide “age-appropriate and research-based instruction in prenatal human growth and development.”   

Teaching children the truth that human life begins in the womb. Pro-life education like this changes hearts and minds in the next generation. 

The state’s new pro-life measures did not stop there. HB1274 gives the Attorney General the explicit power to prosecute those who transport illegal abortion drugs meant for in state abortions. 

Another law, HB 1257, makes abundantly clear that the state’s pro-life laws do not prevent women from receiving legitimate medical care in cases of ectopic pregnancy or miscarriage.  

South Dakota has staked its claim as one of the nation’s strongest pro-life states.  

Anne shares from Joel 1:1-19; 2:12-14.