Marriage is a signpost pointing to God’s unconditional love. Marriage is so much more than compatible people with romantic feelings for each other, and we want children to know this. “Marriage is based on a promise. And it’s based on a promise because it’s trying to be a mirror to the love God has shown …

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Girls and Social Media  With more girls than ever reporting that they feel sad or hopeless, The Gospel Coalition’s Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra talks with Martha Manikas-Foster about social media’s impact on girls. They also talk about the precautions adults might put in place before approaching social media as a mission field.   More girls than …

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Scams come at us from every direction—postal mail, email, text, and telephone—and they’re getting harder to identify.   “It all comes down to you never know who you’re talking to on the other end of the phone or other end of the computer,” says New York State Trooper Officer Mark O’Donnell.   By knowing the characteristics of …

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If your prayers seem unanswered, or you feel the wait for God to act has been long, author and speaker Dena Dyer encourages confidence that God uses the barren seasons for His purposes. Dyer is the author of the recent blog post “Confidence in Barren Seasons: What Elizabeth Can Teach Us.” Have you prayed for …

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Good news! America’s 13- to 17-year-olds are, by and large, hopeful about the future.    …And there are ways the adults in their lives can help them hold onto their optimism. “Despite the current social climate and current challenges, teens are optimistic and they’re open. They long to see change in our world,” says Ashley Ekmay, …

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Before heading off to university, Daniela Angulo was sure that her on-campus conversations about faith would require all the apologetics knowledge she’d ever learned. “We saw secular college as a battlefield. That was what we expected,” she says. “We were expecting to go in with our weapons in hand.”   What she found instead surprised …

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Parents can be tempted to make the children the family’s highest priority. But giving our children the best of our time and attention is not actually what’s best for them, according to Dr. Greg Smalley. Smalley is an author and speaker who serves as vice president of Marriage at Focus on the Family. He …

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The essential message of Christmas—deeper than the sparkle and lights— is the very hope that can sustain us in a broken and often painful world. The Christmas trees went to the curb—or into their boxes–weeks ago. So is there any reason to think about Christmas now?  Ben Mandrell, president and CEO of Lifeway Christian Resources, …

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From the loss of school connections during the pandemic to the death of a grandparent, sometimes well-meaning adults misstep as they try to help grieving children.    “I think we can get a little clouded around making ourselves feel more comfortable rather than kind of accompanying the child where they are,” says Lacy Finn Borgo. …

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Are you dreading the big family Christmas get-together because of the potential for conflict? “Our love for Christ makes a great difference,” Dr. Chet Weld says, “so we remember the Scripture that says: ‘love triumphs over judgment,’ and we want to be filled with the love of Christ and love everyone unconditionally as Jesus does.” …

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