FamilyLife Today®

Speaker 1

Wow. Doing what the Bible says to do actually works. I mean, you know, because all throughout the scriptures, Jesus is actually teaching, hey, when your brother sins against you, here's how you do it.

And even the Lord's Prayer, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. You know, it's presupposing we're going to have conflict, we're going to need forgiveness.

And surely in the family unit, we as parents are going to have to say, I'm sorry.

Speaker 2

Welcome to family Life today, where we want to help you pursue the relationships that matter most. I'm Ann Wilson.

Speaker 3

And I'm Dave Wilson. And you can find us at familylifetoday.com. This is Family Life Today.

I feel like for me, and I want to know, because I have two moms in the studio, my wife Ann and Melissa Kruger's back with us. Often, my contentment and joy in life, especially when I had kids in the home, was based on how well they were doing. This was particularly true when they were toddlers, middle schoolers, and high schoolers. Even now, with adult kids, my contentment can still be influenced by their well-being.

Speaker 2

What? No, this is mine. I felt like you were always great. Like, well, they're great, they're fine.

Speaker 3

But that was called denial. That's where I lived secretly.

Speaker 2

You were fearful.

Speaker 3

Oh, for sure. And if they're doing well, it was like, I'm. I'm good because they were sort of the source of my happiness, not my God.

Speaker 2

I think every parent would say that.

Speaker 3

I don't know. Melissa, is that true for you?

Speaker 1

Yes. I mean, you had to battle it.

Speaker 3

Yeah.

Speaker 1

I mean, but it was that. That was the place that was the easiest to kind of go to, default to. I mean, there's a saying, you're only as happy as your least happy kid.

Speaker 2

Right.

Speaker 1

And I do talk about that in the book because I'm. I basically say that's a lot of pressure to put on the least happy kid.

Speaker 2

I wanna talk about that because I know we've put that pressure on our kids.

And when my joy and contentment is based on the actions of my kids or the things they're doing, what is that communicating?

And what does that say about myself?

And even my walk and trust with God, it's just.

Even convicting when I say that. Just to say it. It's convicting.

Speaker 1

I know it is. It's convicting to us all because, yeah, I think we're all tempted to put our contentment in places that can't hold the weight of it. You know, I mean, maybe in other seasons of life, it was money or marriage. Or marriage or getting the perfect house.

But then children come along, and there's no bigger place. We're tempted to say, this is where I'm putting all my eggs in the basket of contentment. And I just want to say to us as parents, we have to fight it, because that temptation is going to be there. And it seems like such a good thing.

Speaker 2

It does. It feels like a godly thing.

Speaker 1

Yes. And of course, in our hearts, it's right to want the best for our kids. So I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is I can't put my joy and my peace and my contentment in how my child's doing.

Speaker 2

And I think people are like, how do I not do that? Yeah, help me.

Speaker 3

Well, my question is, and I hadn't thought about this till you two folks that are talking about this is, do you think our kids feel that from us?

Speaker 1

I think they absolutely feel it, yes.

Speaker 3

So what's that do to them?

Speaker 2

Well, I'll tell you what. One of our sons said once as an adult, I think he was 20, and he said, mom, I get so tired of. I'm going through something, but it feels like now it's all about you.

Speaker 1

Oh.

Speaker 2

I was like, wait, what? He said, I'm trying to communicate. Like, I'm really struggling with this. And all of a sudden, you're so sad about it that I feel like I need to comfort you in it.

Speaker 1

Yeah.

Speaker 2

Isn't that awful? Like, I never thought of that. Like, oh, my goodness, I'm so sorry. And he goes, there you are again. Now it's all about you again.

Speaker 3

Now what's happening, Melissa? You're like, you're in.

Speaker 1

I get it. Well, I mean, we all have friends like that, right?

Have you ever been in a situation where you're sharing something hard with a friend and then they're crying and saying, "This is so hard," and they're almost losing it?

And you're like, oh, gosh, now I've got to deal with you.

Speaker 3

Yeah.

Speaker 1

Yes.

Speaker 2

I'm that parent. Yeah.

Speaker 1

I mean, but we've all felt that.

Speaker 3

What a weight to put on your child, though.

Speaker 1

It's a weight even when it's a friendship, but when it's a child who's feeling that pressure every day, it becomes even more concerning.

And it could be in a lot of areas. It could be about getting the right grades or making the team.

When the parent is more upset that the child didn't make the team than the child is upset about it, we have a problem.

Speaker 2

Oh, I can blame you with that one.

Speaker 1

Yeah. When Cody was.

Speaker 3

Here we go. Here we go.

Speaker 2

When Cody was cut from the Detroit Lions football team, Cody would say, dad's more upset about it. I feel like I need to comfort dad.

Speaker 3

That was bad.

Speaker 1

So we might feel it more. Like if they're broken up with or something, we might be like, how could that girl break up with my wonderful son? Or, you know, whatever. We might feel offended. And he's like, I didn't really like her that much anyway, but we're just more mortally offended because how could you, my son, you know, whatever.

Whereas maybe with dads, it's going to be different areas. It might be more about the sports team they got cut from or the teacher who didn't give them the grade we thought they deserved. And don't they realize that by giving them that 91, they might not get into this elite college?

Speaker 2

The coach who's not starting them.

Speaker 1

Yes. You know, and so our kids start feeling like when they sense that they shut down and they don't want to talk to us anymore.

Speaker 3

Last thing you want with a teenager.

Speaker 1

Yep.

Speaker 3

Is for them to shut down and pull away. I mean, they. It's natural. They're going to pull away. They should. They're becoming adults. We shouldn't freak out about that. But when they shut down and pull away because they feel like, wow, I can't. I can't relate to mom or dad on this. They are too into this.

And I want to ask you, because it sounds like we're talking about idols. In your book *Parenting with Hope*, which is raising teens for Christ in a secular age, you really do a great job. I told Anne when I was reading this, I'm like, "Anne, this is the book we should have wrote, our parenting book." It is so good. I'm telling listeners, I'm telling you, it's one of the best parenting books. And I've read a lot of them, and we wrote one. And I'm telling you, this is a book you want to get, especially with teens.

Yeah, but you mention this. You talk about quite a bit the idols. And this is so. Explain that. This is insightful for parents.

Speaker 1

Yeah. I wrote. I started with the premise you think I'm going to tell you how to get your child sorted. It's really about, I think the biggest problem in our parenting of teens is our own idolatry. And by idol, I don't mean, you know, a little statue that we bow down and worship. I'm talking about where we put our hope, our trust. What do we think success looks like for our teen?

I think that can be. There could be a lot of those, you know, but I think in our culture today in the West, the things pushing in on us as parents are scholastic achievement, sports and activities, and social acceptance. These three things are these cultural idols. They're out there. We can see them everywhere. Right? Everyone has a pitching coach at five now, you know? I mean, we see it in sports, for sure.

Yeah, we see it. The whole reason I would say that the sports culture rose was because you need to be well-rounded so that you can get into a really good school. Why do we care if they get into a really good school? Because studies have shown that kids who go to college have a higher income. Yeah. And, you know, better life satisfaction. I don't even know if they say that, but they definitely say higher income. We associate higher income with better life satisfaction.

Then we have this whole social acceptance pressing in on us to be culturally normal. In our culture right now, that looks like accepting and being tolerant of every type of behavior that there is. These things are pressuring our teens, but they're really pressuring us as parents. It is a lot to bear. I mean, I'll be honest. Things like the cell phone and what that's doing to our kids, that's part of that social connectedness that we're told we have to do with our teens right now.

To push and be different is really tough. Yeah, but I think these three things are pressing in on us. We're in the stream, and we don't even know. We're just floating along, going downriver, and we're going right along with culture because they're not overtly bad. You know, we tend to think it's sex, drugs, rock and roll—that's our battle, the old school battle. I actually think it's these really good things that become God things in our life.

It's just that they get in our heart in a way that they're not supposed to be, and they really rob us of joy. You know, we see it over and over. They just rob us of joy. If my kid doesn't get into that school, if they don't make that team, if they aren't in the right group of friends, then our kid feels the weight of that. Because they actually do love us, they love what we love, even though they might act like they don't love us. They actually tend to follow the same idols of their parents.

One of the verses that I fear the most is in Second Kings. It says, while they were worshiping the Lord, they were serving their idols, and their children and their grandchildren did the same. So they're worshiping the Lord, but they're serving their idols, and their children and their grandchildren did the same.

Speaker 3

I mean, you mentioned in the book about having a conversation with your kids and asking them what's important in our family. I don't know if that's exactly how you said it, but that's how I read it.

We did that once, maybe a couple of times, but I remember we sat at the dinner table, and we had three teenage boys.

Speaker 2

And mind you, we're in ministry. Dave's a pastor. All we talk about is Jesus. I felt like. So we assumed certain things would be said. Number one answer, sports.

Speaker 3

Have you done it? I would have told you that's not gonna be true of our family. I mean, I'm the Detroit Lions chaplain, so obviously it makes some sense. My job was related to the sports world, but it was clear to them, like, it's not just dads ministering to pro athletes. This is what we do.

I remember when my youngest, who ended up getting a college scholarship, and he's the one that got to the NFL, so he's a really gifted athlete. I remember at five years old, a soccer coach wanted him to play soccer. He wasn't playing soccer; he was playing baseball. And this guy said to me, "We really want Cody to play." And I'm like, "Yeah, we've. We're doing three sports."

You know, we've. He goes, "Let me tell you, if he doesn't get on my team, he will never get a college scholarship." I go, "He's five years old." I think he was six years old. He's. "Are you kidding me? You're making the biggest mistake ever. You got to get rid of."

This is a culture we're fighting as parents, like, and you think, oh, if.

Speaker 2

You'Re not on that travel baseball team, your son will never go to the next level.

Speaker 1

The pressure on parents is so intense, and it's hard because I played sports in high school. I don't know if you guys did, but those were great memories. So we want our kids to have those good things.

And look, we all know we have an obesity problem in this country. I mean, for every level. So we think, oh, well, sports are good for them, and they really are. So I never want to say, hey, sports are bad.

The culture around sports in America right now, I think, is really bad. Yeah. That type of pressure, rather than, hey, go in the backyard, play with the neighborhood kids. Well, now there are no neighborhood kids to play with because they're all at travel baseball.

Speaker 3

Exactly.

Speaker 1

So it's a real problem. There's no one in that.

Speaker 2

Parents thinking, but that's better than video games all day long, all the time.

Speaker 1

And I would actually agree with that. You know, I mean. And so. So we've created this culture where those kind of good things, I think, are squeezing out really important things.

I mean, I think now it's really hard for families to have family dinners. It's increasingly hard for kids to get to a youth group. It's even really hard for them to get to church, because a lot of these travel teams take place on the weekend.

So you're seeing what's happening. All these activities are squeezing out the things for life, is what I say. Because learning how to sit down and have dinner as a family with no phones on and have a conversation about how was your day? That's really important in the teen years.

Speaker 3

Did you guys do that?

Speaker 1

We actually did our family time, though. What we prioritized was breakfast, and we didn't actually eat breakfast at the table, but we all sat at the table. Everyone had to be at the table at a certain time in the morning. And that was when we prayed together and we read a devotional together.

And I say that to people, and they're like, how did y'all make that happen? And I want to say it wasn't perfect. There were days we missed, and it took 10 minutes. It took 10 minutes. I had cards that had prayer requests for missionaries that we prayed for, for leaders in our life, for each person; we prayed for a different person.

But what I can say about that time is I got to hear every one of my kids pray every week because every day a different person prayed, so they were in the habit of praying for each other. We prayed for principals, we prayed for bosses, we prayed for presidents, and we prayed for missionaries. So it's interesting when these missionaries would come and visit, they'd be like, oh, that's Christine from Nepal. We've been praying for her. You know, and they actually. It builds community when you pray together.

And so here is something that takes 10 minutes in a morning, and it built so much community in our little family, and it didn't take that long. But I can tell you it gets squeezed out by trying to get everything else in. And so that's just sometimes what I want to encourage is don't miss the really important rocks that your family desperately needs because you're trying to do what your neighbor's doing, you know, and it's not producing great results.

In our teens, they're anxious, they're fearful, they're scared. And I think they're getting it from us.

Speaker 2

Yeah, me too.

Speaker 1

You know, because we're so invested in them that it's almost like our kids are bearing the weight of that.

Whereas, you know, the simple act of praying together as a family teaches them, yeah, the world is a scary place, but we're going to pray about that.

Speaker 2

And I've never seen my kids more desperate for prayer than in their teen years. They're very open. When you say, "How can I pray for you?" they have a long list because they're dealing with a lot of pressures, a lot of anxiety, and a lot of things at school that they're struggling with, whether it's friendships or classes.

So to ask that question is important. We, Melissa and I, would often gather around food. Food is always a gathering place for us. We would eat together and share our thoughts and concerns.

Speaker 1

Three boys.

Speaker 2

Yes. When we had breakfast together, it was like, I made something, they would eat, but then we'd pray on the way to school.

Speaker 1

That's good.

Speaker 2

And it just became a habit.

And so putting those habits and rhythms in. I know it can sound daunting at first, but I like what you're saying.

Like, just make some space. Maybe it's dinner or bedtime, something that you just take a few minutes to see what's going on.

Speaker 3

Yeah. Let me say if you do just that as a family, I mean, you're listening. You're like, we've never done this before. And I know it'll be like, oh, my kids might go, are you kidding me? If you start with a little small step, like, let's start this way, it could go totally chaotic. They may be running out the door the first time you do it. But I'm telling you, this literally could change the direction of your family.

Now, let me just say this because it's December and we just gave you a tip. I'm not kidding. I really believe this. We all do. This could change the future of your family and legacy and your teenagers. Just saying, what if we did breakfast together or dinner? And like you said, Melissa, maybe we're not even eating together, but do this. I'm just saying that is something that's life changing.

And I just want to say, because it's December and we are a listener-supported ministry, we need you and we would love for you to give financially to us. Pray for us; we're praying for you. But if you could give, that's why we do what we do, and that enables us to do what we do.

So here's how you do that. Go to familylifetoday.com. You can make a gift there. Or you can call us at 1-800-358-6329. That's 1-800-F as in family, L as in life, and the word today. And now is the time to give because your gift will be doubled. I don't know about you, but that gets me excited.

Speaker 2

We have some generous donors that allow that to happen.

Speaker 3

Two and a half million dollars, which is really kind, which is amazing. Now, here's my question for you, Melissa. How do we know if it's an idol?

Speaker 1

Yeah. I think that's something we've got to each pray about and think about.

I find it's how I react when I don't get it. If there's anger, frustration, tears, discontentment. If it's robbing me of joy, that's sometimes a sign maybe the problem is me.

Speaker 3

Yeah.

Speaker 1

And it's also. Here's the other thing. It's not just how I react when I don't get it. It's what I spend my time pursuing.

So I would say, time, money, and thought, life. What am I thinking about?

I remember one time I heard a speaker who said, what do you think about when you're not thinking?

Speaker 2

I've heard that asked, too. Isn't that a good question?

Speaker 1

Yeah. What am I ruminating on?

Speaker 2

I've asked my kids that, too.

Speaker 1

Yeah, it's a really good question.

Speaker 3

And your kids will know.

Speaker 1

Yeah.

Speaker 3

What? Mom and dad.

Speaker 2

Oh, that's a good question. What do you think as a parent? Kids. What do you think I think about the most?

Speaker 1

That's good. That's good.

And you know, and I know some of these things, even what we were just talking about with trying to find family rhythms for spiritual growth can seem daunting.

And so I do want to say, if you haven't done those things, I think as moms and I'm sure as dads, we carry around this weight of failure.

Speaker 2

Yes.

Speaker 1

So I do just want to say tomorrow's another day. You know, don't let what's happened in the past in your family be what determines the future.

I would go to my kids and say, let's say you've never had prayer together as a family and you've got teenagers. I would just go to them and say, hey, I'm realizing this is something I missed as a parent, and one, I want to say I'm sorry because there's a lot in this world we can't control. I'd really like us to pray together as a family. And I know that might feel so weird. I know y'all might think what's going on with mom and dad, but it's something I should have prioritized a long time ago.

Could y'all help me figure out a way that we could do this together as a family? It invites them in. It acknowledges, hey, maybe we didn't do it right. And kids need to hear that from us. If we could say anything, we need to be good apologizers as parents to our teens. They're learning so much from our example in that.

I come to you and say, hey, I'm sorry I didn't do it right. I think the more we step into that, we can make changes in these years. Don't think you missed it. And if you missed it in the teen years, you can still do it with your 20-year-olds.

Speaker 2

I'm so glad you said that. I was gonna say the same thing of how to navigate that. And I would add this, too. Consider it like trying to open a door to their heart or even empathizing with their life.

Like, man, I can't imagine being a teenager in these days where the culture feels so chaotic, so crazy. I can't imagine that. You carry a lot. I want to pray for you. I want to be able to be there and go to God for you on your behalf.

Kids, whether they're believing in Jesus at that point or not, they're like, help me. Somebody help me.

Speaker 3

Yeah, I know that our listeners have heard me say this. I'll keep it short, but two of my sons said to me, as adult men and married now, out of nowhere at a lunch that I could tell, you know, halfway through lunch, oh, they've talked and they've set up this lunch. They both said, "Dad, we felt like the congregation was more important to you than us. Thousands of people were more important than."

It was one of those moments. Melissa was like, the second it came out of their mouth, I knew they were right. It wasn't like, I'm gonna defend myself. What do you mean? Then I asked questions like, "What do you mean by that?" But it was one of those moments where I had to say, "I am so sorry."

But what? Angie said, "Guess what? We're not done. Even though they're not in the house anymore, I can still be a better dad for the next 20 years. And I'm gonna do that." So the apology, like you said, that is huge for our kids to hear us own up to our mistakes.

Speaker 1

That's right. And what a powerful moment it was for them to get to say it to you.

Speaker 3

Oh, man.

Speaker 1

And you to be able to say, yeah, I'm sorry.

Speaker 2

Dave's really good at receiving that kind of.

Speaker 3

Cause I'm an idiot and I know it.

Speaker 2

No, but not everybody is okay with hearing hard things from our kids.

Speaker 3

It is hard. I'm not saying it was easy, but like you said, when we apologize, that vulnerability and humility opens up a relationship that they will lean into rather than lean away from.

Speaker 1

It's amazing. It really is. When you get to, wow. Doing what the Bible says to do actually works.

I mean, you know, because all throughout the scriptures, Jesus is actually teaching, hey, when your brother sins against you, here's how you do it.

And even the Lord's Prayer, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. You know, it's presupposing we're going to have conflict. We're going to need forgiveness.

And surely in the family unit, we as parents are going to have to say, I'm sorry.

Speaker 2

What did you do for that devotional time in the morning? You said it only took a few minutes. What exactly did you do?

Speaker 1

We did a lot of different things through the years. We found some good devotionals from different places that weren't actually about for teens. They were just general devotionals. So we used some of those. Tim Keller has some good ones. You know, just his on the Psalms, he has one on wisdom. Really short, but very biblical. Really good.

Right now we're using Alistair Begg's daily devotional. And so what I found, kids can actually go to that level. You know, you don't have to have one. Especially in the teen years. Maybe in the 10 or 11, you might do something a little more accessible for kids, but the teen years, you know, these kids are reading hard things.

Speaker 2

In high school and they're thinking deep.

Speaker 1

Things, so they can really kind of rise to the occasion and really think through it. We've also just read through Scripture. You know, I loved. We did the Gospel of John one year and I said, hey, I want you to read this.

I actually started it with how do you tell a good lie? And they were like, what do you mean? Yeah, how do you tell a good lie? I was like, what do you do if you're going to tell a good lie? And we talked about how you shouldn't tell many facts. You shouldn't name names. You should be really careful about how you tell a good lie.

And I said, I want you to read the Gospel accounts. If they're telling a lie, they're really bad liars. They give way too many details. They tell cities they went to. They tell people they talked to. And I want you to think about that as we read through the Gospel of John.

Speaker 2

We're all like, I want you to be my mom.

Speaker 1

Isn't that good? It's almost like you're doing apologetics with.

Speaker 2

Your kids in secret.

Speaker 1

Yeah. We should never assume that they know these things. I mean, I do feel badly. We did get. My daughter got to college, and she goes, yeah, I realized I went through Christian school and was raised by y'all, and I don't know that I was ever taught how to study the Bible.

And you're like, oops, okay, that's really bad. Because we did devotionals, but we never really talked about observation, interpretation, application. So we all miss things, right? Of course all of us miss things.

And thankfully, she got to a college ministry where they're teaching how do you actually study the Bible? We all need that.

Speaker 3

Well, I think it's interesting, you know, we started talking about how our kids can be an idol. Really, their walk with God as Christian parents determines our happiness. I think a couple of things. One, I always used to preach this: idols never deliver. And even if they made the team or got all the A's or got this guy, it's like, it still won't deliver. You'll never be happy.

But I think the thing we often forget, and I forgot, is that the goal often for us as Christian parents is to want a teenager who's walking with God. Well, that's not the goal. I think the goal is bigger. They may not be at that time, and they may be. Our happiness is connected to this, but I think the goal is even broader.

Even if they're 30 years old and walking with God, but they weren't at 15, I'm good with that. The mistakes they made at 15 were part of the things God used to get them to be a man or woman of God at 25, 30, and 35. But when they're making those mistakes and they're in your house, you're freaking out because you think that's the end goal. No, it might be part of the way God’s gonna work in their lives.

Speaker 2

That's what I would say, too. We get so worried and fatalistic about the mistakes our teens are making when honestly, in the long run, that could be driving them to the father.

Speaker 1

It's such a short season.

Speaker 2

It's such a short season.

Speaker 1

This is the season. And one thing I'll say about that, though, I was, Rhonda, about what you just said. Watch how you respond when other kids are doing bad things, too.

Speaker 2

Oh, I was so bad at this. I was so bad at this. Go ahead, keep talking.

Speaker 3

What do you mean?

Speaker 1

Your child is listening. If they hear you say, "Oh, Johnny, you know, I knew Johnny was going to go bad, and we all knew Johnny was bad," they absorb that negative talk about your friend Johnny. They hear how you perceive Johnny's actions and how you view him as not redeemable in some ways if he makes a mistake.

How you talk about Johnny is how they will assume you will talk about them. It's important to be mindful of this. Instead of speaking negatively, consider saying, "Hey, maybe we should pray about Johnny because, you know, he really just needs to know Jesus." This approach fosters a more positive and supportive environment for your child.

Speaker 3

He'S on a journey. Yeah.

Speaker 2

And let's just say the things going on today in school, like you have furries. So kids are thinking they're animals and it's so easy. You know, the kids are transitioning. There's so much going on that you could roll your eyes about and be like, what? That is lunacy.

What kind of kid? You can make so many. And I've shared this before, too. One of our sons was talking about a boy. And here's why I said, is that the guy like that bad kid that smokes pot all the time?

And my son says, oh, is he a bad kid because he smokes pot?

Speaker 1

Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2

Talk about conviction.

Speaker 1

Yeah.

Speaker 2

And so what we say, how we respond, how we react, even with our facial expressions, they pick up all that stuff.

Speaker 1

Yes.

Speaker 2

And so if we can respond with love and grace, just like all you have to do is read the Gospels and see how Jesus responded because he dealt with everyone in the same manner.

Speaker 1

Yes.

Speaker 2

Respect, respectful, loving, drawing them to the Father.

Speaker 1

Yes. And this will sound impossible to be that kind of parent. And so what I always want to say to parents is, the only way you become that kind of parent is abiding in this book.

Speaker 2

Yes.

Speaker 1

Like we. That the fruit of the spirit is born. You know, by abiding, Jesus says, if you abide in me and my words abide in you, you're going to bear much fruit. It's not that you start putting this fruit on you; don't start tying it to your tree, so to speak. It's born.

But he's given us one method by which this happens, and that's we plant ourselves in his word. We pray. We're with the people in the church. That's that foundation we need. We want that for our kids.

But in this season, that's what we need. We need the word nourishing our soul. We need prayer to give us hope. We need the community of the church so we have people who will stand with us in this so that we'll know we're not alone.

But that's the only way that happens. It's impossible to do it in our own strength.

Speaker 2

And let me just add, if you're listening and you're thinking, I need prayer so bad, you can contact us. We will pray for you. We have a team that will pray for you. All you have to do is go to familylife.com pray for me, and we will pray for you.

Speaker 3

Every parent needs that. This is Family Life Today.

We're Dave and Ann Wilson, and we've been talking with Melissa Kruger. Her book, it's a great one. It's called *Parenting with Hope*.

You can get a copy at familylifetoday.com or you can give us a call at 1-800-358-6329. That's 800-F, as in family, L, as in life, and then the word today.

Speaker 2

And as this year is ending, this is just a critical time for us at Family Life. I mean, it's wonderful we're celebrating Christmas, but also this is a critical time to donate as we've had some amazing friends of the ministry come alongside us and they have provided a matching gift up to $2.5 million.

What that means is your gift of any size will be double. And that man that helps us so much, so your $50 gift becomes 100 and so on. But it's only during this time of year. So we really hope that you'll step in and become our partner.

So now's the time to go to familylifetoday.com and become a financial partner with Family Life. Or feel free to call with your donation at 800-358-6329. That's 800F, as in family, as in life, and then the word today.

Speaker 3

Also, when you give to help families get practical biblical help, we want to send you two books as our thanks. And these are great books. The first one is a devotional by Katie Davis Majors called *Our Faithful God Devotional: 52 Weeks of Leaning on His Unchanging Character*. The second book we want to send you is a children's book by Ruth Cho Simons called *Home Is Right Where You Are*. It's a gorgeously illustrated kids' book based on Psalm 23.

Both of these books are our thanks to you when you give a donation of any amount this month. Again, you can give online at familylifetoday.com or give us a call at 1-800-358-6329. You can also mail us your donation at FamilyLife. The address is 100 Lake Heart Drive, Orlando, Florida, 32832. Just make sure to let us know you'd like your copies of *Our Faithful God Devotional* and *Home Is Right Where You Are*.

Coming up next week, we've got Brant Hansen talking about Father Wounds.

Speaker 2

That's gonna be good.

Speaker 3

You do not want to miss that one. That's coming up next week. We'll see you then on Family LIFE today.

Speaker 2

Family Life TODAY is a donor supported production of Family Life, a crew ministry helping you pursue the relationships that matter most.