Focus on the Family Magazine - April/May 2023
It can be a struggle to raise a family while balancing your work life, social life and relationships. Focus on the Family magazine is here to help! Each complimentary issue delivers fresh, practical Biblical guidance on family and life topics. Every issue comes packed with relevant advice to build up your kids, strengthen your marriage, navigate entertainment and culture, and handle common challenges you may face in your marriage and parenting journeys. Plus you'll find seasonal advice ranging from back-to-school activities to date night tips for you and your spouse.
It can be a struggle to raise a family while balancing your work life, social life and relationships. Focus on the Family magazine is here to help! Each complimentary issue delivers fresh, practical Biblical guidance on family and life topics.
Every issue comes packed with relevant advice to build up your kids, strengthen your marriage, navigate entertainment and culture, and handle common challenges you may face in your marriage and parenting journeys. Plus you'll find seasonal advice ranging from back-to-school activities to date night tips for you and your spouse.
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BIBLICAL LITERACY / KIDS & TEENS<br />
My feelings determine truth<br />
If our current culture could be summed<br />
up with <strong>on</strong>e slogan, it would be “Live your<br />
truth!” It’s almost become a creed am<strong>on</strong>g<br />
younger generati<strong>on</strong>s who have come to<br />
accept that truth is relative to each individual<br />
pers<strong>on</strong>, especially when it comes to<br />
<strong>the</strong>ir religious and moral beliefs.<br />
One 15-year-old summed it up this way:<br />
“Whatever you feel is what is real, and every<strong>on</strong>e<br />
else should accept that.” There is <strong>on</strong>ly<br />
<strong>on</strong>e problem with this sentiment: That’s<br />
not how truth works.<br />
Truth is a statement or belief that corresp<strong>on</strong>ds<br />
with reality, and truth is true no<br />
matter your pers<strong>on</strong>al opini<strong>on</strong>s and preferences.<br />
Teaching our kids about <strong>the</strong> nature<br />
and definiti<strong>on</strong> of truth can go a l<strong>on</strong>g way in<br />
training <strong>the</strong>m to think well about <strong>the</strong> c<strong>on</strong>fusing<br />
messages in today’s culture.<br />
Train <strong>the</strong>m up<br />
Gina* taught her highly emotive daughter,<br />
Sarah, to navigate <strong>the</strong> world of feelings<br />
versus reality in an intenti<strong>on</strong>al and c<strong>on</strong>sistent<br />
way. When Sarah was approaching her<br />
teen years, Gina helped her compare what<br />
she was feeling with what was real, taking<br />
care to point out that <strong>the</strong>re’s a difference. At<br />
<strong>on</strong>e point, Sarah said she felt that no <strong>on</strong>e<br />
liked her.<br />
Gina remembers, “We would ‘feel all<br />
<strong>the</strong> feels’ and <strong>the</strong>n talk about <strong>the</strong> wealth<br />
of friends and family she had who were<br />
incredibly invested in her and her life. After<br />
a couple of tough years, I realized <strong>on</strong>e day<br />
that she was coming to me and saying<br />
things like ‘Mom, I feel this, but I can see<br />
that <strong>the</strong> truth doesn’t line up. . . . Help me<br />
figure it out.’ ”<br />
Gina pointed out that although this<br />
didn’t solve every problem that popped up<br />
over time, it made <strong>the</strong> toughest years more<br />
manageable. She had shown Sarah time<br />
and again that she could be trusted with<br />
her daughter’s emoti<strong>on</strong>s and would guide<br />
her toward truth. >>><br />
APRIL / MAY <strong>2023</strong> FOCUS ON THE FAMILY 35
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