PODCASTS

Tag: #marriage
Real Answers – Remarriage, after a spouse’s death – 4/17/24

Real Answers – Remarriage, after a spouse’s death – 4/17/24

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The “Real Answers” podcast from Family Life

Christian counselor Christopher Anderson offers insights for a unique group: those whose spouse has died. There is new research on how often those people get remarried. It happens more often later in life, and he says some of the most fruitful second marriages occur when both partners have lost their spouses.

If a widow or widower does feel a sense that a new marriage might be in their future, Anderson raises three key points:

  • Wait until you have properly processed the grief from the loss of your original spouse
  • Get advice from a pastor, counselor or Godly friend who knows you and your unique situation
  • Have a “non-negotiable list” on your values, background and goals

Anderson says those who do not feel a calling to get remarried don’t need to feel any pressure or need to go that direction. They will do well to get socially and religiously connected for other areas of their lives.

“Real Answers” tackles the tough topics facing Christians and Christian families. Christopher Anderson is an experienced licensed professional counselor in private practice in the Twin Tiers. This feature is among our Wednesday News Features on the air, online, and on the podcast. 

Sarah Harnisch is your host.
Inside Out – Hope for Widows – 3/27/24

Inside Out – Hope for Widows – 3/27/24

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Hope for Widows (and their friends)

“I rest in who God is to get me though my day. And that, I think, is what the hope for widows is.”  — Marilyn Nutter

 Twenty-eight hundred women a day are widowed in the US. For those women, everything changes. 

 “A widow has not only lost her husband, but she has lost the life that she knew,” says Marilyn Nutter. “And life looks dramatically different.”

 Nutter knows there are better and worse ways to comfort the widows in our lives. A widow herself since 2011, her new book is Hope for Widows: Reflections on Mourning, Living, and Change.

 “If we can’t say something that can be encouraging and not judgmental, then just be present,” Nutter says. “Put your arm around that person.”

 While more than half of the women in the US over the age of 75 are widows, the average age a woman becomes a widow is 59 years old. No matter the age, there’s grief, loneliness, anger, and disappointment.

 “I don’t think we can ever prepare emotionally for losing your spouse,” Nutter says. But there are some nuts-and-bolts things people with a living spouse can do now to make life more manageable if they’re widowed someday. We can learn, right now, the essential tasks our spouses usually shoulder, whether it’s changing the household air filters, paying the bills, or making travel arrangements. 

 “You need to be prepared, practically,” Nutter says. “It’s still not going to be easy. But if you can have some practical things in place, that would make it more manageable when your body is exhausted, and your brain can’t think.”

 Randy Nutter died while on the couple’s cross-country Christmas visit to their children. Through Marilyn Nutter’s loneliness and discouragement, she hung onto God and who she knew Him to be. She knows that God is not only her hope, but the hope for widows. 

 “God is faithful to keep His promises. He hasn’t made a promise that He hasn’t kept. And so, when I think of hope, I think of hope as a person. Biblical hope rests in who God is and who He says He is. And that is where I have found Him to be faithful.”

 We invite you to listen to our 16-minute podcast.

 Learn more about Marilyn Nutter here.

 

 

Real Answers – How to Fight, Right – 2/21/24

Real Answers – How to Fight, Right – 2/21/24

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Real Answers – How to Fight, Right – 2/21/24

New research discusses factors that lead to divorce. How people fight is an important dynamic.

Christian counselor Christopher Anderson joins Family Life’s Sarah Harnish to talk about how to fight in our relationships. He is not (obviously) encouraging spouses to seek out arguments, but to be able to handle disagreements well.

Attentive listening matters, he says. So does awareness on when to take a timeout to allow emotions to settle, so that the people involved can avoid increasing the tensions when differences arise. Anderson also suggests another good practice: writing out questions and responses ahead of time, when a problem needs solved.

 

 

“Real Answers” is a Wednesday Family Life news feature which helps Christians tackle the tough topics in our everyday lives. Check out our archives for more advice and encouragement — on relationships, parenting, work place issues, faith dilemmas and more, seeking a Biblical perspective on how to cope with and thrive in life.

Real Answers – Less stress & More grace for December – 12/13/23

Real Answers – Less stress & More grace for December – 12/13/23

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“Real Answers” on Family Life

Our “Real Answers” feature brings you practical ways to stay Balanced amid the Busyness of December.

For so many of us, this month gets overfilled with tasks, but Christian Counselor Christopher Anderson has real-world steps to keep yourself, your children and your marriage grace-filled and Christ-centered this month. How can you stay on schedule, stay within your budget, and stay playful within your family?

“Real Answers” is one of our Wednesday news features during the Family Life Noon Report, on air and online. You can also hear Anderson’s analysis and recommendations in some of our other newscasts and on our “News Podcasts” page.

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Real Answers – How singles can find the “right one” – 11/22/23

Real Answers – How singles can find the “right one” – 11/22/23

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 8:31 — 11.7MB)

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“Real Answers” tackles the tough topics which Christians face in their lives.

On this edition,a focus on singles — certainly those who are younger, but applicable to any age.

Licensed professional counselor Christopher Anderson talks about how to find “The Right One” as a life mate, if you have an eventual call to be married. He talks about how before you get to know the other person, you become better able to know your dating or relationship partners if you first begin with a deep understanding of yourself. Only then do you have a foundation on which to build a long-lasting relationship. He also suggests good mentoring with a long-married Christian couple, and double-dating with people who share your faith and worldview.

Anderson also explores research on how many unmarried couples live together, outside of a marriage commitment. That number has grown exponentially across the past two generations, but (perhaps surprisingly) those percentages are not as high as some Christian might expect, looking at the society around us. You also will hear how cohabitation actually reduces the likelihood that a relationship — or a marriage, if you eventually decide to wed — which succeed long term.

Inside Out – Managing Holiday Conflict – 11/15/23

Inside Out – Managing Holiday Conflict – 11/15/23

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Inside Out:  Managing Family Conflict During the Holidays 

                • Ways to prepare
                • What we can do, and what to avoid
                • Who can offer you comfort?

Do upcoming holiday gatherings already have your stomach in knots? A veteran counselor with Focus on the Family suggests thinking ahead of time about how both historic family dynamics and differing personal opinions will play into how the day unfolds.       

 “I think it’s also constructive to look at what is our attitude towards the person or the people that we’re going to be spending time with?” says Glenn Lutjens, a licensed family therapist with 28 years of experience. “Are there things that we can appreciate about them? And if I’m appreciative of someone, I’m probably going to be more understanding of them. I’m probably going to accept maybe a little bit of their quirks.”  

 Lutjens points out that it’s really okay for people to disagree, in a respectful way.  “I think probably one of the best sentences in the English language is this: ‘You and I see this differently.’ What is there to say after that? The person has their opinion, you have yours.”

 If you are anxious, Lutjens encourages you with the truth that God accompanies you. “I would say probably the most important thing is to realize God is going to be with you. You’re not there on your own. The Spirit of God—if you’ve received God’s free gift of salvation through faith in Christ—He’s going to be with you. And realize that that presence is going to be important.”  

 Learn more about Glenn Lutjens and Focus here. 

Inside Out – Are you a Parenting-centered couple, or a Couple-centered couple? – 09/06/23

Inside Out – Are you a Parenting-centered couple, or a Couple-centered couple? – 09/06/23

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:00 — 38.5MB)

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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 says that your children benefit when you make your marriage the priority.    

“When our marriage is healthy, everybody wins,” Smalley says. 

Giving the marriage priority status means taking the time to stay up to date on your spouse’s hopes and feelings.  “We have to continually be rediscovering our spouse,” he says. 

It also means making a habit of talking through the times you hurt each other along the way.   “We have to repair when we have arguments and when we have conflict and when we hurt each other,” Smalley says. “We’ve got to be willing to repair.” 

Everyone in a family benefits when spouses commit to the work of deepening their marriage.  “I think if couples are pursuing each other, keeping current and re-discovering each other and then repairing when those conflicts happen, man, those two things alone are going to take us so far as far as staying connected in our marriage,” he says. 

Learn more about Dr. Greg Smalley here and here.

Family Life Interview: Comedian Jeff Allen – part 3 – 09/05/23

Family Life Interview: Comedian Jeff Allen – part 3 – 09/05/23

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 4:37 — 6.3MB)

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Comedian Jeff Allen has been on the stand-up comedy circuit — with great success — across four decades.

His struggles with addiction and his search for meaning found resolution, when a comedian friend asked about his faith. Allen went on a long process which eventually led to his conversion to Christianity. In an extended Family Life Interview — and in a new book he authored — Allen talks about how Jesus has brought peace and blessing to his life.

This is the 3rd of three segments of Mark Webster’s extended conversation with the comedian credited whose clean, family-oriented routines often riff on the theme or the phrase  “Happy wife…Happy life.”

Click this link for more of Jeff’s comedy highlights.

 

 

Hear the full Family Life Interview with Jeff Allen:

From the News Podcasts page, you can listen, download, share or subscribe to any of your favorite Family Life features, podcasts, the Noon Report, and the 5 O’Clock Report.

 

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Family Life Interview – Christian comedian Jeff Allen – part 2 – 08/29/23

Family Life Interview – Christian comedian Jeff Allen – part 2 – 08/29/23

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:11 — 7.1MB)

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Comedian Jeff Allen‘s comedy videos have amassed 400 million views online. The humor on stage was accompanied by desperation and a search for meaning and value in the rest of his life.

In this second segment of our conversation, the 40-year veteran performer tells of the sadness and desperation which led to his Christian conversion.

 

Here are some of Jeff’s comedy highlights: 

Listen for more from Jeff Allen this coming Tuesday, September 5, during the Family Life Noon Report, on our live stream and on the radio.

The full conversation with Family Life’s Mark Webster is here for listening, downloading or sharing.

Hear the full Family Life Interview with Jeff Allen:

From our News Podcasts page, you can listen, download, share or subscribe to any of your favorite Family Life features, podcasts, the Noon Report, and the 5 O’Clock Report.

Family Life Interview: Christian comedian Jeff Allen – part 1 – 08/22/23

Family Life Interview: Christian comedian Jeff Allen – part 1 – 08/22/23

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:57 — 13.6MB)

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Comedian Jeff Allen has been honing his craft on the stand-up comedy circuit, on television, and in corporate and faith-based settings.

He works to keep his funny business “clean”, but in this exclusive Family Life interview, Allen acknowledges his life was messy, prior to his conversion to be a follower of Jesus Christ.

In this feature, he tells our Mark Webster about his Chicago upbriging, the work of creating comedy, and how faith reshaped his life.

Click this link for a video of some of Jeff’s comedy highlights.

(He is credited with coining the phrase “Happy wife…Happy life.”)

Our conversation with Jeff Allen aired across three consecutive Tuesdays during the Family Life Noon Report, on our live stream and on the radio.

 

Hear the full Family Life Interview with Jeff Allen:

From the News Podcasts page, you can listen, download, share or subscribe to any of your favorite Family Life features, podcasts, the Noon Report, and the 5 O’Clock Report.

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