God made people to operate best in families, whether we like it or not, but what happens when our families are not healthy?

Nicky Gumbel tells a story in one of his devotionals about a busy father who was looking after his daughter and trying to find a way to keep her entertained while he worked. He took a magazine page with a world map and cut it into pieces, creating a make-shift puzzle for his little girl.

“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.” — J.R.R. Tolkien

You probably have thalassophobia, though you may not use that word to describe one of the world’s most common fears.

Our family can either be the best blessing in our lives or the worst burden, but either way God always has a plan for them and us.

“You don’t choose your family,” Desmond Tutu, the archbishop emeritus of Cape Town, stated. “They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them.”

“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” —Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

I dislike this opening line in one of my otherwise favorite books. In reality, dysfunctional human dynamics are far less unique and easier to acquire than happy, healthy ones.

All you need is sin and selfishness. Et voilà, a pain-riddled relationship.

Disagreements are inevitable in relationships, so rather than trying to stifle every dispute, we need to learn how to scuffle in healthy, productive ways.

“Some Christians think peacemaking means avoiding conflict,” Gary Wilkerson points out in a devotional, “but doing that only leads to further division, strife and disorder.”