Years ago, when I worked as a nurse's aid, I remember a conversation with a young co-worker of mine about her upcoming marriage. She really loved her fiance, but she was worried about whether they could make the marriage work. She came from a broken home, and he came from a broken home. In fact, even their grandparents had been divorced, so neither of them had any examples of successful long-term marriages, so she was worried that they would not know how to keep things together if things got tough.
So many of the people who come to me for help with life problems have also experienced broken families and the resulting pain and isolation that comes from that brokenness. Lots of people are so jaded by the hurt they experienced in their families or that they see in other families, that they have decided not to get married or not to have kids. Unfortunately, this generally does not make life better, because families are the best place to find companionship and support, and without them, many people get more and more isolated and lonely.
So here is some good news about families. Most people in America still get married; 69% of men and 76% of women. Most people only marry once and most of those marriages still last a lifetime. Marriage provides incredible benefits for all involved, such as higher incomes and wealth creation, longer life expectancies, and better outcomes for children. So if you are married or thinking about whether to have a family, I want to encourage you to have hope that it can work and that it will be a good thing for you.
On the other hand, many people, whether they were the partners in a relationship or children, have already experienced family breakdown and are living the fallout. Perhaps you are skeptical of family or people in general because you have been hurt too many times, but you still want people that love you unconditionally and welcome you just because you are one of the family.
Well, I have some more good news for you. Even if you have no family on earth left, God desires for you to come into His family, and He is a good Father. Through the work of His son, Jesus, He wants to make you His child and an heir along with Jesus to an eternal fortune (Romans 8:14-17). Right now you can know come to God as Father and be adopted into His family by accepting Jesus as your savior and Lord.
Beyond that, when other children of God gather it is called the church, and there you should be able to find people who love you like a sister or brother, because that is what you are. The family of God on earth is not perfect, but as we strive to get to know our Father better He commands us to love our brothers and sisters (1 John 4:21), so the closer we get to God, the better we will care for one another.
If you are lonely, depressed, unsure of your identity, then please come to God and let Him call you, son or daughter. Then please find a church where they love each other like family, and where they welcome you with the Father's love.
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