Transcript

American Family Radio thanks sponsor Preborn for supporting pro life advocacy

Dr. Jessica Peck: We would like to take a moment to thank our sponsor, PreBorn. When a mother meets her baby on ultrasound and hears their heartbeat, it's a divine connection. And the majority of the time she will choose life. But they can't do it without our help. Preborn needs us, the pro life community, to come alongside them. One ultrasound is just $28. To donate, dial pound 250 and say the keyword BABY or visit preborn.com/AFR hello

 : and welcome to the Dr. Nurse Mama show, prescribing hope for healthy families here on American Family Radio. Here's your host, professor, pediatric nurse practitioner, and mom of four, Dr. Jessica Peck.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, hey there, friends, and welcome to my favorite time of day on, my favorite day of the week. It is Friday. It is the first Friday in May. How did that happen, y'? All? All I can say is the biggest victory I'm claiming so far in 2026 is that I got my Christmas tree down before May. It was really a nail biter there for a little while. This year has been just on, just so fast. I don't know about you, but it has gone by so fast for me. And today's culture is moving fast. We're living in a world that moves faster and faster and faster, where we're even now. My kids showed me last week how to hold your thumb down on the screen and you can listen to 2 times speed. Why we need to listen to a 30 second clip on 2 times speed, I do not know. Culture is moving fast and faster than our ability to think through things with wisdom. Sometimes we live in a world where everyone is expected to have an immediate reaction. No more do you wait like it used to be. Do you remember those glory days when you had something called an answering machine and if you were out, you were just out. If you were out to dinner, if you were out on vacation, maybe you'd call in and check your messages. But most of the time that was just going to wait till you get home. Now we have to text back immediately. And the world expects quick texts, quick opinions, quick phone call answers. And we also see quick anger, quick takes, quick consequences. But homes and families do not thrive on speed. We were not designed to live at the speed of a smartphone. They thrive on steadiness. And, and somewhere in that speed, families are quietly losing something really critical. And I'm talking about something called emotional safety, emotional health. And maybe parents are parenting from what they inherited, what we might call this generational playbook that's handed down to us. And you grew up in homes where, you know, you hear phrases like don't cry or I'll give you something to cry about, or boys, don't cry or suck it up. That's life. Get over it. You know, those kinds of things. In some ways, we have this pendulum swinging where we had kids who maybe were too tough. Those are kids from Gen X. Like, we know how to fend for ourselves. We were the generation that was out until the street light came on. And our parents did not track us on Life360. We did things that were way too dangerous. We drank from the neighbor's hose, all of these kinds of things. And now we've got where we swung the pendulum maybe too far to gentle parenting where emotions rule the rooster. But maybe some of you grew up in a home where emotions were really just dismissed and reactions were very loud. Like, you know, the sound of dad getting up from the recliner faster than the speed of light. You say one word that's disrespectful and man, he is up and after you. It was quick. And those reactions were just very immediate and very dramatic. Or maybe you grew up in a home where silence was your primary discipline strategy. Those patterns do not disappear automatically when we become parents. They get repeated unless we intentionally interrupt them. But scripture really calls us into a different rhythm. Some of those things that were passed down from our parents were well intentioned but not well received. And so this Friday, we're continuing our Friday Healthy Habit series. Now, last Friday we had a special guest, Jon Acuff. So I'm covering two habits today we're having two. We're doubling up up on our habits. And these habits really go together. If you've been following us from the beginning of the year January, we talked about core four spiritual disciplines. Then we talked about six weeks of rhythms, six rhythms in your family that you need. And right now we're in an eight week series of communication where we're talking about communication habits. These are really practical ways that we communicate and how we spiritually lead our home doesn't matter. The age and stage of your family doesn't matter. If you have children, don't have children, have children in the home, have children who are grown. These are things that can impact every family at every stage. So today we're covering two habits and they're connected. The first one is don't react, respond. I'll talk about that. And the second one is naming and claiming our emotions. But both of these are about emotional maturity and looking at our emotions through a biblical lens. And both create safer homes for our family.

There's a difference between reacting and responding. Don't react: Respond: We live in a very reactive culture

So let's dive in to habit number one. Don't react. Respond. There's a difference between reacting and responding. We want to have an anchor scripture today from Proverbs 29:11. Put on your tough suit, because this is a tough one. Okay. Fools give full vent to their rage, but the wise bring calm in the end. That's a really, really tough. But let's define the difference between reacting and responding. Reacting is instant. It's just whatever you're already primed for, whatever you have harvested in your heart, whatever you've cultivated in your mind, that's exactly what's going to come out at that moment. It's instant, it's emotionally driven, and it is very often unfiltered. It is just going to be that natural response. There was a social media trend not too long ago where kids would conspire with their mom to be disrespectful to them in front of their dad and see how their dad responded. Now, some of them were really funny and some of them were downright scary. I will confess, my son convinced me to go along with this and just said something that was disrespectful. And let me tell you, my husband's Italian, and his reaction was very swift. It came with a lot of. A lot of hand gestures and a lot of, what are you doing? And we had to tell him immediately. It was. It was just a joke. It wasn't really a good joke. I don't recommend doing it, but I did do it. But that reaction is what you see. A response is something that requires emotional maturity. It requires Christian character, it requires fruits of the spirit. It's intentional. It is curated. It is anchored in wisdom. Reaction says, hey, I felt it, I said it, I don't regret it. And response says, I felt it. And I learned to pause before I spoke. And when we look at this cultural context, why we react so fast, we have to acknowledge that we live in a very reactive culture. Social media trains us to respond instantly to everything. We even have a wide variety of responses. It used to be we could just like something. Now we have a wide variety. We can even do that in text messages. You can send any emoji that you want. You can respond with exploding letters. You can put, if you're tech savvy enough, have your grandparents, have your grandkids, help you if you. If you need help. Because my kids help me how you send a balloon on a text. I mean, you can have all kinds of responses that are Amazing immediate, because people want that dopamine hit from your response. The news cycles reward outrage. Algorithms amplify emotional intensity. Even texting culture removes pause and presence. I was talking to a media expert who said the strategy is basically tap that tooth and saying that you have a toothache. We want to tap on that and cause some pain to get a reaction. Well, that's not really healthy. Culture isn't just influencing what we think. It shapes how fast we think, how fast we speak, how fast we respond. And right now, everything around us is training us for immediacy, not intentionality. This is not good. We are constantly being primed to react and speed is rewarded. Let me tell you how social platforms prioritize the quickest response. Whoever responds first, their response is generally going to be filtered to the top. Not the wisest one, the first comment, the sharpest comeback, the most emotionally charged, or if I'm honest, emotionally unhinged. Take those, get the attention, and over time we internalize the idea that fast is more valuable, speed and response is valuable because it's marketed that way. Emotion is amplified. News cycles, online content are decided to are, designed to trigger strong feelings. Anger, fear, outrage. Those are the hot commodities right now because those emotions keep us engaged. Now let's think about what's happening in our home if we're being primed in every area of our life to prioritize in value. Anger, fear, outrage, those are the emotions we're bringing home and those are the emotions we're reacting to our family with. We hear something that we don't like, we feel angry, we feel afraid, we feel outraged. We get used to operating at a heightened emotional baseline. We just have this higher level of emotions. Nuance is lost. Complex situations are reduced to headlines, sound bites, hot takes. Like, we're not going to take time to really talk about all elements of it. It's just, okay, I heard it, I'm responding. My position, here's where I stand. We stop practicing curiosity. We default to assumptions. And that bleeds into our family life. We think we already know what our child meant, so we react before we fully understand. We know what our spouse is saying. We interrupt and we just start saying, oh, I know the answer to this. Let me tell you my hot take. Silence feels uncomfortable. We've lost the muscle in our brain and our bodies that's required for pause, for weight, to process, to sit with something that just feels unnatural, uncomfortable, or even threatening. And we fill that gap quickly, often with words that we have not thought through. Now this is showing up in our homes, what we practice in culture, we are carrying into our closest relationships. If someone shares something vulnerable with us, as I said, we interrupt, we correct, we escalate, we act like we're that automatic little assistant in the corner of our screen. When we have instant help, a, behavior frustrates us. We snap. Stop it. Why can't you stop doing that instead of asking questions? And if we do ask questions, they're really unhealthy questions like how could you do that? Why do you always do that? Why can you never just sit still and a misunderstanding happens and we automatically assume intent instead of seeking clarity. These are not random moments, friends. They are conditioned patterns.

When responses are fast, when they're emotionally charged, children feel unpredictability

Patterns conditioned by culture. And here's where it becomes really costly because these reactions are disrupting the emotional safety in our home. When response are fast, when they're emotionally charged, children feel and spouses feel unpredictability. Like, I'm not sure what's going to happen here. Feel like I'm walking on eggshells. Then I've got a heightened anxiety, I feel a need to self protect. I don't know what's going to explode. What's going to trigger them? Is it seeing a notification on their phone about something that just happened on the news? And they begin to filter what they share? Is this safe to say, I don't want to talk about politics here, I don't want to talk about what's happening in culture because I know it's going to trigger an angry response. I might just say, hey, I saw this on the news. And immediately it's like, oh, the world today. Oh my goodness. I, I'm telling you, I'm just so angry about what I see. And families disengage. They think, okay, if I say this, is it going to make it worse? I think I should just probably handle this on my own. I'm not going to share with you how I feel about things. I'm not going to be vulnerable. And over time, this reaction based environment trains families not to reveal their full selves. This leads to a disconnection because connection requires presence, it requires curiosity, it requires shared emotional regulation and time and reaction shortcuts. All of that. Instead of understanding, we correct. Nope, that's wrong. That's not what happened. That's not how you should feel about that. Nope, that's wrong. Here's what you should think, here's what you should do. Instead of listening, we immediately start lecturing. Oh, you know what the problem is with the world today? Let me tell you what the problem is with the world today. And instead of connecting and try to meet especially our kids where they are, we just want to control. if any of you remember before Life360, before GPS maps, even before you would print out MapQuest from the Internet, like, people would tell you where to go, right? They'd say, and especially maybe you're in a small town. Like, you drive down this road, you take a. A left in the fork at Jimmy' place. You'll see him out there sitting on the porch. And then you go a little ways down the road, you're going to get lost. What'd you do when you get lost? You stopped at a gas station maybe, and you asked for directions. Or you, you would get on a payphone, right? And you'd say, I'm lost. And you do that pretend collect call thing. I know I've just totally lost Gen Z, but that's okay. And what was the first question that the person on the phone would ask? Okay, where are you? Describe to me where you are. Tell me about your surroundings so I can figure out where you are and tell you where to go from there. That's what we need to do with our families and culture. Describe to me where you are. Show me what it looks like where you are. Because you're in a different virtual place than I am. What does the world look like to you? And now I'm going to navigate you back to where you need to go instead of, why did you go there in the first place? And you need to get out of there and figure it out. Behavior might be managed in the moment, but the relationships are going to weaken underneath. Children don't need to be just lectured to. They need to be seen, they need to be known, they need to be loved. They need to be understood. When reaction dominates, conversations become transactional. Just this is the information. Here's how you should feel about it. Emotions go underground. I learned it's not safe to say my emotion about that. So I'm just going to put that down and say, I don't have any emotion. Trust becomes conditional. And that's where disconnection begins in the family. Not in big moments, but in just those repeated small, small ones where your family learns, I'm not fully safe here. I can't share what I think. We've got to have a countercultural shift. Choosing to respond instead of react is deeply countercultural. It means slowing down in a world that's rushing, regulating yourself before connecting, valuing connection over control and choosing curiosity over assumption. And it also means modeling Something your children rarely see elsewhere. Men. Thoughtful, emotionally safe connection. Your home doesn't have to mirror the pace of culture. You can create a different rhythm. We'll talk more about that and the next habit when we come back from this break.

An ultrasound provided by preborn helped Candace hear her baby's heartbeat

 : Candace talks about finding out she was pregnant. Thankfully, an ultrasound provided by preborn allowed her to hear her baby's heartbeat. The sonogram sealed the deal for me. My baby was like this tiny little spectrum of hope and I saw his heart beating on the screen and knowing that there's life growing inside, I mean, that sonogram changed my life. I went from just Candace to mom. Thank you. To everybody that has given these gifts. You guys are giving more than money. You guys are giving love.

 : Preborn currently has clinics that do not have ultrasound machines. Would you consider a leadership gift and sponsor a machine today? These life Saving machines cost $15,000 more than most centers can afford. Your donation will save countless lives for years to come. Dial pound 250 and say the keyword baby or go to preborn.com/AFR

Promises by Maverick City Music: God of Abraham, you're the God of covenant and faithful promises. Time and time again you have proven you'll do just what you said. Though the storms may come and the winds may blow I'll remain steadfast and let my heart when you speak a word it will come to pass. Great is your faithfulness to me. Great is your faithfulness to me. From the rising sun m to to the same same I will praise your name. Great is your faithfulness to me.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Welcome back, friends. That is Promises by Maverick City Music. And I'm, going to share with you that one day I was in a hotel and I got some really. I faced a really difficult situation. And I'll tell you, I went back to my hotel room, I put on that song promises by Maverick City Music and I blasted it. I'm sure my neighbors heard it, heard it, they probably needed to hear it. But really, those words even now come back to me that God was so real in that moment. And I think about the words of that bridge. I put my trust in Jesus, my anchor to the ground, my hope and firm foundation. He's never let me down. And that is an anchor I can hold on to in a world that seems to be going faster and faster.

We're talking about the difference between reacting and responding on Friday's show

Welcome back to our Friday show where we're talking about healthy habits. I'm right in the middle of the healthy habit. We're doubling up this week because we had a special guest last week, Jon Acuff. I encourage you to listen to that show, by the way. Great show, great message. And the message today is these habits. We're in the middle of our communication habits and I'm talking to you about the difference between reacting and responding. And when we look at our, our own hearts, my question for you is where might cultural urgency be shaping your reactions in your home? And what would it look like to intentionally slow that down and to be countercultural and to choose to respond instead of just immediately reacting? So many of us were raised in homes where emotions were not processed. Not only that, they were unwelcome. We weren't welcome to say that we were scared about something. We, something made us sad. You just had to soldier on. They maybe emotions were just expressed explosively. That's the only kind of emotion that you had or just suppressed entirely. Respect sometimes meant be quiet, not communicate respectfully, but just don't communicate, don't talk about that. Big feelings were met with big reactions, not guided understanding. And we inherited this pattern and it became a reflex. Okay, we inherited this pattern of reflex. Feel something, react to it, regret your reaction, but then repeat that cycle again. Feel, react, regret, repeat. And that's what we did. It's just, I'm sorry, I'm sorry I blew up, I'm sorry, I was impatient, I'm sorry I was unkind, but we didn't change it. That pattern has consequences and reaction can be damaging. In families. When parents react impulsively, children learn to hide and so do spouses. Instead of share conversations feel unsafe. Correction is feared rather than received and welcomed. And trust erodes, over time, your family's just not evaluating what you say. They learn what it is feels like to come to you with an emotion with a problem. If your reaction is unpredictable, if it is overly intense, if it feels emotionally unsafe, your families just begin to self protect and they stop talking because they don't trust you. Oh, I know, that's so hard. That's so hard. But that's a tough truth. They stop talking because they fear your response more than they fear the consequences of their own action. They think, whatever happens, however I handle it, it can't be as bad as what the response is. And that's a major emotional safety issue in the home. And healthy homes create this reality. I can, I can share things early. I don't have to hide until it gets worse. I won't be destroyed for being honest, even if I'm struggling. And that only happens when your family experiences a, measured response, a consistent tone, a calm correction, and emotional regulation, especially Coming from parents, you become a safe space, a, safe place, not just a disciplinary force. Good, because, let's be honest, self control is countercultural. But Christianity isn't just shaping that belief. It shapes our behavior. If we really believe it, we'll behave in that way. The Holy Spirit produces self control. The Holy Spirit is not there to make us be impulsive. And wisdom is often slow where culture is fast. Peace requires restraint where emotion demands expression. And we started to idolize our feelings, choosing to respond instead of react. It's not just a personality trait, it's a character formation. So before you respond, you've got to practice the pause. We've said that before. I've heard other guests say that before. Practice the pause. You hear something on the news, you hear something from your kid, you hear something from your spouse. Stop, breathe, pray briefly, even if it's just, lord, help me, then speak. Even just a five second pause can change the entire trajectory of a conversation. And that changes relationships. What would change in your home if your church, if your family know this? Hey, my, my family is steady. My parents are steady. My spouse is steady, even when I feel unsteady. Now, a lot of this has to do with habit number two. We're talking about this week. Name and claim emotions. So let's dive into this idolatry that we have of our emotions. Our scripture is comes from Psalm 139, verses 23 and 24. Search me, O God, and know my heart. See if there be any grievous way in me, and leave me in the way everlasting. God knows our heart, every emotion that is seated there. And many families are missing that emotional piece. We have a spectrum of extremes here, where we have homes with no emotions at all. Emotions are suppressed, and families only talk about logistics, about schedules, about grades, about meals, about behavior, about responsibility, about events. But rarely do some families talk about what's underneath it all, the heart. And when emotions go unnamed, they don't disappear, they intensify. On the other side, we have families that are all emotion all the time. Everything's anger, fear, outrage, disgust, disappointment. But we're not really talking about those feelings in a healthy way. We're just flooding our house with them and feeling them in this toxic emotional bath. Naming emotions matters. Emotional literacy is not optional, it's foundational. When you can name your emotions, you gain clarity. Instead of feeling confused, you reduce that impulsive reaction. You increase self control, which is a fruit of the spirit. You communicate your needs more effectively and better. Equip your family to Meet your needs instead of just responding to your emotions. Instead of, I'm fine, you start to say, I feel overwhelmed. You know, I feel really dismissed. I feel anxious about what's happening here. I feel uneasy. And that shift alone transforms communication in your home. Now, we have to recognize emotions are signals. They are not commands, they are not taskmasters here. And this is a key truth for families. Emotions are indicators, not dictators. They tell us what's happening inside of us, but they don't have to control what comes out of us. When families learn this, you start to pause before reacting in emotion. You choose healthier coping responses. You know what to do when you feel angry, when you feel anxious, when you feel afraid, when you feel uneasy, when you feel dismissed or disrespected. You invite God into that emotional processing. Now, emotions can be redirected into spiritually healthy responses. Anxiety means, okay, I'm going to pray about that. I'm going to surrender that anxiety to the Lord. Anger means I need some boundary setting. I need some wisdom, sadness. We've got psalms of lament, we've got verses of comfort, fear. We can speak the truth of God's word and we can trust in God's sovereignty. This is not suppression of emotions. It is stewardship in a bit, in a biblical way. Now emotional literacy is having a cultural moment, and it is not all good. Again, there's a pendulum here, and we've got to find the right place there. In many spaces, emotional literacy is commodified, it's simplified, and it's really not based on biblical truth. Now emotions have become a product that people can buy and sell. You can package emotion and make it into quick sound bites. It makes you more likely to buy something, to engage in something. Emotions are turned into aesthetic content like devotionals. Feel calm. Buy this little Bible marker. Don't you want to feel this calm here? Well, you need these Bible tabs, you need these Bible highlighters, or it's reduced to slogans like protect your peace or hey, live your truths. Cut off anything that triggers you. And now it's so much. Not only are we expected to not avoid any emotions that might make us uncomfortable, we expect everybody else to not have any emotions that are uncomfortable or triggering. And there is a balance there. We want to be honest, we want to be honoring of people who have experience, experience who are experiencing difficulty. But at the same time, we gotta do that with a biblical foundation. So at first glance, this cultural marketing, it seems empowering, but it's an incomplete instead of forming people, it's just marketing to them. Courses, apps, influencers, content stream, these all offer emotional growth as something that you consume rather than something that's cultivated as a fruit of the spirit. Emotions are identity markers instead of internal signals. And validation of your emotion is prioritized over transformation and self control. So in this framework, I feel it, it's gotta be true. Discomfort, something to avoid at all cost. I do not want to be uncomfortable for any moment. I want instant gratification. If I'm hungry, I want doordash. If I'm bored, I want instant entertainment. There will be no toleration of any buffering, any waiting boundaries or barriers. And that is, that is how it gets hijacked. Because feelings become the authority. They're authoritative instead of informative, instead of informing us. Hey, you're feeling this way. This is a signal that you need to pay attention to what's going on in your life and you need to choose a healthy coping mechanism. Self protection overrides relationship repair. It's more important for me to feel comfortable than to engage in this conversation and, repair our relationship. Expression is emphasized, but that emotional regulation is neglected. So it's just like, however you feel it, be your authentic self. Let that anger out, let that fear out. Scream primally, whatever it is. Personal truth is replacing objective truth. So instead of helping people navigate emotions wisely, it unintentionally reinforces that impulse. Impulsivity. It justifies disconnection. I don't like the way you make me feel. I cut you off. And it weakens resilience. It teaches people to honor every feeling, but not steward it in a biblical way.

A biblical lens reframes emotional literacy as awareness of how you feel

Now let's go to a biblical worldview of emotional stewardship. Scripture never dismisses emotions. There are intense emotions in scripture, but it also never puts them in charge. A, biblical lens reframes emotional literacy as awareness of how you feel. Surrender to the sovereignty of God and transformation of your character. I mean, look at that posture in Psalm 139. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Lead me in the way everlasting. That's emotional awareness, but with God as the authority, not ourselves. Now, the key differences in source of truth. Culture says my feelings define my truth. The biblical. So biblical worldview says God's truth interprets my feelings. Culture says emotions should be expressed and validated. The Bible says emotions are to be understood and lead to transformation. Culture says, hey, avoid anything that feels uncomfortable. Escape it, eliminate it. And the Bible says, endure, process, grow. Go through it for relational impact. Culture says, hey, prioritize yourself, preserve Yourself, Nobody's going to protect you but you. No one's going to advocate for you but you. The Bible says, hey, deny yourself. Pick up your cross and follow me. Pursue reconciliation, as far as it depends on you. Live peaceably with others. We, we seek those biblical characteristics when what biblical emotional literacy looks like in practice is naming your emotion. Honestly, I hurt. This hurts. I feel pain, and submit it to God. Lord, show me what is true here. And then choosing your response wisely, how can I act in a way that reflects Christ? It's not suppression. This is alignment with the word and character of God. And this matters for families because if we only teach cultural emotional literacy, kids learn to center themselves in every situation, to really disengage and quit when things get hard, and to equate feelings with facts. If I feel it, it must be true, when that's not the truth all the time. If we teach biblical emotional literacy, our family is going to learn to recognize and respond to our emotions without being ruled by them, to stay connected even when it's tough, even when it's uncomfortable, even when it hurts, even when it's hard to seek truth, not just validation, and to grow in both self awareness and self control.

When culture hijacks that emotional literacy, it elevates feelings to the throne

Now, emotions are powerful, but they were never meant to be the defining authority in our life. They're indicators. They're not leaders. And when culture hijacks that emotional literacy, it elevates feelings to the throne. When scripture, shapes it, emotions take their rightful place under the guidance of truth, the influence of the spirit, the goal of transformation. Are your emotions driving your decisions? Are they being shaped and guided by truth? Scripture doesn't avoid emotion. It shows us how to recognize it, express it, and steward it well. Here are a few clear snapshots of emotional literacy in action. In the Psalms, David names his emotions plainly. Fear, anger, grief, terror, even despair. But he doesn't stop there. He consistently turns those feelings back to God and trust. And it shows us that emotional honesty is healthy, but it's meant to lead us back toward God, not away from him. And Jonah had unprocessed emotion. He was angry when God showed mercy to Nineveh. And instead of processing that anger rightly, he resisted God's perspective. And we learn when emotions go on unexamined. They harden our hearts and distort our views of God and others. Hannah, when she longed for a child, she poured out her sorrow before the Lord over her infertility. She didn't suppress her pain. She brought it honestly to God. And we learned that emotional pathway was a deeper connection to deeper dependence on God. Peter reacted quickly. He cut off a soldier's ear. He denied Jesus, but later he becomes more grounded and steady in his leadership. And it shows that emotional impulsivity can be reshaped over time into maturity and self control. And Jesus himself wept at last. Death felt deep anguish in Gethsemane, expressed righteous anger in the temple, but he did not sin. Emotions are not the problem. How we steward them matters. You can still feel deeply and respond in the character of God. We'll have more and Homefront headlines when we come back.

 : Do you believe in the absolute inerrancy of God's holy word? Do you believe in the power of the Holy Spirit to radically change lives and empower us to live like Christ? At Wesley Biblical Seminary, we believe God is raising up a movement of people across our nation and across the world who hold fast to the authority of the Bible and the hope of holiness. We are working today to equip tomorrow's pastors and Christian leaders through biblical and theological education in practical ministry that's accredited, affordable, online and highly personal. Our programs include undergraduate, master's and doctoral degrees, certificate programs, and even training for lay people. So whatever your next step is in being equipped for ministry, we're here for you. And if you believe these are the kinds of pastors we need leading our churches in the future, we invite you to learn more about partnering with us through giving. Learn more about Wesley Biblical Seminary by visiting us at wbs.edu

Mighty Name of Jesus by Hope Darst and The Belonging Company: I pray into the atmosphere. Spirit of God, you're here. You have all authority. I pray over my heart and mind. I am healed by by your stripes. Your blood declares that I am free. In the mighty Name of Jesus I pray. Coming on the power of heaven I proclaim every weapon formed against me must break in the mighty name of Jesus.

 : M.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Welcome back friends. That is the Mighty Name of Jesus by Hope Darst and the Belonging Company welcome back to this Friday. We're talking about two healthy habits. We're doubling up this week had a special guest last week. We're talking about responding instead of reacting and naming and claiming your emotions. And I'm about to get to home front headlines where I'll tell you about what I'm following in the news and why it matters for your family and how we should respond to it. But let me just give you some concluding thoughts on that responding and emotions. Biblical emotional literacy isn't about ignoring your feelings or about being ruled by them. It's about naming them honestly, taking them to God and allowing truth, biblical truth, to shape that response. And some of us may have had emotional neglect in childhood and that deeply impacts us sometimes just as much or some cases even worse than physical abuse when we don't know how to have that attachment, when we have had that emotional wound. But you can change the way that your home is. You can have an emotionally healthy home and emotionally healthy homes that are grounded on biblical worldview. Feelings are acknowledged, not dismissed. Conversations go beyond behavior and into the heart. Parents model emotional awareness and regulation and scripture becomes a part of that emotional reflection. In your practical family practice, you can just once a day just ask, what are you feeling? Where do you feel that in your body? What does it make you feel like? Do you feel that in your head? It gives you a headache, it makes your heart race. And what do you think triggered that emotion? And how do we reflect that? And the truth of God's word? What would shift in your home if emotions weren't something to fix, to suppress, or something to idolize and live by, but something just to understand that is a way that God is trying to teach you through those emotions. What might God begin to heal if your family learned to name what's really going on inside and go to God's word for transformation. Today's habits are simple, but really not easy. Don't react, respond, name and claim your emotions. Both create the same outcome though a home where truth can be spoken, emotions can be processed, and relationships can actually deepen instead of fracture. Because the goal isn't just better behavior, it's healthier hearts. And that's what we want.

A large study found people are speaking 338 fewer words per day since 2004

Now we come to home front headlines. This is where I'm going to share with you, some of the headlines that I've been following. And again, what happened, why it matters for your family, how you should respond. And so many of these headlines are related to the habits that we are learning together. And story one number one comes to you today about a decline in daily conversation. When we're talking about communication. A large study found people are speaking about 338 fewer words per day each year since 2004. Okay, this really stopped me in my tracks. Since 2005, daily speech has dropped nearly 28% overall. People are simply talking less now. We're online more. But there is, there is not no way that technical communication, text messages and, and social media messages that disappear can replace that in person. Healthy communication. And we see this is because we have texting, we have app based communication. We don't have to speak to someone to Order food even you just go to the kiosk or order it on your app. We have self checkout. We're not talking to people who are checking us out in the grocery store. Automation. There's just less face to face interaction and the result is fewer everyday conversations and shrinking communication habits. Now this matters for families because conversation is the foundation of connection and attachment. Fewer words is fewer emotional check ins, fewer spontaneous bonding moments, fewer opportunities to keep teach communication skills that are going to be essential for life and children especially growing up. Gen Z, gen Alpha, gen beta coming up behind them, they struggle with language development. They feel less emotionally connected. They just don't have opportunity to practice meaningful conversations. I'll tell you one of my children in particular struggled with this and so we stayed after church. We were always the last people to leave church and we just looked for opportunities to practice walking up to someone, making eye contact, shaking their hands, saying hi, how are you doing today and starting a conversation. Homes risk becoming logistical hubs instead of relational spaces. And families need to respond by really making sure you're having face to face conversation rhythms. And some of these we're going to cover this summer in our tech habits. But just having no phones at the table, no phones in the car, that's two places where conversation can thrive. I know we've all been in a restaurant where you look around and you see people are just plugged into their phones and not talking to each other. So we just made that a family norm. And my kids can call me out on that as they often do. No phones at the table. Mom and I, I honor that. But just narrating life with younger kids, just skip the kiosk maybe and go up to the counter if there's in person ordering, interact with the person. Have real life ask for that one conversation a day. Prioritize presence over efficiency. at our dinner table we do highs and lows. And where did you goes and tell you about your day? I've heard also high, low and buffalo. Tell me something that's going great for you, tell me something that's not going so great for you and tell me something interesting. That's three different conversation threads that you can follow.

We need to be talking more now where kids are talking more with AI

We need to be talking more now where kids are talking more is with AI. I've been talking a lot about this. And buckle up for the summer friends because we're going to do a deep dive into AI on especially on Fridays. We know that kids are talking more to chatbots. It used to be that we'd go to the encyclopedia for Answers. And then it was Google and now it is AI, which is very interactive. Now one of the interesting implications of AI that actually my producer happened to see last week was that Southern Baptist entities and other religious, affiliations. Affiliations and groups, they are looking at, okay, AI is here. It is not going away. This is like saying, don't use a smartphone ever. Like, it's just not going to happen. And so we see faith based groups that are exploring AI tools. And this in particular is a Southern Baptist group that is looking at a tool called Faithbot. It is an AI tool. Now over 600,000 users have engaged this tool since 2025 and it's being used by pastors for sermon prep, by people for Bible study support, and just by anyone who is asking spiritual questions. And some users, here's the really important thing. Some users are asking questions that they wouldn't ask in person. Maybe they don't have the courage to ask somebody in real life life. Now again, there's all kinds of implications and theologians are wrestling over this. Is this good? Is this harmful? We don't know. But the truth is if there's not faith based alternatives that are there, then people are going to chat to copilot, to whatever other platform is out there. And is that really where you want to outsource your discipleship? Now this matters for families because AI is not just a tech tool. AI is not neutral. We've been told for decades that technology is neutral. That is not the case with AI. AI actively shapes our worldview every time we engage with it. And it is becoming a spiritual influence because families can outsource discipleship or theological questions or spiritual formation. And that risks replacing relational discipleship in person with a real human to just digital answers that are given quick. And it reduces those conversations between parent and child about deeply spiritual things. Why is the sky blue? Why is the grass green? Why does a, good God allow bad things to happen in the world? These are conversations that need to be happening in trusted relationships, not just with a chatbot. I also am concerned about Bible translation. You don't know if Bible verses are being translated correctly, what version of the Bible is being translated, or if it's even a Bible verse at all. This has been a subject of public discourse. So how should we respond to this? Well, we got to remember, AI is a tool. It's not a teacher. It is a tool, not a teacher. It is a resource, not an authority. We've got to really work in our families to keep, keep discipleship relational and personal, encourage Kids to ask questions out loud to wrestle with their faith in community. We cannot be scared of kids questions about their faith. We talked about this. I had a great conversation with Lee Strobel about this, about kids asking questions. This is developmentally normal. It's normal for kids to question their faith. That's how it becomes their own. So instead of being afraid of their questions, shutting them down and saying, no, that's wrong, let me give you that little answer in a box that you need to take. Let's lean into that and surround them with people who will walk with them through those questions, who will lean into that, who will point them to biblical truth and scriptural wisdom. And so we. But we've got to make sure that parents are the primary voice of spiritual formation. And we talk so much about what's happening in the public square. And parents are afraid of losing their rights and what people are going to tell their kids and education and healthcare. But we're outsourcing that in our very own home. And, they, our kids have access to AI, chatbots that they can ask first before they even come to us. So don't let that happen in your home.

Growing wave of young men exploring faith means church needs to define biblical manhood

Another thing that's related and headlines that are popping up is a growing wave of young men exploring faith. And we have seen so often, there have been a lot. There's a lot of complex conversation about the feminization of the church, about feminine church resources, how there's women's Bible study, there's women's mentorship, there's women's ministry. But men's ministry, men's resources, men's devotionals, those things have been lagging behind. And the church is really being challenged to define biblical manhood clearly, because we have young men, especially in Gen Z, who are searching for what is my identity, what is my purpose this on this earth, and who is a good leadership model to follow. And this matters for families because boys are forming identity in a very confusing cultural landscape where lots of different brands of masculinity are being shown to them. And without guidance, they may adopt cultural extremes of masculinity, distorted views of strength and leadership. And families can play a really critical role in shaping and their character, their responsibility and their spiritual leadership. What does it mean to be a man? And families need to respond to this rising wave, because what I see is young men asking these questions and going to online influencers. And that is obviously not a biblical model. They didn't have that technology. But when we look at a biblical model, we saw men walking with other Men and women mentorship. We saw, we see so many models of that of where men were training other men and walking with them in real life and looking at those mentors who were physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually present in that person's life, who were discipling with intentionality, who were teaching strength with humility, leadership with service and most of all creating space for honest conversations about identity and purpose. Things that weren't just one sided. That is really important because when we see what's going online. I want to give a disclaimer for this next story. Block those little precious innocent ears. This is not a story for young ears but these are the kinds of things that young men, young boys are being exposed to and young girls. I want to go back to Roblox. We've been talking a lot about Roblox. That is a very widely used platform by millions and millions of children. That is widely perceived as safe. But but just recently, and this is beyond the other risks that, that we've been talking about that are associated with Roblox and a report that even called it a pedophile hellscape. There was a report about a controversial Roblox game that included a school shooting simulation and very dist disturbing satanic imagery. Now the Gator. The game was later banned after backlash. I'm so grateful for this because it means parents were engaged, they were watching what their kids were engaging with and they spoke up. And this matters for families because children who are exposed to violent and dark themes in gaming environments need to not be exposed to that. Those platforms are user generated and they lack consistent content filtering. We're talking about desensitization to violence, confusion about good versus evil and a very, it can be a traumatic experience. So what families should do about it, Be actively involved in the platform your kids are on, what kids play, how platforms work. Don't assume that kid friendly means safe. Have open dialogue about the content. They're seeing clear boundaries for gaming and teach discernment. Does this align with truth, goodness and what honors God?

Engaging in enjoyable activities protects brain health and reduces cognitive decline for parents

And because it's Friday and I'm going to leave you on a fun note, my last story is a study found that engaging in enjoyable activities protects brain health and reduces cognitive decline for parents. So parents and grandparents, those that engaged in family hobbies, who engaged in family outings and mentally stimulating fun. This matters because family life today is often task driven. It's productivity focused, joy, joyful interaction. Having fun together strengthens your relationship, strengthens your mental health and makes you more resilient in the long term. So prioritize play and enjoyment as value. Do something fun with your family this weekend. It's good for your health in so many ways. Listen. Prioritize conversation over convenience, presence over technology, discipleship over over outsourcing and emotional death over surface level living. Where can your family intentionally connect this week and have fun this weekend as you do? I pray the Lord will bless you and keep you and make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you and hey, I'll see you right back here on Monday. We'd like to thank our sponsors including PreBorn. PreBorn has rescued over 400,000 babies from abortion and every day their network clinics rescue 200 babies lives. Will you join PreBorn in loving and supporting young moms in crisis? Save a life today. Go to preborn.com/AFR the views and

Jeff Chamblee: opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.