Help for Growing Great Families

For two Sundays, we've been working around the edges of how to better relate to others in your family. It's really a huge subject, and I spent the better part of a year reading and studying this. It has helped me to relate to others in my family in a more healthy way and to be more healthy myself. Many people have asked me to give them more information, so I want to refer you to two books.

The first is called Extraordinary Relationships by Roberta Gilbert. Dr. Gilbert goes much deeper into concepts that we only briefly discussed last Sunday and today...things like self differentiation, overfunctioning, triangling, fusion, cutoff, balance, etc. At times, it's slightly heavy, but mostly it's easy reading with great examples that will really connect with where you are.

The second is called Family Ties that Bind, by Ronald Richardson. This is a workbook of sorts that will help you think through how these new family concepts apply specifically to you.

I recommend both books to anyone who really wants to make progress in having a more healthy family. Let me warn you, though: this is hard work. The result will be worth it, but it takes time.

Both of these books can be found on Amazon and neither is very expensive. Please note that neither of these books is a Bible study. The Bible has a great wealth of teachings on family and I'm hopeful that someone will write a great book marrying the examples in the Bible with the principles that are outlined and taught in these books. In the meantime, I suggest that you read these books and see the Biblical principles at work through their pages.