Q&A Home > F > Family Matters

• For the last 3-4 month my daughter (16) became increasingly harder and harder to deal with. She is always upset, angry and unhappy. She is fighting with everyone in sight and being very critical of us at home, most of her friends and almost all kids at church. Also she has had and still is having a MAJOR problem with her dad who beats her. I try to keep them apart because they do not get along at all. She is also jealous of her sister who is her dad's favorite. Recently, she started to have problems with me too. She is in my Sunday school class. Now she is complaining that she sees me all the time and she is tired of me being around. Yesterday, after one of those breakdowns, I asked her if I should take her to a psychologist to which she did not reply at all.
• I have an important predicament in my life, stuck between what my family approves and sees what is right for my life and what I feel is right for my life. I met a lovely lady who was born from a Muslim father and a Christian mother. She was ten years old when she converted and was baptized by the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus in the Catholic faith. I was born in a Coptic family, and I have known this woman for a year. She preaches Jesus' name, she is honest, reads the Holy Bible, goes to church, and is living in Christ. My family disapproves and refuses to accept her because one side of her family is Muslim and that our future children will have uncles and aunts who are Muslim on her father's side of family. I told them that there would not be any contact with that side of the family because she has separated from them since she was ten years old. I have never been this happy and joyful, motivated, and keen to be with someone who makes me feel like I am the luckiest man alive. I am encouraged to pray more with her and be close to Jesus more than before I met her. I understand there is a lot of politics and family networks that should happen before a marriage, but to me, the most important aspects in this generation is having Jesus, honesty, love, compassion, and feeling joyful around the other. How am I supposed to live knowing that the most perfect partner for me is there, but my family is disapproving because of her past or one part of her past family that are no longer part of our picture? I need guidance and help. I am feeling depressed and down.
• I'm having some problems within my family. It's just that my family seems to always be having problems. My mother and father fight at least once every week. Usually it's not really that big of a deal, but there have been several occasions where they were going to leave each other and get a divorce. I see myself becoming very distant from my family and don't feel so happy being around them though it is pretty fun to be around them. I am eighteen years old and I just feel that I need more space away from my family to be able to make my own decisions, learn from my mistakes and not be under the control of someone else. How do I go about this? Please pray for me.
• My parents are constantly arguing. They always respond to each other with sarcasm, and neither seems to tolerate the other. My sister and I are away from home most of the year, but are still affected. We're also concerned about our brother, who is left alone to deal with the situation and he is middle school aged. I have heard regrets that I wish I never had. No child likes to hear the fights and regrets of his/her parents. .I am now home on Fall Break, and I feel terribly guilty to find myself bored, even at home! My mom told me not to come home if I was going to complain about being home. I wouldn't have to complain if they could learn to support each other. I am anxious and stressed out.
• My sister and I have a problem communicating with our father. He is hard to please, does not allow us to go out with our friends, nor talk freely on the phone with them. Life for us is just good grades, homework, and house chores with no fun. When will we be able to go out into the world and be independent and learn from our mistakes?