It’s rare for a couple to meet, fall in love, marry and parent their children the exact same way. So, how do you become a great step-parent and not feel overwhelmed? How do you embrace differences or deal with challenges and issues when faced with integrating two different families? And how in the world do you handle that obstinate step-child successfully? Get ready to travel the road to strengthening stepfamilies.
FamilyLife Blended® provides timeless wisdom and practical help and hope for blended families and those who love them. Join Ron L. Deal, LMFT, LPC as he and his guests discuss a wide variety of marriage, family, and relationship topics related to blended families. Discover how you can create a blended family and avoid adding more pain or heartache to broken lives. FamilyLife Blended provides biblically-based resources that help prevent re-divorce, strengthen stepfamilies, and help break the generational cycle of divorce. Ron Deal delivers encouragement for those in stepfamilies and those who know them—which is a whole lot of us today. A relevant, real-world outlook with a biblical perspective. The program airs daily (Monday through Friday) on the LifeTalk Radio network. For a complete program schedule for your time zone, please visit: lifetalk.net/program-schedule.
Ron L. Deal is one of the most widely read and viewed experts on blended families in the country. Frequently featured in the national media, Ron has worked full-time in marriage and family ministry. He is a popular conference speaker who conducts “laugh and learn” marriage and family seminars and professional training around the country and online. He specializes in both marriage enrichment and stepfamily education. He is Director of FamilyLife Blended® for FamilyLife®, founder of Smart Stepfamilies™, and the author and Consulting Editor of the Smart Stepfamily Series of books including the bestselling Building Love Together in Blended Families: The 5 Love Languages® and Becoming Stepfamily Smart (with Dr. Gary Chapman), The Smart Stepfamily: 7 Steps to a Healthy Family, and Preparing to Blend. Ron is a licensed marriage and family therapist, and host of the FamilyLife Blended podcast.
Ron has extensive experience with TV, radio, and online media having been interviewed on dozens of national and international broadcasts including Fox News, CNBC, ABC Nightline, WGN-TV News, FamilyLife Today, NewLife Live, Family Talk, Chris Fabry Live, DayStar TV (pictured), and Focus on the Family, and his work has been published/quoted by the Institute for Family Studies, New York Times, Good Morning America.com, The Wall Street Journal, Vox.com, HuffPost.com, CNBC.com, ABC News.com, Today.com, New York Daily News, USA Today, Chicago Tribune, U.S. News and World Report, Consumer Reports, Ladies Home Journal, Yahoo! Lifestyle, Newsweek.com, ChristianityToday.com, and newspapers/blogs throughout the world.
Ron and his wife, Nan, have been married since 1986 and have three boys. Their middle son Connor died unexpectedly in February, 2009 at the age of 12. In his memory, the Deal’s built a therapeutic art center for the Touch a Life Foundation (touchalifekids.org) that rescues and rehabilitates children in Ghana, West Africa from trafficking and child exploitation. Nan Deal has a degree in Early Childhood Education and taught in public and private schools for over 25 years. She and Ron also lead a support group for parents who have lost a child. Together they conduct marriage seminars where they share the principles that have helped transform their relationship from pride, great grief, and alcohol abuse. They know firsthand what it means to say that the old has passed away and the new has come. Discover more information and resources at: rondeal.org.
