I’m a therapist and have referred clients to Ron’s book for years. The podcast is one more amazing resource for them!

I thought that remarriage and integration of my family and my SO would be easy. Why is it so hard? Why didn’t anyone tell me all the potential pitfalls? Well, here is an amazing and invaluable resource for step-families and those contemplating blending families.

Thank you for having the Whitney’s on. Their testimony was life changing. Please please please, if anyone is struggling with step children situations, Blended is here and episode 129 is the one that comforts about all understanding. I pray God gives you understanding and peace. ‘Wait, & Wait, & Wait’. because Love is patient. It keeps no records of wrongs. 1 Corinthians 13. Amen.

Hey, I just found your podcast and the let set episode had me tearing up hearing how the kids wrote letters for their parents vow renewal, especially the one where the daughter refers to her “stepmom” as “mom”. My floods don’t call me “dad”, and have come from a background with dad trauma. We have a whole story to our married and blended family life so far, since I came in with no kids and became an instant dad to 5. Thank you for what you do! Side note: I am starting a ministry on YouTube for blended family dads and husbands so I would appreciate any encouragement as I am just starting out. Be blessed brother!

Working with FLB literally changed our trajectory as a stepfamily. It’s so important to know you are not alone on the journey. Ron & team-thanks so much for the work you do to create this podcast resource! We loved guesting, too, and Bill and I look forward to coming back soon! 🤩 ~Jen, Bold & Blended Stepmoms Podcast

This podcast is wonderful for any blended family that is looking for resources and guidance in their journey! We highly recommend it. Scott & Vanessa M. - Blended Kingdom Families

A must-listen to for all who want insight into blending families, especially those trying to do so. There’s a whole lot of wisdom and truth about the difficulties, complexities and the hope we can have in trying to blend.

If you’re struggling with the complexities of being in a blended family, this podcast is a great resource to help you understand the why of what you’re going through. I’m in a blended family and I lead a blended adults life group. Every episode I listen to has at least a nugget that applies to my situation. Most of them have entire gold mines. Not to mention it gives me so much insight into what the people in my group are experiencing. Knowing you’re not the only one with a complex situation and understanding why things are the way they are, are the first steps to moving your family to more healthy relationships with each other.

If you feel like your blended family relationship is more difficult than it needs to be, this show will help you see that you are not alone! It has been so helpful to shatter our unrealistic expectations of a nuclear family and rebuild new expectations of what our blended family can look like. We’ve paired the podcast with Preparing to Blend and The Smart Step Family, and it has led to many difficult, yet rewarding conversations. We finally have hope for our future together.

I stumbled onto FamilyLife blended and I’ve been binging back episodes. As I’ve listened, I’ve heard so many good nuggets for myself and my family’s situation and family/friends. I share it often and find so much value. Thank you for your efforts, such a blessing to me!

Ron and his guests sure bring very useful insights to an aspect of family life that no one thinks much about but which is very much a type modern family structure (blended family) both inside and outside the church. Anyone who is, will be or is likely to be a member of a blended family should que into this podcast intensely for the wisdom shared.

So thankful for Ron Deal and for this ministry. I have learned and grown and been challenged and blessed by it! Thank you!!

I love this podcast. While not all blended families look alike, something out of each episode connects with me as I navigate being a stepparent 4.5 years in. It also gives me insight into others in my life who also have blended family dynamics. Thanks Ron! Your ministry is a blessing!

I’m so grateful for Family Life Blended. I found it after reading The Smart Stepmom, and it has served us in so many ways. My husband and I walked through death and divorce before we met and the podcast has helped us understand more about the similarities and differences of each situation. Having nine kids means we have nine different reactions to our new family so we need all the wisdom and insight we can find.

So much information and inspiration on how to make it work in a blended family. I didn’t know how much I didn’t know. But Ron Deal knows, thank God. Makes the extra challenges seem more manageable.

So grateful to have found FLB... wish we would have found it sooner! I have learned so much through the podcasts and resources from FLB and I have grown immensely as a Christian woman, wife, mom, and (with boundaries) a stepmom... now to convince the young adult SKs and Biomom through continuing to be me and loving the way Christ calls us to. Kidding but not kidding! It’s a slow path, but it’s being traversed step by step, small victory by small victory.

So grateful for this resource! As a happily married woman, I never imagined I would need this info. Then my husband was killed and my whole world was dumped upside down. I realized that loving again would require me to blend my family. I began scrambling to learn about how to steward my children’s hearts toward a different future than what my late husband and I had dreamed. This podcast has taught me that God does do overs. Just because my first family was lost, in a way, it doesn’t mean God can’t redeem and bless a new hope and future for us. And this is true for all the listeners of blended families. No matter how you got here, there can be a new story for you! I second what other reviewers have said. More content on blending families through death and loss would be VERY helpful. What do you do when you’ve been a solo parent and sole decision maker? When some of your children are always home and some split their time? When your children are hungry for a father/mother figure in their life instead of guarded against a new step parent. These are issues I’d love to see tackled.

I LOVE this podcast, but would love to see more for the widowed - particularly couples who are both widowed and plan to “blend”. Widowhood and divorce both involve loss, but they are dramatically different. For instance I think there is A LOT of false guilt about moving forward among the widowed. After all, we did not end our marriages by choice. There can be a sense of betrayal to our late spouse just in the fact that we opened our hearts again ! There can be insecurity from the new spouse, just in knowing they would not even be in our life if the our first spouse had not died. On top of that children grieving an actual death of a parent is way different than children grieving the end of their parents marriage. I am giving this show five stars because it is so well done and I am sure is VERY valuable to divorced and remarried couples, but I really hope to see more for those of us who are navigating grief and new love. In divorce you don’t usually still love the former spouse. At least not in a romantic way. When you are widowed and fall in love again you are in the very awkward position of being in love with two people : one living and one dead. To make matters worse, no one who isn’t also widowef seems to understand this. They often interpret your moving forward as being “over” your late spouse and your grief. This can cause all kinds of hurt feelings. So in short, PLEASE HELP THE WIDOWED ! There really not much out there for us !

I LOVE this podcast. I love how transparently everyone expresses themselves without being judged but instead understand where the feeling are coming from and be able to sooth us step moms. I love listening to other moms and their experiences. What I love the most is how they involve God, because without him nothing is possible and he gives us the strength and wisdom to cope with a blended family.

As a stepmom of 4, I really needed a group of resources to navigate our marriage and blend well. I’m so grateful for the wisdom in this podcast and the guest that have resulted in a wide range of resources in people and content. We want to do our hard well and this has been an invaluable tool for us to do that.

I am so thankful for this podcast. I’m preparing to start my first marriage, but my fiancé’s second. He has two kids of his own (14 and 7) and thanks to this podcast we are not discouraged by how they react to some things, but instead we are prepared to respond the best we can. We have also been given great things to talk about and discuss prior to marriage that will prepare us for our best possible future!

I love this podcast! So glad I found a source of wise counsel and godly perspective as I navigate my divorce and am now preparing to get re-married. Both of our ex-spouses have significant difficulty accepting and respecting boundaries. Whether it’s calling or stopping over to frequently to see the children, saying inappropriate or hurtful things, or choosing to be manipulative, I would love to hear a podcast in how to set firm boundaries in a way that honors God and protects my future spouse.

While I found this podcast to help me navigate my new life with a new special someone, I found myself having more epiphanies of my own self, thoughts, and behaviors as a child, how they shaped who I am, and how it has shaped how I have helped my children through my divorce. I really appreciate the multitude of perspectives brought to the show, the biblical foundation to it all, and notes I can take away on how to do it better for the future.

I stumbled upon this podcast when I was looking for resources for our newly formed step-family. Ron's book, The Smart Stepfamily, was a game changer for my husband and I so when I saw that this was a FamilyLife podcast I knew i needed to give it a listen. I have made it through about half of the sessions so far and it has helped me tremendously. Not only has it given us grace for each other as stepparents and bio parents, but it has helped us understand what our kids are feeling and given us tools to help them navigate their emotions. I recommend this to everyone I can think of, including my parents who went from 1 to 3 grandkids overnight when my husband and I got married a little over a year ago. This is just what we needed to get a great start to our marriage!

My wife and I just stumbled onto this and the timing was divine. We are newly married and struggling big time with our blended family. Every word we have read and listened to of yours has truly spoken right to our hearts. We are indeed on a better trajectory now thanks to you! Thank you so much for all the work you and your ministry does. You have changed our family tree!

I went through a divorce 5 years ago and when I started dating my now fiancé I thought I had a pretty good idea of how step families worked because I grown up in two different households after my parents divorced. Not the case! Every child, every parent, and every relationship is different. This podcast highlights that, which can be daunting, but it also draws out principles, biblical concepts, and practical wisdom from all different kinds of unique relationships.

I love this podcast! I haven’t been able to find such helpful information before. Every single podcast is helpful!

This is one of the very best podcasts on Blended!

I found this podcast a few months ago, and I am so grateful for it! I am engaged to a wonderful, Christian man, who has 2 precious, little girls, ages 5 and 7. I never intended on having children; however, God has placed the sweet girls in my life. I want to be the best, Godly stepmom I can be. And I want our family to blend healthily, to love wholly and to grow closer to the Lord. This podcast has helped and given me so many tools and really enhanced my perspective. I am truly grateful! A+++

I so love this podcast! I am a 42 year old single woman who found you through FamilyLife Today. I started listening because I was dating a widower with kids. While that relationship did not pan out, I continue to listen to the podcast. I realize statistically speaking, most men I date at this age will probably (not definitely, but probably) have been married before & either widowed or divorced. So I am storing things up to fall back on for my next dating relationship, if there is one. But even if there is not, there are many things I can apply to other relationships or that I can use to encourage others in those situations. So thank you for the great podcasts that address a wide range of issues that may come up in stepfamilies: some things that I had specific questions about & other things I didn’t even know I needed to learn!

I love this podcast! It is so helpful for my blended family. I loved podcast 28, hearing from children of divorce about their stories and perspectives as they often get overlooked.

I was first introduced to Ron Deal when my husband, then boyfriend/fiancé, was recommended to us by a Christian counselor that we were seeing. He encouraged us to read Dating the Single Parent. Then he came to our church, North Point, to speak last year. Then we joined a short-term stepfamily small group and used his material, The Smart Stepfamily, as our curriculum. And, he just recently spoke at our church again a few weeks ago. (So he’s practically family- or at least in MY head he is.) We’re 5+ months in, me being 40+ never-married, and him being divorced with 3 kids. Even after going through premarital counseling, a stepfamily small group, receiving ongoing mentorship, going to a counselor regularly, attending and serving at church together, praying together, and reading John Gottman material, being a stepmom is HARD! I’ve felt frustrated, alone, angry, resentful, trapped, miserable, anxious, misunderstood, and unequipped. Ron mentioned the Podcast during his most recent visit to NPCC, so I finally checked it out. As you can imagine, being quarantined with an 11, 13, and 15-year-old for half the week has been challenging and has tested my patience, (which I failed by the way). My husband and I have been struggling because I have the veteran teacher boundaries and limitations mindset, whereas he has the subconscious inconsistent divorced dad guilt. To save my sanity, I’ve been putting these podcasts on and going for long walks- just taking in all that Ron and his guests have to say. Over the last few days of listening, I’ve paused and written things down, rewound and listened again, laughed, cried, talked to the podcast as though it were a LIVE person, and have begun to feel hopeful again. I’m filling my head and heart with God’s truth, and that’s brought me encouragement, peace and calmness. Their words have poured over me and given me clarity. I feel understood, I feel like I had a tribe, and I’m reminded that I am indeed NOT a failure. “Crockpotting” can go wrong sometimes- so just try the recipe again! I feel more empathetic, compassionate, and I’ve taken a lot of wisdom and strategies, which is helping me not get so overwhelmed by the complexity of what comes with a blended family. I feel like these podcasts could really to get us on the same page a bit more if we listened together or separately, which I’m hopeful of. Thank you Ron for dedicating yourself to a ministry that is SO needed!

As a soon-to-be step mom, this podcast has been very helpful to me. It’s given us a lot of good things to talk over as a couple, as well as positive ways to tackle issues that are likely to arise and make the transition a smoother one. Highly recommend!

Thank you for providing practical and biblical help for those who really need a therapist, but can’t afford one. I am truly getting my therapy for free! 😀

This podcast is practical, super helpful, full of hope for me, a third wife who shares seven adult children, their spouses, and now seven grandchildren. It is never too late to learn and grown.

I am thankful to have found this podcast. I often feel like I’m the only one struggling with my thoughts/abilities to make a blended family work. Every episode has given me a sense of community and hope that we can get through the struggles of blending our lives. Thank you for this!

Thank you guys so much!

The Smart Step Family book was recommended to us by our premarital counselor and I just recently discovered this podcast. I listen on my commute to and from work and it has helped in incredible ways. The Lord is changing my heart through this podcast. I also learned about the weekend to remember and signed up! If you are in a blended family, whether it’s going good or bad, you need this podcast in your life. It has encouraged me to want to start a stepfamily ministry at our church and I’m excited to see what the Lord does with our story. There are not many resources out there for stepfamilies and I was beginning to feel defeated, so thank you for all you do for our community ❤️ Your wisdom is priceless!

This podcast was just what I needed. I don’t know why the episodes stopped. Very sad.

There is no one better than Ron Deal when it comes to helping couples navigate the troubling waters of a blended family. His “Smart Step Family” line of books and videos are the gold standard for step family resources/materials. We saved our marriage and countless others with these tools. We love the podcasts as they add even more material to help us and others continue to grow in Christ and in love for each other. Thank you Ron!

Without question, this is absolutely my favorite and THE most helpful podcast ever! I have listened and re-listened to certain episodes, hanging on every word as they are so relatable and candid. The interviews with Rodney & Lisa Webb with counselor Helen Wheeler and the Anderson’s Sharing the ups and downs of their long journey, have been hugely helpful to us as we navigate a similar situation with parental alienation. Like many, we can tend to feel like we are alone in the challenges of step-parenting and blending. This podcast, facilitated by Ron’s kind, insightful and incredibly experienced perspective, is phenomenal. Thank you so much to Ron and the entire family life blended team for providing this invaluable resource!

This podcast has been a major blessing! As a step mom to three kids under the age of 10, trying to navigate something I never imagined I’d be a part of, this resource is invaluable and gives me hope!

I found this podcast after watching the Blended and Blessed simulcast. I have been part of a blended family for over two years now and am just now learning so much. I wish I could have heard this BEFORE getting married! Blended families are hard, get all the wisdom you can. Listen to these podcasts!

My husband and I recently became a blended family and we have used a lot of Ron Deal’s material to assist us on our journey. We also enjoy listening to podcasts so needless to say we were so excited when we saw this podcast release! During our mornings, we’ve been listening to these relatable and encouraging stories from others who are in blended families. Ron Deal does an excellent job in guiding the conversations and touching on important aspects of blending families that can be missed or misunderstood. You need not look any further for a podcast that is enlightening and helpful to you and your blended family. Thank you!

Thoroughly enjoing this new Podcast from FamilyLife. Ron Deal just has a unique way of making complex marriage concepts sound simple and approachable. Love the quality of the production. Not JUST for blended families!