Make Fun a Priority Now – Here's Why!
Focus on the Family with Jim Daly
Focus on the Family
4.7 • 4.5K Ratings
🗓️ 19 September 2025
⏱️ 28 minutes
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Summary
In a world that feels fractured and frustrating, with so much stress and worry, can we still have fun? Is fun worth prioritizing when our schedules are packed and life is hard? Where do faith and fun intersect -- or do they? Annie F. Downs shares all the reasons you not only CAN have fun, but SHOULD.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | God is at work and he's calling his people to rise in truth. Truth Rising is a powerful new documentary from Focus on the Family and the Colson Center. See how ordinary Christians choose courage in a culture that needs truth. Watch Truth Rising today and find out how you can become an agent of restoration and hope. |
| 0:24.1 | Visit truthrising.com today. |
| 0:26.8 | That's truthrising.com. |
| 0:36.0 | Today on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, bestselling author and podcaster Annie F. Downs is going to talk about the importance of pursuing joy. |
| 0:45.1 | What are the moments that make me feel the most alive? What are the moments of fun that I go like, oh, yeah, now this is it? |
| 0:52.2 | Because those moments are giving you a taste of something God has for you in the long run. |
| 0:56.0 | Thanks for joining us today. I'm John Fuller. Well, Annie is a very joyful person, and we're delighted to be able to share that joy with our listeners today. She's sold over one million books. |
| 1:08.2 | That's a lot. That's a lot of books. And is the co-founder of the That Sounds Fun podcast network. |
| 1:14.4 | She splits her time between Nashville, Tennessee and New York City. |
| 1:17.9 | And here's Annie F. Downs speaking to our staff just a few months ago on Focus on the Family with Jim Daley. |
| 1:25.6 | The Bible talks a lot about joy and Christians want to talk about joy. |
| 1:29.8 | I am one of us. |
| 1:30.7 | I'm also a Christian. |
| 1:32.5 | But people want to talk about joy, but they don't want to talk about fun because fun is often considered sinful. |
| 1:39.9 | Right? |
| 1:40.7 | Very often if you say, oh, they are a ton of fun, you're like, how much does he drink? |
| 1:45.5 | Right? Or you're like, what are they really into? Right? Very often if you say, oh, they are a ton of fun, you're like, how much does he drink? Right? Or you're like, what are they really into? Oh, that person's so fun, and you think they stay out late, they're kind of wild, whatever. |
| 1:53.8 | I think we've, by labeling that, we've removed where fun and joy connect. And we've taken fun away from the opportunity that redeemed fun is part of how God made us, |
| 2:05.4 | and it isn't just for children, it's for us too. |
| 2:08.6 | So there is this place where joy and fun and our faith all meat. |
| 2:19.3 | Joy is the thing you feel. |
| 2:20.2 | Joy is the emotion. |
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