Tuesday, April 5, 2011

STRENGTHENING MARRIAGE

Hello! I am so excited to talk about God's plan for us. I felt impresses to write this because many time on my mission this concern comes up. They always want answers so let hear the answers from the prophets. Not being married I admit I do not understand all but I sure do understand lots after seeing different marriages and helping people in their marriages. 


What Is the Lord’s View of Marriage, Family, and Home?

Mark 10:6-8 
“From the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; and they twain shall be one flesh.”

The First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles:“Marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God. … Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities” (“The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” Liahona, October 1998, 24).


What Simple Things Can Build Strong Family Relationships?

Mosiah 4:15 : “Ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another.”
The First Presidency: “We counsel parents and children to give highest priority to family prayer, family home evening, gospel study and instruction, and wholesome family activities. However worthy and appropriate other demands or activities may be, they must not be permitted to displace the divinely-appointed duties that only parents and families can adequately perform” (First Presidency letter, 11 February 1999; see Liahona, December 1999, 1).
President Gordon B. Hinckley: “A good marriage requires time. It requires effort. You have to work at it. You have to cultivate it. You have to forgive and forget. You have to be absolutely loyal” (“Life’s Obligations,” Liahona, May 1999, 4).
“I know of no single practice that will have a more salutary effect upon your lives than the practice of kneeling together as you begin and close each day. Somehow the little storms that seem to afflict every marriage are dissipated when, kneeling before the Lord, you thank him for one another, … then together invoke his blessings upon your lives” (“‘Except the Lord Build the House … ,’” Ensign, June 1971, 72).
“The Family: A Proclamation to the World.”

“Marriage between man and woman is essential to [God’s] eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity.” 1
President Gordon B. Hinckley has taught: “The Church lays great stress on the sanctity of the home and teaches that children are a blessing from the Lord. There is no principle on which the Latter-day Saints lay greater emphasis than the sacredness of the marriage covenant.” Because we know that family relationships can endure eternally, we understand the importance of marrying a righteous person in the right place and creating a home into which God can send His spirit children to be raised in righteousness.

The Sacred Marriage Covenant



From my own experiences of looking at families I see one common thing in strong homes and one common thing in weak homes. We will start out with the good. Strong homes and marriages are built upon the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Meaning we are trying to be like our Savior and do the things He would have us do. When we strengthen our relationship with our spouse we should also strengthen the relationship with our Heavenly Father. It is like a triangle with God and the top and the couple at each of the bottom corners. As we strengthen our relationship with God we also strengthen relationship with our spouse.By family daily prayer and scripture study we are drawing closer together. Life in marriage will not always be easy but when things are worked out life will be better.  Not always will our homes be in perfect shape because there is still gonna be some contention and opposition because we are human. No one is perfect. 
The thing I see in weak homes include not wanting to have a relationship with our Heavenly Father. Others include not having individual and family scripture study and prayer. For a Heavenly home we need to focus on Heavenly things. Reading scriptures and praying to our Heavenly Father is Heavenly things. We have been counseled by our prophet to do the above. 
I know that as we follow the counsel of our prophet our marriages and homes will be strengthened. God will help with it. I know that if you want a truly Heavenly relationship. We need to heed to the counsel from God's servants. As it says in Amos 3:7-Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets. I hope this is accurate. I hope maybe if nothing else the counsel from prophets helps somebody out.
Take Care and I look forward to posting again. 

For a free copy of "Family: Proclamation to the World" go to mormon.org and request a missionary visit. They have copies to give if someone would like one.

Reared by a Father and a Mother

Church leaders have consistently affirmed that children are better off when born and reared in a family with both a mother and a father. The First Presidency made the following statement: “When a man and woman conceive a child out of wedlock, every effort should be made to encourage them to marry. When the probability of a successful marriage is unlikely due to age or other circumstances, unwed parents should be counseled to place the child for adoption through LDS Family Services to ensure that the baby will be sealed to temple-worthy parents.”  
Research by family scholars supports the Church’s position. A recent publication compares children of single or cohabiting parents with children of married parents. While single parents often succeed in rearing well-adjusted, responsible children, the report concludes that, taken as a whole, children who live with married parents are less likely to divorce or become unwed parents themselves, are less likely to experience poverty, tend to have higher grades, are more likely to attend college, and experience lower rates of unemployment. On average, children of married parents also experience better physical and mental health, have lower rates of substance abuse, experience less child abuse, and are less likely to commit suicide or engage in criminal behavior.  A strong, loving marriage is often the best gift parents can give children.

Marriage between Man and Woman

Because of pressures on government to permit marriages between two men or two women, in July 2004 the Church released a statement in support of defining marriage as the lawful union of a man and a woman. This definition is far more than a question of civil rights. Protecting marriage is a matter of deep commitment to an institution established by God our Father. This commitment shapes the moral climate in which mothers and fathers rear their children.
If governments were to alter the moral climate by legitimizing same-sex marriages, gender confusion would increase, particularly among children, and this would further blur the line between good and evil (see Isa. 5:20). Marriage is between man and woman ONLY! That is exactly how God created so why change it?

Love at Home

Marriage is indeed essential to God’s plan, but marriage alone is not the solution to all the problems families might encounter. Elder Neal A. Maxwell (1926–2004) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said: “Deliberate decisions must be made in order to achieve that desirable condition, ‘love at home,’ such as budgeting enough time at home to, among other things, express love to children by adding to their storehouse of happy memories. Singing that song is not enough; it must be matched by wise scheduling to benefit the family, which is often victimized by our busyness.” 
Other deliberate decisions husbands and wives can make include being faithful; overcoming personal weakness, including the tendency to criticize; and serving each other so that love deepens over time—ensuring that “love at home” is not just a trite phrase but a reality that each family can achieve.

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