Together Forever

John M. Gottman, PH.D., states in his book “The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work” that friendship and trust are at the heart of any marriage. He continues, “bolstering your friendship is so critical in large part because it fuels the romance, passion, and great sex that we all hope marriage will provide.” I agree with Gottman that friendship is such an important part of a marriage. My husband is my best friend. I share everything with him and I believe because of this we have a very strong foundation to our marriage. Although my husband and I have a great friendship our marriage isn’t void of conflict. In Gottman’s book he points out the four horseman which were a real eye opener for me. These four horsemen include: 1. Criticism- you always have some complaint about your partner. 2. Contempt- arises from a sense of superiority over one’s partner. Form of disrespect. 3. Defensiveness- a way of blaming your partner. 4. Stonewalling- one partner tunes out. ...

Is your marriage based on a contract or a covenant? This is the question I found asking myself after reading the talk by Elder Bruce C. Hafen, “Covenant Marriage.” He states, “when troubles come, the parties to a contractual marriage seek happiness by walking away. They marry to obtain benefits and will stay only as long as they’re receiving what they bargained for. But when trouble comes to a covenant marriage, the husband and wife work them through. They marry to give and to grow, bound by covenants to each other, to the community, and to God. Contract companions each give 50 percent; covenant companions each give 100 percent.” Am I completely unselfish and give 100 percent to my marriage? I would like to say with out a doubt yes but at times I don’t give 100 percent and I find myself thinking only about myself. I was married in the temple and made a covenant with my husband and Heavenly Father, but I think I times I forget just how important that covenant is. Although,...

§          I have had a little bit of a struggle in my mind this week. I know and love so many that have same-sex attraction and I have seen them struggle and it breaks my heart when I think about what they must be going through. I felt like I did a lot of soul searching the past few days and have come to the conclusion that I know that our Father in Heaven is in charge and sends true modern-day revelation to our prophets to help answer some of the questions we may have. Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf, apostles for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stated, “never in the history of the world has it been more important to learn how to correctly discern between truth and error, he continues Satan’s primary strategy is to spread seeds of doubt and the Holy Ghost is our guide to the truth.” In “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” the first paragraph states, “We, the First Presidency and the council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus...

                                            President Spencer W. Kimball former president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints said this, “Many of the social restraints which in the past have helped to reinforce and to shore up the family are dissolving and disappearing. The time will come when only those who believe deeply and actively in the family will be able to preserve their families in the midst of the gathering evil around us.”  H e made this statement in 1980 and I believe that we are truly seeing it come to pass in our day. In today’s society marriages and families are not considered to be very important. Americans have become less likely to marry which as a result the marriage rate has declined. We have also seen a decline in the number of children couples are bringing into this world.   I think that a lot of anti-family  me...