A few quick thoughts, mostly about Women/Mother's!

The following are selected teachings from different leaders of the LDS Church.

"These are very emotional, personal decisions, but there are two principles that we should always keep in mind. First, no woman should ever feel the need to apologize or feel that her contribution is less significant because she is devoting her primary efforts to raising and nurturing her children. Nothing could be more significant in our Father in Heaven's plan. Second, we should all be careful not to be judgmental or assume that sisters are less valiant if the decision is made to work outside the home. We rarely understand or fully appreciate people's circumstances. Husbands and wives should prayerfully counsel together, understanding they are accountable to God for their decisions." ("LDS Women Are Incredible!" Elder Quentin L. Cook, General Conference April 2011)

"Motherhood is the greatest potential influence either for good or ill in human life. The mother's image is the first that stamps itself on the unwritten page of the young child's mind. It is her caress that first awakens a sense of security; her kiss, the first realization of affection; her sympathy and tenderness, the first assurance that there is love int he world." ("To The Mothers In Zion" President Ezra Taft Benson, Feb. 22, 1987 Fireside Address) President McKay continues:"Motherhood consists of three principal attributes or qualities: namely, (1) the power to bear, (2) the ability to rear, (3) the gift to love. ..."

Lastly from President McKay is: "Our young people need love and attention, not indulgence. They need empathy and understanding, not indifference from mothers and fathers. They need the parents' time. A mother's kindly teachings and her love for and confidence in a teenage son or daughter can literally save them from a wicked world." 

I would encourage everyone to find a copy of this Fireside Address and read all of it. There are so many things that he teaches us in here that will only benefit your marriage and your relationship with your children.


Now I would like to share a few things from Sister Julie B. Beck and her talk "Mothers Who Know" from the October 2007 General Conference. You can read this entire talk by following this link: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2007/10/mothers-who-know?lang=eng

The key points from her talk are;
1- Mothers Who Know Bear Children
2- Mother Who Know Honor Sacred Ordinances and Covenants
3- Mothers Who Know Are Nurturers
4- Mothers Who Know are Leaders
5- Mothers Who Know are Teachers
6- Mothers Who Know Do Less
7- Mothers Who Know Stand Strong and Immovable
To learn more about these key points you will need to read her talk, it's very much worth it! 

That is all for today. I will be posting more later this week but it will be about Men/Father's!

Something Sacred

I have so much to share I'm not sure where to start. I want to add to what I shared in my last post about troubled marriages, along with this sometimes comes divorce. The sad fact is divorce happens more than it should. In a talk given by Elder Dallin H. Oaks titled "Divorce" he shared the following, which is from President Spencer W. Kimball.

"Two individuals approaching the marriage altar must realize that to attain the happy marriage which they hope for they must know that marriage. . . means sacrifice, sharing, and even a reduction of some personal liberties. It means long, hard economizing. It means children who bring with them financial burdens, service burdens, care and worry burdens; but also it means the deepest and sweetest emotions of all." (Oaks, LDS Ensign, May 2007, 70-73)

I don't have the perfect marriage but I have a great one and I do know what it means to work at a marriage. I married a man with an ex and five kids I know what it means to sacrifice. I know what financial burden is when it comes to kids but I also know the joy of having my husband and his kids in my life. Sure my life might be easier if I didn't ever marry my husband but would I be as happy or would I be who I am today if I didn't go down this road, maybe, maybe not. 

The past couple weeks I have been studying The Law of Chastity and the Sanctity of Life in my religion class and I would like to share something that stood out to me the most. 

First, the power of procreation is sacred. I've known this all my life but I am understanding it more now. Second, just because you are married and in a committed relationship the attitude of "anything goes" is not the correct attitude when it comes to physical intimacy. Let me give a little background.

Growing up as a member of the LDS Church I was taught not to have sex before I was married. That makes sense right! Well it did to me, I didn't want a kid when I was still a kid myself. I was also taught that there should be no inappropriate touching, either a boy touching me or me touching a boy, under clothes or on top of the clothes. As a teenager I had boyfriends and I started to understand why they said no inappropriate touching, hormones are hard to control and I can understand how people get caught up in the moment. So as an LDS Youth I was taught to be careful and not engage in these activities. Then I got older and was in college and dated more seriously looking for a husband if you will. I was one of the "not typical" young adults because I didn't get married until I was 25. When I did get married I wasn't really counseled about sex or physical intimacy and what was acceptable and what wasn't.  I didn't even know what to expect when it came to physical intimacy. I considered myself lucky because my husband was married before, so at least one of us would know what was going on. I had heard that "as long as you and your husband are good with it then you can do anything when it comes to sex." I didn't really give it more thought and that's probably because I've heard that said many times. I have to admit that in my church this is not something you go seek counsel for. I'm so glad I came across the following this week, this is what I would share with people that ask me. It is so plain and easy and makes complete sense to me. I hope it helps someone else too!


"If it is unnatural, you just don't do it. That is all, and all the family life should be kept clean and worthy an on a very high plane. There are some people who have said that behind the bedroom doors anything goes. That is not true and the Lord would not condone it." -President Spencer W. Kimball

1 Cor. 6:13-15
13 . . . Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.
14 And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power.
15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.

I chose to share these because we all need to remember that our bodies are for the Lord they aren't ours to do what we want with them. 

I could keep going on and on, in fact there is so much more to share but this is a long post already! One last quote I want to share this week is from a talk by Elder Richard G. Scott from the October 1994 LDS General Conference, "Making The Right Choices."

". . . Remember that true love elevates, protects, respects, and enriches another."

There will always be troubles.

 Elder Bruce R. McConkie shares the following on marriage in his talk "Celestial Marriage" (New Era, June 1978): "When we as Latter-day Saints talk about marriage, we are talking about a holy, celestial order. We are talking about a system out of which can grow the greatest love, joy, peace, happiness, and serenity known to humankind. We are talking about creating a family unit that has the potential of being everlasting and eternal, a family unit where a man and a wife can go on in that relationship to all eternity, and where mother and daughter and father and son are bound by eternal ties that will never be severed. We are talking about creating a unit more important than the Church, more important than any organization that exists on earth or in heaven, a unit out of which exaltation and eternal life grow; and when we talk about eternal life, we are talking about the kind of life that God our Heavenly Father lives." 

As a member of the LDS Church I was taught and I also teach, that you should strive to be sealed in the Temple. In the temple we make covenants with our spouse and to our Heavenly Father. These covenants, when kept, bring about great blessings in this life and the life to come. One more thought I want to share from my reading this week is from Elder Bruce C. Hafen and is from his talk "Covenant Marriage" given in General Conference, October 1996.
"Another bride sighed blissfully on her wedding day. 'Mom, I'm at the end of all my troubles!' 'Yes,' replied her mother, 'but at which end?' 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 troubles come 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."

If it ain't broke don't fix it. Or something like that.

I saw this on Facebook the other day and I had to share it. Great advice!

Introduction

Hi. As it says in my profile information my name is Tiffany. I am creating this blog for a class but I hope to keep adding to it after my class is finished. On this blog I will be posting quotes and some personal thoughts about marriage. Much of what I will post on here will be from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint, after all I am a member of this Church and I find strength from the words of the leaders of the LDS church.

I am not a professional anything I'm just someone wanting to have something positive for people to read when they might be feeling down. I do have a little experience with marriage but I'm not an expert and I won't ever claim to be. I welcome comments but would appreciate if negative comments are not left here, as I said this is a positive blog for people and I'm not a fan of contention.
I hope that you will enjoy this blog and visit often, but if you don't visit often that's okay I understand, I don't visit blogs very often myself.

A Proclamation To The World