What things in particular are you going to implement into your life to ensure that your marriage is a covenant marriage and not a contractual marriage?
My husband and I have been married for less than three months, but we have already talked about what we need to do to make sure our marriage qualifies to become a celestial marriage. This is my second marriage and I spent a lot of time after my divorce thinking about what I could do differently to avoid what I had gone through in my first marriage.
One of the first things I had to work on was how self-centered and individualistic I was. Elder Bruce C. Hafen said, "The adversary has long cultivated this overemphasis on personal autonomy, and now he feverishly exploits it. Our deepest God-given instinct is to run to the arms of those who need us and sustain us. But he drives us away from each other today with wedges of distrust and suspicion. He exaggerates the need for having space, getting out, and being left alone." Elder Hafen also mentioned, "Surely marriage partners must respect one another’s individual identity, and family members are neither slaves nor inanimate objects." Through serving in different church callings and as an ordinance worker in the temple, I have had many opportunities to feel united with others and to put the needs of others before my own. Now it is something I also practice with my husband.
One thing we do together is to attend the temple often. We love to go to the temple to serve people on the other side of the veil, we love hearing the promises and being reminded of the covenants we have made. We feel closer to each other and closer to heaven when we go to the the temple. We also feel that we are strengthened individually and as a couple when we serve as ordinance workers. We love being in the Lord's house. We feel like our time in the temple showers us with many blessings and strengthens our bond. We feel better protected against the adversary, and our resolve to avoid temptations is renewed.
We know that trials will come our way. We know that we will be tested. We also know that everything we do now to strengthen our marriage and our testimonies, will help us keep our covenants when things get hard. We also know that as we work together, we will feel more united, and we will be able to face the challenges that come our way.
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