Living for Eternity

This week, our family was blessed with a wonderful increase. Our youngest daughter, Bailey was sealed for eternity to an amazing guy.

I could say that our family has increased by one, but that wouldn't be entirely truthful, because when we gained Jarom as a son, we gained a connection to a new family - his family. I feel this way each time one of our children marries. We were two families that became one because we share a common bond - that bond being the eternal marriage of our children.

Family is so important to God. After all, we are all brothers and sisters, every last one of us. We share the same Heavenly Father. He wants us to love one another as He loves us. He wants us to become one, to be the eternal family we were before we came to this earth. He longs for all of His children to know how this is possible, and He blesses us with opportunities to not only strengthen the knowledge we have, but to share it as well.

Because family is so important to our Heavenly Father, Satan is working overtime to destroy it, and his minions are out in force. The adversary thrives on the breakup of the family, sewing seeds of discord and contention. He also thrives on deceiving the world into believing that marriage and children are not necessary for true happiness - he works daily to diminish its importance. Because of agency (which is a most-blessed gift,) in many cases, Satan is successful, but not all.

But we can fight back. Each time we heed and obey the Lord's commandments, each moment that we dedicate ourselves to seeking the blessings of eternity, we are fighting back with weapons far stronger those belonging to the Master of Lies. Each moment we dedicate to raising our families in righteousness, teaching them the importance of the family unit, we are standing as God's soldiers in this age-old war, and we are raising up warriors to continue on when we are no longer here.

This is a war we are guaranteed to win. We simply need to stay close to the literal Father of us all. As long as we stay faithful and do our part, He will always have our back.

To members of all faiths: To learn more about eternal families, visit https://www.mormon.org/beliefs/the-family

What I Learn from Unplugging and the War Ahead

This past week has been one of thoughtful pondering, learning, and growth for me. Last Sunday, Russell M. Nelson, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints gave the youth of our church a set of challenges. One of those challenges was to unplug from social media for a week and give that extra time to the Lord. Like many others, I decided to take that challenge on myself. I figured that since I didn't spend a lot of time on Social media anyway, it would be a breeze and I wouldn't miss it at all.

Boy, talk about an eye-opening experience!

For the first couple of days, I had to keep reminding myself not to log onto Facebook, which I was used to doing several times a day just to check for messages or see if there were any interesting tidbits on my feed. I'll admit that on one day I did check for private messages because I was waiting for an important response from someone, then, hard as it was, I got back off.
Through the week, I was amazed at how much time I had. Not only did I have more time for the Lord, but my life didn't feel so rushed or hurried, (despite the ongoing preparations for our business, our daughter's wedding, and our son and daughter-in-law's temple sealing that took place yesterday.)
Stepping away for the week gave me a sense of freedom - and this is coming from someone who thought she didn't spend enough time on social media to be tethered by its chains. I went from feeling like I may miss something important to understanding that nothing on social media is as important as where the Lord wants my time focused.

So, though my social media fast is over for the time being, I now understand better how that time is to be utilized and where the limit is. For me, the separation of sharing the Lord's message and my professional life has long since passed, and now the sharing of anything and everything that is virtuous, lovely, of good report, or praiseworthy is being amped up. The only way to fight the growing opposition online with its war of words is with a growing army of God, armed and in His service.
I don't know about you, but I say, "Sign me up!"

What Matters

These are the things that matter, now more than ever.