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