Happiness Forever- Now why wouldn't I want that?

Do you know what I love even more than being married to my husband? I love that Adam and I were married in a temple, because that means that we are sealed for time and all eternity! This last weekend I had the great opportunity to listen to the General Relief Society Broadcast; and while listening to the many great talks about the importance of going to the temple I was overwhelmed with gratitude because I have felt just a small portion of the blessings that can be recieved in the temple already in my life; one of which is being sealed to my husband and future children. 

So for those who don't understand what a temple marriage means I will tell you, in my own humble way.

4 Reasons I am grateful I was married in the temple:

1)      Adam and I were married in the Seattle, WA temple.

     If you are ever are driving along 1-90 heading past Bellevue just after you reach exit 11 you will see the tall and pure white temple steeples of the temple peaking over the trees on top of the hill, and you will see the glorious angel Moroni trumpeting his horn- really it is quite the sight to see and will absolutely take your breath away. Why is that temple important to me? Well, as I have already mentioned it is an unquestionably stunning temple, and let’s be honest—what girl doesn’t want to be married in a beautiful castle-like building? The Seattle temple is the one that I grew up with; as a child my parents would take us for walks around the temple and through the gardens whenever we were in the area, I remember waiting in the waiting room there while my Aunt Paige and Uncle Steven were getting married. It was the first temple I did baptisms for the dead, it’s where I received my endowments and most importantly it’s where my parents were married and sealed to their family back in June of 1990.

2)      The temple is the house of the Lord. (For a more in depth read you can visit this site: https://www.lds.org/church/temples/why-we-build-temples?lang=eng ; but I will try to do it justice in my quick sum up.) In ancient times as well as in the modern day, people have built temples, to follow a commandment from God and as a way to commune with God. “Temples are the most sacred place on earth—a place where earth and heaven meet and where we feel close to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.” A temple is literally a house of the Lord, a holy place of group and individual worship and a place where we can covenant (promise) with the Lord.

(Nauvoo, IL Temple)

Being a religious person, I want my Father in Heaven with me every step of the way. Adam and I have made it a point in our lives to include him in everything we do. We prayed if we should date, we prayed and fasted to know if it was the right thing for us to get married, we prayed to know where we should get married and when. And because he was there aiding us in every step we took we wanted to include him in our marriage ceremony; and there is no better place to do that than in his own home under his authority.

3)      When you marry in the temple you make special and sacred covenants with the Lord. Although I am not supposed to go into detail or really talk about some of those I can tell you about one blessing I have receive in particular, because of the promises we have made with our Father in Heaven.

Being married in the temple links us even closer to God and because of that he blesses us with the Holy Ghost, a constant companion to lead and protect us through life. Since being married I have felt the influence of the Holy Ghost in our lives so much more. My husband, almost weekly, tells me stories about how he was doing something and got an impression. Just the other day he was telling me that he was riding his bike past an old pawnshop and he was curious what was inside. Before entering he was impressed with a feeling that he should not enter the building, so he jumped back on his bike and came home to me. I don’t know what might have happened had he gone inside, but the spirit knew that there was something that would hurt Adam—either mentally, spiritually or physically, and shielded him from that. Through experiences with the Holy Ghost I have felt my Saviors and my God’s great love for me and through that love he has protected my little family time and time again just as he will keep on doing throughout the remainder of my life.

4)      Being married in the temple means that we are sealed with our spouse for (this is my favorite part!) TIME AND ALL ETERNITY!!!!!

Whenever I watch a movie, or read a book about a cute cute couple who is being married I find myself getting wrapped up in all the wedding details and cuteness as if I were actually there. I laugh, I get excited and yes I even cry. But I find that every time I hear or read when the preacher says “Till death do you part” I am saddened. I have found the love of my life, the man who I want to be with is “till death do you part” good enough for me? OF COURSE NOT!!!!! And I don’t really think its good enough for anyone; I’ll tell you why.

            Reason 1: Life is short. That’s not long enough for me to be with Adam. I want more than that. I want to spend all of eternity laughing with him, making memories, making mistakes and fixing them. Furthermore I want an eternity with my children, to raise them, watch them mature and grow, and make memories with them. A lifetime isn’t enough time to have all the fun that there is to be had, to say I love you enough times to show my husband how much I really do mean it, to do the silly little things that make him smile and to be happy with him. “Till death do you part” is in all honesty not a long enough time to be with the one’s you love.

            Reason 2: Forever= Work! Whenever I know that something isn’t going to last very long, I don’t try as hard to enjoy it or to make it last. But when I have something for a really long time I want to do my very best to make the most of it and keep it as perfect as I can. Adam and I are not perfect, as much as I like to think we are. We have our problems and we occasionally disagree. For instance this morning I was listening to Christmas music—because I am one of those crazy fanatics that could listen to it all year round. Well I have been playing my music for the last week or so without thinking or considering if Adam want’s to listen to it. Finally while we were getting ready for school and my music was going he casually mentioned that he is kind of getting tired of the music and would like some more variety (meaning he would like it if I put away the Christmas music for a while longer, at least until we are in the actual season of Christmas). My first instinct was to say, fine then you can go into the other room and listen to your music (or something to that effect); but then I remembered that this marriage isn’t all about me and that if I want to keep what we have going for eternity I need to be considerate of his feelings.

You see being married requires sacrifices and working to continually show your love to your spouse. If I wasn’t going to be married to Adam for very long, then I wouldn’t sacrifice all that much, and I wouldn’t go out of my way to tell him 100 times a day that I love him and make him feel special. But because I am married to Adam for eternity I do want to make those sacrifices, and I do want to show him I love him. I enjoy surprising him with lego sets and history books, making his favorite dinners, holding his hand, telling him just how dang good looking he is; additionally I love to find greater ways to express my love and gratitude for him as well as making him happy. And just to add to everything because I am willing to do all of that he is willing to do the same for me! He cleans the house, makes the bed, brushes my hair at night (because he knows I just love it sooooooo much when he does that!), he tells me how beautiful I am and how much he loves my cooking, he supports me and encourages me to follow my dreams, he does DIY projects with me, watches I Love Lucy with me and so so so much more. It is through the work that we put into our relationship that solidifies what we have and makes it even more enticing to want to spend the rest of forever with each other.

Words can hardly describe the gratitude that I feel for being married in the temple. But I can say this—I have a testimony that the blessings of being married in the temple are real; and I am incredibly grateful that because of my Father in Heaven I get to be happy forever. I love that I was married in the temple to my eternal sweetheart, my life is being continually blessed because of it, and I know that I have just started to partake of those blessings.