Marriage is one of the greatest adventures you can embark on, and God LOVES for you to find an eternal companion who can be a helpmeet to you. But marriage can be hard. Especially because Satan knows how holy it is, and he wants to do everything he can to mess it up. Don't let him! Here are 5 simple ways you can keep God involved in your marriage:
1) Trust in the Lord's plan for you - including the timing of when you get married
I get it - it's hard to see all of your friends and roommates get married one by one, to add bridesmaid dress after bridesmaid dress to your closet, to see relationship after relationship go down the toilet, and feel a bit upset at God, wondering why this whole eternal companion thing is taking so long.
Definitely easier said than done, but don't you know who it is that you're talking to? He is your Heavenly Father who has INFINITE love for you and is OMNISCIENT in what you need, who you are, how you can best grow, and what trials and blessings will best help you become who He needs you to be.
Whether you get married at 17, 25, 38, 65, or in the next life, God knows what He is doing and He has the best plan possible for you.
In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we know that family is the most important thing. Sometimes, though, I think that gets a bit misconstrued in our culture, and we begin to think that marriage is the most important thing. It's not! Developing a relationship with your Heavenly Father and forming good familial relationships is what you should be focused on. Those relationships may include a husband, but there are tons of other relationships you can nurture and help make godly ones. Strive to develop charity for your sibling. Call your mom more often. Help your roommates draw nearer to God by making your apartment a place where the Spirit of the Lord can be felt.
Do your best to love others around you, and trust in God's timing.
2) Do sweat the small stuff
I'm not saying you should fight over how to load the dishwasher. I'm talking about those small day to day things that can bring you closer to God and keep the Spirit close. Don't let them fall into your bin of "things you do when you have time." MAKE time to: 1) Pray together every day and 2) Read the scriptures together every day.
Find a time that works for you (Kyle and I find that right before bed tends to work best - even if we're super tired or it's late, we can read a verse or two and say a prayer together) and STICK TO IT. There is a reason that "Say your prayers" and "Read your scriptures" comes up in Sunday School all the time: it is the EASIEST way to keep God in your life and keep the Spirit on hand.
If there is one piece of marriage advice you take in your whole life, let it be this: pray together and read your scriptures together.
3) Serve your spouse
It can be (and most likely will have to be) the small stuff: rub out your husband's neck after a long day, offer to make dinner during a week that has been crazy, just stop in your busy life for a moment to ask them how they're doing and if there is anything you can do for them.
Service is the best way to develop Christlike love for someone, and the person you MOST need to develop that love for is your spouse. They are your eternal family, and it is only together that you will be able to be as close to God as you can be. Lift one another up, and you'll be amazed at how close heaven can feel, even in a shabby newlywed apartment.
4) Have fun and be dorks
I LOVE this quote from President Gordon B. Hinckley!! It goes right along with 2 Nephi 2:25: "Men are that they might have joy."
If you aren't laughing at least once a day with your spouse, take some time to reevaluate your life. There is always time for tickles, for water gun fights, for burying each other in a mountain of pillows and cushions. There is always time to talk in silly accents and laugh at videos of people crashing into things and blow raspberries on each other's arms. Find the joy in life! Don't focus so hard on trying to do the serious adult stuff that you forget to just be dumb and have fun together.
5) Make love
The leaders of the church have said this better than I can, so I'm going to let them help you understand how godlike and faith-building the beautiful act of love is between a husband and wife:
"Through the righteous exercise of this power, we may come close to our Father in Heaven and experience a fulness of joy, even godhood. The power of procreation is not an incidental part of the plan; it is the plan of happiness; it is the key to happiness."
- President Boyd K. Packer
(in my favorite talk of all time - mentioned in this earlier post)
“It is the destiny of men and women to join together to make eternal family units. In the context of lawful marriage, the intimacy of sexual relations is right and divinely approved. There is nothing unholy or degrading about sexuality in itself, for by that means men and women join in a process of creation and in an expression of love."
- President Spencer W. Kimball
(source)
"Again I want to tell you young people that this power within you is good. It is a gift from God our Father. In the righteous exercise of it as in nothing else, we may come close to him."
-President Boyd K. Packer
(source)
Keep God involved in your marriage!
He wants to be involved, and your life and relationship with your spouse will be infinitely better because of it!
Related Posts:
4) Have fun and be dorks
I LOVE this quote from President Gordon B. Hinckley!! It goes right along with 2 Nephi 2:25: "Men are that they might have joy."
If you aren't laughing at least once a day with your spouse, take some time to reevaluate your life. There is always time for tickles, for water gun fights, for burying each other in a mountain of pillows and cushions. There is always time to talk in silly accents and laugh at videos of people crashing into things and blow raspberries on each other's arms. Find the joy in life! Don't focus so hard on trying to do the serious adult stuff that you forget to just be dumb and have fun together.
5) Make love
The leaders of the church have said this better than I can, so I'm going to let them help you understand how godlike and faith-building the beautiful act of love is between a husband and wife:
"Through the righteous exercise of this power, we may come close to our Father in Heaven and experience a fulness of joy, even godhood. The power of procreation is not an incidental part of the plan; it is the plan of happiness; it is the key to happiness."
- President Boyd K. Packer
(in my favorite talk of all time - mentioned in this earlier post)
“It is the destiny of men and women to join together to make eternal family units. In the context of lawful marriage, the intimacy of sexual relations is right and divinely approved. There is nothing unholy or degrading about sexuality in itself, for by that means men and women join in a process of creation and in an expression of love."
- President Spencer W. Kimball
(source)
"Again I want to tell you young people that this power within you is good. It is a gift from God our Father. In the righteous exercise of it as in nothing else, we may come close to him."
-President Boyd K. Packer
(source)
Keep God involved in your marriage!
He wants to be involved, and your life and relationship with your spouse will be infinitely better because of it!
Related Posts:
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