Consecrating Oursleves

This clip from Elder Faust talks about forgiveness.  He shares a few very tender stories about the power of healing and forgiveness.  There will be many times in our lives when we will have the choice to forgive or to hate.  The healing process cannot take place until we can forgive.  The same is true in our marriages and in our relationships with those we love the most.  There will be times when we face trials and challenges in our own homes.  We must be able to forgive in order to find peace.  Elder Faust says, "Hatred retards spiritual growth".

Marriage gives us many opportunities to live the law of consecration.  We must be willing to sacrifice all that we have to strengthen our marriage and our families.  For me this is mostly my time.  I have never been so tired or felt so pulled in so many different directions as I have as a mom and a wife but I have also never been so happy.  As I do my very best to serve and meet the needs of my little family I feel true happiness.  In the book Drawing Heaven into your Marriage Brother Goddard tells us, "living the law of consecration moves us from gospel hobbyists to career disciples".  When we have the opportunity to serve and live the law of consecration we become true disciples of Jesus Christ.

Sometimes as a wife and a mom I feel like my life is wash, fold, scrub, repeat...EVERY SINGLE DAY.  There are days where I wonder if it will ever end.  I might decide to take a "day off" and not do any of those things.  The truth is when I stop to think about it.  I love those things.  I remember one day feeling really overwhelmed because the laundry was piling up.  I had an "aha" moment when  I decided to be grateful that all that laundry meant that I had three beautiful messy children.  The extra pounds I am carrying around mean that I have plenty of food to eat.  The bills I have to pay means that I have a home to live in.  The grass that needed mowing meant that there was a yard to be played in.  The list could go on and on.  When I remember that the work I do in our home is a result of my greatest blessings then those day to day jobs don't seem like work at all.

In Elder Robbin's talk, Agency and Anger he refers to the primary song, I Have a Family Here on Earth.  This song touches me every time I hear it.  I had a hard time having children.  I like to remember the day I went to my husband's work to tell him I was pregnant.  We hugged and cried.  I never thought I could be happier.  Then I remember seeing my husband hold our son for the first time and I never thought I could love him more or be happier.  I have learned that it just keeps getting better.  With each day, the good and the bad, together we are making an eternal family and I know that I will love my husband more and more than I can now imagine.  Its a beautiful thing.