Making Good Great; A Marriage Blog BY Heather Hansen

In Mosiah 3:19 it says, “the natural man is an enemy to God, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him.” In our marriages we need to recognize that we have to put off the natural man in order to cherish our spouse. We cannot make that choice and hope it sticks for the rest of our lives. Each day is a new day and waking up with that choice to love and cherish our spouse is something we are always faced with. When we focus on our spouse and show appreciation for them, it will become a part of who we are together. We are not left on this earth to figure it out on our own. We have been given the tools on how to love during even the hardest of times. We can look at Adam and Eve and the situation they we...

In Mosiah 3:19 it says, “For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.” When we become like a child and grow closer to Christ, we do not have the desire to do the harmful things that hurt a marriage. After reading about the Four Horsemen, we can see how damaging those things are to a marriage. Criticism can come easily if our focus isn’t on being kind and loving to our spouse. Once we focus on the teachings of Christ, we see people as Christ sees them. Being humble is another way we can become closer to God and lean away from damaging practices. Contempt was another Horsemen mentioned...

Elder Bednar said, “We have been strongly counseled by the First Presidency to devote our best efforts to strengthening of marriage and the home.” The family, and especially our marriages are a part of God’s plan. We came to the earth to receive a body and create a family. Once we make that commitment to be married and sealed in the temple, we have to continue to work at keeping the commandments and putting our family first. Working together as a couple with the same values and goals is essential to having a successful marriage. When a couple understands how marriage fits into the plan of happiness, then it becomes clearer on why we do the things we do. Being in a marriage is more than just being friends sharing a house. We can talk together, share feelings, and show compassion, and empathy for one another. It’s important to involve God in our journey so that we will have the tools needed to stay close to our spouse. We need to be aware of the adversary that he is there and wants...

We live in a world today that every single one of us probably has a friend or family member affected by same sex marriage. I personally watched 14 years ago as my sister’s husband walked out the door to go live the life he always dreamed of having. She has raised her boys as a single mom, while on the other side of town he shared the raising responsibility while being married to his husband. One thing that stands out when reading the articles is that people want the right to have personal choice in their intimate decisions. Sometimes that personal choice has a negative effect on another person. Another thing that stood out to me was that it is too early to see the long-term consequences of this change. We just don’t know how this will affect children and spouses down the road. My nephews love the church, they love their mom. On the other side of town, they love their dad and his husband. They support all three parents to show their love for them. It’s no secret that the environment...