A) How you can be with your husband and family through all eternity
“Love never ends.”(1 Corinthians 13:8 [English Standard Version] or “Charity never faileth:” [KJV])
Is your marriage “until death do us part” or “for time and all eternity”?
In Matthew 19:4-6, Jesus teaches about marriage: “And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.”
By personally officiating at the wedding of Adam and Eve, God sanctified the institution of marriage.3 Additionally, this wedding occurred (Gen. 2:22-24) before Adam and Eve partook of the fruit (Gen. 3:23-24) which introduced death into the world (Gen. 3:19). So the union would last through eternity.
“God is love.” (1 John 4:16) “Therefore, as God is eternal, so love must be eternal, and its fruits and blessings are intended to continue throughout the eternities to come.”3
How your family can be together forever
Christ gave Peter the authority to seal marriages for time and all eternity when He said, “Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven” (Matthew 16:19). This authority was restored to earth on April 3, 1836 in Kirtland, Ohio.4
“To enjoy the privileges and advantages of eternal love as it relates to husbands and wives (and to) parents and children, the ordinance that authorizes and sanctifies this most beautiful of all relationships” occurs in special buildings called temples.3 The temple in Michigan is in Bloomfield Hills.
For those who have passed away without the opportunity to be sealed to their spouse for eternity, marriages are performed by proxies sitting in on behalf of the deceased. Deceased parents and children may also be united into eternal families with living persons representing them as the sealing ordinances are performed. Paul referred to ordinances performed on behalf of the dead when he said, “Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?” (1 Corinthians 15:29). (Baptisms for the dead are also performed in modern-day temples.)
B) The Savior suffered for our grief
The Savior took upon Him our grief
Isaiah foresaw some of the sufferings of the Savior: “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.” Isaiah 53:3-4.
God wants us to be happy.
“Rejoice evermore.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16)
“Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.”5
So how do we turn over our griefs and afflictions to the Savior?
Here are a just a few ideas.
• Have faith in Jesus’ promises of better things to come. Paul said, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;” (2 Corinthians 4:17)
• Think of blessings and tender mercies the Lord has given you and rely on them “as a guiding light … through hard times.”6
• Keep the commandments. Jesus reported, “For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent; But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I;”7
• Stay close to the Lord through prayer, daily scripture study, and worship on the Sabbath.
C) “O how great the plan of our God!”1
Where did I come from?
"We are eternal beings, without beginning and without end. We have always existed. We are the literal spirit children of divine, immortal, and omnipotent Heavenly Parents!”2
Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee…”
“We come from the heavenly courts of the Lord our God. We are of the royal house of Elohim, the Most High God. We walked with Him in our premortal life. We heard Him speak, witnessed His majesty, learned His ways."2
Why am I here?
“You and I participated in a Grand Council where our beloved Father presented His plan for us—that we would come to earth, receive mortal bodies, learn to choose between good and evil, and progress in ways that would not otherwise be possible.”2
Job 38:4, 7 “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. … When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” Here God asks Job for details (which no mortal can remember) about where he was when the Lord created the earth. He then alludes to the Council in Heaven when we, the noble sons and daughters of God, sang together and shouted for joy upon accepting the Plan of Happiness.
We “knew that our Savior, Jesus Christ, had pledged to come to earth, live a sinless life, and voluntarily lay down His life in an eternal sacrifice. We knew that if we gave our heart to Him, trusted Him, and strived with all the energy of our soul to walk in the path of discipleship, we could be washed clean and once again enter the presence of our beloved Father in Heaven.”2
What will happen after I die?
"Our mortal (earthly) life ... is only temporary and will end with the death of our physical body. But the essence of who you and I are will not be destroyed. Our spirits will continue living and await the Resurrection—a free gift to all by our loving Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.”2
“Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; …” (St. John 5:28-29). “At the Resurrection, our spirits and bodies will be reunited, free from pain and physical imperfections.”2
“After the Resurrection, there will be a Day of Judgment. … That Day of Judgment will be a day of mercy and love—a day when broken hearts are healed, when tears of grief are replaced with tears of gratitude, when all will be made right.”2
"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." (Revelations 21:4).
FOOTNOTES
1 Prophet Jacob in 2 Nephi 9:13
2 Pres. Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “O how great the plan of our God!” October 2016; https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/10/o-how-great-the-plan-of-our-god?lang=eng
3 See Pres. Hugh B. Brown, “The LDS Concept of Marriage” https://www.lds.org/ensign/2011/06/the-latter-day-saint-concept-of-marriage?lang=eng
4 Doctrine and Covenants 110:13-16.
5 Prophet Lehi in 2 Nephi 2:25 around 575 BC.
6 Quote from Josie (young woman with bipolar disorder) in “The Master Healer” by Carole M. Stephens, October 2016; https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/10/the-master-healer?lang=eng
7 Doctrine and Covenants 19:16-19
