Marriage & Relationships
A Single Voice
Being alone is never easy, but being single in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a unique challenge because our Church is a family-centered Church. I prayed and wished and begged the Lord for an eternal family. I ultimately realized that I had to being to live to have such a family,...
Tying Another Knot
AS LATTER-DAY SAINTS, WE ENTER INTO marriage with strong commitment and great hopes for a long, joyful relationship in this life and the next. However, whether through divorce or the death of a spouse, many Church members find themselves unexpectedly single again. Some are able to move forward by falling in love and remarrying. And while second marriages come with many unique challenges, such as blending families and overcoming grief, they can be both successful and rewarding. Here are some insights from six people who have graciously agreed to share some of their greatest challenges and greatest joys of second marriages with us.
Keeping the Magic Alive in Marriage
Life can get pretty hectic. With kids, jobs, and Church callings all vying for our attention, sometimes our marital relationships unwittingly fall to the bottom of the priority list. Here are some ways to keep the magic alive in marriage no matter how long you've been together. President Kimball...
Ten Tips for a Happy Marriage
Most people believe marriage is important and that the family is the fundamental unit of society. People get married with great hopes to "live happily ever after," but it is not easy to maintain the love and happiness they experienced during courtship in the day-to-day struggles of married life.
What the Singles in the Ward Want the Rest of Us to Know
We may think we know the singles in our ward or branch - who they are, what makes them tick, what they want out of life, and how best to meet their needs as members of our wards and branches, but how often do we stop and ask them - our single friends and acquaintances-- to speak for themselves, to tell us in their own words what they'd like the rest of us to know about them?
Spiritual tools can help LDS handle challenges of divorce
Latter-day Saints who deal with divorce have a set of spiritual tools to handle challenges for themselves, their children or the children they are now caring for as grandparents or guardians. Margaret Pickard, a family law practitioner and court system mediator who divorced and has now remarried,...
Religious Involvement Linked to Marital Fidelity
A recent Brigham Young University study shows how couples from Christian, Muslim, Jewish and other religious traditions draw on their beliefs to stay faithful to each other. "We have known for some time that religiosity is associated with greater marital quality, marital stability and marital...
Identifying Differences in Marriage
I shared with you several differences that have emerged in my marriage. Some of these, Susan and I recognized immediately. With others, one or both of us had to acknowledge the differences as legitimate (getting out of the I'm-right-you're-wrong syndrome). And still others, we realized only after consciously trying to identify some things we couldn't quite put our fingers on at first.
Remarriage and Combined Families
Combined families, also referred to as blended, second, reconstituted, step, or rem (remarried) families, are those families where at least one, if not both, husband and wife have been married before and have had children. Remarriage resulting in combined families is an increasingly common phenomenon that affects millions of men, women, and children. More than 50 million remarried people are currently living in the United States, and in 1975 one in every four marriages involved someone who had been married before. In 1982, 41 percent of all marriages were remarriages for one or both partners.
Communicating With Your Spouse
"As long as people keep talking, there's hope of solving any problem." This maxim shows the value of communication in handling day-to-day problems and in avoiding future ones. Couples who communicate come to work as a unit in solving problems, rather than as two individuals. They feel the support of one another in their decisions, and their love grows because of it.
Dating Decisions
Dating can be a problem for teens, and decisions about dating seem to bring otherwise harmonious parents and children to the point of conflict. In our family, we've handled dating exactly as we've handled all situations for which counsel from the Church exists. The principle is certainly clear enough: group activities after age fourteen, double- or triple-dating after sixteen, and single-dating after mission age.
Changing Your Focus
Sometimes our focus in marriage, if not centered on the right things, will only display the negative. But a quick shift in perspective can help alleviate the not-so-great effects of miscommunication. Because I married a man, and because my husband grew up in a different family from my own, some...
Valentine's Day for the Married Set
Married couples with children occasionally start to wonder about all this romance business. For example, a coworker approached my husband and asked, "Where are you and your wife going on your hot date this week?" “Well,” my husband answered, “we haven’t decided yet whether to go to...
It's a Date
Dating. The word itself most likely conjures a collection of equally good and bad memories. Sneaking onto the golf course at night to run through the sprinklers. The time you ran into your parents at the movie theater. Building sandcastles in the park's sand volleyball pit. The awkward doorstep scene.
Examining Your Marriage
You've seen some great wives out there, and (while not comparing, of course) you've wondered what you can do better. These five principles can help you achieve greatness in "wife-ness," increase your understanding of yourself and your husband, and strengthen your marriage. Do Honor Your...
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