Unity

 The Sacred Honor to be a Mother

I am grateful that I get the joy of being the earthly mother to such choice spirits! 

What a blessed role to influence mortality for good in this life! 

We love our valiant children and are so happy to get to be together for Christmas!  

  

Unity in Marriage and in Parenting

Effective, consistent, inspired parenting is so critical in the lives of children and adolescents. 

When mother and father are united in parenting, it usually means they are united in their marriage. 

Think about the parents you know who are “rock stars” in their parenting skills…I bet they are also unified as a cohesive team in their marriage too! 

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Counseling within Marriage

 I love the concept of husband and wife counseling with each other. 

Rather than:
* have a shouting match 
* OR compete to see who can dominate 
* OR argue until someone gives in 
* OR try to come up with a compromise that will grant equally to both sides their wishes…
Counseling together is best done with the influence of the Holy Ghost.

To set the stage to have this divine influence: 

• Prepare an agenda.

• Give expressions of genuine love and appreciation 

• Begin with a prayer that includes asking for the Spirit to be present

• Discuss each item on the agenda, listening while others give their thoughts, to determine what would be best through the discernment of the Holy Ghost

Remarkably, when you counsel together to come to a consensus, it is not one person who makes the decision or an evenly split compromise. 

Coming to consensus means through the power of the Holy Ghost, there is a sifting and sorting of ideas until each person can know the mind and will of the Lord. Each person must be in agreement with the other(s).

What an amazing accomplishment for a husband and wife and for families to come to consensus by each person receiving a witness of the Spirit as to how to proceed regarding a matter. 

Sitting down to counsel as husband and wife is a uniquely priceless and choice process to include in a married couple’s lives on a regular basis.

• End your council meeting with a closing prayer asking for heavenly help to accomplish the actions decided to be taken

• Follow with refreshments!
  

          (Ballard, 2012). 

Unity in marriage is not just a mere hope or an ideal to seek for,

it is a necessity and a commandment!

When we live the gospel of Jesus Christ by keeping the commandments and our covenants we have made with the Lord, the Savior’s Atonement allows our nature to be changed in a sanctification process that involves the gift of the Holy Ghost. (Eyring, 1998).

Only through the Atonement of Jesus Christ has my nature been miraculously changed.

His abundant sacrifice rescued me and saved our marriage!

Having the Spirit with us provides harmony and unity in my marriage.

When we promise to take the name of Christ upon ourselves,
“we choose to put Him first in our lives.

When we want what He wants
 rather than what we want 
or what the world teaches us to want.

As long as we love the things of the world first, there will be no peace in us”

(Eyring, 1998). 

When we choose to put the Savior first in our lives,
we submit our will and give up our control.

In complete faith and trust in the Lord, we allow Him to lead and to guide.

We can do this in all aspects of our lives, including in our marriage.

“Except in the case of His only perfect Begotten Son, imperfect people are all God has ever had to work with. That must be terribly frustrating to Him, but He deals with it. 
So should we”

(Holland, 2013).

Ballard, M.R., "Counseling with our councils" Deseret Book, 2012.

Eyring, H.B. “That we may be one”, General Conference address April 1998.

Holland, J.R. “Lord, I believe”, General Conference address April 2013.