Nurturing your relationship

"our greatest joys and sorrows in this world are in our family lives" by President Eryring. I love that qoute because to me simplifies all the complicated thoughts,emotions, experiences that occur in family life.    President Eyring spoke of praying for stronger love to love your companion with. It takes great humility to pray for someone you maybe frustrated with but by the end of the prayer your frustration can be eased. When you start praying for your companion you start to have a change of heart towards your spouse. You can't change your spouse but you can change your behavior and thoughts of your spouse. Just like with a broken heart and contrite spirit Jesus Christ can heal broken hearts due to marriage conflict. I do believe focusing on the postive attributes of your spouse helps you to remember all the good times you had together. Remembering the good times can help bring back those good feelings toward each other. Nurturing your respect and admiration for each other can be like rediscovering each other. Ether way focusing on the postive things your spouse does will lessen your negative thoughts or frustration you may have towards them. At the end of the day you have to decide if your marriage relationship is your highest priority and if it is then you must do all you can to keep that relationship strong.

Positivty vs Negativity

I truly believe positivity comes from the lord and negativity's from the devil.I see positivity as the light and negativity's the dark. In my experience negativity weighs you down, emotionally, spiritually and physically. Eventually you start to believe the lies and your self worth is no more. Relationship expert John Gottman says couples who have a strong friendship are able to weather the storms of married life. He also spoke of emotionally intelliegenence being a key factor to successful marriage.So for example when your healthy emotionally, have a strong bond or friendship, they might have more postive interactions over negative reactions. When you fill your marriage with light it thrives. For example praying together, reading your scriptures, serving each other, spending quality time together, going to the temple would bring postive thoughts and feelings toward  your partner.  I truly believe in love and sacrifice as the foundation of a happy marriage. When you find a system that works for you as a couple then any conflict can be revolved. Negativity doesn't just destroy marriages but people as well. I truly believe when you choose your partner above all else and treat them as you'd treat yourself your marriage will succeed

Covenant Marriage

The temple has always been sacred to me growing up.  I was taught I could be married for eternity in the temple. The temple is the lords house and endows members with power from on high. I loved Bruce Hafens talk covenant marriage and how he described the differences of contract and covenant marriage. Contract marriage is  a piece of paper uniting the couple till death due them part while a covenant marriage is eternal. He also decsribed  a couple might begin a contract marriage but can turn it into a covenant marriage through faith, obedenice and sacrifice.The attitudes toward contract marriage is different from the attitudes regarding eternal marriage. People think that they can enter into a marriage and end it at will. They do what feels good for a time then move on to somethng different. Some might say well if it doesn't work out we will just get a divorce. They expect to divorce at some point because that is what is happening in the world. Marriages crumble at any given moment so people enter into marriage already thinking to the end. While couples who enter eternal marriages see it as a beginning with no end. They realize marriage is hard but are committed to making last. They see getting married as a privialge, blessing, they revere marriage. When your looking ahead to the end, you sabatoge yourself and the marrage for in your heart its already over. 
Single, married, young or old the temple is open for any worthy member seeking further enlightenment on their journey. The more you learn of the temple the more you learn of the eternal marriage relationship. Growing up getting married in the temple was my fairytale. Just having the knowledge marriage can be forever comforted me when those closest to me were divorcing. To the lord there is no higher honor than a family sealed through the holy priesthod.I had the privilage to witness a sealing or temple marriage ceremony and it truly was the most beautfiul thing I had ever witnessed. The couple getting married had prepared themselves phycially spiritually to be joined forever and neither of them were thinking about getting out of it. God was with this couple throughout the whole ceremony everyone could feel him there. We truly saw a gilmspe of heaven that day witnessing the love the couple shared for each other and the lord. The lord truly blessed this couple and approved their marriage. God is doing the same for all his children all around the world who are entering eternal marriages. That experience made me want a sealing of my own just as powerful as this couples were and we can attain that if we are faithful.
 When we gain a true understanding of this principle we can  get a small glimpse into the love god has for his children.There is no higher honor, or calling, nothing more sacred,pure, noble, than being sealed in the temple for eternity for when we do that we put ourselves in gods hands and we will never let us fall

same sex marriage

But as Elder Dallin H. Oaks has observed, “Tolerance does not require abandoning one’s standards or one’s opinions on political or public policy choices. Tolerance is a way of reacting to diversity, not a command to insulate it from examination.”

 I undertand that everyone has right to express their opnions or belief but when you try to force it on others it becomes a problem. Marriage is between a man and woman as declared by God. Woman and men were created to be together, not man with man or woman with woman. Yes everyone has the right to express their belief but redefining marriage to fit the new norm will only hurt society in the long run. The sacredness of marriage will be lost as will the religous freedom. I don't want anyone to face discrimination or persecution for living their beliefs or being different but in my heart I know its not right. We need to uphold Gods law while being kind and repsectful to those who don't share beliefs. I personally fear Gods wrath more than societies so I will uphold Gods commandments to fight for traditional marriage and family

Meaning of marriage

WEEK 01 DISCUSSION BOARD

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Note: Creation of Groups

This course is organized in a way that you are able to regularly interact with others within a small group of approximately five class members. In fact, when you post comments to discussion board, these comments will be distributed to others within your small group. For the sake of maximizing learning, you are strongly encouraged to get to know others within your group and to be a contributing and cooperative member by looking for little ways to contribute to the learning of others. This is the Spirit of BYU-Idaho and is consistent with the learning model.

Group assignments will be randomly created in Week 1. In order to provide an opportunity for you to work with a larger number of students within the class, the groups will dissolve and new groups will be randomly re-created near the midterm of the semester (beginning of Week 7). Once again, when the new groups are created, please make the effort to get to know other group members. Doing so is a demonstration of charity. Also, keep in mind that during Week 6 and Week 12, you will evaluate the quality of discussion board posts of other group members, as mentioned in the syllabus.

Discussion Board Posts

The purpose of the discussion board is to provide a setting where students can submit and react to one another’s posts, in preparation for submitting a post to one’s personal, online marriage blog. Think of the discussion board as the work room where students teach one another and work together in order to increase the depth of learning and to prepare blogs that will help strengthen marriages. The discussion board is one of the primary learning tools for this course. Hopefully students will use it for its intended purpose. The effectiveness of the discussion board is dependent on the quality of interactions among students within a given group.

At the beginning of Week 1, students will be assigned to a group of approximately five students. Near the midterm of the semester the old groups will be dissolved and students will once again be assigned to a new group at the beginning of Week 7. This will provide an opportunity for students to work within two different groups during the course of the semester.

Initial Post: Due by Wednesday before 11:59 PM – As noted above, the rough draft of your post for your marriage blog is to be submitted to the discussion board no later than Wednesday evening. You will want to give group members as much time as possible to react to your post, so if possible submit it before Wednesday evening.

Second Post: Due by Friday before 11:59 PM - After the initial post of your rough draft, you are to read the rough draft posts from at least three other group members and react to what they have written. You are encouraged to respond by: posing good questions that further learning, sharing thoughts from a different perspective, building upon the comments of others, sharing an example that illustrates a principle or concept discussed by another member, sharing thoughts on how a principle could be applied, or by linking the comments of other group members to class readings or ideas learned in other classes. You are responsible to help other group members to create a blog that contains in-depth thoughts and is as polished and possible. Along with reacting to content, your efforts will be appreciated by group members if you point out errors in punctuation, grammar, sentence structure, etc. Especially pay attention to the context of what is written. Do the explanations from other students make sense and do they provide the background information needed to understand the principles?

Evaluation of Discussion Board Posts

Two times during the semester, your discussion board posts will be anonymously evaluated by your peers in your group using the "Discussion Board Grading Rubric," which is to be completed through I-Learn. This rubric is posted on I-Learn under “Discussion Board Peer Review” in weeks 6 and 12. You are entrusted to be honest in your evaluations. Assigning a student higher marks than what a student has earned not only does a particular student a disservice, but is dishonest. Moreover, inflated peer evaluations that are obviously out of touch with the quality of work of peers will negatively affect an evaluator’s grade. In short, you are expected to be honest in your evaluations of peers.

Peer evaluations will be based on the following criteria: (Worth 24 points each; 48 points total)

• Preparation: It is evident the student studied the assigned preparation material and was fully prepared to contribute to the learning of others and did not "wing it."
• Consistency: This group member consistently posted the rough draft of his/her blog to the discussion board by Wednesday, at the latest. Moreover, this group member consistently reacted to three group members’ posts per week and did so by Friday evening, at the latest.
• Depth of Feedback: Frank, in-depth feedback was given. The feedback helped group members to think more deeply about their written comments and to articulate their thoughts in a concise, logical, and persuasive manner. The feedback also focused on helping group members provide the context or background information so that posts would make sense to those who were unfamiliar with the content of the course.
• Helpfulness: This group member was genuinely interested in helping others improve their blogs. This member was patient, positive, and demonstrated charity through a willingness to go the extra mile to help other group members.

Sheri Manley  (4 replies) 4/27/2015 4:08 PM Blog post rough draft ... Reply

• Jenni Northcutt  (2 replies) 4/28/2015 9:19 PM Sheri ... Reply Edit

• Sandy Gage (New)4/30/2015 2:40 AM Sheri, I love how you state your convictions ... Reply

Jenni Northcutt  (5 replies) 4/28/2015 8:13 PM Marriage post rough draft  What does marriage mean to you? To the world marriage is a civil contract between two people untiting their assets and name, all they are combined. To others its a buisness transaction or investment for financial benefit. Still for some a simple certifcate verifiying their relationship. Some people don't believe in marriage at all. There are so many definitons, ideas, opinions, relating to marriage that It can be easy to be confused. So when your confused where do you go for clarity and truth you go to God for he is all truth. God has declared that marriage between a man and women is ordained of God, for the purpose of rearing children in a righteous family. He has declared that marriage is eternal, that we can be with our family for all ways.To God marriage and family is his greatest gift to his children for its his posterity. You could say we are Gods legacy, those who come after to represent him and his principles. So in that thinking what better way to represent himself with righteous sons and daughters living Godly lives raising children in loving and happy homes? For God is love and marriage and family are principles of love, faith and sacrifiice. I come from a divorced family and  was exposed to the fact that sometimes divorce is whats best for your family I know for my family this was the case. Every situation is different but God knows our needs and situation and will be there to help us. All you do is the best you can and to God that is enough.What doesn't happen in this life can be achieved in the next life if we faithfully endure. I know for me marriage us a sacred union between a man and woman for the purpose of raising a righteous family. Marriage is always having someone on yourside to love you, encourage you, support you. The promise that your never alone. Marriage is where you learn to love as God loves, to learn Gods ways, to serve as God serves, to live as christ lived.  Marriage is for us to recieve all that God has.  I make no judgements or condem anyone on their beliefs or practices regarding marriage. I simply share my beliefs in the hope to inspire all who reads this post. Thank you for reading

Darkness from light

I watched a mormon message where there was a quote that stated darkness and light can't occupay the same space at the same time.  That pharse hasn't left my mind my mind as I studied the assignment this week. I guess it was a light bulb moment, I always thought light came first because God created it first and then darkness was just there as opposite counter point. I never put much thought to it honestly, the scriptures say God separated the light from the darkness and I left it at that but there is so much more. Yes I realized Christ symbolized the light for he is the light of world leading way back to him. I also got to thinking about how light and darkness makes me feel.  Now I know its not the same for everyone im sharing my perspective. Light is comforting, reassuring, I can see where Im going and where Ive been. Light is clean, pure, happy. Darkness is mysterious, cold, threatening, overwhelming, concealing, shameful, scary. So its clear their opposites serving different purposes.I realized those purposes are to teach us what wrong and right feel like. We need to know the differences between right and wong aka christ and satan. Christ is the light shining over us in our lifes journey. Sometimes in life our lights go out and are surrounded in darkness that is when we turn to christ to lead us out of the darkness and helps us refill our lamps. So yes in this life we need both light and darkness but we can choose which one we allow into our lives and hearts and rely on christ when we are overshadowed by darkneshttps://youtu.be/Aup9M5HZawI is the video address please watch

Preparing our spiritual weapns Jarom 1-9

1 Now behold, I, Jarom, write a few words according to the commandment of my father, Enos, that our genealogy may be kept.
2 And as these plates are small, and as these things are written for the intent of the benefit of our brethren the Lamanites, wherefore, it must needs be that I write a little; but I shall not write the things of my prophesying, nor of my revelations. For what could I write more than my fathers have written? For have not they revealed the plan of salvation? I say unto you, Yea; and this sufficeth me.
3 Behold, it is expedient that much should be done among this people, because of the hardness of their hearts, and the deafness of their ears, and the blindness of their minds, and the stiffness of their necks; nevertheless, God is exceedingly merciful unto them, and has not as yet swept them off from the face of the land.
4 And there are many among us who have many revelations, for they are not all stiffnecked. And as many as are not stiffnecked and have faith, have communion with the Holy Spirit, which maketh manifest unto the children of men, according to their faith.
5 And now, behold, two hundred years had passed away, and the people of Nephi had waxed strong in the land. They observed to keep the law of Moses and the sabbath day holy unto the Lord. And they profaned not; neither did they blaspheme. And the laws of the land were exceedingly strict.
6 And they were scattered upon much of the face of the land, and the Lamanites also. And they were exceedingly more numerous than were they of the Nephites; and they loved murder and would drink the blood of beasts.
7 And it came to pass that they came many times against us, the Nephites, to battle. But our kings and our leaders were mighty men in the faith of the Lord; and they taught the people the ways of the Lord; wherefore, we withstood the Lamanites and swept them away out of our lands, and began to fortify our cities, or whatsoever place of our inheritance.
8 And we multiplied exceedingly, and spread upon the face of the land, and became exceedingly rich in gold, and in silver, and in precious things, and in fine workmanship of wood, in buildings, and in machinery, and also in iron and copper, and brass and steel, making all manner of tools of every kind to till the ground, and weapons of war—yea, the sharp pointed arrow, and the quiver, and the dart, and the javelin, and all preparations for war.
9 And thus being prepared to meet the Lamanites, they did not prosper against us. But the word of the Lord was verified, which he spake unto our fathers, saying that: Inasmuch as ye will keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land. I love these scriptures because it tells us how the nephites beat the lamanites but the reciepe on how to spiritually prepare for adversity or temptation. 1. obedience to Gods commandments. 2- industralized the land by building buildings, farms, fortress of defense. 3. Made weapons of war. 4. Listened and obeyed to their spiritual leaders. 5. Prepared for the worst while expecting the best. The nephites put the lord first in all things and trusted in the lords promise he made to their fathers and so when lamanites came to battle they were ready spiritually and temporally. Today we can follow their example by living by faith.we don't have to do anything spectalur all we need to do is put the lord first. We need to not only read the scriptures but follow their example of faith and obedience. The more time we spent following the gospel the more prepared we will be spiritually and temporally. its doing the everyday things like obedience to the lords commandments, listening and following the prophet and apostles, read our scriptures, fulifll our callings faithfully, create a christ centered home, daily prayer and fasting. preparing for the worst while expecting the best. My list sounds similar to Jaroms list because its the same doctrine being taught just to a different generation. The gospel is the same in every generation and if we believe in ourselves and trust in the lord we can achieve miracles wrought by faith. I know these scriptures are true and that the doctrine taught is true and for us to learn from. I know not everyone reading this shares my faith but I just want to testify of Christ and enourage those who read this post feel the love the savior has for them because he does love us all. Thank you for reading