Temple Blessings

This weekend I had to speak at our Stake Conference Saturday Evening Session.  I was asked to speak about the blessings that I have recieved from attending the temple.  Of course they are many.  I just want to share part of my talk..

"
Being sealed to my family has definitely been one of the greatest blessings in my life. I have thought a lot about this lately. This blessing has especially meant more to me in the past couple of years. Most of you know that my husband Kary had a stroke almost 3 years ago. We almost lost him but through faith and many prayers in his behalf he lives. He was left paralyzed on his left side and legally blind and also is in much pain most of the time. Because of this, I have much of the responsibility for caring for his needs. I don’t begrudge having to care for him. I love him and feel so blessed that he is still with us. I would rather be the one to care for him than anyone else. Some days are tough, though when I’m trying to juggle caring for him and the 2 children and cooking meals, paying bills, cleaning house, etc… One of the main things that keeps me going though is knowing that Kary and I have been sealed in the temple. We will be together not only in this life but the next. I am very blessed to have Kary in my life. He has always been so good to me. I figure it’s my turn to pay him back for the best years of my life. I also know that if I take good care of Kary in this life he’s going to spoil me in the next life! All kidding aside, this blessing of being sealed in the temple to my family and knowledge I have gained there does help me carry on each day….it gives me hope and it gives me purpose.


Richard G. Scott, one of the twelve apostles shared (in a 2009 April Ensign article) an experience of an ancestor of his wife. This ancestor’s name is Sarah DeArmon Pea Rich. Her words show the impact that the temple can have in our lives. When she was 31 years old, she received a calling from Brigham Young to work in the Nauvoo Temple, before the Saints had to abandon that temple. This is what she wrote:
“Many were the blessings we had received in the house of the Lord, which has caused us joy and comfort in the midst of all our sorrows and enabled us to have faith in God, knowing He would guide us and sustain us in the unknown journey that lay before us. For if it had not been for the faith and knowledge that was bestowed upon us in that temple by the influence and help of the Spirit of the Lord, our journey would have been like one taking a leap in the dark. To start out on such a journey in the winter as it were and in our state of poverty, it would seem like walking into the jaws of death. But we had faith in our Heavenly Father, and we put our trust in Him feeling that we were His chosen people and had embraced His gospel, and instead of sorrow, we felt to rejoice that the day of our deliverance had come.”2
Just as the pioneers had to trudge along on the trek west, some days I feel like I’m trudging along the same way in my daily routine that seems overwhelming and hard sometimes. The knowledge and blessings of the gospel and the temple kept them going. So does my knowledge of the gospel and the blessings of the temple keep me going. I don’t want to give up or give in. I want to keep going so that I can enjoy my forever family in this life and in the next.

Ten months after my husband's  stroke we were able to attend the temple together. It was one of the most blessed and peaceful experiences I’ve had since the onset of Kary’s stroke. Being with him there just really helped me to put our life in perspective. I know Kary’s physical ailments are temporary. I know that if we endure this life well and with faith in our Father above and our Savior Jesus Christ that we will be blessed far more than we can even comprehend. I felt our Father’s love for us there. I felt His understanding of our situation. The Holy Ghost spoke peace and comfort to our hearts and minds and helped us understand that just as this pioneer sister said so beautifully that He “would guide us and sustain us in our unknown journey that lay before us.” We don’t know exactly what our future holds with Kary and his recovery. Each day we take one step forward in faith, knowing that God will be with us. He has provided so much. More than I probably even realize or recognize sometimes. Somehow our experiences will be for our good and God will help us every step of the way. We just need to endure it and endure it well with faith in God and our Savior."

 I have a very dear friend who has recently been told that her husband only has 2-4 months left to live as he is suffering from cancer.  Before she found out about her husband's cancer earlier in the year we had been able to have many gospel discussions.  She asked me once if I believed if we recognized our loved ones in the next life.  I of course replied that we would and explained a little about God's plan for families to be together not only in this life but the next.   She told me that she didn't believe we would recognize our loved ones in the next life because she knows there will be no sadness or tears in Heaven and if she gets to the next life and sees that a member of her family isn't there because they have not been baptized then she will cry and be sad.  So, with her belief that we won't recognize our loved ones in the next life and her husband given his news I can only imagine how devastating it will be for her to lose her husband.  So much more devastating for someone who has the belief that they will someday get to see their loved one again, but not only that, they will be able to still have the relationship of husband and wife.  I so much want to share with her my knowledge that she will see and recognize her husband in the next life and even has the opportunity to be sealed to him for time and all eternity...never to be separated again. 

This is God's plan...for us to continue our family relationships into the next life.  I'm truly grateful for this knowledge.