Happy Marriage is a Choice

 Ch. 3 Foundational Processes for Enduring, Healthy Marriage

I want to start out by talking about happiness. We create our own happiness! We are responsible for doing things in our lives that will either help us or hurt us. When we can understand how to be intentional with ourselves we can then be intentional with others. “Foundational processes are actions couples take in relation to each other to help their marriage flourish.” pg. 136 Within a relationship comes personal commitment to the marriage covenant, love and friendship, positivity, accepting influence, handling differences and conflict respectfully, and continued courtship. In a marriage, you become one with your spouse and one with God. This unity allows you to come together for all the good, bad, and ugly. Sometimes, life is going to throw you some curveballs and that’s okay. We must learn to lean on each other and the Lord during these times. I have seen my parents come together in this way. My dad has lost his job a few times over the last 10 years. There were times he did not know how he was going to provide for our family, but seeing he and my moms faith that things were going to be okay and that because they were living the gospel they knew Heavenly Father was going to help us and take care of us in our time of need really gave me hope and comfort for better things to come. Seeing the way they loved each other even through all the stress and hardship was amazing to witness. It’s something I want in a marriage. I want the kind of love that is not just a feeling, but a consistent choice… even when something may irritate us and we don’t really like each other at the moment. 

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