FAMILY

"Latter-day Saints recognize the transcendent importance of the family and strive to live in such a way that the adversary cannot steal into our homes. We find safety and security for ourselves and our children in honoring the covenants we have made and living up to the ordinary acts of obedience required of the followers of Christ." ~ President Boyd K. Packer, These Things I Know, April 2013 General Conference

"I’m sure you can identify the fundamental principles that center your home on the Savior. The prophetic counsel to have daily personal and family prayer, daily personal and family scripture study, and weekly family home evening are the essential, weight-bearing beams in the construction of a Christ-centered home. Without these regular practices it will be difficult to find the desired and much-needed peace and refuge from the world." ~ Elder Richard G. Scott, For Peace at Home, April 2013 General Conference

"Our most important and powerful assignments are in the family. They are important because the family has the opportunity at the start of a child’s life to put feet firmly on the path home.” ~Elder Henry B. Eyring, Help Them on Their Way Home, April 2010 General Conference

"Parents should teach their children to pray. The child learns both from what the parents do and what they say. The child who sees a mother or a father pass through the trials of life with fervent prayer to God and then hears a sincere testimony that God answered in kindness will remember what he or she saw and heard. When trials come, that individual will be prepared.” ~Elder Henry B. Eyring, That He May Write upon Our Hearts, October 2000 General Conference

"We are told in the scriptures that Satan will tempt us in the last days before the Savior comes again. For this reason, our children need to know that God and Jesus Christ will always love them and answer their prayers. This knowledge will bring them abiding strength.” ~Elder Robert D. Hales, Teaching by Faith, Address at Church Educational System educators given in Bountiful, Utah, on 1 February 2002.

"With the influences of evil that surround our children, can we even imagine sending them out in the morning without kneeling and humbly asking together for the Lord’s protection? Or closing the day without kneeling together and acknowledging our accountability before Him and our thankfulness for His blessings? Brothers and sisters, we need to have family prayer.” ~Elder Neil L. Anderson, Prophets and Spiritual Mole Crickets, October 1999 General Conference

"As a people, aren’t we grateful that family prayer is not an out-of-date practice with us? There is no more beautiful sight in all this world than to see a family praying together. There is real meaning behind the oft-quoted ‘The family that prays together stays together.’ The Lord directed that we have family prayer when He said, ‘Pray in your families unto the Father, always in my name, that your wives and your children may be blessed’ (3 Nephi 18:21).” ~Thomas S. Monson, “Come unto Him in Prayer and Faith,” Ensign, Mar 2009, 4–9

"Is there someone in your life who perhaps needs forgiveness? Is there someone in your home, someone in your family … who has done an unjust or an unkind or an unchristian thing? All of us are guilty of such transgressions, so there surely must be someone who yet needs your forgiveness.” ~ Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Amazed at the Love Jesus Offers Me, From an address given to Salt Lake Temple workers on November 24, 1985.

"Don’t treasure up past wrongs, reprocessing them again and again. In a marriage relationship, festering is destructive; forgiving is divine (see D&C 64:9–10). Plead for the guidance of the Spirit of the Lord to forgive wrongs …, to overcome faults, and to strengthen relationships“ ~Elder Dallin H. Oaks, Divorce, April 2007 General Conference

“Happiness abounds when there is genuine respect one for another. Wives draw closer to their husbands, and husbands are more appreciative of their wives, and children are happy, as children are meant to be.”~President Thomas s. Monson, An Example of the Believers, October 1992 General Conference.

CAPSTONE: 

My testimony of strengthening home and family is firm. I have always striven to have a Christ centered home. Without the gospel of Jesus Christ and the teachings of these living prophets of God, I would have experienced great difficulty in raising my three daughters. My family is my greatest joy. They are the hopes and dreams of my heart. I have always felt like I received some of the greatest spirits from heaven. Because of this, I needed the help from my Heavenly Father so that I could be an instrument in His hands as I nurtured and taught them. Although I was far from perfect, I made an honest effort to teach them to pray, to serve others, to learn from the scriptures. They have always been obedient. When I watch them from afar, I can look at them and say, "There is a woman who loves the Lord." I believe families are forever. I continue each day to live in a way so that I can be worthy of living with them forever.