Blog #1: Marriage & Divorce

This week in FAML 300, we learned about marriage and divorce. Something that I thought I would share that was on my mind throughout the readings this week is my own family, because my parents divorced when I was a toddler. I joined the Church a few years ago, so I obviously wasn't raised in an LDS home (my mom is Catholic and my dad is Nondenominational Christian). My parents' reasoning for their divorce was that "we were young and realized that we were better off as friends." Although, I personally don't see their reason for divorcing to be legitimate, I do consider myself very blessed because of the divorce. My parents are both remarried, and my mom had two boys with my stepdad. If they didn't divorce, I wouldn't have my brothers, and I wouldn't have any of the additional family members that I do. However, reading Dallin H. Oaks' talk on divorce really helped me further see the importance of my marriage, and the fact that it isn't just a piece of paper to me. It's eternal. It's sacred. Although I love my parents and respect their decision to divorce, I would never divorce my husband for the same reason. Life is hard and marriage can be a challenge, but it's not worth simply giving up on unless you're in a relationship with infidelity or abuse.

Even before I joined the Church, I always told myself that I'd never get divorced. When I met my husband and got married, I began to realize that marriage isn't always breakfast in bed. Marriage isn't always filled with flowers and chocolates. Marriage is hard some days. You get in disagreements with your spouse, and you struggle just as anyone else does. But would it be as big of a blessing if it was easy? I don't think it would be. Sometimes it's the challenges in life that bring the biggest blessings, and I've definitely been seeing that in my own marriage. We are young adults and we have a lot to learn, but we're blessed to have each other to lean on through both the good times and bad.