How Has My Family Found Increased Peace, Joy, Unity, and Love?

We live in a world full of turmoil. Most of the time when I get on Facebook I see heated political arguments. I talk to people that are struggling with their finances every day. Evils such as pornography, drug usage, and same-sex relationships are widespread. Many portray these things as acceptable or even desirable. I have watched far too many families get torn apart with nasty divorces. We each have challenges in life. For example, I am almost constantly struggling with medical problems. Even though so many things are going wrong in the world, my family has succeeded at finding great peace, joy, unity, and love. How did we do this? The answer is simple. We have the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives.

A while back in the LDS General Women's Conference, Sister Cheryl A. Esplin gave an analogy for what the gospel of Jesus Christ does for our families. She said:

"A Young Women leader held up two soda cans. In one hand she held a can that was empty and in the other hand a can that was unopened and full of soda. First, she squeezed the empty can; it began to bend and then collapsed under the pressure. Next, with her other hand, she squeezed the unopened can. It held firm. It didn’t bend or collapse like the empty can--because it was filled. We likened this demonstration to our individual lives and to our homes and families. When filled with the Spirit and with gospel truth, we have the power to withstand the outside forces of the world that surround and push against us. However, if we are not filled spiritually, we don’t have the inner strength to resist the outside pressures and can collapse when forces push against us."

 How can we fill our families spiritually? The answer is given in a document titled "The Family: A Proclamation to the World." It says "Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities."

I just got home a couple days ago from serving a missionary. While on my mission, I encountered multiple families on the verge of divorce. I found nothing that helped bring these families back together better than getting them to start reading their scriptures and praying as a family every day. There is a lot of truth in the saying "A family that reads and prays together is a family that plans to stay together."

Since the day I was born, my family has always been there for me. My family has been a place of safety and refuge from the world. I testify that home can be a heaven on earth when a family works together to turn their family over to Jesus Christ.

I invite you to read "The Family: A Proclamation to the World." You can find it at https://www.lds.org/topics/family-proclamation?lang=eng