Pride

I think I have said this before, but marriage is hard. Bringing two people together who come from two different backgrounds and then expecting them to get along and love each other forever, well that is just hard. It takes a lot of work and a lot of friendship to make it through the hard times. One thing that can kill a marriage is pride. President Ezra Taft Benson said “The central feature of pride is enmity—enmity toward God and enmity toward our fellowmen. Enmity means “hatred toward, hostility to, or a state of opposition.” It is the power by which Satan wishes to reign over us.” Pride can start with something as small as not offering forgiveness or even withholding love. If it is not taken care of and is left to fester over time it can turn into enmity. This is where humility and repentance come into play. Isn’t it wonderful that we have such a loving Heavenly Father who made it possible to learn and change through the Atonement of Christ.

“The proud cannot accept the authority of God giving direction to their lives. (See Hel. 12:6 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site..) They pit their perceptions of truth against God’s great knowledge, their abilities versus God’s priesthood power, their accomplishments against His mighty works.” Something I struggle with is knowing if an answer to a prayer is really coming from God or if it is just a good thought that I have come up with myself. If I really trusted God and relied on Him more I know he could help me with the relationships in my life. I have said this in my blog posts before but I feel that I have a really good relationship with my husband already. We were best friends before we got married and that has helped us through the good times as well as the bad. And believe me, things have not always been rosy around here. I have chosen to use this principles in a relationship in my life that I really struggle with. I know I have mentioned her before but in case you are new here I have an 11 year old daughter with special needs. We adopted her from foster care when she was 2 months old. We really struggle with our relationship. My pride has led me to believe that SHE is the one with the problem and so SHE is the one that needs to change. (We can use this in marriage too). But in all reality nothing I do will actually change her (same with your spouses). I need to be working on myself. I know that if I create a Christ centered home and work on my reactions to her behaviors then Heavenly Father can turn me more into the mom that this daughter needs. I know that if I work on getting as close to the Savior as I possibly can that His love can change me and I can use His love to heal our relationship. I know that the relationship with my daughter will never look the same as most mother\daughter relationships but with the pure love of Christ it can be the best possible on this earth.