December 2004 Ensign - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

52
A Christmas
Cross-Stitch
After my mother died during the Christmas season,
we learned that we could feel peace again.
Iam a first-time dad. Now, perhaps more than
ever, I want and need an eternal family.
The principle of eternal families changed my life
before I was even born. When my dad asked my mother
to marry him, she expressed her convictions about going
to the temple in a letter that has been invaluable to our
family. Part of that letter reads:
“Temple marriage is forever. It lasts beyond death.
Children born to parents [who] married in the temple [and]
who live up to their vows will rejoin their parents in heaven.
The family unit is preserved for time and eternity. Steve, I
believe as clearly as I believe the sun will rise tomorrow that
this is true. And I also believe that as much as my Heavenly
Father loves me, as much as He loves you, He could not
preserve any other kind of relationship beyond death
because He is a God of truth, bound by His word.
“Steve, if I love you this much, and I have
known you only two and a half years, how
much more will you mean to me as time
goes by? If I can’t answer you now
because I can’t face what the consequences
might be, how could I ever, ever face
them later?
“Without the covenant of God, two people can
build their lives together, only to see it all snatched
BY DAVID TOY
away in an unexpected nightmare. There can be no peace
of mind.”
Those words supplied the added encouragement my
father needed to join the Church. My mother committed to
marriage, and my parents were sealed in the temple for time
and eternity. My father’s testimony was strengthened by the
peace of mind found through temple marriage—a peace of
mind that would become very meaningful years later.
Early on a Saturday morning,
19 December 1987,
my family piled into
our van to make the
four-hour trek