My Temple Marriage

BY: Eliza Bishop

I was born and raised in Utah, in a Mormon/LDS saturated environment, but this last summer I had the opportunity to live outside of my "happy valley" and experience what the "real world" is like. I lived in Dallas for four months and got a taste of how different my life really is in comparison to those not of my same faith. 

I had an internship with a popular news station and was exposed to many different and wonderful people. The cultural diversity came almost as a shock, but I was able to meet and learn so many things about other people and myself as I mingled among my colleagues.

There was one point during the summer where I and 4 other interns, (all of us women, early 20's), went out to lunch and we got to talk about life rather than our normal discussions of work. It was there that I was asked, "Eliza, I know you're married, but do you believe that all men cheat?" (I was the only one married of the 5 of us). I said firmly, "No". They continued around the circle asking each woman there, "Do you believe all men cheat?" Answered by "Yes," "Yes," "Yes," and "Yes." They then continued to talk about how they'd be willing to work with their "future" husband the first time they cheat, and how they would handle the second time or third. This conversation broke my heart. How could these women sit there and talk about how they planned for failure? I'm not saying that a situation of an unfaithful spouse is impossible to work through, I believe it is something that no one can judge unless they themselves have been through that situation.  But it was heartbreaking to see these wonderful, talented and beautiful young women talk about how they plan for their future husbands to cheat on them. What a sad standard to plan a life for. 

Cheating is something that has never and will never cross my mind when it comes to my husband and I. I have no question in my mind about his fidelity to me, and I to him. As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we marry in a Temple, the house of the Lord, and we are married by someone with the proper authority who seals us together for time and all eternity. Not only do we covenant with each other, but we covenant with the Lord to follow in his footsteps and to honor our marriage. It is such a blessing to know that the Lord is involved in our marriage and that my husband and I can lean on the Lord for his help, guidance and blessing for our marriage. There is a great power that comes with this knowledge. 

At this lunch one of the other women leaned over to me and said, "I want to answer 'No' to that question so bad. I don't want to believe that all men cheat." And I told her, "It doesn't have to be that way. You can marry a man where that would never be a question in your mind." She then continued to ask me questions: How could I feel so confident in getting married at such a young age? How did I know that he was the one? How did I know I was ready for marriage?  I was able to share with her my mindset and my husband's mindset on marriage, what it means, and its importance. 

According to the world, it may be seem odd that I married in my early 20's, it may seem odd that we could be starting a family so soon, it may seem odd that complete fidelity in our marriage is not just an expectation, but a standard that we covenant to each other and the Lord, but these blessings in my life became possible because of my faith in my Savior. These blessings came because of having the knowledge of the gospel in my life and I wouldn't trade anything in place of it. 

Not every marriage is perfect, and married life isn't easy, but it has been the best thing that I have experienced in my life and has brought me more happiness than I could ever express. I know that getting married in the Temple has given our marriage that extra strength to last through whatever trials come our way, and that with the help of the Lord anything is possible. I know we can do it, the Lord is on our side. 

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Click HERE to learn more about the Mormon perspective on marriage