Faith

Like I said, when I went to the Ithaca conference, I sat through a workshop taught by the president of the Palmyra temple. he taught about "One Eternal Round", how God wants us to have families and be blessed with everything that He has. Well, somewhere in that discussion about marriage, he shared how he had had the opportunity to meet the general YW president a long time ago when his girls were YW themselves. I estimate this was a good forty years ago.

He took the opportunity to ask her what she felt that his daughters, being young women, especially needed to know. I perked up and took note since I am YW leader, and not all that different from the YW myself.

Her answer was "To be successful singles."

And the answer floored him.

And when he shared that, I admit that my heart sank.

He went on and explained. There are less men on this earth. There are less men in the church than women. And when you crunch the numbers, there are far less worthy men than women to have temple marriages. The numbers haven't changed much for years. Hence, the need for women to learn to be happy and successful on their own.

This information doesn't come as much of a surprise, but it wasn't what I really wanted to hear. It's a comfort to know that God is merciful and His plan allows for marriage beyond the grave, but I tire of hearing that doctrine. Trust me, I'm well aware of this concept. I recall getting a "Mother's Day" gift in the singles ward years ago that was a church CD with a quote on it that referred to that concept and how not all of us will get married in this life. Thanks. Thanks a lot.

Perhaps getting married really is like winning the lottery. Who knows. I worry about my girls, they don't have many examples of temple marriages in their lives. There are not many nice boys out here for them to date. There are hardly any young men in our branch for them to even associate with. I pray for them.

People tell me I should go to Utah, as if getting married is a numbers thing. Gotta increase your odds. Well, over the years I've met hundreds of nice young men and that doesn't mean anything. I haven't found the right one. After all, I'm looking for one, not hundreds, right? I've met several couples out here that have pretty miraculous "How They Met" stories, if God can do that for them, then he can do that for me. I have to have faith in the promises that have been made to me. Right now I feel like I am where I should be, doing what I should be doing. Marriage and babies will come when it should.

I'm reminded of an experience that I had while working at BB&B. I used to be the one who helped couples to register for wedding gifts (that's right, always the registrar, never the bride, lol) and one evening this nice young couple came in. I met a lot of trainwreck couples in that line of work, but they were different- eventually I figured it out that they were LDS.

I set them up and they started scanning items, later the bride had to step out and the groom was chatting with me. He told me about how they met. He was living in Utah at the time and felt this prompting that he should go home to WA. And he ignored it- why should he give up his comfortable lifestyle? Well, one by one, his lifestyle was taken away from him- he lost his apartment, job, etc. He was forced to go back and live with his parents.

The very night that he got to WA, a friend called him, said "Hey come to my party." The groom was tired and didn't want to go, but he wound up going somehow.

And that's where he met her. They were meant to be. God orchestrated it so that a family could begin.

I don't think it was any coincidence that I happened to be the one to help them that night. They could have come in at any other time. Heavenly Father wanted me to know that story. And I am thankful for that.