In a quote by President Kimball, he stated, “…only those who believe deeply and actively in the family will be able to preserve their families in the midst of the gathering evil around us.” I believe that we live in a time of great turmoil and the family unit is being torn apart. I think that President Kimball means that those of us who understand the importance and the sacredness of the family unit will be okay if we “practice what we preach.” We must do all we can to strengthen our families now, not later. It’s those small and simple things that will uphold the family when evil strikes. The simple things such as having family and individual daily prayers, having Family Home Evenings, daily scripture study, attending the temple, keeping those sacred covenants that we made at baptism and in the temple, and striving to be like our Savior.

My husband and I talked a lot about what we wanted as a couple and as a family before we got married. We both feel that our family is the most important gift that God has entrusted us with.  We put our family first before anything else. There is nothing more important to us than our family. I like to think of it this way, imagine you were to have a piece of jewelry worth a million dollars.  I’m pretty sure you or I would do whatever we could to keep that piece safe.  I don’t think it would be in a typical jewelry box.  I would most likely be in some type of fireproof high tech safe.  That is how I feel about my family.  I need to make sure my husband and I have safeguards put in place to help us survive the evils of the world.

Somethings  I do specifically as a mother to guard my family from evil is taking time to be with them.  It’s so simple yet we often don’t realize how important spending time with are children really is. When I say time, I mean quality time where my focus it just on them.  This allows to me to be a mom, teacher, example, friend, and so many more titles. By being present in my family’s life, they learn that their mom really loves and cares for them.  I open that safe place for them to communicate their concerns.  I get to be their first teacher in not only earthly knowledge but of spiritual knowledge too.  I hope by teaching them to live as their Savior did,  when evil comes knocking on my family’s door we will have the strength as a family to conquer whatever is placed before us.

“The most important work we do in this life is in our homes with our families.”

Jeffrey R. and Patricia T. Holland On Earth as It Is in Heaven