Prepare for Unexpected

Families are strengthened when they prepare for undesired or unimaginable events to happen. No one knows what the future holds, but families can put in place certain plans that will help them through unplanned and undesired events. Some friends of my family recently had to face the fact that their beautiful, 22-year old daughter was stabbed to death. This event came suddenly into their lives without any possibility to "plan" how to handle it. This family was able to handle this terrible ordeal because the parents had previous plans in place to help their family deal with unplanned emergencies. I realize that most families will not have to deal with having a loved one murdered, but all families lose loved ones to death - whether illness or accident. My friends made sure that their family could be together always, even after death. When they were married, they went to a temple where they were sealed together for time and all eternity along with any children that later joined them. When families are sealed by proper priesthood authority, death cannot separate them. In addition to having their marriage sealed by proper priesthood authority, my friends also sealed their family together through love, knowledge and testimony that their family will continue after this life. There are other ways that families can prepare for the unimaginable and undesired events that seem to come into our lives. It is important to have insurance to cover the various areas of our lives - home, vehicle, life, health, etc. - because insurance can help relieve the stress of the emergency. There are many different ways to "insure" against emergencies. One way that my husband and I insure against expensive airline tickets is to maintain a bank of airline mileage. Tickets can be obtained quickly using mileage with little additional expense. We have used many mileage tickets in the past and expect to use more in the future. There are many ways that families can prepare for the unexpected. Parents can think about and discuss many events that could happen to them and decide how they would handle the situation in advance. It is important that we all do something to prepare because it is the unexpected stresses that can divide and destroy family members. Proper preparation for emergencies can strengthen all families.