Families are strengthened when they are sealed together for time and eternity, and strong families strengthened communities and nations. I am strengthened because my family is sealed together for time and eternity. My parents were sealed together for time and eternity on the day that they were married in October 1929. Because their sealing took place before any children were born, all twelve of their children are sealed to them. My husband and I were sealed on our wedding day, and all six of our children are sealed to us through that ceremony. Five of my six children were married and sealed in the temple, and their children are sealed to them. This is what is meant by the statement that families can be together forever.
I have a friend who was reared as a non-member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She joined the Church of Jesus Christ as an adult and is sealed to her husband. She did the temple work for her parents after they passed away. I once asked her if she felt different after the sealing to her parents, and she said that she felt much more loved and secure with the knowledge that her family would be together again in the next life.
The death of a loved one is always difficult because the survivors are left with a huge hole in their lives where their loved one was. When families are sealed together, the survivors know that the hole is only temporary. The separation will last only for the length of this life because loved ones will be together again in the next life.
My family is large and has said many temporary farewells. We are facing another separation soon because my brother-in-law is dying of pancreatic cancer and is expected to live only weeks. There were only three children to begin. One has graduated from this life, and now a second one is almost ready to go. This means that my husband will the last remaining member of his immediate family because both his parents are also in the next world.
My husband is quiet and keeps his feelings to himself, so I cannot say how he feels about being left alone without any siblings. However, I can share a statement made many years by my father. He was one of five children and the last one to die. He said once that he felt alone even though he had two half-sisters who survived him. I assume that my husband will feel somewhat alone also. I cannot imagine what it would be like because I have eleven siblings with eight of them still living. My siblings are my best friends, and I love to be with them.
I hate the thought of saying goodbye to any of my siblings by blood or marriage, but I know those times are coming sooner rather than later. I do not expect to be the last survivor in my family, but I feel great empathy for my husband. I am grateful that his parents went to the temple to be sealed together and to have their three children sealed to them. This knowledge brings great comfort to me as I watch a dear brother-in-law slip slowly away. I know beyond any doubt that temple sealings strengthen marriages and families, and strong families bring great strength to communities and nations.
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