Friday, September 3, 2010

Family Is Central to His Plan & He is Central to the Success of Family

I have the special privilege of introducing you to my sister-in-law, Renae today.
I hate saying the "in-law" part, because she is sister "in-so-much-more"!
I'm so pleased to have her with us today.
Here's Renae!
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My name is Renae and my husband, Eric, and I have two kids.  We have been living in Toledo, Ohio for 8 years.  Jocelyn's husband is my brother, and it's been great having family semi-close out East. :)







The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints proclaims to the world, "that the family is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children."  Our Creator has placed us here in families, and given us the power to create our own families.  

When Eric and I decided to get married, we didn't know how things would turn out (we still don't), but we had plans.  When we decided to have kids, we didn't know how it would be, but we knew we wanted it.  Before our second child was born, she was diagnosed with a heart defect.  How scary and daunting!  But, here we are, all of us, on the other side of three heart surgeries, chugging along. 




 I can tell you a few things I know for certain that I learned through this: 

First, even though the situation seemed to be beyond my control, I felt the supporting presence of our Heavenly Father; I had faith that He would see us through,  "but if not" that would also be okay.  Since the family is part of His plan and our eternal destiny, He would also be an active part of it.  I know that our Heavenly Father knows and loves us and wants us to keep loving and working at our eternal families.  When we make Him a part of our family's daily-goings-on, He increases our efforts, shows us the way and expands our vision and our hearts.

Second, I know that we could never have made it though this experience alone.  That is how God planned it.  We need each other to make it through this life.  And if we are fortunate and wise, we will lean on family, friends, church leaders, and other helpful resources that can bolster us along the way.  I continue to get tips, insights, and inspiration from all of these people on concerns that come up.  When we look for good examples, we can find them.  This whole celebration of the FAMILY is something that gets us excited, involved and thinking about making our families better, brighter and all of us more like our Savior.

Lastly, my family means everything to me.  They say you love those you serve.  My little family is everything.  If it is to be, it's up to me.  No one is in the position to do more for them than I am.  Wow.  With God, all things truly are possible. :)



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Thank you, Renae!


Now it's YOUR turn to link-up with your posts about family.


Please link-up with the address to a specific post, not a link to your main blog address so that people will always be able to access your post.  To do this, click on the title of your post and the address will appear in your browser to copy and paste below!




~~Now comment away and check out what Cocoa is talking about today!~~

23 comments:

  1. renae, renae, renae...what an excellent post! I cannot imagine how you made it through those days and how strong you must be altho at that moment it might not have seen so. But I have learned that even the small things, the Lord is there for us. thanks for sharing your sweetness.

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  2. trials certainly strengthen families as we rely on our Father to help us.

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  3. I love this post .
    " When we make Him a part of our family's daily-goings-on, He increases our efforts, shows us the way and expands our vision and our hearts."

    I love how you said this We have to let him into our lives and families through praying together and studding the scriptures we can gain so much strength to help us through our trials

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  4. Great post Renae. Family is so important

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  5. Love this post! This month is going to be so uplifting!

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  6. Thanks Renae. I'm grateful to list you as an example and support.

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  7. What an amazing post! I am loving this celebrating family celebration!

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  8. Wonderful post! And I LOVE the "But if not" talk. Thank you for reminding me about it:) I love how you said, "No one is in the position to do more for them than I am." So true! And I'd say, too, that no one is in the position to do more for you than them. Families are so incredibly awesome! Hope your daughter is doing well after all those surgeries.

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  9. P.S. Thanks, Jocelyn, for linking me up! Saved me some precious time which I will now use to read more posts:)

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  10. The Lord IS the living center of our family. When we get caught up in other things and lose that center everything becomes off kilter.

    Wonderful Post!

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  11. I love that no matter what life throws at me, I know I can turn to God and my family and am loved by both.

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  12. I appreciated the faith that is written in the in-between-the-lines. You have be brave to have faith that Heavenly Father will work it out.

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  13. I needed this today! I couldn't get the link-up thing to work, but here is the address for my post: http://teamchaffee (dot) blogspot (dot) com/2010/09/i-dont-know-if-youve-noticed-or-not-but (dot) html

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  14. It is amazing how much Heavenly Father guides us in our families. I have 2 dear friends who have lost children, and while it is a horrific experience, both families were guided and loved from above the whole time. He is always there; we just need to make ourselves aware!

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  15. Heavenly Father knew my fears and He knows how much we can handle.

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  16. What a touching story. It's amazing how our trials can really turn into blessings.

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  17. Thank you. Beautiful story and testimony.

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  18. Thank you for sharing such a personal and inspiring testimony. And for the reminder that the family is really - really! - for forever.

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  19. Renae - Your faith and testimony strengthens me! Thank you! :)

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  20. Our family has been through lots of challenges with children too, and it is amazing the divine strength we can receive. Thank you for sharing.

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  21. It is so true that you don't know what your future will have in store... but you can be sure there will be challenges and that with faith in Christ, we can be blessed to get through anything.

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