Intimacy in Marriage

I really appreciated the readings for this week.  I grew up in a home where sex was never mentioned.  Ever.  Not that I knew nothing.  I grew up on a cattle ranch so I knew where babies came from.  It just drove me crazy that my parents never talked about anything.  Then, fast forward a few years to being in young women’s, all that ever got talked about was how sex is bad.  I know that counsel came from a place of love, but it did anything but help.  I really loved what Brent A. Barlow said in They Twain Shall Be One: Thoughts on Intimacy in Marriage. 

“Why does something so beautiful sometimes become a source of so many problems? Part of the difficulty stems from mistaken ideas. Some people still believe that sexual intimacy is a necessary evil by which we have children. These people get an inaccurate view from parents who were too embarrassed to discuss such matters with their children or who were so concerned that their children live the law of chastity that they taught only the negative consequences of the improper use of intimacy.” (1986)

Growing up the way I did has helped me to see ways I want to do things differently when I have a family.  It is important to discuss with your children both sides of intimacy.  The blessings that come from using it the way God intended, as well as “the improper use”.  It is important to give children a healthy view of sexuality rather than have it be viewed as a subject that isn’t discussed.  It will help them in their future marriages to be more willing and comfortable discussing intimacy with their spouses. 

Another quote that I loved from Brent A. Barlow said,

“We believe in it inasmuch as we know of the sorrow that comes from the inappropriate use of sexuality outside the realm of marriage. We are acutely aware of what the prophets, past and present, have warned in these matters. As Alma declared to his son Corianton, “Wickedness never was happiness.” (1986)

I have seen the sorrow that comes in lives of people close to me, as well as in my own life.  Satan is so good at blinding you to the consequences that come from being intimate with someone outside of marriage.  He makes you feel like there is no way things can ever be right again.  But there is.  The Atonement of Jesus Christ is that way.  Kenneth W. Matheson said, “The Savior’s Atonement not only has the power to cleanse us but also to change and purify our hearts.” (2009)  I am eternally grateful for the cleansing and healing power of the Atonement.