“Thankful for Temple Blessings,” Friend, Nov. 2002, 44

Thankful for Temple Blessings

Let the hearts of all my people rejoice, who have … built this house to my name (D&C 110:6).

When a family is sealed in the temple, they can be together for eternity. The temple makes it possible for families to be together after this life, but it also brings blessings to families while they are still on earth.

If we remember that our families can be eternal, our trials won’t seem as difficult. A man from Hong Kong, Lee Hing Chung, learned this for himself. When he lost his arm in an accident and could not work to support his family, he became very depressed. He and his family later joined the Church and were sealed in the temple. Before Lee was baptized, he thought that money would make him happy. After he was baptized and made temple covenants, he found true happiness because he understood Heavenly Father’s plan. He said, “When I attend church on Sunday with my family, I am so grateful that we are together and that we can be together forever. … The temple reminds me to be good, to be disciplined, to be worthy.”* Temple blessings give us hope, happiness, and a desire to become like Heavenly Father so that we can be with our families forever.

Not all of us have been sealed to our families yet, but temple blessings will come to everyone who is worthy. President Gordon B. Hinckley said, “No blessing of which you are … worthy will forever be denied you.”† We can work on building an eternal family right now by being kind to our family members, by praying for our families, and by living worthy of temple blessings.

A Happy Family

To make the happy family picture into a layered picture, glue page 45 onto a piece of heavy paper or poster board. Cut the picture into three pieces as shown below.
Glue some cut-up squares of corrugated cardboard onto the back of the temple piece, then glue it onto an 8.5″ x 11″ (21.6 cm x 28 cm) piece of heavy colored paper as shown above.
Next, glue some cardboard squares together so they’re twice as thick. Then glue them to the back of the family piece, and glue it into position under the temple.
For the title piece, glue cardboard squares together to make each set three pieces thick. Glue them to the back of the title piece, then glue it into position under the family.

Illustrated by Jerry Harston