W11 Being unified with our spouse....literally and figuratively

I was on social media today and came across a post where a young wife was asking for counsel from the masses on how to resolve a conflict she was having with her husband. She had recently been offered her "dream job" in California and she really wanted to take it. However, her husband had also been accepted to medical school on the east coast and anticipated starting classes at about the same time she would need to start her job. She worried that if she said no to the job she may resent her husband later, so she was considering living apart from him so he could do school and she could have the job. She wasn't sure if that was a good idea (is what she said anyway).

I'll admit that I was a little exasperated by her post. 

Henry B. Eyring gave an awesome talk about how to be united with our spouse similar to the way that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are united in their purpose. President Eyring said that each week as we take the sacrament and renew our covenants with the Lord, we promise to remember Him in all that we do and to keep His commandments so that we can have the Holy Ghost with us. He cautioned that we should not be selective in our obedience to laws of the gospel and also that we must be aware of our pride and avoid letting it disrupt our family life. He said that the Saviors atonement is what makes it possible for our natures to change in marriage and for us to truly be one with our spouse. 

The natural man is an enemy to God. Satan is very subtle and cunning in the ways that he tries to break families apart. 

As I think about how this relates to the young wife on social media, I consider how desperate she seemed for herself. Her dream, her plans, and her desires. There really wasn't any talk of how she might save her marriage or change her heart and turn it toward her husband. 

Marriage isn't easy. It's full of give and take, sacrifice, forgiveness and the need for charity towards each other. The sooner we learn that, the better off we will be. It broke my heart to think of all that this girl would be giving up if she decided to live separately from her husband in order to work at her dream job. So many opportunities for personal AND marital growth; TOGETHER with her husband instead of apart.