The Importance of Eternal Marriages

I have always seen the Salt Lake Temple as the ultimate symbol of eternity and celestial marriage. My parents were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple and so were my mother's parents. This temple was the temple that I knew I wanted to be sealed to my husband and children in someday. Unfortunately I lost sight of that at some point and made some choices as a youth that have not allowed me to be sealed to my family.
For as long as I can remember I have known about the importance of eternal marriages. I was taught from a tender, young age to value the covenants made in the temple and to work to be worthy of the blessings of the temple. However, as my teenage years progressed, I became stubborn and willful and did not want my parents to tell me what I could and couldn't do. This defiant and independent attitude spilled over into every facet of my life, including my church attendance and worthiness to enter the House of the Lord. Because of some choices I made, I was disqualified from having the temple sealing I had yearned for so badly as a little girl.
It took me a decade to completely realize what my stubbornness had cost me and to begin taking advantage of the Atonement and making the necessary course corrections. After years of living away from the gospel I began to earn my way back and regain the blessings of being temple worthy. twelve years late I still yearn for the blessing of an eternal marriage and hope to be blessed to have one someday.
Through the years I have grown to value temple marriage immensely. I desire what I see so many other couples and families in the Church already have; a temple sealing. It saddens me when I see people who are married in the temple take for granted the gift that a temple sealing is. I know that marriages are hard but when a couple is sealed they should understand the importance of honoring those covenants and working together to achieve a mutual love of the Savior. As they draw closer the Christ they will simultaneously be drawing closer together as a couple, as husband and wife, and strengthening their families as well. 
I know that the family is central to our Heavenly Father's plan of happiness. I know that by turning our family struggles and heartaches over to Jesus Christ and trusting in His redeeming power to fortify our hearts and our homes, that we will be able to withstand the trials of this life and become stronger and more committed to endure to the end. Eternal marriage is the covenant necessary to bind us to our ancestors, our posterity, and our Heavenly Parents. I hope that one day I will be blessed to have this opportunity and that I will be together with my family in the eternities.