this was a momentous day for me. michelle.
i never, i mean NEVER, thought id ever be sealed to ANYONE in the temple. EVER.
i had come from a broken home, never sealed to either of my parents, my mom hasnt ever been sealed to her parents. i have had a failed marriage to another convert to my faith.
remarried, and refused to be sealed in the temple until my son was adopted by craig.
to some a foolish move, for they felt to show my son true love to him and my husband id go ahead and be sealed.
what i saw sitting in my sons shoes when i ran that cenerio was, a child who would feel left out, possibly "not good enough". as if we (the adults) were running ahead of him, leaving him behind.
i couldnt do it. i COULDNT allow my son to allow for any thoughts that were untrue to creep inside is heart and mind.
we kind of were lazy about getting the sealing done, making excuses the entire time for why we hadnt doen ti yet. i didnt feel any urgancy, until, i had the schedule set up for my gastric surgery.
it was the defining moment that forced my hand and made me chose to do it, or possibly lose it forever.
i knew this surgery carried a risk, beyond my life, that some people actually dont wake up, or never make it off that operating table.
that frightened me.
and i made sure we set a date to go get sealed asap.
happened to be during my sons boy scout garage sale, we had actually spent the day all day there, left and hit the temple, changed clothes and were waiting for the moment to happen.
i had no idea what to expect.
i had been through endowments. which is simply making certain promises with God. understanding the importance of your being, and why were here, and where we go when were done.
but i had never been in any sealing before. it was my 1st time for both being sealed (and only time id ever have the chance to have it done unless im ever temple divorced) and 1st time id ever witness a sealing. which is very much like a wedding ceremony. but slightly different.
im not allowed to go into details about the sealing because its a very SACRED (want to make sure that thats made perfectly clear..SACRED) NOT SECRET.
secret denotes to NEVER tell anyone, SACRED means can be shared with those worthy to know, and in this instance WITHIN the walls of the temple only.
so, thats the best i can give you.
i can tell you, it wasnt weird, wasnt odd, and it was very normal. nothing strange was happening in it.
even if i wanted to tell you about it, i cant remember much about it.
once daniel walked in, i broke down.
i was shaking , and im not sure why, but every fiber of my body was shaken. i wasnt scared. i was overwhelmed with the spirit in the moment.
so, much so, the tears fell from my eyes.
our hands were held together, mine ontop of craigs and daniels over ours, and there was something about that motion that set me off in the moment...
it was so difficult to not sob out loud...i was struck. i was struck with awesomeness and spirituality in the moment.
i remember getting up from the alter (we were kneeling) and standing over by the chairs we were asked to sit in until daniel walked in the room, and everyone shook our hands and spoke kind words to us as they passed by us.
and one phrase i remember sister longoria staying was:
"you make a beautiful bride."
to which i thought to myself, "Im not a bride, why would you say that?"
and she wasnt the only one who referenced my brideship.
then it dawned on me..in my patriarchal blessing (a blessing given to people to allow them insight into the future they have the potential to hit if they follow the commandments), it says in there a line im paraphrasing here;
" youll mary a mechesedeck priesthood holder"
all my life since i was 18 and got that blessing, that one line and several others have haunted me.
i never thought id ever be blessed with the priesthood in my own home, then craig got the aarinic, then the melchesedeck, and then i married him in the temple, forcing that ine to become truth.
when we were in the temple, i was allowed to kiss craig at the alter, i kissed him, and thanked him for allowing me to have this opporunity.
i am bound, forever, to be faithful to this husband. and as far as im concerned, i have no interest in cheating, or straying, or looking in another direction. ive had the opposite of whom ive been blessed with. why would i change?
we are not alowed to take pics in our temple garments, or have pics taken within the temple.
but we can take as many images of ourselves outside the temple as much as we want to.
these are a few of those images.
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| The Williamson Family Sealed in the South Steak Oklahoma City LDS Temple of The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Daniel, Craig & Michelle |
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| The Williamson Family outside the Oklahoma South Steak Temple. Craig, Michelle, Damiel |
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| Craig standing by some purple flowers at the Oklahoma LDS South Steak Temple. |
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| Michelle, being Silly by some yellow flowers at the Oklahoma South Steak LDS temple |
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| Michelle Williamson (me), Tamara Spencer. Shes my best friend here in oklahoma. |
MICHELLE
In Mormonism, a sealing is an ordinance (ritual), performed in temples by a person holding the sealing power. The purpose of this ordinance is to seal familiar relationships, making possible the existence of family relationships throughout eternity. LDS teachings place great importance on the specific authority required to perform these sealings. Church doctrine teaches that this authority, called the Priesthood, corresponds to that given to Peter in Matthew 16:19
Sealings are typically performed as marriages or as sealing of children to parents.
Sealings
Faithful Latter Day Saints believe civil marriages are dissolved at death if they are not later solemnized with a sealing, but that a couple who has been sealed in a temple will be married beyond physical death and the Resurrection if they remain righteous. This means that in the afterlife they and their family will be together forever. An illustrative difference in the marriage ceremony performed in LDS temples is the replacement of the words "until death do us part" with "for time and all eternity".The LDS Church recognizes other monogamous, heterosexual marriages, both civil and religious, although they believe that such marriages will not continue after death because "Eternal Marriages" must be performed by Priesthood authority. However, "Eternal Marriages" are also performed vicariously for the deceased so that once all the prior temple ordinances are completed for a deceased individual, couples who were not sealed during their life may accept the proxy sealing to each other and their children.
Couples who have children born to them before the couple is sealed, may have their children sealed to them after the couple is sealed. Couples who have children after being sealed do not have to have their children sealed to them in a separate ceremony. Children born to sealed parents are "born in the covenant" and are automatically sealed to their parents. Adopted children may be sealed to their adoptive parents once the adoption has been legally finalized.
Although a divorce legally dissolves a civilly-recognized marriage, the Church still recognizes a sealed couple as being sealed. A couple who has been sealed may request to have their sealing "canceled", but this is uncommon, occurs only under special circumstances and is only granted by the President of the Church. Some refer informally to a "cancellation" as a 「temple divorce」, but the terminology designated by Church leaders is "cancellation of a sealing". If a sealing is canceled, the sealing between them and any children remains in force, though the couple is no longer sealed, as the sealing together of husband and wife and the sealing of parents to children are separate ordinances.[1]
A cancellation typically follows after a civil divorce when a woman seeks to be sealed to another man. The Church's requirements for divorced men are equally strict, and even sometimes more so. A man must apply for a sealing clearance if he seeks to marry another woman after he has been civilly divorced. He is still required to receive a sealing clearance, even if he has already received a cancellation of sealing.[2]
It has been argued that the LDS Church's policy on sealings and cancellations reflect its doctrine of plural marriage. Although the doctrine of plural marriage is currently prohibited from being practiced in the Church, a man can be sealed to multiple women. A widower may be sealed while he is alive to his subsequent wives. Additionally, men who are dead may be sealed by proxy to all of the women to whom they were legally married while alive. Recent changes in church policy also allow women to be sealed to multiple men, but only after both she and her husband(s) are dead.[2]
Church doctrine is not entirely specific on the status of men or women who are sealed by proxy to multiple spouses. There are at least two possibilities:
- Regardless of how many people a man or woman is sealed to by proxy, they will only remain with one of them in the afterlife, and that the remaining spouses, who might still merit the full benefits of exaltation that come from being sealed, would then be given to another person in order to ensure each has an eternal marriage.
- These sealings create effective plural marriages that will continue after death. There are no Church teachings clarifying whether polyandrous relationships can exist in the afterlife, so some church members doubt whether this possibility would apply to women who are sealed by proxy to multiple spouses. The possibility for women to be sealed to multiple men is a recent policy change enacted in 1998. Church leaders have neither explained this change, nor its doctrinal implications. It should be noted, however, that proxy sealings, like proxy baptisms, are merely offered to the person in the afterlife, indicating that the purpose is to allow the woman to choose the right man to be sealed to, as LDS doctrine forbids polyandry.
Only worthy members of the LDS Church, who hold current valid temple recommends, can attend and witness sealings. Non-member family and friends generally wait in the temple waiting room during the sealing ceremony.
Since the LDS Church rejects same-sex marriages, these unions are not performed in temples nor are they recognized by the LDS Church.
