Today was very eye opening to say the least. On this rainy morning I was heading to the afternoon session of LDS General Conference. I had never been to conference before, it’s always been something I’ve wanted to share with someone special.

One of my younger cousins invited me to go and I thought ‘If I have the opportunity to go why would I hold myself back from going just because I don’t have a boyfriend to share it with? I’ll share it with the ones who will always be there, my family.’ So after some convincing and thought I decided to attend.

My grandma, aunt, two cousins and I were on the way to the Conference Center in Salt Lake as we received a scary phone call from my uncle telling us they had rolled the truck in the canyon while driving home from a hunting trip. Immediately we knew that today we would be going straight to our family instead of attending General Conference.

Luckily aside from concussions and some scrapes, everyone is okay. The truck and trailer had flipped four times on the freeway. It’s safe to say Heavenly Father had my family in his hands today. Within minutes the entire family came together, driving up the canyon with trailers to help gather all of the gear that had flipped everywhere on the freeway. Then we all met at the hospital and went on to my uncle and grandpas homes unload and organize everything that had been gathered. Making sure to all help each other out and work as a team.

As I observed this, I was overwhelmed with gratefulness for the family I have been blessed with.

Sometimes at this stage in life it’s hard to recognize just how important family is, lately I’ve avoided going to family dinner each week because I have too much homework, there’s a devotional I want to attend, there’s a game night going on with friends or simply because I don’t want to be questioned about dating, marriage and grandkids. Today reminded me that family is important and spending time with them is something I need to do regularly.

The topic of coming from a broken family is something I’ve wanted to write about for a while now. For those of you that don’t know I was raised by a single mom as her only child, I have a dad but he was never really in my life growing up and let me tell you it was rough. But I wouldn’t change it for the world, I wouldn’t be the women that I am without that divorce. I wouldn’t have my younger brother and sister if it weren’t for that divorce.

Throughout my entire family there have been divorces and marriages, there are those who are active within the church, some who have fallen away and some who don’t believe in it at all. And at times explaining my family dynamic can be intimidating when I want to date someone because there’s always that thought in the back of my head, ‘What are they going to think?’ ‘Are they going to judge me based off of my family?’ I’ve even thought that nobody will ever want to date me because of it. But guess what……it does not matter what others think of your family dynamic. I would not trade one person in my family for anything in the world. Nowadays so many people portray their perfect marriage or perfect family via social media. But the word perfect does not even come close, nobody is perfect, every single couple, every single family, every single person has flaws and shortcomings. We were put on this earth to experience flaws, shortcomings and trials. Don’t hold your families flaws against them, because that family is the one thing that shaped you into the person that you are. They are the ones who will come together to save you when you are in a crisis. Your family will always be family. Family member will love you unconditionally. Life is too short to not recognize this.

If you come from a broken family and are sometimes intimidated by that fact, I’m here to tell you to Stop it! Don’t let your family dynamic dictate an insecurity because that ‘broken family’ of yours will be your eternal back fall, they will love you when relationships fade and when life gets tough. When it comes to dating, date someone who sees and accepts whatever family situation you might be in, not someone who will pass judgements or neglect to take the time in order to understand. Too often people see coming from a broken family as a bad thing and although it is not something I prefer my future children to experience, it is a concept that creates strong individuals throughout the entire family. I don’t say it enough, but I love my family unconditionally, broken or not they are my life.

How do you see your family dynamic? Do you see it as something to judge or something to love? 

XOXO-Lex