Families Can Be Together Forever

The family bonds you form in this life can last beyond the grave. Strengthening your relationship with God can lead to stronger relationships with your family.

Photograph of A family of a mom, dad and two young children interacting lovingly with one another as they walk on the street outside their apartment building.

Families Are Central to God’s Plan

As your loving Father in Heaven, God sent you here to earth to learn and grow. Families play a crucial role in your growth here on earth.

Family is the central building block of a strong society. We aspire to build strong family relationships. Home can be a place where we feel support, safety, and love. Every family can look and feel different. But as we connect with God, we can have stronger families that provide for spiritual, emotional, and physical needs.

A mother with her three young children roll cookie dough together in their kitchen. The mother is helping the youngest daughter to reach into the bowl to get dough.

You Can Be with Your Family Forever

If your family is a great source of love and joy in your life, it might be hard to imagine any definition of heaven that doesn’t include those relationships. Part of the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that families can be together forever.

In the Bible, Jesus gave the twelve Apostles priesthood authority, promising that “Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven” (Matthew 18:18). That same authority from God unites (or “seals”) husbands and wives and parents and children together for eternity in temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today.

A father and two daughters sit together on a step outside their apartment building. They are smiling and talking.

These ceremonies performed in temples promise that the marriages of those who are faithful to God and each other can last for all eternity instead of ending at death. We perform these same sealing ceremonies by proxy for our ancestors, who we believe can choose to accept or reject the work done on their behalf.

Family relationships and circumstances can be complicated, and we don’t know how God will work everything out in the next life. But we have faith in God’s perfect wisdom and love and that heaven will be a place of unimaginable joy.

You Can Find Help to Strengthen Your Family

Julie Hillyard on family relationships

Loving family relationships are most likely to be achieved when founded on the principles Jesus taught. Practicing charity, forgiveness, honesty, gratitude, and other principles taught by the Savior is a recipe for happiness in your family life. As your family draws closer to God through habits like family prayer and attending church together, you will draw closer to each other.

Because we believe families play such an important role in this life and the next, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints works hard to support healthy family relationships. Here are a few ways you can find support for your family:

Church Resources for Families

Youth Programs
Home Evening
Ministering
Self-Reliance
Building Community for Single Adults
Let’s Talk about Family
Church can help you strengthen your family and preserve those precious relationships for eternity. You can learn how by talking about family with missionaries online or in person.
Request a Visit
Inspire Your Inbox
Get weekly inspiring articles and videos to help strengthen your relationship with God.