Wife

• Alma 19:12…Lamoni puts his wife as first priority immediately after God.
• “In speaking of mothers generally, I especially wish to praise and encourage young mothers. The work of a mother is hard, too often unheralded work. The young years are often those when either husband or wife—or both—may still be in school or in those earliest and leanest stages of developing the husband’s bread-winning capacities. Finances fluctuate daily between low and nonexistent. The apartment is usually decorated in one of two smart designs: Deseret Industries provincial or early Mother Hubbard. The car, if there is one, runs on smooth tires and an empty tank. But with night feedings and night teething’s, often the greatest challenge of all for a young mother is simply fatigue. Through these years, mothers go longer on less sleep and give more to others with less personal renewal for themselves than any other group I know at any other time in life. It is not surprising when the shadows under their eyes sometimes vaguely resemble the state of Rhode Island. Of course, the irony is that this is often the sister we want to call—or need to call—to service in the ward and stake auxiliaries. That’s understandable. Who wouldn’t want the exemplary influence of these young Loises- and Eunices-in-the-making? It would be well for leaders to be wise, to remember that families are the highest priority of all, especially in those formative years. Even so, young mothers will still find magnificent ways to serve faithfully in the Church, even as others serve and strengthen them—and their families—in like manner. Do the best you can through these years, but whatever else you do, cherish that role that is so uniquely yours and for which heaven itself sends angels to watch over you and your little ones. Husbands—especially husbands—as well as Church leaders and friends in every direction, be helpful and sensitive and wise. Remember, “To everything, there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1).”  Broken Things to Mend (Jeffrey R. Holland) Kindle Loc. 221-35
• “I speak against verbal and emotional abuse of anyone against anyone, but especially of husbands against wives. These things ought not to be. Yet the sin of verbal abuse knows no gender. Wives, what of the unbridled tongue in your mouth, of the power for good or ill in your words? How is it that such a lovely voice, which by divine nature is so angelic, so close to the veil, so instinctively gentle and inherently kind, could ever, in turn, be so shrill, so biting, so acrid and untamed? A woman’s words can be more piercing than any dagger ever forged, and they can drive the people she loves to retreat beyond a barrier more distant than anyone would ever have imagined when such a verbal exchange was beginning. There is no place in that magnificent spirit of yours for acerbic or abrasive expression of any kind, including gossip or backbiting or catty remarks.”  Broken Things to Mend (Jeffrey R. Holland) Kindle Loc. 624-30
• Jacob 2: 31-33, 35… For behold, I, the Lord, have seen the sorrow and heard the mourning of the daughters of my people in the land of Jerusalem, yea, and in all the lands of my people, because of the wickedness and abominations of their husbands. 32 And I will not suffer, saith the Lord of Hosts, that the cries of the fair daughters of this people, which I have led out of the land of Jerusalem, shall come up unto me against the men of my people, saith the Lord of Hosts.  33 For they shall not lead away captive the daughters of my people because of their tenderness, save I shall visit them with a sore curse, even unto destruction; for they shall not commit whoredoms, like unto them of old, saith the Lord of Hosts…35… Behold, ye have done greater iniquities than the Lamanites, our brethren. Ye have broken the hearts of your tender wives, and lost the confidence of your children, because of your bad examples before them; and the sobbings of their hearts ascend up to God against you. And because of the strictness of the word of God, which cometh down against you, many hearts died, pierced with deep wounds
• Jacob 3: 5-7… Behold, the Lamanites your brethren, whom ye hate because of their filthiness and the cursing which hath come upon their skins, are more righteous than you; for they have not forgotten the commandment of the Lord, which was given unto our father—that they should have saved it were one wife, and concubines they should have none, and there should not be whoredoms committed among them. 6 And now, this commandment they observe to keep; wherefore, because of this observance, in keeping this commandment, the Lord God will not destroy them, but will be merciful unto them; and one day they shall become a blessed people. 7 Behold, their husbands love their wives, and their wives love their husbands; and their husbands and their wives love their children; and their unbelief and their hatred towards you is because of the iniquity of their fathers; wherefore, how much better are you than they, in the sight of your great Creator?
• “The Prophet Joseph Smith taught wives that they should treat their husbands “with mildness and affection. When a man is borne down with trouble when he is perplexed with care and difficulty if he can meet a smile instead of an argument or a murmur—if he can meet with mildness, it will calm down his soul and soothe his feelings” Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith [1976], 228.  Gospel Doctrine Teacher’s Manual, Lesson 10: “This Is My Voice unto All”)
• “The Prophet taught husbands, “It is the duty of a husband to love, cherish, and nourish his wife, and cleave unto her and none else; he ought to honor her as himself, and he ought to regard her feelings with tenderness” (Elders’ Journal, Aug. 1838, 61). (Gospel Doctrine Teacher’s Manual, Lesson 10: “This Is My Voice unto All”)
• “Joseph and Emma Smith were a great support to each other during the many times of affliction they faced. In 1842, when Joseph was in hiding because his life was in danger, Emma was able to visit him. Joseph later said about this visit:  “With what unspeakable delight, and what transports of joy swelled my bosom, when I took by the hand, on that night, my beloved Emma—she that was my wife, even the wife of my youth, and the choice of my heart. Many were the reverberations of my mind when I contemplated for a moment the many scenes we had been called to pass through, the fatigues and the toils, the sorrows and sufferings, and the joys and consolations, from time to time, which had strewed our paths. … Oh what a commingling of thought filled my mind for the moment, again she is here…undaunted, firm, and unwavering—unchangeable, affectionate Emma!” (History of the Church, 5:107). Gospel Doctrine Teacher’s Manual, Lesson 10: “This Is My Voice unto All”
• “Joseph Smith’s mother, Lucy Mack Smith, described some of the characteristics that made it possible for Emma to support Joseph through difficult times: “I have never seen a woman in my life, who would endure every species of fatigue and hardship, from month to month, and from year to year, with that unflinching courage, zeal, and patience, which she has ever done; for I know that which she had had to endure. … She has breasted the storms of persecution and buffeted the rage of men and devils, which would have borne down almost any other woman” (History of Joseph Smith, ed. Preston Nibley [1958], 190–91). Gospel Doctrine Teacher’s Manual, Lesson 10: “This Is My Voice unto All”
• “Making the break with Salt Lake City, where Dantzel and Russell were surrounded by family and lifelong friends, was a great adventure and a bit unnerving all at the same time. Many years later, however, Russell would say, “Leaving the nest is the best marriage glue I can imagine, because a husband and wife have to deal with their challenges together. They can’t go running home to Momma or to Daddy. You tough it out and figure it out.” Insights from a Prophet’s Life, Russell M. Nelson, Page 23