After a devastating breakup, broadcast journalist Tamara decides to do something a little different for her 31st birthday: 31 dates in 31 days. But what starts as a fun blogging experiment quickly turns into big news and an even bigger spiritual eye-opener than Tamara initially assumed as she discovers more about who she is and how God sees the potential in all of us. SHOW NOTES This episode of This Is The Gospel is sponsored by GOSPEL DAY BY DAY. To find pictures and videos, please visit LDSliving.com/thisisthegospel TRANSCRIPT KaRyn Lay  0:04   Welcome to This Is The Gospel - an LDS living podcasts where we feature real stories from real people who are practicing and living their faith everyday. I'm your host KaRyn Lay.  A few years ago LDS Living made a video series called, "Love Lessons." You may have seen them. We invited three couples who had collectively been married over 125 years to share their well- earned wisdom about life in the trenches of love and faith. I had just hit five years of marriage myself and was quickly learning that there was still so much I didn't know about this business of tying your life together with another person. I was so grateful to hear these honest stories of work and sacrifice and frankly, longevity. We made four videos with those couples, including the video of our friends, Jim and Lyndia and they are a delight. So, to kick off our theme today, which... we sort of stole from that video series, we thought it was only fair that we share the audio from the compilation video that features Vern and his wife, Myumi, Bonnie and her husband Bruce, and our buddies Jim and Lyndia. Bonnie  1:19   We've been married for 51 years.  Lyndia  1:22   54 years Vern  1:23   we're celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary this year. Friday the 13th turned out to be the luckiest day of my life.  Bonnie  1:30   I think what I love the most about Bruce is he's very kind.  Jim  1:35   She's a good cook Vern  1:36   Serene Lyndia  1:40   He is a very compassionate person.  Bruce  1:41   She is truly the person I always wanted to be. Vern  1:47   She is the epitome of serenity. Myumi  1:51   That's not.... Lyndia  1:51   One surprise to me about marriage after all these years is what  a joy it is at this stage. Bruce  1:56   I didn't know that it would be that wonderful again, As it was, you know, before we had all these little screaming Mimi's Bonnie  2:04   Well, it's not easy. And if anybody thinks that you're going to be on your honeymoon for 51 years, It's ridiculous. Jim  2:11   Sometime the tunnel's pretty long,  Lyndia  2:14   and dark. Well, it has been an enjoyable challenge. Because I've been introduced into a culture that I was just totally ignorant of. Bruce  2:23   It was very hard for her, I know that. What hurt so much? Bonnie  2:27   You! I think I had to been like in my 30s or early 40s. And I thought, this is it? This isn't....This isn't fun. Lyndia  2:38   It didn't matter to me that Jim wasn't a member of the church because I loved him very much. And I thought if I only live with him for this time only, then that was what I would be happy with. But a couple years later, when our children started to come along, I realized that was not true. That I wanted to be with my children and him forever,  Jim  2:55   Really, the only reason it worked in those early years... We both loved the Lord. And we taught our children to love the Lord,  Bonnie  3:05   The secret to anything I think, is holding to the rod. If you hold to the rod, and don't give up, when things are hard, there's always a way through. President Hinckley always said it  - that that this will pass and that things will get better and things always do get better. Lyndia  3:25   So you have to be patient and loving and see where it goes. Bruce  3:29   Yeah