Member of the Church of Jesus Christ here, like @mirithepuppy! I definitely agree with some of the things she said:
but on a more personal level, I'm actually on the flip side:
I absolutely agree that the Lord's plan for me takes into account the fact that I'm aroace, but I believe that dating and marriage is in the Lord's plan for me. (I could go on about how I know, but that's kind of off topic and also personal.) There's a lot of things that I'm not sure about (biological kids, romance, etc) but I am absolutely sure that I'll get the opportunity to be joyfully married. I am sure that I'll have the opportunity to have kids, though I don't know about biological vs adopted. Life is going to be an adventure, and I'm excited for it!
One thing that being a member changes for me is that I plan to get married in this life. In my church, we believe that those who don't get an opportunity to marry in this life will be able to in the next life. To someone of the opposite sex, specifically. (Is this something we could argue about? Yes. Yes it is. Will we be arguing about it? No, hopefully not. This is not me attempted to condemn or pressure, this is me expressing a personal belief. No one is required to agree with anything I say, and I have no right to try and make anyone agree.)
Another thing that being a member changes for me is that I plan to get married to a guy. (I mentioned this on aven, too: this isn't me being pressured into anything, and this isn't me trying to pressure anybody else into doing anything. This is a personal decision that I have chosen for myself.)
The fact that 1) I'll only marry a male, devoted member of the Church of Jesus Christ and 2) I'm aroace and can't feel all the things a straight person could means that my 'pool' of people I could marry is much smaller, even before considering things like personality, whether we'd be compatible to be together forever, etc. But I know it's worth it! Marrying a member with a rock-solid testimony is what I know will bring me the greatest amount of joy, and marrying someone who loves me for who I am and for who I can become is incredibly important. It just means that finding a partner I can and want to marry is going to be a bit different for me than for straight members of this church. (I say 'straight members' instead of 'other members' bc I know for an absolute fact that there are more lgbt+ members than it seems. at first glance it seems like everybody's cishet, but ohohoho that is not the case! (The fact that there are other lgbt+ members makes me really happy. Anyhow, back on topic-))
I'm not worried about it, though I do get a bit anxious about it every now and then. I know it'll work out not just ok, but magnificently; I'll be so, so happy. And that knowledge, especially in the face of all sorts of confusion and anxieties and stress and fear brings me so much hope and joy. I know I'm going to be better than ok, and that makes everything else ok.
I know this was super long, thanks for hanging in there. If you've got any questions or want sources from official church resources, I can go find them. And if anybody wants to more about how marriage is viewed by the Church of Jesus Christ (it's super cool, actually! It's like friendship! But Ultimate Friendship!), not just how these views affect me, specifically, then ask and I'll do my best to answer and point you towards actual church resources.
