Our families, along with various members of the mormon church, used everything from imploring us not to reverse our baptisms for the dead (think of those poor souls who will be cast into outer darkness for all time!)…

As a sometime lurker on this blog––and a practicing Mormon myself (though I do pray the Divine Office)––I have to say, jdr, I haven’t the foggiest idea what this part of your comment means. Baptisms performed on behalf of the deceased cannot be reversed, and no one goes to hell because someone else “canceled” their (proxy) baptism. (I say this all, of course, within an LDS context.) If that’s what your friends and relatives told you, they were smoking something.

I do not want to cause offense, but a misunderstanding of Mormon belief this egregious (and this is a biggie) calls into question just how “devout” your Mormon upbringing was. Again, I have no desire to cast aspersions on your character or that of your family, but I have never, ever, ever heard anything remotely like your comment above.

More generally, I think interfaith relationships/marriages are rife with trouble. Sometimes they work out, but it sure adds major difficulties to a vocation that isn’t simple to begin with. In any case, thanks for telling your story, Brad.

Nor can I offer any comfort regarding prayer. Even if you and everyone you know pray and fast nonstop, she may go another way.

Guard your thoughts of the future. Speaking again from experience, I was sure of God’s will for us from day one to the day it fell apart. From that time on, I have not known the sound of His voice in any part of my life. This may be me being jaded, but perhaps it’s better not to seek to know His will for the two of you; better simply to offer your own hopes along with everything else into His hands and beg for His mercy.

Sober words for a sober situation. Perhaps the comfort you can take is that there are few people who would do what you’re doing, faced with full knowledge of the situation. Maybe the world needs more such people.