Tender Mercies

It has taken me a while to sit down and express my feelings about some of the blessings that Heavenly Father gives me. These may seem trivial and unimportant to you, but that is why they are Tender Mercies to me. Heavenly Father, through His Son, Jesus Christ, knew how important they were to me. They knew what I needed and willing made up for my faults and shortcomings.

To explain, I am notorious for the fling and toss method at my house. (You would think that my house would be in total shambles because of this method) Well because of this fault, over the years I have usually had more than one Temple Recommend. The day before Abi was to enter the MTC, we decided to attended an early morning session at the Jordan River Temple. We got up at 4:30/5:00 to get ready and be there for the 7:00am session. Just before we left for the Temple I started searching for the all illusive Temple Recommend. No where to be found. Disappointed, I told Abi that we were not going to be able to attend a session because I could not find my recommend due to that FLING and TOSS habit. Abi took a few minutes, and then said, "Mom, I think your recommend is in your church bag." I was thrilled. Excitedly I went and got my church bag. Ruffling through the contents and pockets, I found nothing. I then proceeded to dump the whole bag out. Still no luck. So terribly disappointed, I wanted to attend the Temple one more time with Abi before her leaving on her mission. We had only been able to go together her first time through. Settling myself to the disappointment I was feeling I spotted my recommend barely sticking out of my pocket calendar. How blessed am I? Like I said, to me it was one of those Tender Mercies that we all too often pass off as "LUCK".

The other Tender Mercy that I wanted to share happened Dec. 29, 2008. Abi was selling her car to her Grandpa, then he was going to donate it to Kidney Kars for a tax write off. We needed the Title to her car out of my safety deposit box in order to donate the car. Well I ran to the bank, just before closing, knowing that my key is ALWAYS in my purse. Nope, not this time. I couldn't find the key anywhere. Safety Deposit boxes come with 2 keys issued. Well for many years, we have only had 1 key. The second key has been lost. This caused my stress to skyrocket, since I thought that I had now lost the only key to the box. I came home, mad, dejected, heartbroken and disappointed with myself. You would think that I could get over this FLING and TOSS habit when it leads to so many discouraging moments. I was so angry with myself all night. Constantly "cussing" at myself for my stupidity. When the Lord spoke to me in that soft voice that usually comes when you are willing to listen. Not only did I find the key that I had, but I found the second key that I thought we had lost years ago. We were able to get the title out of the box and send the car off to benefit others.

I am so grateful that we have a loving Heavenly Father who knows our deepest desires. Who, through His Son, makes up for all our weaknesses and shortcomings.
We ended up getting everything done that we wanted to do before Abi left. I know that it is because of His tender mercies towards us that my family (and yours)can have the blessings that are important to us. We matter. What a great blessing it is to have this knowledge.