Tender Mercies

Today Jared & I went to an Institute class that the new Institute director in our area holds at VCOM. It was kind of cool - I haven't been to Institute in so long. The class is an abbreviated version, because the 1st & 2nd years' lunch times overlap, so we really only have about 30 minutes for a class, but it was a good spiritual uplift for my day, and helped me get over my "this-feels-like-Monday-again" grumpiness.

Brother Cornelsen taught us today on "tender mercies." We were looking at 1 Nephi, 1:20, where Nephi says,

"And when the Jews heard these things they were angry with him; yea, even as with the prophets of old, whom they had ^acast out, and stoned, and slain; and they also ^bsought his life, that they might take it away. But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender ^cmercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of ^ddeliverance".

The basic gist was that in order to receive tender mercies, we have to be faithful & endure. And we have to learn to look for the tender mercies we receive. It's the small things, I think, that are often our blessings - or tender mercies - reminders that God hears & loves us.

Elder David A. Bednar, in his April 2005 General Conference talk "The Tender Mercies of the Lord," said,

"I testify that the tender mercies of the Lord are real and that they do not occur randomly or or merely by coincidence. Often the Lord's timing of His tender mercies helps us to both discern and acknowledge them. ...The Lord's tender mercies are the very personal and individualized blessings, strength, protection, assurances, guidance, loving-kindness, consolation, support, and spiritual gifts which we receive from and because of and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Truly the Lord suits 'his mercies according to the conditions of the children of men' (D&C 46:15). It is our hearts and our aspirations and our obedience which definitively determine whether we are counted as one of God's chosen. ...The fundamental purposes for the gift of agency were to love one another and to choose God. Thus we become God's chosen and invite His tender mercies as we use our agency to choose God."

I am grateful for the little things - the tender mercies, in fact - that remind me that Heavenly Father is aware of me, my struggles, my triumphs, my prayers. That he knows I am here. I am thankful for not one, but two phone calls from a friend & my sweet sister-in-law, just because I'd been on their radar to check in. I'm thankful for a husband who gave me a blessing of healing, but included some sweet words of comfort & love from a Father in Heaven above, who knows me. And loves me anyway. I am thankful for the beautiful sunset I saw while on a walk with Jared the other day, because sunsets always remind me of God's love for us by giving us such a beautiful place to live.

I am thankful for these small, tender mercies that help tie me back to Heavenly Father.