TENDER MERCIES

tender mercies.  a term that i feel like i never really understood.

yesterday, amidst my own hardships and feeling bad for myself and being oh-so-lonely, i got a text from an old coworker of mine. she's older than me and is raising her daughter alone.  i haven't talked to her since christmas break.

the text said, "hey shaylee, it's tess.  for some reason i've really been thinking about you for the past couple weeks. . . is everything going okay?"

i about started bawling in the middle of the cougar-eat.

an overwhelming feeling of gratitude came over me.  some people may say, "that's just a coincidence." ...but i don't think it was.  that was the Lord's hand in my life, knowing that i needed someone to show me a little love and remind me that i have so many people who love and care about me.  tess may not ever know how much that little text meant to me.  she may not know why she was prompted to text me.  she probably doesn't even recognize it as a prompting.  but that text?

that was a tender mercy.

this morning, my roommates and i went running.  waking up early (haha okay, it was 9:30, but still!) and going outside when it's cold didn't sound so fun to me.  but of course i went.

we walked outside, the sun shining brightly over the snow-capped mountains.  it was a beautiful day. when we started running, i put my ipod on shuffle.  the song that came on was "somebody like you" by keith urban.  the lyrics were so awesome!

"i'm lettin' go of all my lonely yesterdays, i'm forgivin' myself for the mistakes i've made. . . i wanna feel the sunshine, shinin' down on me and you. . . when you put your arms around me, oh baby there ain't nothin' in this world i can't do.  sometimes it's hard for me to understand, but you're teachin' me to be a better man.  i don't want to take this life granted like i used to do."

that was another tender mercy.

this week i've been so silly.  when the Lord wraps his loving arms around me and reminds me with his tender mercies that everything's going to be just fine, there isn't anything in this world that i can't do.  with my Father in Heaven as my guide, i will be successful in becoming better.  it'll take some work, of course.  but so did running 5.6 miles this morning.

elder david a. bednar said, "i testify that the tender mercies of the Lord are real and that they do not occur randomly or merely by coincidence.  often, the Lord's timing of His tender mercies helps us to both discern and acknowledge them."  (i wanted to copy his whole talk and write it here but it was way too long.  you should definitely read it though. go here.)