Tender Mercies

This past Monday it was my turn to prepare the lesson for our family home evening. I felt impressed to share a talk given by Elder David A. Bednar in the April 2005 General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints called The Tender Mercies of the Lord.

Several times in this talk, Elder Bednar testifies to the following:

"The Lord’s tender mercies do not occur randomly or merely by coincidence. Faithfulness, obedience, and humility invite tender mercies into our lives, and it is often the Lord’s timing that enables us to recognize and treasure these important blessings."

With his words newly imprinted on our minds, the events of this weekend were most interesting.
On Friday, Dallin and I went to the temple for date night and Ezra went to Grandma's house. After our evening at the temple, we went to dinner at a mall area just a few minutes from Grandma's house. As we were leaving the parking lot, our car showed signs of serious distress. We had just gotten into Grandma's neighborhood when the car died. It came back on one more time, choked, sputtered, and then died again. We were just a block or so from the house and so we walked the rest of the way.

Let me interrupt for a moment to say that earlier that day I had been out and about with Ezra twenty miles from home doing errands; the car performed perfectly normal. We drove 50 minutes to Grandma's house that evening; the car performed perfectly normal. We continued on to the temple, another 35 minutes; the car performed perfectly normal. Only when were were minutes from Grandma's house--walking distance!--did the car have problems. I am humbled to think of all the things that could have gone wrong that didn't. I am humbled to consider how we were protected from harm's way throughout the evening. I am humbled to recognize the tender mercies of the Lord.

"The Lord’s tender mercies do not occur randomly or merely by coincidence. Faithfulness, obedience, and humility invite tender mercies into our lives, and it is often the Lord’s timing that enables us to recognize and treasure these important blessings."

We were stranded, but conveniently so! We stayed the night at Grandma's house where there are beds and food to spare. On Saturday, Dallin used his time and resources, and some mechanical grit I didn't know was in him, to diagnose and fix the car himself. My sweetheart put in a new fuel pump and fuel filter, and with some timely help from a mechanic friend, the car was up and running again.

We have been so blessed by the Lord's tender mercies!