The Lord's Tender Mercies

I am always amazed at how the Lord blesses our lives. If we aren't careful we may not notice or, even worse, choose not to accept his blessing. I have come to relate these frequent blessings as "tender mercies" as it has been referred to in scriptures and talks.

I like what Elder Bednar said about tender mercies in a General Conference talk:

"...the Lord’s tender mercies are the very personal and individualized blessings, strength, protection, assurances, guidance, loving-kindnesses, consolation, support, and spiritual gifts which we receive from and because of and through the Lord Jesus Christ."

Just over a year ago I was thinking about my life situation. My husband had met a good friend at school whose wife had very similar experiences as me. We soon became each other's comfort and I shared things with her that I didn't share with anyone else. We would often talk about our woes and how hard it was to accept the fact that we were not yet mothers. It was such a comfort having someone that could empathize with me.

Meeting her was tender mercy number one.

During one of our many discussions we talked about the difficulty of knowing that friends and family were pregnant when we were waiting so long, wanted to be so badly, but weren't; and how hard it is to be happy for someone you love when you are aching so much inside.

I hadn't experienced this with too many loved ones yet. For one thing, I was the first of my friends to be married. However, three of my closest friends had just gotten married and I knew sooner or later they would be starting their families whether or not my husband and I had children of our own yet. I wanted desperately to be happy for them and not bitter that I, who had been married much longer, was not.

I began to pray for peace.

The Lord soon blessed me with peace and a month or so later I got a call from one of my dear friends telling me she was pregnant. I was honestly so happy for her. I felt no sadness for myself, just happiness for my friend. A day or two later I found out another dear friend was pregnant and again I felt just happiness and joy. Within the coming months it was announced that all three of my married sister-in-laws were pregnant. With each announcement I felt genuine joy and happiness for them and only continued peace for me.

Peace was tender mercy number two.

During the Summer my husband and I decided to take some extra measures to try to get pregnant. We set a goal to do our part to draw on the powers of heaven and leave the rest up to the Lord. We set these goals for a certain amount of months and decided if nothing happened by then, we would take a break. As it came to the last month of our goal I felt as though our desire of becoming pregnant was not meant to happen at that time but that the Lord would bless us when the time was right. The inspiration I received was correct and we did not become pregnant. I was thankful that the Lord allowed me time to prepare myself for the outcome.

Being prepared was tender mercy number three.

How grateful I am for these mercies I have been blessed with. I can't help but wonder:

What if I chose not to open up to my friend? No comfort would have been felt.

What if I didn't notice the peace I felt and chose to feel bitter and unhappy anyway when I found out the happy news of friends and family? No peace would have been experienced.

And what if I was unwilling to accept the idea that this righteous goal that my husband and I had worked, prayed and exercised faith in for so long wasn't going to be fulfilled? Disappointment and a heartbreak would have been suffered.

Instead of sorrow the Lord blessed me with comfort, peace and a prepared heart.

How can I express my gratitude towards the Lord for his tender mercies?

I feel an echo of these words:

And they "did shed tears of joy before the Lord, because of the multitude of his tender mercies over them"

(Ether 6:12)