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. Truly, the Lord suits "his mercies according to the conditions of the children of men"

Tender Mercies brought me home tonight…

I am in awe tonight of God’s love. So in awe, of his sweet and tender mercies in my life.  I stand all amazed that he, the father of all living and creation, is concerned for me. That he expends to me his strength, guidance and inspiration. That he knows me by name and is aware of my needs.  How patient and lovingly he is ever watching and waiting to bless my life and answer my prayers. Waiting to help me become all I am meant to be. And I am so grateful that tonight I was in the right place at the right time.

Tonight I had a wonderful experience, a confirmation really, that the things I have felt prompted and inspired to do over the last year of my life have in fact, been the tender mercies of a loving Heavenly Father… leading me, guiding me, calling and encouraging me, step by step in what I loving refer to as my “butterfly quest”.

We are all connected in this life… to each other and God uses us to accomplish his purposes for each other…

Many of you do not know that Peggy, my daughter, is a certified Microsoft instructor. She is an awesome teacher and does an amazing job. While I have been visiting family here in Greenville SC this winter, I have sat in on many of her classes hoping to better my computer skills. I really would like to work again soon. Retirement is liberating but pretty much renders one poor. Anyway, one of the benefits of Peggy’s job is that she is able to rub shoulders with others in the same genre.  Many of her work friends and associates are instructors who teach not only business and software courses but life skills as well. A couple of weeks ago, one of her instructor friends, invited her to attend a class called ‘Intentional Living’.  Not really knowing what to expect from the course, other than what you might assume from the title, Peggy thought it would be fun to take it with her mother. Not to mention Peggy had never sat in on any of her friend’s classes and was anxious to experience her teaching techniques.  

I don’t believe in Spiritual Coincidences...they are deliberate and are truly tender mercies in our life

 I do not believe in spiritual coincidence, and tonight as Peggy and I attended our first class, I felt the sweet and tender mercies of God in my life.  In fact many of the events of the last year of my life had brought me to this very class, on this very night.  As Stephanie, the instructor read over the principles that would be taught in the class and explained what we would be learning and challenged to do, a light came on within me… and the soft warm glow of enlightenment began to glow in my heart. By the end of the class I realized that I had been inspired by a loving Heavenly Father all along, even though-out this entire year. As Stephanie began explaining how to live intentionally and change your life, I could not believe how close to her outline my life butterfly quest had been. That losing weight is a head thing and that the first step is to love you. I could go on and on about how the class outline reflected everything I had been inspired to feel, try, believe and do, one step at a time, throughout this entire year. Everything she was saying just affirmed and confirmed that I was being inspired and directed in my quest. AND I was doing it right!  It was hard to hold the tears back as I realized how mindful God has been of me at such a late time in my life. The fact that he thinks I still have the potential to achieve ‘my best self’ was an amazing feeling. I realized for the first time since I started this quest that I am doing it right. No more guess work. What I am doing is going to get me there. I looked down at the booklet, the reading list, (by the way, the reading list had a couple of books on it that I had just recently read); the outline on the board, the light in the eyes of an inspired teacher and a chill ran up my back. A warm feeling swept over me and I felt I was finally home. Like a scene from the movie “Close encounters of the third kind” was playing out in my life. I felt like Richard Dryfus as things finally made since and I knew this wasn’t just the ranting’s of a crazy but exactly what I needed to be doing.

Home at last J

Over the next 6 weeks I will be sharing my experiences from the class and how it affects my butterfly quest. I have to say I am extremely excited and more hopeful than ever before. Hopefully you, who may be reading will find that you are, as well as me, feeling the tender mercies of a wonderful and loving Heavenly Father in your life.

The Tender Mercies of the Lord

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2005/04/the-tender-mercies-of-the-lord?lang=eng

 "We should not underestimate or overlook the power of the Lord's
tender mercies.
The simpleness, the sweetness, and the constancy of the
tender mercies of the Lord will do much to fortify and protect us in the
troubled times in which we do now and will yet live.
When words cannot
provide the solace we need or express the joy we feel, when it is simply
futile to attempt to explain that which is unexplainable, when logic and
reason cannot yield adequate understanding about the injustices and
inequities of life,
when mortal experience and evaluation are insufficient
to produce a desired outcome, and when it seems that perhaps we are so
totally alone, truly we are blessed by the tender mercies of the Lord and
made mighty even unto the power of deliverance
" But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance." (1 Nephi 1:20)

Elder David A. Bednar