Month: May 2020

Discovering A Happier Path For Me

As I set my sights on pursuing what I thought I would love doing, I came into discovering a happier path for me.

For years, I have had a strong desire and interest to do what I thought I would absolutely love doing. As I have set my sights on pursuing this endeavor, along the way, doors of opportunity have opened up and I have come into discovering a happier path for me.

In my first semester of college many, many  years ago, I took an accounting class. I liked accounting and I thought I would enjoy it as a career, however, one day during a question and answer session with several accountants who came to our class, it was shared that within five years it was not uncommon for accountants to feel burnt out. It was a tender mercy I learned this beneficial information in the beginning of my college years. As I wanted to get a degree in an area I would love long term as well as one in which I could financially support my future family if necessary, I decided right then that going into accounting was not in fact the career for me.

I eventually went on to study and graduate with a degree in Family Science to which I am to this day passionate about and drawn to continuously educate myself on various areas within this field. With a great love for all people, who they are and their individual backgrounds, I have always been inspired by messages and stories shared by speakers at firesides, conferences, Time Out For Women, TED Talks, etc. and have one day wanted to be a speaker myself. The ability to be a light to others and impact the lives of so many in a positive, uplifting way on a stage in front of a lot of people is what I thought I would absolutely love to do.

Along the way of aspiring to become an inspirational speaker, I have had numerous opportunities to interact with individuals one-on-one and in small groups through various church callings, time as a copy pal liaison and a backup Mindful Parenting coach, to hosting social gatherings in my home. It has been a tender mercy that through these experiences, I have come into discovering a happier path for me where I thrive and my personality comes alive. If that translated on a stage, it would be great! 

I imagine outside of being on the stage, a large aspect of being a speaker also involves a lot of correspondence via writing. For me, keeping up with it all would be too much at this time!! I am not ruling out that I’ll be an inspirational speaker one day, but as of right now, I am discovering a happier path for me and it is working with individuals one-on-one or in small groups—teaching, coaching, and facilitating discussions where I am able to be a light and a positive influence in the lives of others for good without being inundated with what for me, at least at this particular time in my life, would be overwhelming and cumbersome. 

When have you pursued what you thought you’d love doing and you came into discovering a happier path for you?

tendermercym❤️ments~jld

“How have you noticed Heavenly Father’s awareness and mindfulness of you today?”

*If you would like to  receive an email when new posts are published which includes an audio version of the post as well, please send your name and email address to tendermercymoments@gmail.com.

What I Was Not Asking

It was through asking what I wasn’t asking that ended up easing my angst when I have questioned, “Why have I been inspired to share a gift of mine with others through means for which I am not naturally skilled?”

For months, I have questioned, “Why have I been inspired to share a gift of mine with others through means for which I am not naturally skilled?” I have been in a painstaking, uphill battle pushing forward day after day to accomplish what Heavenly Father would have me do at this time, which on numerous occasions I have wanted to back out of doing until I recently had an aha moment that what I was not asking of Heavenly Father was the very key that has contrasted how I am now approaching the intended process for which my gift is being shared. 

As I have mentioned a few times before in previous blog posts, writing and technology are both enormous challenges for me. These are skills that do not come easy for me at all and ones I have struggled with my whole life, albeit I have managed to do well at tasks requiring either or both due to much effort, dedication, and determination on my part and help from others. 

Right now, in this season of my life, I know the Tender Mercy Moments blog is exactly what Heavenly Father would have me to do. Even so, everyday I have felt a great deal of angst as blogging requires utilizing both writing and technology skills. Preceding the steps necessary to publish a post, I have often been frustrated and discouraged mainly with how long it takes me to not only write a blog entry but also daily, simple, one sentence Tender Mercy Moment Cues, each in accordance with my own to date tender mercy moments. 

As such, I have turned my head side to side many of times and said, “I don’t get it.” I don’t get why it is through these areas which I don’t have a knack for that I have been inspired to share with others my gift of being able to see good among situations that are troubling, essentially recognizing tender mercy moments from a loving Heavenly Father who is mindful and aware of you and me throughout life’s journey. So much so, I have asked Heavenly Father on countless occasions if I could just stop blogging altogether. However, like needing to go to the bathroom, it is at times something we may not want to go and do when there are other things we would rather be doing, yet the nudge and urge to go won’t stop. 

Although the direction I have continuously been inspired, line upon line, to go and do doesn’t make sense to me, I trust Heavenly Father. I know He has a purpose and a reason why I am to move forward in this particular way. Even though I don’t know what that is right now, I do know my why I blog and what drives my desire and motivation to keep writing, no matter how difficult. It is to help and bless you, my reader and/or listener, recognize and see His hand in your life and His daily awareness and mindfulness of you.

So far, each time I have leaned towards stopping and have cried hard to Heavenly Father about the extreme difficulty aspects and components of the process have been for me, I’ve received either a positive message from someone right in that moment regarding my blog or added clear inspiration affirming that I am to continue onward as well as frequent spiritual confirmations to stay the course time and again.

One afternoon, as I stood outside, taking in the beauty around me, it was a tender mercy a distinct eye-opening moment changed the how I now approach elements of blogging from photography and writing to publishing each post. The turning point that moved me out of feeling so distressed while blogging was when I asked Heavenly Father what I was not asking. I asked for help to experience joy during the process. Though I value and appreciate very much the final result of each blog entry, for a good majority of the time, energy, and effort spent leading up to that point has not in the least been easy. 

Instead of focusing on how long it takes me to write a post and my deficiencies that have become quite apparent as I’ve placed a lot of pressure to expect more of myself than what I know how to do, I now approach the daunting process not with angst, but with an excitement to what I will learn along the way that will help me to enhance, develop, and improve upon what skills I lack, including that confidence in my abilities will increase. I still don’t get the why I am to share my gift via my weakness in writing and technology, yet I still give blogging my all and do my best. In addition, I am now embracing joy in the process, gratitude for the growth, knowledge and skills I have gained thus far and will continue to gain. 

When have you struggled with the means in which you were inspired to share a gift or talent with others and it was through asking what you were not asking for that ended up easing your angst? 

tendermercym❤️ments~jld

“How have you noticed Heavenly Father’s awareness and mindfulness of you today?”

*If you would like to  receive an email when new posts are published which includes an audio version of the post as well, please send your name and email address to tendermercymoments@gmail.com.

More Deliberate Quality Time With One Another

An opportunity as a family to spend more deliberate quality time with one another came when we temporarily stepped away from our screens to observe the Air Force Thunderbirds as they flew by our area.

Over the course of two months since the Covid-19 quarantine, being home together as a family has been wonderful. However, even though we have all been together during this time, much of our weekday hours in close proximity to each other has been spent separately engaged with school assignments via distance learning, employment from our home office, and various hobbies, mostly by means of screen time. As such, when an opportunity early afternoon came up to spend more deliberate quality time with one another away from our screens, I embraced and relished the moment.   

A couple of days prior, I heard that the Air Force Thunderbirds would be flying overhead near our area, at a specific time, on this day, to recognize and pay tribute to our front line responders, healthcare and essential workers for all that they have done during the coronavirus pandemic. Thirty minutes before the scheduled fly by, our family stopped temporarily what we were individually involved in doing to go see them. We anticipated the time away from home would be very short. However, it was not until the very minute we expected to see the F-16 Fighting Falcons fly by did we learn that due to inclement weather the time of the Thunderbirds arrival had been delayed 1 hour. 

Upon getting this updated news, we all decided it did not make sense to drive back home 15-20 minutes away to shortly thereafter turn around and return back to the place we considered an ideal location to see the Thunderbirds fly by, per their flight pattern, and instead, we agreed to pass the time by getting lunch together. Even though the mandate to wear a mask inside public places is an easy deterrent for me to have not wanted to go inside an establishment to pick up food, the availability to do so was a tender mercy as we were able to spend more deliberate quality time with one another and break away from screen time for a bit longer.

In addition, when we returned back to our original location and were only able to see a brief glimpse of the Thunderbirds as they flew by, it was a tender mercy we were able to get to another lookout spot within their flight pattern just in time to observe a spectacular 180 view of them before they looped away, and being that the location was a greater distance from our home, we had even more deliberate quality time with one another to which I embraced and relished. 

When have you relished moments in which an event you were attending with loved ones was delayed and the opportunity to spend more deliberate quality time with one another came as a result?

tendermercym❤️ments~jld

“How have you noticed Heavenly Father’s awareness and mindfulness of you today?”

*If you would like to receive an email when new posts are published which includes an audio version of the post as well, please send your name and email address to tendermercymoments@gmail.com.

My Persistence And Perseverance Paid Off

My persistence and perseverance paid off as I sought to resolve what became quite a cumbersome and complex matter days before an approaching registration deadline.

When an assumption that all would be smooth sailing upon registering again for a reoccurring event weeks away after the one over a month earlier had been cancelled, my persistence and perseverance paid off as I sought to resolve what instead became quite a cumbersome and complex matter days before the approaching registration deadline. 

When the reoccurring event I had paid for was cancelled due to the closures of public gatherings as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, I was under the assumption, as per a message I received from the organization, that the admission fee for the cancelled event would be transferred to one of two other scheduled dates during the summer months for the same event. However, when I called one week before the registration deadline for the first of the two dates, I was unexpectedly informed that my admission fee had been refunded back to me weeks earlier. 

Upon checking my credit card statement for the refunded amount that was intended to be applied towards the admission ticket for one of those two dates, the refund was not at all actually in my account. 

At first, I took the casual approach of waiting day after day for the refund to show up in my account to which it never did. Two days before the registration deadline for the first of the two dates and the one I preferred over the other, I once again called the organization back. I was advised by a call center representative to send an email to their support team for additional help regarding the situation after the representative had looked into it themselves and was unable to further assist me about the whereabouts of the refund.  

Not knowing how long it would take to hear back from them via a phone call or email message, the very next day, now one day before the deadline, I called the organization back again and asked if I may speak to a supervisor or manager. The representative who answered my call reached out to the organization’s finance department and an individual there determined that though the refund was released over a month earlier, the reason why the transaction had not fully completed to where I received it on my end was that it was stuck in their system. 

When the finance department was unable to do anything more than determine what had happened, they reached out to the back end of their department to expedite the troubleshooting of the matter to “unstuck” the refund for it to then go directly to my account. In the meantime, it was a tender mercy the representative processed the registration for the upcoming event date, one day before the deadline, and I was not held to paying the admission fee twice, but that they would instead bill me the exact amount I had already paid and then once I received the refund in my account, I would pay off the bill. 

In the end, several days later, I followed up once more regarding the issue after receiving a concerning status email that had since already been sorted out. As a result of my calling back, it was a tender mercy I was informed that a request I had asked for on the previous call panned out. I had asked if the organization would be able to reverse the refund from going into my account and have it instead immediately go to pay for the new admission ticket. My persistence and perseverance paid off. It was a tender mercy the time-consuming matter surrounding the refund to register for the next reoccurring event before the registration deadline was fully resolved within days versus weeks.  

When have you become aware of an incomplete financial transaction and as you stayed on top of the issue, your persistence and perseverance paid off and the situation was attended to immediately and resolved? 

tendermercym❤️ments~jld

“How have you noticed Heavenly Father’s awareness and mindfulness of you today?”

*If you would like to  receive an email when new posts are published which includes an audio version of the post as well, please send your name and email address to tendermercymoments@gmail.com.