Category: Action

I Tweaked It Slightly

In remaking my bed with freshly laundered sheets and a comforter, I was struggling to get the fitted sheet to fit snugly around each of the corners of the mattress. Even after smoothing out the wrinkles and attempting to remove the excess gathering at the top and bottom of the bed, no amount of tugging at the sheet was helping it to form fit properly over all of the corners. 

I thought I lacked strength and arm muscles necessary, but at the same time I was thinking it shouldn’t be so difficult to make my bed. After all, I’ve made my bed countless number of times with greater ease. I was determined to have the sheet fit, even if the stitching at one of the seams ripped in the process. 

As I was about ready to pull the sheet over one of the mattress corners more tightly, it was a tender mercy that before yanking the sheet back with all my might, I realized that perhaps the direction of the sheet was not aligned correctly with the dimensions of the mattress. In appearance, all sides of the mattress looked like the same measurement. I assumed that no matter which way the sheet went on, it should fit, however, that was not the case. When I shifted the fitted sheet 1/4 rotation from one mattress corner to the next, it was a tender mercy that with the slight tweak, the sheet fit snugly. 

This experience got me thinking about other life’s challenges and how a slight tweak may be all that is needed to fit things back into place nicely without forcing or breaking anything in the process such as an object, or relationship, etc?

When have you experienced the frustration of something not fitting properly and a slight and simple tweak solved the problem?  

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, please send your name and email address to tendermercymoments@gmail.com.*

Check It First

As I arrived at our church building to voluntarily help clean on this particular Saturday, I signed up to vacuum the chapel. When I selected the first vacuum in the cleaning closet, it was a tender mercy a prompting to “check it first” came to mind. I acted on the impression and when I found the nearest outlet to plug it in, I discovered that one of the prongs was recognizably bent. Although I tried fixing it, I couldn’t straighten it out. 

It was a very good thing I checked it first before taking the non-functioning vacuum all the way up to the chapel on the opposite side of the fairly large building and another tender mercy that there were several other available and working vacuum cleaners to choose from in the cleaning closet. 

When has your time been most efficiently utilized as you followed a prompting to check the function of an item you were going to use, or possibly buy, before transporting it elsewhere; and upon realizing it didn’t function properly, it was a blessing there were other like items available that did? 

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, please send your name and email address to tendermercymoments@gmail.com.*

Morningside Revelation

After an early morning dream and around the time I would naturally awaken, I abruptly awoke from my sleep when a very clear and distinct message entered my mind shedding more light on an impression I had received the previous day as to what I was to do in a specific situation. As I exercised trust and followed through with the impression, my actions were questioned by a second party. It was a tender mercy that the personal revelation given me post event provided a clarifying confirmation that my following and acting on the impression in the manner I did was the right thing to do for me. 

When have you received an impression and/or a clear and distinct message via personal revelation guiding and confirming to you what to do for you in a particular situation? 

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, please send your name and email address to tendermercymoments@gmail.com.*

In The Nick Of Time

While traveling in the quiet stillness and darkness of the early morning hours with very few cars on the road, it was a complete and utter surprise as I was coming out of an ascending loop on an interchange overpass, anticipating an effortless shift into a lane over that merged into the freeway I was getting on, I was caught off guard when in my blindspot, another driver, coming in from the freeway heading in the same direction as me, was likewise and simultaneously shifting into my lane to take the descending loop to transfer onto and enter the interstate I just left. 

It was a tender mercy that in the very moment we were about to cross into each other’s lane at the same time, same place, I had deliberately looked back over my left shoulder and saw the car beside me and avoided, in the nick of time, a near collision. 

And, then again when I needed to change roadways for the last leg of the drive and the navigation directions were confusing, it was a tender mercy I figured out where I needed to turn off just in the nick of time, narrowly taking the correct highway junction exit necessary to get to my destination before I passed by it. 

When have you closely avoided a near collision because you looked over your shoulder before switching lanes and/or you narrowly took an exit you needed to take in the nick of time? 

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, please send your name and email address to tendermercymoments@gmail.com.*

Good Samaritan

When a wooden board from our neighbor’s worn out, sun beaten, brittle fence fell down, I observed my independent, proactive, and service-oriented youngest son gathering up essential tools—a handheld battery powered drill, a hammer, screws, and nails—to repair their fence. All on his own, he took it upon himself and was desirous to fix their fence for them.  

From the sidelines, it was a tender mercy for me to have seen him in action, the joy in his demeanor, and smile on his face as he was a willing and cheerful good Samaritan, serving our neighbors.

In the process of his working to drill the board back in place, I overheard the wife, who while attending to their dogs in their backyard and realizing someone was on the other side of their fence, curiously and gently ask, “Excuse me, may I help you?” to which my son confidently replied, “I just noticed that one of your fence pieces was broken and I am fixing it so it doesn’t fall again”. She responded, “You are amazing!” A few minutes later her husband came out to assist and eventually she also came out again with their young daughter and expressed gratitude, appreciation, and admiration for my son’s sweetness in helping them in the way he did. 

This interaction, in and of itself was a tremendous tender mercy too as my son and I met this amazing and friendly family for the first time since they moved in, surprisingly 2 years earlier. Although I was thoroughly embarrassed and apologetic that our welcoming them to our neighborhood was long overdue, attributing it to our comings and goings and differing schedules, it was a blessing that through my son’s act of service, this opportunity to introduce ourselves to one another occurred.   

When have you experienced the joy of observing your child(ren) taking the initiative to help and serve others all on their own? And/or through a a direct or indirect involvement in a service opportunity, you met an amazing new friend(s)?

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, please send your name and email address to tendermercymoments@gmail.com.*

Alert And Attentive

I had a remarkable experience on this bright and sunny, 100 degree day that involved several tender mercies that culminated into one big miracle.   

While my children and I were driving a relative distance from home to take one of them to EFY also known as Especially For Youth, we had hopes that we would get to the campus location within the check-in time frame. A third of the way there I recognized on my dash the tire light had come on and I felt a need to stop and check the air pressure in each of my tires. 

Ironically, the day prior as I came out of church I had a fleeting and subtle thought to check them, yet it came and went without a second thought and I did not act on it. Just looking at the tires, they appeared fine, however, in using a tire-pressure gauge, one of the tires only had a 20 psi reading so I knew there was a slow leak. When I examined the tire, I found a nail puncture in the tread.   

As I processed my options and what to do in my situation, not knowing with certainty how I should precede forward, the idea came to my mind to 1) place duct tape over the nail puncture, 2) pray and have faith that we would make it the latter 2/3rds of the way up to EFY safely, and 3) seek help to change out the tire once we got to our destination. I shared my plan with Heavenly Father and asked that if it was not ideal to continue in that manner that I be guided otherwise. 

Simultaneously, I was thinking about a scriptural account I had just recently read in the Book of Mormon of the brother of Jared who presented stones to the Lord that became a light source for the Jaredites as they traveled in barges to the Promised Land. I believed the duct tape would prevent the tire from going completely flat.  

It was an incredible tender mercy that although we did not have any duct tape in our car, we had clear packing tape that I used and the adhesive stuck well. As we were ready to get back on the road, it was another tender mercy when I was impressed to call my husband to which he recommended I stop at the nearest gas station to fill the tire up with air. 

Immediately, I went into laser focus mode and actively kept an eye out for any place that had an air pump and this prepared me to not miss and pass up an ideal stop a short distance up ahead that wasn’t available again along our route for another 50+miles.

Within minutes, it was a remarkable tender mercy that 4 mile markers or so further up the road there was a car dealership that serviced our specific car’s make. Amazing! I was immensely grateful for the convenience, ease, cost-effectiveness, and timeliness of the dealership being in our path. A technician filled up the tire at no cost, exceeding slightly the recommended amount, and then advised that I stop and look for a place to keep it filled up if the tire light came back on again, which it never did.  

Upon our arrival at the campus location, it was a miraculous tender mercy that the packing tape was still intact and the air pressure held steady overall, with a loss of only 2 psi, but still resting above the recommended amount and it continued to hold steady the rest of the day. Before our departure home, I went to a nearby dealership, like the one earlier, and the small amount lost was restored.

Throughout our entire drive back home, the air pressure stayed constant even after the tape had melted away from the scorching hot pavement. And, with a reapplication of the packing tape, the air pressure continued to remain steady still into the late afternoon of the next day when I was able to get our car into the shop to have the tire repaired and patched up. 

My prayer was more than answered. We not only made it safely round trip, it was also not dire for me to have had the tire fixed while on the road or swapped out with a spare prior to our return home.   

When have you experienced car troubles while driving and not knowing exactly what to do, your move to action on your first thoughts, prayer and faith, in addition, following sound recommendations and advice from others helped you get to your destination safely as well as to a place to have your car repaired?

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, please send your name and email address to tendermercymoments@gmail.com.*

Oh Where, Oh Where Could It Be

As the summer days are becoming hotter and hotter, being outdoors where I’d like to spend some time can be unpleasant and intolerable. In helping to make sitting on our patio during these months more bearable and enjoyable, my husband installed a misting drip line. As he was up on a ladder nailing in the tiny mounting clips while I was assisting holding up and straightening out the line, the clips were not going in very easily into the wooden veneer siding and several times they slipped out during hammering and fell to the ground.

Being that it was near dusk at the time and we didn’t know how many of the total clips provided we would need until the installation was complete, it was a tender mercy that as tiny as they were, I was able to spot where they had landed among the dirt and leaf debris on the concrete flooring.  

When have you found something tiny and valuable you had dropped at a time conditions of visibility and where it had fallen were not the greatest?

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, please send your name and email address to tendermercymoments@gmail.com.*

Troubleshooting Technology

When I could not access, for whatever reason, my friend list on my Facebook blog page, I did a google search seeking to know how I could get the “see all” feature to function again. Unfortunately, the information provided was not as helpful as I had hoped. 

As I tried to troubleshoot on my own, it was a tender mercy when I discovered a different multistep path I could take to get to my list of friends. I was able to see all of my friends by coming in through a back way rather than from the conventional front page of simply clicking “see all”. I went to my Facebook page and tapped on the 3 stacked lines in the upper right hand corner, selected new likes, and voila there were all of my friends to whom I could see and reach out to individually. Being one who is not technology savvy, I was excited when I cluelessly navigated my way to finding this alternative route and that I still had a means in which I could see and correspond with my friends.    

When have you experienced a technological drawback that you had no idea how to fix and while trying to troubleshoot the non-functioning feature, you were able to figure out and discover another way and solution to do what you were wanting to do?

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, please send your name and email address to tendermercymoments@gmail.com.*

Solo Week

For the first time in almost 23 years of marriage and 21 years of being a mom, I recently had an entire week to myself. Initially, I had no idea at all what I would do with my time alone for this was a new experience for me. I was concerned that I would be twiddling my thumbs, but the blankness of not knowing what I would do did not last long. 

It was a tender mercy that one idea after another began flooding my mind from people I could reach out to, projects I could work on, and places I could visit. My week filled up before it began. The ideas did not remain ideas, they became what I went for and accomplished. It was incredible the flow and line up of when the activities occurred from one day to the next. 

My schedule was well-balanced and organized and I felt productive. I attended an out-of-town festival, prepared for an upcoming baby shower, went to church, enjoyed walks, reached out and visited friends, participated in a personal development group, stepped out of my comfort zone to attend a social gathering with multiple families, took a mini day trip to a tourist destination, attended a parenting class, ran family errands, performed ordinance work in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint temple, prepared a lesson for my primary class at church, and worked on my blog. It was a marvelous week of doing what I love and enjoy and having the courage to go out and explore new things on my own.  

When have you had time all to yourself and just when you had no idea what you would do with your alone time, ideas flooded your mind and as you acted on those ideas you felt accomplished and a greater sense of self?

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, please send your name and email address to tendermercymoments@gmail.com.*

Maintain The Course

Halfway into my travels to go explore and visit an out-of-town festival, I received a notification that it was scheduled to end before I arrived. Prior to leaving my house late afternoon, I found no information with an end time listed. I assumed the festival would run until early evening being that it was a weekend and we were on summer daylight hours. Regardless of the untimely and surprising message, I stayed the path leading to the event believing I may still be able to observe a tail end portion of it. I arrived 20 minutes after the supposed end time and the festival was still going strong. 

I could have turned around and returned home when I got the news, instead I maintained my course and continued forward. It was a tender mercy the festival was still in full swing. It was a wonderful experience being in attendance and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the beauty of another place within our state. Even if I had missed the festival, the drive there and back was very calming, relaxing, and nice.   

When have you maintained your course and continued forward towards an event a short distance or miles from home even after learning it would be over before you got there and upon your arrival, it was still going strong?

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, please send your name and email address to tendermercymoments@gmail.com.*