Category: Circumstance

Come To Know The Why

With my intense anxiety on slick roads, being in a solid, secure vehicle with suitable tire traction for the projected conditions was a singular, come to know the why moment, a reason, if you will, our car randomly stopped working. 

Have you ever asked yourself these questions, silently or out loud, “Why do bad things happen to good people?! Why did this happen to me?! Why did this happen for me?!” Though the answers may remain a floating question, without an answer and elusive at times, other times you may, to a degree, come to know the why, the reason for the reason. One such time for me came the weekend of my dad’s unexpected passing. 

Each morning, after I drop off my youngest at school, I will back into a parking spot until about 15 minutes beyond the school start time, as vehicles coming and going can get pretty congested and crazy, which in turn spikes and intensifies my anxiety. While I wait out the time for a bit, I’ll turn off the car to conserve gas and either attend to various tasks on my phone, read a physical book, or listen to a podcast. 

On this particular Thursday morning, upon ready to head back home, as I turned on the car, it would not start. A slew of flashing lights appeared on the dashboard. Not only that, it was as if the car lost its grounding and was slipping away. It felt like the car was moving forward. Even with my foot on the brake pedal, I was concerned about the car rolling into the parked car in front of me, so I applied the emergency brake as well, which seemed to do nothing at all. 

Not knowing what was going on, I straightaway pulled out the dealership manual from the glove box to figure it out, and still, with no idea how to solve for what was going on, I reached out to my husband who came to my assistance. We ended up leaving the car in the school parking lot. Once home, I called the dealership and learned it was likely the battery. My husband returned to the school and jumpstarted the car, alone a tender mercy I had backed into the parking spot, and the car then sat in our garage, undriveable for several days before the proper installation of a new battery could take place. In the meantime, it was a tender mercy we had a backup vehicle to drive, a truck in particular.  

The next evening as my husband and I had just finished a dinner date, I received a text from one of my siblings that I was processing as we were leaving the restaurant. I wasn’t sure what to make of the message, if it was for real or not. We did not travel far before I elected we stop and pull into a gas station and I shared with my husband the message, “not sure if dad will make it through the night”. The validity of the message left me up in the air as to what to do. Though uncertain, as I had no preliminary knowledge of my dad being physically unwell, I decided it would be better to go see him than not. 

It was a tender mercy not only that the gas station we had stopped at was right next to the interstate that traveled directly up to my dad’s residence, but also that we were in the truck the evening of the first winter storm advisory of the season. With my intense anxiety on slick roads, being in a solid, secure vehicle with suitable tire traction for the projected conditions was a singular, come to know the why moment, a reason, if you will, our car randomly stopped working. 

Upon reaching my dad and visiting with him and getting updates from my siblings, I learned that one and half weeks earlier, my dad was vibrant, vivacious, and energetic, and it was shared that he could live another 20 years. And then, just like that, over a one week span, his bill of health declined. Though his physical appearance looked frail, he was coherent in conversation and mentally cognizant of his surroundings. As the evening hour waned and my dad expressed desire to rest, my optimistic self believed he would make a full recovery, which carried me through the night as my husband and I returned back to our home. 

The next morning I received a call from a sibling that had stayed with my dad through the night and attended to his care. As he observed my dad’s suffering in the early morning hours, before daybreak he took him to a hospital emergency room, upon where my dad passed the moment he was wheel-chaired inside. 

As my mom, no longer married to my dad, and many of my siblings were gathered around my dad’s emergency room bedside until they moved him to the morgue in the basement of the hospital, it was decided that we would all go back to his tiny apartment and move his minimalistic belongings from his place to one of my sibling’s place who lived nearby. The question was asked if anyone had a truck. Though a very surreal moment that my dad had in fact passed away, it was a tender mercy, with our car inoperable, my husband and I had come up in the truck. 

When our car randomly stopped working, I had no idea that two days later my dad would unexpectedly pass away and that being in the truck would be a tender mercy. In addition, my receiving the message and being with and conversing with my dad the night before he passed was a blessed tender mercy! 

As the weekend unfolded, I had come to know the why, the why my reliable car, without warning, had faltered a couple of days prior. 

When have you come to know the why something undesirable happened “for you”, which, the occurrence, in and of itself, was a provided tender mercy?

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 posts as well, please send your name and email address to tendermercymoments@gmail.com.

Is It Worth The Risk?

With limited time squeezing quickly to a close for to take action on a warranty opportunity, circumstances were such that I was reluctant and questioned, “is it worth the risk?”

With limited time squeezing quickly to a close for to take action on a warranty opportunity, circumstances were such that I was reluctant and questioned, “is it worth the risk?”  

Not long after I got a new pair of glasses before our family moved to a new area, while a helper loaded up our storage unit into a U-Haul, the metal spout end of a water hose they picked up, inadvertently whipped in front of me and left behind a scratch on one of my prescription transition eyeglass lenses.  

Once we were in our new home, it was a tender mercy that one of my children requested to go to an optometrist, as through reestablishing with this eye care professional in our new location, it came to my attention that within a few weeks the replacement lenses/frame warranty for my glasses would be up. 

After many of phone calls with a receptionist at our former optometry eye clinic and a couple conversations with our now current optometry vision center, it was almost a possibility that the replacement of the lenses could have been taken care of locally, as each optometry office used the same lab company, unfortunately, the designated lab for each office was located in different states and patient information was not interconnected between offices and the lab, therefore, my glasses had to go back to my former optometry office, then on to their lab, and back to their office before being returned back to me. 

With the local option unavailable, I debated, is it worth the risk to send my current prescription glasses back to my prior optometry office, no longer a feasible thirty minute drive away, rather, more than a day away, which meant, not only would I be without my glasses for weeks, but also, by some “what if” chance they become lost in transit and I never received them back entered my thoughts. Time was running out. Would I keep my lenses “as is” which also included where some of the coating on the lenses had bubbled or get them replaced before the warranty expired? 

I decided to exercise my faith and trust that my glasses with the new replacement lenses would make it back to me, fully acknowledging there was no guarantee, an accepted risk. It was a tender mercy that though I primarily wore my glasses on a daily basis, I had contact lenses I could wear in the interim and prescription glasses from three years prior that, surprisingly, I could see with just as well if not better than my current glasses.

What transpired over the course of the next several weeks was quite the rigmarole. As I no longer resided a half hour down the road from our former optometrist, the round trip shipment cost of $14.98 for the mailers and postage was on me, a small amount relative to the cost of the glasses, yet, a cost I considered, is it worth the risk to take action before the warranty expired if I were to never get my glasses back or do I not worry about sending them and settle with the scratch and bubbled coating until I get a new pair of glasses? I decided to take the risk. 

With the help of a kind mail carrier at our post office, I mailed my glasses that were in their case and included in the mailer a labeled return mailer for my glasses to be placed in and mailed back to me once the new lenses had been set inside my same frame. I paid for tracking for both mailers.

Within a few days, though one day beyond the estimated delivery date, it was a tender mercy my glasses arrived to the optometrist’s office mailbox. They arrived on a Friday and were picked up from the mailbox the following Monday, one week after I had mailed them. One leg down, three more to go. So far, so good. 

After the given timeframe for my glasses to be sent to the lab from the optometrist’s office and returned back to the optometrist’s office, just over a week and a half later, I followed up and learned that my glasses were being mailed back to me that day. Hooray! As I awaited and awaited for the arrival of my glasses with the new replacement lenses, for some unknown reason, when I checked the tracking (a tender mercy I had paid for the tracking), my glasses had traveled in a completely opposite direction of the country than where I live and showed no updated tracking information for ten days. As I contacted USPS seven days after the day the glasses were mailed to me to learn if they had a more updated status and reason for the standstill, I was told, “it was in transit to the next facility” and so I continued to wait. 

Then one day as I checked the tracking, day ten, it showed the mailer had arrived at its destination. Excited, I was ready to go to our mailbox and pick up my glasses, only to realize upon further review that my glasses arrived back at the optometrist’s office, even though the address I had penned on the return mailer was to my home, confirmed by a receptionist at the optometrist’s office. 

Confused as to why it was returned back to them, when I contacted their office, the receptionist read off numerous labels that had been attached to the mailer, such as, not safe to fly, lack of an appropriate customs slip attached, lack of proper postage per the weight and dimensions of the package, and could not travel with postage stamps. 

The receptionist also shared that the courier who had originally taken it to the post office noted that a postal worker, rather than scan the mailer in, they just dropped it in a bin. It made no sense to the courier, but they did not question the postal worker and shrugged off what they thought was too simple and walked away without a receipt with the tracking number and estimated delivery date. 

Hearing this, I was reminded of my sending a package from a neighboring city over a year prior that routed strangely and unfortunately did not arrive to the recipient before they left their temporary stay. To get it rerouted to their home address was quite the saga. 

Suffice it to say, long story short, my glasses that were inside a case with nothing else in the mailer was a supposed safety concern, a liability, tagged as a threat, and returned to the optometrist’s office. As the same courier as before again returned my mailer to the post office, labels removed, they made it a point to ensure it was scanned to return to my home address with no complications and obtained a receipt with the tracking information and estimated delivery date on it. 

A couple of days later, just over a month from when I decided to accept the risk and mailed my glasses, they arrived. Though quite a humorous rigmarole, of which I was not bitter for as much as I was hopeful all would go smoothly, I was also prepared if it did not, it was a tender mercy my glasses did make it back to me. 

After all that, to the question of whether it was worth the risk or not to mail my glasses to replace the lenses before the warranty expired, not knowing if I would get them back, yes, the risk to take action, exercising faith and trust, was worth it.

When have you questioned and debated whether or not to do something and asked, “is it worth the risk?” and the risk you accepted to take was worth it? 

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 posts as well, please send your name and email address to tendermercymoments@gmail.com.

A Subtle Premonition

Despite a subtle premonition I disregarded, I was fortunate, circumstances were such, that what occurred, happened in a more ideal location than where it could have occurred.

After the place of our family’s residence changed, an action I had previously taken, time and again as a precautionary measure, despite a subtle premonition I disregarded, I was fortunate, circumstances were such, that what occurred, happened in a more ideal location than where it could have occurred. 

At our latest interim residence between home moves, there was a little bit of a walk from the parking area and a flight of stairs to bring our groceries up to our place. Quite often, upon checkout at a local supermarket nearby, it became apparent while placing our purchases in a bag that the plastic bags were thin and easily ripped so I would double bag most items. 

After we moved into our new place, I did not recognize the continued value of double bagging our purchases to take the groceries only a few steps from our car into our home, however, a subtle premonition I disregarded proved the importance of still double bagging our purchases, that even a short distance and few steps between the car and into the house made no difference when it came to the thin quality of the plastic bags.   

On this day in which I disregarded the subtle premonition because I didn’t think it necessary to double bag the groceries and didn’t plan on any bags tearing within the short distance of transporting the groceries from the car into the home, upon my return home from a shopping trip, it was a tender mercy I was unable to park in the garage due to a home project that had been set up inside, for as soon as I lifted a bag with two glass jars of cranberry juice, singly bagged, the bag ripped and one of the jars, almost two, slipped through the torn opening and shattered onto our sloped driveway. 

It was a tender mercy that it occurred there versus on the flat surface of our garage floor or worse, inside the house. Despite a subtle premonition I disregarded of a jar(s) shattering and a thought to double bag our purchases, most particularly the glass jars of cranberry juice, it was a tender mercy the occurrence of the breakage was in a location where the cleanup was more ideal. 

With the help of hot water I poured atop the spilt cranberry juice to keep the driveway from staining, it was a tender mercy the guidance of the diluted cranberry juice ran downhill and the slivers and shards of shattered glass pooled into a crevice on the driveway and off of the walking surface of the cement. With a handheld garden shovel and a dust pan, I was able to scoop up the larger pieces and with duct tape, dab up the fine glass particles. 

When have you disregarded a subtle premonition and despite your inaction, what occurred, happened in a more ideal manner than what could have been? 

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 posts as well, please send your name and email address to tendermercymoments@gmail.com.

Say What?

Say what? How is it that doing good for another could adversely affect oneself and possibly others?

Say what? How is it that doing good for another could adversely affect oneself and possibly others? 

Unlike other impressions I have received for to take action immediately, on this occasion, I did not feel an urgency to right then and there stop what I was doing, rather, to go and do once I was dressed and ready for the day, at my own steady pace, and before an appointment I was scheduled to be at a couple hours later. I felt Heavenly Father was mindful of me that I not cut short or rush the care I needed to give to myself, of which was a tender mercy. His mindfulness of me, and the minimal window between said events and timing for the recipient, fell perfectly aligned.

I was impressed to deliver a very specific treat to a friend. It was a treat I would first need to go the store to get. I started out at one store that did not carry it and then onto another store. While in the first store, with the treat not yet in hand, I texted my friend to find out if they would be home during the limited timeframe I would be available to come by. As I awaited their reply, I was confident the treat would be at the next store and I trusted my friend would be home to receive it. It was a tender mercy both were affirmed, the specific treat was at the second store and my friend responded they would be home after having just finished running errands. 

Upon arrival at my friend’s home, I was invited inside. As a precautionary measure out of respect due to the prevalence of a COVID-19 variant, I sat a length apart from my friend on their couch. During our brief dialogue, they shared with me that they had recently been in contact with someone who had COVID. 

Slightly thrown off, “say what?” was my internal response and the following internal question, “How is it that I was impressed to bring my friend a treat if Heavenly Father knew they had been in contact with someone with COVID, that in turn, being exposed, I could get it and/or pass it on to another person?” It made no sense. I was not so much concerned for myself, however, concerned for an individual I was about to meet at my appointment who was headed a few days later on a trip to another country. 

Though it did not make sense why I would be impressed to bring them a treat if doing so would bring about potential harm to myself and others, it was a tender mercy I was eased with a realization that all around me were persons who had either had it, were exposed, or asymptomatic, no one immune, each susceptible, for which I felt a peace to not let the gravity of fear take hold and that all would be fine. It was a tender mercy the news did not set me back and I returned my focus to the joy of service rather than projection of the unknown future. 

When have you felt impressed to do something kind for someone, and with it, you learned, post follow-through, of potential harm that could come to you or others as an outcome, of which your “say what?” concern was replaced with peace of mind? 

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 posts as well, please send your name and email address totendermercymoments@gmail.com.

A Timely Approach

Prior to taking it on, a timely approach of a qualified individual came your way.

When have you wanted something done a certain way, so you did it yourself rather than the challenge and aggravation of explaining the what and how to someone else, and prior to taking it on, a timely approach of a qualified individual came your way and relieved you of the task that would have taken you much longer and perhaps less effectively done, if by you?

As my husband and I had drywall work being done in our home, though instructions were provided as to what we wanted done, after the contractors left and it appeared they supposed their work was complete, as the area had been cleaned up indicating such, my husband and I saw that a specific portion we were excited about was incomplete, to which we gathered may have likely been a communication misunderstanding due to a language barrier and instructions were not fully understood.

As we desired to have the task done before the painters arrived the following day to tape, mud, and paint, we decided to take on the incomplete work ourselves. Not having the appropriate tools for the job, we improvised. It was a tender mercy my husband had a pocket knife accessible which he used to carve away and remove a section of the sheetrock we wanted cut out.

The next step was to frame the area cut out with a metal wrapping around the edges. It was a tender mercy we found thrown out, leftover metal scraps that had been used for the sheetrock edges already completed. Problem was, we did not have a tool to cut the long metal pieces to size nor the specific staple gun nails to secure the metal framing in place. 

My husband and I decided we would make a trip to get what was needed to complete the project ourselves, an estimated three hour to and fro travel time to get the tools we hoped would do the job and the time it would take to complete the project.

Upon our departure, as we were walking out to our car, it was a tender mercy the contractor who installed the metal framing around the sheetrock edges, and was unaware of the instructions we had given the drywall contractor, pulled up to our home. They had left their ladder behind by accident and came to pick it up.

It was a huge tender mercy this specific contractor came when they did, a timely approach, and were able to take care of completing the project for us right then and there. In just a few minutes they cut the metal to size, framed it around the opening, and nailed it down.

When has a timely approach of a more qualified individual relieved you of a task that would have taken you much longer and perhaps been less effectively done if by 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 posts as well, please send your name and email address to tendermercymoments@gmail.com.

Much Appreciated Heads-Up Alert

During extreme winter weather conditions, the difficulties and challenges our family could have faced were prevented or reduced as we were given a much appreciated heads-up alert on multiple occasions.

Throughout a week that included snow days, freezing temperatures, icy road and school closures, rolling blackouts, and water outages due to extreme winter weather conditions, the difficulties and challenges our family could have faced were prevented or reduced as we were given a much appreciated heads-up alert on multiple occasions. 

The first much appreciated heads-up alert came from a friend hours before our water shut off, notifying myself and other friends via a group text message of a community nearby that would soon be without running water as power outages were impacting the function of water plants. I figured it was just a matter of time before our community would likewise lose water and being one who learns from the experiences of others what to do or not to do, in the event our water shut off too, our family filled our tubs so we would have water to flush our toilets. 

It was a tender mercy that we were prepared as that afternoon and for several days after, our water flow went from an intended slow trickle for to keep our indoor pipes from freezing to no running water at all. Throughout the duration of time till our water came back on and the boil alert for our neighborhood was lifted, it was not only a tender mercy we had plenty of water bottles in our food storage to get us by for drinking, brushing our teeth, and washing our hands, but also mid-week, two days after our first snowfall, more snow fell and we were able to top off our tubs with snow. 

The second much appreciated heads-up alert came the following day. When I took our puppy out into our snow covered backyard to go potty in her designated area, it was a tender mercy I saw that our neighbor was in their backyard at the same time for as I said hello and asked how their family was doing, the news of water damage to their master bedroom due to a pipe break and mention of covering outdoor water faucets prompted my husband and I to immediately cover our outdoor faucets to which we had not thought to do before then. 

As my husband went about and first removed the garden hoses from our outdoor faucets before he covered them in hopes of preventing our pipes from freezing, unfortunately, one of our faucets was already frozen, however, it was a tender mercy I had hot water in a pot on our stove ready for my kids to make hot chocolate if and when they decided to go back out to play in the snow which was then used instead to successfully unfreeze the faucet and remove the garden hose before the water faucet was wrapped with a towel. 

A third much appreciated heads-up alert came by way of a contractor, hours after our water came back on at the latter end of the week. While he was at the home of the same neighbor whom I had spoken with days earlier, it was a tender mercy he observed that our home was flooding. When he came pounding on our door to inform us, it didn’t register to me that the water was originating from our home as the interior of our home was all dry and well inside, but rather I thought water from the neighbor’s home was rushing over and pooling up against the exterior of our home. That was not the case. A pipe overhead in our garage had separated and water was gushing down from the ceiling. As we were completely unaware of the happenings in our garage, it was a tender mercy that in addition to the contractor coming over to let us know about the flooding he observed, the damage to the ceiling wall and the objects below the downpour were minimal, and the living quarters of our home were unaffected. 

Upon our seeing the “waterfall” for ourselves, right away, my husband shut off the water main to our home and though once again we were without running water, it was a tender mercy it was short lived as our waiting on a plumber to come turned out to be unnecessary. The next day as I went into our attic above the garage to assess any water damage that may have occurred there, it was a tender mercy there was none. Also, it was a tender mercy I saw the pipe that had separated and it was in an accessible unfinished open space. Not only that, it was a tender mercy my husband had the tools and skills to repair it himself rather quickly, and in no time our water was back up and running. 

When have you received a much appreciated heads-up alert that prevented or reduced greater impact that could have occurred during circumstances you had no control over?

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 posts as well, please send your name and email address to tendermercymoments@gmail.com.