Category: Decisive

Handling A Challenge Head On

Time and again, when I have gone about handling a challenge head on, the outcome of my efforts have been nothing short of a tender mercy.

How do you handle challenges? For me, I recognize if I do not handle a challenge head on, my challenges don’t go away, they just linger in the background and it is stress I don’t want weighing on me. So, how do I go about handling a challenge head on? I proactively take some kind of action to do what I can to work towards a resolve that will improve the circumstances I find myself up against. 

Between my college years, my transportation to and fro where I lived and the job I had was by bus. The bus stop closest to the office building where I worked was several blocks away. Each evening after work, I could either take my time walking to the bus stop and wait a length of time for a later hour bus to arrive or I could run as fast as I could to catch a scheduled bus that was departing just minutes after I got off work.

Desiring to get home sooner rather than later, I didn’t think twice or doubt my ability to accomplish a desired goal of getting on the earlier bus. I went for it and took off running. The result of my determination and believing I could do it paid off. Every time I made a run to catch the earlier bus, it was a tender mercy I got to the door of the bus just seconds after it arrived and before it departed.  

Today, while simultaneously listening to something through my earbuds that were plugged into my phone that was placed in a front pocket of my shirt and attending to replenishing our puppy’s food and water dish, as I leaned over her water bowl I had just filled up and was setting down, my phone fell out of my pocket and landed in the water. 

Though my natural split second inclination would be to freeze and assess the situation, it was a tender mercy I immediately pulled my phone out of the water. After wiping dry the front side of my phone and the exterior of my case, enclosed tightly around my phone, I also noticed moisture that was trapped between the phone and the case. It was a tender mercy I was able to remove the case quickly, wipe dry the interior of the case and the backside of the phone, and as I took to handling the challenge head on, my new phone, not more than a few weeks old, was still fully functional. 

And then, not long after, as I was just about to take our puppy out to go potty, before I could get to her, she peed on the kitchen floor directly in front of me. Right away, as I took to handling the challenge head on and went into a one man attempt to swiftly get her outside to finish up any business she still had remaining, and prior to, loosely lay paper towels over the area that was wet so other family members would not unknowingly walk in it while we were outside, it was a tender mercy my husband entered the kitchen at that very moment and offered to take her outside and I was able to stay back to clean and sanitize where she had peed before anyone else came into the room. Time and again, when I have gone about handling a challenge head on, the outcome of my efforts have been nothing short of a tender mercy. 

When has the outcome of your efforts been nothing short of a tender mercy as you have gone about handling a challenge head on? 

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 Quick Reaction Time

It was a tender mercy my quick reaction time protected our family from serious harm as well as our not going off course.

During a four day road trip en route back home along a touristy path to further stretch out and extend our family vacation a bit longer, over and over again, a quick reaction time upon multiple near potential and serious accidents and an almost consequential delay kept our family safe and on course. 

At times when I have been unable to shake off situations that catch me by surprise and struggle to regain my bearing and center myself or get a handle on whatever has turned my world upside down, a domino effect of other things consecutively going badly, one after another, seems to then occur.

It was a tender mercy that after each close call incident along our path back home, I was able to immediately resume driving with an unrelenting, engaged focus and a composure that was solid and unrattled. I was able to continue onward with confidence and keep each isolated incident behind me in the rear view mirror and not let it negatively affect or impact me beyond the moment when it happened.

The various occurrences that took place in which it was a tender mercy my quick reaction time protected our family from serious harm as well as our not going off course included—

The time when I was merging onto an interstate and my abrupt and controlled swerve in the nick of time kept our vehicle from nearly colliding side by side with another car right at the point where our lanes merged. And, at a later time when I was concerned we were going to get sideswiped by a car driving too closely in the lane next to us, my same abrupt and controlled dodging maneuver to steer away from the vehicle kept us safe.

The time I was midway through a traffic light that had turned yellow as I approached the intersection in a business corridor and a driver turning left also drove through the yellow light and crossed in front of me. Being that I was traveling at a slow speed, I was able to brake suddenly before any impact between our cars took place. 

The time I was able to sufficiently slow down in time and swoop around the back end of a double trailer truck without going onto the shoulder of the highway when a truck driver crossed in front of me as they exited a roadside business, and the length of their semi-tractor-trailer truck blocked all the lanes on our side after they stopped in the median before turning left to enter the highway headed in the direction behind us.

The times I kept our car steady when jostled during multiple gusty wind areas on the interstate. 

The time our auto headlights seemed to have gone out as dusk turned to total darkness and I was able to quickly turn on a different light setting that appeared dimmer and have visibility to navigate that way until the auto light seemed to work again after I rotated the auto light setting off and then back on again. 

The time I was blinded for a split second by the bright headlights of cars coming at me from the other side of the interstate and the automatic lane departure warning sensor in my car beeped as I steered outside of my lane and my quick reaction time upon hearing the alert kept me inside my lane during the brief moment of not being able to see.  

The time I was on a straightaway stretch of road and overlooked a crucial turnoff I needed to take and within less than a 1/2 mile of passing the unseen road, I realized I was headed in a direction that would have prolonged our drive time substantially and I was able to turn around right away and stay on the shortest route to our destination. 

When have you been on a road trip and you and your passengers were protected from a potentially serious accident or almost going off course due to your quick reaction time, and following each occurrence, you were able to remain composed and focused on the road as you continued onward? 

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.

Matter Of Fact Plan Of Action

When plans changed unexpectedly, I did not skip a beat as a revised matter of fact plan of action transpired.

When my original plan for getting our kids to school changed unexpectedly, I did not skip a beat as a revised matter of fact plan of action transpired. 

On this winter morning, once we were all in the car ready to go, I started it up and noticed the tire pressure light was on. At first, I assumed the light was indicating a decrease in tire pressure attributed to the cold 37 degree weather, but as I recalled a prior tire incident, I immediately felt inclined to walk around the car and quickly glance at each of the tires before driving away. 

In doing so, I saw that one of the back tires appeared low. While accessing the condition of the tire, it was a tender mercy that right at that time, my husband had just stepped out of the house to leave for work and observed what I was doing. He came over immediately to assist. As I knew I would not be able to go directly to a shop to get the tire repaired before getting my kids to school on time, right away, I knew what to do. I decisively and proactively, without hesitation, went into Plan B action mode. 

While my husband was using an air compressor to add air to the tire, I shared with him my matter of fact plan of action to take our younger kids to school in the car used by our teenage drivers who were not using it at the time. It was a tender mercy the car was available as a backup and the worries I would have had about the possibility of the low tire going flat at any point during the approximate one and a half hour roundtrip commute was alleviated. And, as there was a concern on this very cold day whether the heater in the backup car worked, it was a tender mercy it did and we were warmed up fairly quickly. 

Though I had plans to take our car in to have the tire repaired preceding a scheduled meeting I would be facilitating not long after returning home from dropping off our kids, after calling the shop and learning of the lengthy wait time, due to the tight time constraint, I once again moved forward with a revised matter of fact plan of action to instead go to the shop following my meeting and before picking up our kids from school. 

By that time, it was then early afternoon and over the course of several hours since my husband had added air to the tire, the tire pressure had dropped from 35 psi to close to 15 psi. Although I was quite nervous about the slow leak causing the psi to drop so significantly and worried if the low tire pressure would hold up long enough to get to the shop 20 minutes away, it was a tender mercy the tire was not yet altogether flat. 

In hopes of being able to make it to the shop without getting a flat, I attempted to fill up the tire using the air compressor, but I didn’t know how to use it and when I looked up a YouTube video for a demonstration, it wasn’t any help either. So, I placed the air compressor and an extension cord in the trunk of my car and prayed and prayed and prayed that first and foremost I would make it all the way to the shop without losing anymore air. And secondly, if I did lose more air, I was prepared and prayerful that someone along the way would be able to help me.

Before leaving our home, I examined the tire once again and saw where a heavy duty nail of sorts had become lodged in the tire. Despite my naivety of how physics works, I was hopeful and optimistic that as the tire rotated around and around while in route to the shop, the pressure on the nail as it butted up against the pavement over and over again would lock and seal any air from escaping till I got to the tire shop. 

Along the way, although I felt anxious, I tried really hard to keep my mind focused on trusting in the Lord and staying relaxed. It was a wonderful tender mercy that not only did I make it safely to the shop without getting a flat tire, it was super amazing where now that I only had 1 hour before I would need to leave to pick up my kids from school that a garage bay was open and available when I arrived and I was able to pull right in before several other customers came in following behind me and my tire, which was discovered to have also had a screw in it too, was fixed right away for a very minimal charge. 

All in all, it was a tender mercy that before leaving home to take our kids to school, I became aware of the tire that was low before it became a full-fledged flat tire.

When have you had an experience to which you became aware of a situation before it resulted in something more so problematic? And, when have you had plans change unexpectedly and you were able to proactively with decisiveness move instantaneously forward with a revised matter of fact plan of action? 

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.