Category: Timing

I Felt Impressed To Open a Specific Envelope

Feeling Impressed To Open A Specific Envelope That Came In The Mailbox

As I brought into my home a stack of mail I had just picked up from the mailbox and set down on a bench in our foyer after organizing and separating the important mail from the junk mail, I felt impressed to open a specific envelope I had put aside to take care of later, however, I intentionally ignored the impression.  

I assumed it was a quarterly bill due at the first of the next month. I was not anxious to open the envelope and opted to wait to do so until I arrived at the company office a distance across town to pay it sometime before the due date. I already had a visual in my mind of what the standard bill looked like from all the other previous quarterly payments I’ve hand-delivered so I was not concerned at all about opening up the envelope any sooner than when it was time to pay it. Being also that it was the middle of the current month, I felt no urgency to pay it right away. I still had a couple of weeks. 

On the day I planned on paying the bill following a morning class I was attending, my plans changed after leaving the class. I decided instead to first stop at home and photocopy the check payment with the bill statement for receipt purposes and then join my husband for lunch before paying the bill. When I arrived home and opened the envelope in my car prior to going into the house, to my surprise, it was a tender mercy the bill was not a bill after all, it was only an informational letter. 

Opening up the envelope when I did saved a lot of unnecessary, wasted drive time. Though I ignored the initial impression to open up the specific envelope, it was a tender mercy that when I changed my plans, another opportunity was provided to open the envelope before needlessly driving straightaway to the payment office.

When have you felt impressed to open a specific envelope or look into something before taking action and valuable time was not needlessly wasted? And/or when have you ignored an initial impression and another opportunity to act on the prompting was provided?

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.*

Seeing Now What I Didn’t See Then

Seeing Now What I Didn’t See Then

This post, ”Seeing Now What I Didn’t See Then” is the behind the scenes struggle I had with completing an earlier post, “Concurring Prayers For Help Interconnected”.

I started my day feeling really good about writing up my tender mercy moment and publishing the entry to my blog no later than early evening. 

As I began preparing the post, I wanted to fulfill each SEO recommendation provided through a plugin I use with my blog, most specifically to include an outbound link that would be applicable and connect well to my post, but I didn’t know any outbound links I could attach to my blog entry. 

Late afternoon, while in route to pick up my kids from school, I wanted to listen to inspirational messages on the Hi Five Live Facebook page from my phone. When I opened up the page and sought to backtrack to where I had last left off days earlier, strangely, I was only able to scroll a portion of the way down before the uploading of more messages was delayed as a spinning circle continued rotating around and around and around halting me from being able to scroll down any further. 

After trying several times to scroll further down and I couldn’t, I relinquished, giving in and opting to listen to the message where the page had stopped. Turns out, this was an amazing tender mercy as the message from this outbound link tied in very well to my blog entry. 

Later, as I was close to finishing up the post, the final touches were just not coming together, no matter how much I worked on it. As the hours progressed well beyond the length of time I thought I would’ve had it finished, I was becoming more and more distraught not knowing the reason why it was not fully coming together especially considering I felt good about writing and posting it. 

I was hoping to publish it before our Family Home Evening, however, that didn’t happen. On this night, in our rotation, I had the song choice to start off our time together. I wanted to select a gratitude hymn with words that would help me see things from a brighter place and being that it was also Veteran’s Day and Thanksgiving was just around the corner. Unfortunately, I could not read and comprehend clearly the words we were singing as I felt so unsettled and lost. Even when my husband shared an inspiring video, I was beside myself. The only thing I got from the video was to keep trying which in that moment as I saw the message “I can try again” on our television screen I was perplexed. 

I was angry, upset, frustrated, and mad at Heavenly Father. I asked Him, “if this (the Tender Mercy Moments blog) is what you’ve inspired me to do, then why isn’t this post coming together? Please help me!” I was wondering if maybe it not coming together meant I should just stop blogging and that maybe it was no longer what Heavenly Father wanted me to do.

After several hours of remaining at a dead end, I surrendered. I had tried and given my all for it to come together in my timeframe. And, it just wasn’t. I am not a quitter and not one who gives up, but I reached a point that I supposed it was just not meant to be. In addition to surrendering, I opted to not check the number of Facebook notifications I had received throughout the day as I wanted to move away from anything that had to do with my blog. I was preparing myself to let it all go by the wayside. 

However, prior to heading to bed I felt I should check the notifications. When I did, the first thing I saw and read was a remarkable response to a cue I had posted on my Tender Mercy Moments group page the day prior. In that moment, my heart melted and my mind rested on an enlightening thought that perhaps the reason my post wasn’t coming together was that it was possible that if I had posted the new entry per my timing, the incredible experience that was relayed may not have been shared as it would no longer correspond with a newly published tender mercy moment post now at the top of the feed. 

Upon seeing the response, immediately I felt joy and gratitude as I recognized Heavenly Father is on top of all things and His awareness of when best to post was greater than my own. It was a tender mercy that right then and there a realization struck me that I was seeing now what I didn’t see then when things were not working out. It came down to timing. 

Also, as I reflected on the earlier tender mercy (the outbound link that “fell into my lap” so to speak which I had bypassed and forgotten about when my focus moved to why the post wasn’t coming together) along with the latter tender mercy, both confirmed to me and gave me reassurance that I was to continue my blog and Heavenly Father is very much apart of the work He has inspired me to do. 

The following day, it was a tender mercy the post came together very smoothly with even extra bonuses of other very touching and beautiful outbound links—another one that “fell into my lap” and one that entered my mind.  It was amazing!! Timing was everything. 

When have you reached a dead end on a project you couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t coming together and you had a “seeing now what I didn’t see then” moment that too may have been all about the timing? 

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.*

My Doctor So Kindly Stayed Behind To See Me

My Doctor So Kindly Stayed Behind To See Me To Ensure A Pair Of Contact Lenses Fit Nicely In Place Of Needing Reading Glasses And Constantly Rotating Them Out With Sunglasses.

When I stopped into my eye doctor’s clinic late afternoon without an appointment to pick up a pair of special-order contact lenses, it was a tender mercy that though my optometrist was about to leave for the day, they so kindly stayed behind to see me and ensure the contacts were a good fit. 

Thus far, for me personally, I have embraced each approaching phase of aging with humor, adapting and adjusting to the changes as they occur. I often giggle with laughter and say, “here I am, I am here now” referring to that specific stage—white hair, etc, particularly this past year as I have reached the transition stage of now needing reading glasses. 

With having reading glasses comes the challenge of frequently alternating between wearing my sunglasses and reading glasses while out and about to occasionally not knowing which pair is on top of my head and putting on my reading glasses mistakingly instead of my sunglasses and vice versa. 

At a recent annual vision appointment, I considered switching out of wearing my current single vision contact lenses to either opt for monovision or multifocal contact lenses that would replace the need for reading glasses. Over the course of a couple of weeks, I tried both variations with different brands. During one of my return visits, a brand of lenses they did not have in stock was ordered.

It was shared with me that once the contacts arrived, I could pick them up without an appointment and if my optometrist was available on that day, they would see me, otherwise, I could take the contacts home, wear them and see how they fit, and schedule another followup visit a couple days later. 

Several days after I received the message that the contacts were in, I dropped by the clinic to pick them up and when I asked if my doctor was in, the front desk staff shared that they thought my optometrist may have already left for the day and unfortunately the next available opening to be seen by them wouldn’t be until the following week. Although I was told that another optometrist could see me and do a fitting check on the spot, I hesitated not wanting to get a new doctor up to speed on my current eye status and incur any additional financial charges after having already fully paid for consecutive visits tied to my annual visit so I declined. 

Right then, my optometrist’s assistant came out to the front desk and said they were ready for me. Though confused, I followed. I soon learned that my optometrist had still been in the office finishing up paperwork and when they became aware that I was there, it was a tender mercy my doctor so kindly stayed behind to see me beyond the time they had planned to leave for the day. 

When have you had a doctor go out of their way to help you and so kindly stayed behind to see you beyond the time they had planned to leave for the day? 

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.*

On The Spot Parenting Turning Points

On The Spot, Parenting Turning Points Bring Harmony Back Into Family Life When It is Disrupted

Here and there, I’ve experienced various, different on the spot parenting turning points. Meaning, in the midst of having an aggravating parenting moment with my children, it has been a tender mercy when an ingenious idea, thought, story, analogy, phrase, etc. has come to my mind and when shared with my kids or input received from another is implemented, it has improved the immediate or recurring moment of discord.

Four of my most recent, individual, on the spot parenting turning points have been—First, when bringing up “hard” topics, my children are frequently pleading that I not lecture them. I feel it is important to talk about all kinds of important matters with my kids, but not sure exactly how to present it to hold their interest or for them to want to stay engaged in a discussion. Ironically, as I had been pondering to know the “how” to go about further addressing these topics in a way that is non lecturing, while listening to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints General Conference over the weekend, words I heard during a particular message by Hans T. Brown echoed my children’s plea.

Following that session, I shared with my family the thoughts that came up for me related to their request. It was a tender mercy that as we were all talking about it together, a light bulb went off and I asked my children, “What if I asked you, what do you know about such and such…pornography, sex, human trafficking, etc…and you then share with me your thoughts, feelings, or knowledge rather than my starting off the discussion with what I have heard and know?” Everyone was on board and agreed it would be a better approach, as well as prefacing the conversation with, “I would like to bring up a hard topic. What do you think about…such and such….?” 

Second, one late evening as our family gathered together to play a new board game recently purchased by one of our children who was excited to play with everyone as well as be in control of the way it was played, the manner and level of intensity in which they were introducing it and going through the rules was getting on everyone’s nerves to the point all family members no longer desired to stay, even though we all wanted to play.

Before we each got up to leave, it was a tender mercy an ingenious idea popped into my mind to set a timer to only play the game for 30 minutes and for every time they spoke with harshness and demanding authority, I would reduce the clock timer 1 minute. Though several minutes were lost, our experience altogether was much better.   

Third, on another occasion, when one of my children applied minimal effort to one of their chores and I encouraged that they give more, they felt hurt and perceived that I was saying their work was not good enough when in fact I was referring to the overall chore lacking full attention, not just the small area they quickly, in no time, cleaned up. The section they covered was great, yet there was more surface area untouched.

As they struggled with my ask and I was struggling to know how to effectively communicate my appreciation for what they had done to assure them I was sincere, in addition, wanting to see them further apply themselves on a larger scale, it was a tender mercy I recalled right then and there the “Story of The Five Dollar Lawn” I heard years ago depicting exactly my sentiments in a more clear and understandable way. 

As I shared this story with my child, it was received more or less as “food for thought”, at the same time it provided a clarity that, in essence, among a myriad of take aways, the outreach and level of work completed is quantifiable and each individual job by itself is recognized and valued with thanks and gratitude. 

Lastly, it was a tender mercy when listening to a specific episode of The Virtual Couch Podcast by Tony Overbay, the guest Ralphie Jacobs shared her top positive parenting tips, one being the phrase, “Try Again”. This phrase has been an on the spot, parenting turning point many a times. It has been super impactful as an antidote for when my children project blame onto another family member for their unwise choices or speak poorly to one another. 

When have you had those on the spot parenting turning points in which an ingenious idea, story, or phrase, etc. has come to you during an aggravating moment with your children helping you best respond to an immediate or recurring frustration? 

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.*

Time Was Of The Essence

Time was of the essence as purchasing dry ice before the store closed for the night was necessary to keeping ice cream frozen while on a road trip.

Time was of the essence when my husband and I were hoping to be able to purchase dry ice within a very short timeframe between two back-to-back trips.  

Over the course of ten days, the opportunity to go from an anniversary trip that flowed into a conference trip on one side of the USA with my husband per airplane and then turn around immediately upon getting home to travel almost a full day’s distance to a family member’s wedding in another part of the country via a road trip was an exciting week and a half. 

Between both trips, we were up against the clock and only had minutes to purchase needed dry ice before stopping at home long enough to pick up our children, do a few things, switch out our already packed bags for the second trip and leave to make it promptly for the wedding festivities.

As we were preparing for the trips, another family member, residing not far from the wedding location, had asked if we could bring them a favorite ice cream not sold in their local grocery store. In order to transport the ice cream and keep it frozen over the many hours we would be driving, it was necessary to get dry ice, however, our window to do so once flying back from the first trip and getting to the store before it closed prior to heading out again for the second trip was extremely limited. 

Upon our plane landing late evening when returning from the first trip, we had approximately 45 minutes before the store that carried the dry ice would be closing. While waiting for a shuttle to get us back to our car and in route to the store before midnight, we were feeling the time crunch.

It was a tender mercy that traffic at that hour was light and we made it to the store 9 minutes before close and we’re able to get the dry ice. In addition, it was a tender mercy that when we arrived the following day to our destination for the wedding, the ice cream was still frozen.  

When have you barely, when time was of the essence, made it to a specific store to purchase a necessary and much needed item minutes before it closed?

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.*

A Much Shorter Distance Away Than Anticipated

As the time drew near for me to promptly take one of my children to their school’s season opener football game a distance away, I felt so overwhelmed and anxious due to my still being on an important phone call well past when we needed to leave.

I prefer to focus on one thing at a time, yet, not knowing how soon I would be off the call, I began to multitask. From striving to stay attentive and engaged on the call and simultaneously realizing the distance away and time required to get my child to the game before it started, taking into account the path and presumed tail end, heavy rush hour traffic we would be in along the way, I was both working on maintaining my calm and frantically gesturing and motioning to my kids to rush out to the car. It was a real struggle trying to mentally be in two places at the same time. 

Once in the car and no longer on the call, I began to wind down, to relax and take some much needed deep breaths all the while driving on automatic for a good portion of the way, knowing with assumed certainty which stadium the game would be played at based on my recollection of where I had taken one of my other kids a time before. 

Although I had been thinking the football game was on one far end of the city, it was a tender mercy that before we reached a highway split to go eastbound or westbound, it dawned on me that the game may actually be playing at a different stadium in the opposite direction of where I was about to go. Initially, I was planning to branch off to the east until I asked the child I was taking to the football game the name and location of the stadium and they confirmed, with a surety, that the game was in a stadium to the west of us. Pleasantly, the correct location was substantially closer to home and rather than being late, we ended up arriving a few minutes before kickoff. 

When have you left late on your way to an intended destination and being prepared to head one way at a highway split, you realized before branching off that you actually needed to go in the opposite direction to get to the correct location, which pleasantly was a much shorter distance away than anticipated and you arrived early? 

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.*

Rescued From A Bad Dream

A good night’s sleep restored after a bad dream

After a long exhausting day, physically and mentally, I went to bed sooner than usual for me and well before my husband did. In part, my being so tired was attributed to my going to bed real late and getting up super early consecutively for days. 

With the start of a new school year for our children, I had not yet transitioned my sleep schedule accordingly. I was still maintaining the same night owl routine I had been on all summer long and now with school back in session and my weekday beginning before the crack of dawn to drive one of our children to early morning church seminary, I was feeling the toll on my body. With days of less than adequate sleep added to activities that required a lot of mental energy, on this night, in no time flat, as soon as I lied down, my eyes quickly closed and immediately I fell asleep. 

As my husband was settling into bed sometime later, he heard me breathing heavy and observed something was wrong. He gently and lovingly asked me if I was ok, to which I responded “No, I am Not”. I was terrified, sweating, and muttering words in my sleep. Once aroused and broken away from the awful dream, I thanked him for waking me up. It was a tender mercy he had still been awake at that time and rescued me from my panic induced state. 

Once removed and disengaged from the bad dream and prior to wanting to go right back to sleep without a re-occurrence, I prayed the bad dream would not return. I was extremely grateful for the tender mercy that although an image and recollection of what caused me to stir remained, the fear and trauma associated did not and I slept soundly and peacefully the rest of the evening. 

When have you been calmly rescued from a bad dream and while still very tired and desirous to be able to comfortably go back to sleep, after praying that the bad dream would not return, you were able to once again fall asleep right away and you slept soundly and peacefully the rest of the night?


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.*

Seeing The One That Was Out Of Place

My intent when entering a supercenter was to quickly purchase in the shortest amount of time possible only a handful of specific items, one being a quantity of three of the exact same product. I gathered up in my arms this product first. They were vertically lined on a shelf one behind the other. I scooped three up all at once, without looking at them individually, and then went on to get the other items on my list. 

The last item I needed had a variety of brand options to choose from. In wanting the one that was the least expensive, but not finding a price for some of them to compare, I went to a nearby price scanner attached to a post in an aisle to check the cost of a select few. Before I scanned each unpriced item, I set down the other products I had been carrying throughout the store. It was then that I noticed the product I had multiples of and had assumed each were identical and exactly the same, one was not and had inadvertently been placed among the ones I had picked up.

Although a similar product, it was a tender mercy I saw that they were not all the same prior to getting to the register and checking out. 

When have you picked up, all at once, several identical items you needed from off a shelf, assuming they were exactly the same, and realized before getting to the register to check out that they were not? 

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.*

Why Am I Struggling So?

While writing up a blog entry, I couldn’t figure out why my post was not coming together and it was troubling me…until I stepped away to take a much needed break. In part, it made sense since writing is not my forte, however, it is something I do on a regular basis and many days I do fine, but today was extremely challenging and a struggle for me.

It was a tender mercy that immediately as I set it aside and moved away from it, one of my children came to me with the exact same question I was stewing over, “Why Am I Struggling So?” only from the flip side. I was intrigued and delighted. 

For them, it was with basketball. On this particular day, they were very pleased with their basketball accomplishments, yet, they brought up how interesting it is that on some days they do well and on other days they don’t do so well. I was curious…what makes the difference? Such as, a bad hair day versus a good hair day, a bad writing day versus a good writing day, a bad workout day versus a good workout day and on and on… 

Per our conversation, these various thoughts came to mind. 

1.  What I was writing was a significant post that had potential to bless the lives of many, and as such, the adversary was working full force to prevent and thwart my efforts from it getting posted. 

2. Einstein had many a bad days, but he didn’t give up and kept going and great things came from his perseverance. 

3. How often do we tackle a project like a renovation and think it’ll be easy, but once we get into it, we find issues—rusted out pipes, mold, termites… etc. Although the repairs and fixing it up is tedious and frustrating, the effort extended results in an amazing finished product. 

4. Perhaps, it opens the door for other good things to happen redirecting and focusing our energy, for the time-being, elsewhere. For instance, in basketball, rather than practicing 3 point shots that, for whatever reason, are not sinking like usual, improving upon lay ups instead. With writing, maybe setting it aside and engage in a completely different activity and area of interest for an essential breather to clear one’s mind. Or, with bad hair days, trying a different hairstyle that may result in discovering an amazing new style that only came to be because of a bad hair day. 

5.  In addition, another family member shared a reminder that there is opposition in all things. 

As I reflected on each of these points, I had an enlightened perspective when I returned later to my writing. Even though it took longer than most to write up the specific blog post, I did not give up and eventually it came together. 

In a nutshell, my takeaway was that things of great importance and worthwhile may require more painstaking effort and to not give up when something isn’t working out in the moment(s); and, that struggles and “bumps in the road” do not necessarily mean stop doing what valuable thing you are doing, particularly, when it doesn’t feel right to do so, and “throw in the towel”, but rather step away to do something else for a time and then come back and try again.  

When have you been at a point of contemplating giving up on something beneficial you were working really hard on that wasn’t coming together and a conversation with another, right at that time, inspired you to keep going and pressing forward? 

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.*