Tender Mercies Along The Way

It’s been 2 months now since I had my severe allergic reaction. It has caused my skin to break out into hives, eczema, rashes.. It’s made it hard to go out of the house and not just lay in bed feeling miserable about myself while I scratch away. Today at church God gave me not just one tender mercy, but many that I was in desperate need of.

During Sunday School my skin started itch, burn and turn red all over my hands. To me it looked bad, felt horrible and I wanted to go home, leave church early. As my husband was looking for the keys, our aunt came by to see what was up, tender mercy #1 got me to stay for the last hour. She walked me to the chapel and sat next to me.

I walked into Relief Society, wanting to go home so badly and hide under the covers to feel sorry for myself. I sat down in the pew ready to be miserable the whole hour when Mel, another woman at church, remembered I wanted to hold her baby. This allowed me to focus on something other than the itching and actually listen to the lesson. Tender mercy #2 helped me to feel welcome, wanted and allowed me to focus on the lesson.

Now that I was able to sit through the lesson, it helped me to feel the spirit. We talked about temples and eternal families. It was nice and helped me feel peace in my life learning about God’s Plan of Happiness. Tender mercy #3 was feeling the presence of God in my life.

I’m so grateful for the little nudges of encouragement that God gives me everyday, but especially the ones He offers in times of need like today. I’m grateful for the peace He offers through His teachings and plans He has for me. Alma 42:23 says, ” But God ceaseth not to be God, and mercy claimeth the penitent, and mercy cometh because of the atonement.” I’m grateful that God is merciful and helps me along the way because if He wasn’t merciful, God would cease to be God.