Tender Mercies

(This is more of a journal entry rather than a blog post.  However, since I am really not a journal writer, I have decided to include it in my blog...because I really don't want to forget)

My tender mercy--

I am well aware of the billions of people on this earth and the complexity of each of those lives. I know that we have a loving Heavenly Father who loves each one of them and us with a personal and pure love that only a Perfect Father in Heaven could. I know we have an Elder Brother, Jesus Christ, who seeks to bless us while we journey on this earth. I don't understand how They do it, but in the midst of all that was happening last Monday, June 30th, They took some moments to make sure I learned about something I wanted to know so that I could do what I wanted to do.  There are two sides to this story and I can only really tell you mine and what I heard about the other side for I think this was really a Double Tender mercy.

My side:  I am trying to get a better balance on my life between life and the Utah Down Syndrome Foundation.  I would sit down in the morning and spend all day answering emails back and forth and that could take my whole day without doing anything I needed or wanted to do.  One suggestion I read was to not look at emails until noon or until other items had been accomplished.  For the past month or so I had started doing that on days that I hadn't schedule to work on UDSF things, especially Mondays.  Mondays I needed to get a head start on the week and other things in my life besides the Foundation.  It is a good plan and it has helped me get some things done.....however it isn't always a perfect plan.  (Sorry for the long introduction to my actual short and simple story).

June 30th--We had gone to bed late the night before and I had slept in Monday morning.  When I got up I went about my morning routine with no big rush.  At 9:30 a.m. I felt an urge to check my email. I resisted at first because of my "plan" and the fact I wasn't expecting anything urgent.  However the feeling was strong so I picked up my phone and pulled up my list of emails.  As I glanced through 10-12, I noticed only the one from my friend, Robynn (Thiot, a long time friend from Plano, TX).  It was called "Tender Times".  I immediately knew that her mother had passed away.  The feeling was very strong and specific.  As I opened her blog post, I quickly read through the posted obituary to discover that the funeral was going to be in Sandy, UT in 90 minutes.  Since I was still in my pjs and Sandy is about 60 minutes from my house, I hoped into the shower (leaving my toast uneaten on the kitchen counter.), zoomed around to get ready and cancel an appointment at one and headed out.

Even as I drove down, I was so grateful for this sweet mercy for me.  I had met Robynn's mom many times as we would visit the Thiots there when they came up from Texas.  Her parents were always kind and welcoming to us, never making it feel like we were taking their precious family time, but like they too were so excited for a chance to visit with us.  I felt privileged for the opportunity to attend this great woman's funeral.  And I very much wanted to give my sweet friend a hug at this bittersweet time of life.

I got there as they were getting ready for the family prayer so I didn't see Robynn before the funeral began although I did talk briefly with her daughter, Tatia, and her oldest son, Ricky.  I sat in the chapel and enjoyed the sweet spirit of the meeting.  It reminded me again how grateful I am to the parents of all my friends--even if I have never met them, they have impacted me. 

After the service, I started out the door to where the family was gathering.  As I went out, in walked Dick(Thiot).  Immediately when he saw me, he said, "You came, You came." After we hugged, he sent me off to Robynn with the words "Go give Robynn a hug." As we spotted each other through the groups of family, both of us teared up.  As we greeted each other and hugged, Robynn also said, "You came."

We talked about losing our mothers.  Then she told me her story.  She started off by saying that I had woken her up at 3:00 a.m. that Monday morning. She woke up realizing that I wouldn't know that her mother had passed away and I needed to know.  She hadn't brought my phone number and wasn't sure how to reach me.  Then she thought about her blog which she writes on almost every Sunday.  She got up and went and got on the computer to post about her mother so that I would know.  Dick had gotten up to check on her and when he asked her what she was doing, she said, "I have to let Judy know so she can come to the funeral."  I am not sure if he was convinced that was the best way to do it but there was no point in disagreeing about it at 3:00 in the morning. And it worked perfectly!

Like I said, I know Heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus Christ was busy on Monday, but even still They took a sweet moment to look out for me and to allow me the privilege of hugging my dear friend at a special moment in her life--in part in behalf of Them.

I cried all of the way home, not with sadness but because of the amazing joy I felt--for my own personal witness of the love that God and Jesus have for me and also for my sweet friend.

Side note:  I started this blog post this morning before Church with its title and beginning paragraphs.  At Relief Society this afternoon, we had a beautiful lesson by Erin Korbridge taken from the 2005 April Conference by David Bednar called "The Tender Mercies of the Lord."  During part of the lesson, I shared this experience.  I want to close this post with two quotes from his talk:

"Through personal study, observation, pondering, and prayer, I believe I have come to better understand that the Lord’s tender mercies are the very personal and individualized blessings, strength, protection, assurances, guidance, loving-kindnesses, consolation, support, and spiritual gifts which we receive from and because of and through the Lord Jesus Christ."

"We should not underestimate or overlook the power of the Lord’s tender mercies. The simpleness, the sweetness, and the constancy of the tender mercies of the Lord will do much to fortify and protect us in the troubled times in which we do now and will yet live. When words cannot provide the solace we need or express the joy we feel, when it is simply futile to attempt to explain that which is unexplainable, when logic and reason cannot yield adequate understanding about the injustices and inequities of life, when mortal experience and evaluation are insufficient to produce a desired outcome, and when it seems that perhaps we are so totally alone, truly we are blessed by the tender mercies of the Lord and made mighty even unto the power of deliverance."

Amen.