Last Sunday I gave a talk about learning to see the Lord's hand in my life. Sometimes I refer to these has His tender mercies. This week I have thought about my past and some of those tender mercies. I wanted to write some down for my kids.
The following are the short versions of each story.
1. Just over Christmas break Jeff took the kids to the park while my mom and I went shopping. On their way home, Jeff let Jordyn ride her bike like 20 seconds before him, Levi, and Sydney followed on their bikes, because she wanted to ride home by herself. Well she took a wrong turn when she was just out of Jeff's sight and was then lost. Jeff thought the best and thought she made it home, but when she wasn't there you can imagine is shear terror. I, on the other hand, had no idea what was going on at the time. While my mom and I were shopping I was feeling so dizzy that I thought I was going to faint and sat down at the store for some time, waiting for the dizziness to go away. I tried to keep shopping with my mom, because that doesn't happen often that I shop without kids, but still wasn't feeling better. I suggested to my mom that I should go home and take a nap since I wasn't feeling good. At one point my mom asked which way she should drive us home and I suggested one way. Luckily, it was the right route, because I ended up seeing a little 5 year old girl riding her bike about a mile from our house with no parent. I saw it was Jordyn. She was scared. I was relieved I picked her up and not some stranger and was initially furious with Jeff that this had happened. All ended well and I think Jeff learned the biggest lesson of everyone. The funny thing is that when we all got home, I felt fine and didn't take or need a nap after all. One might think this was one huge coincidence, but I don't feel that way. It was a blessing, a tender mercy, and Heavenly Father was watching out for us that day.
2. After the summer of my Freshmen year at BYU I was working at Lake Shasta in Redding, CA. One weekend I picked up my friend from the Sacramento airport, roughly a 2-2 1/2 hour drive. This was before cell phones so there was no way of contacting my family who was at the movies that night or my friend I was picking up if something happened...like a flat tire. Well half way through my trip I turned to grab something from the back seat. Remember, I was on the fwy so I was driving about 65-70 mph. When I reached back, my elbow hit the gear shift from drive to REVERSE! Panic. I didn't have to be a mechanic to know that going from drive to reverse while traveling 65 mph cannot be a good thing. It might a horrible noise. I quickly put it in neutral and moved to the shoulder. I knew my parents weren't home and without a phone I was feeling scared. All I could do was pray and you can be assured that my prayer was desperate and sincere. When I finished offering a prayer I took a few moments to gain some composure before turning the ignition to start the car. I turned the ignition, the car started, and even sounded normal so I drove. I drove to the airport, picked up my friend, and turned around and drove back to Redding without any car problems. Another example that Heavenly Father knows me, loves me, and wants me safe.
3. School has never come easy for me. Maybe because I didn't start talking until I was 3 years old, or maybe because I had some hearing loss as a kid that required me to sit in front of class and need to see the teacher's face while she was talking, or maybe I'm just not all that smart. There could be lots of reasons, but at BYU, the academics was no cake walk for me. The first semester of my junior year I had to pick a major if I wanted to graduate on time....and I did because I was paying for my own tuition and didn't want to slack and waste money. At this point I ditched an accounting major, since I knew I wouldn't get into that. I dropped travel and tourism because I wasn't really passionate about it, and now I was searching for something new. A major I didn't have to apply and get accepted to, but something that interested me. I went to the temple every Wednesday morning for a few months soul searching for something I could do. I was in a introductory Linguistics class and was liked that fine enough and was praying if maybe I should major in that. One day at the temple doing baptisms, I was at the point where I needed to make a decision quickly if I wanted to graduate on time. I did a name and the last name was Linguist. I was shocked. Weird. How many people have you heard with that last name. A year later I graduated with a BA in linguistics. I was introduced to speech pathology which I earned another BA in and worked for several years as a Speech Pathologist. I also furthered my education in ASL. I knew linguistics was my cup of tea when someone once told me that Linguistics, is "the math of English." I've always loved math but never a mathematician at all.
4. When I was in a coma for 2 weeks. I think I was 4. I'm sure my parents offered many prayers. One night I woke up on my own. In mom moms words, the nurses and doctors were amazed that the affects from being in a coma for 2 weeks weren't worse.
5. One night in HS, my friends had lied to me and I ended up at a frat party with them. I didn't want to be there and had left the party to find a pay phone (again no cell phones at that time). I was calling someone to find a way home. I had called my parents but they didn't answer cuz it was so late. I found a ride to my home. Knocked on my door. My parents didn't answer so I had my friend drive to another pay phone and kept calling my parents. Finally my mom answered and we talked after that about my disappointment in my friends for lying to me and taking me somewhere they knew I wouldn't want to do. My mom told me before she had gone to bed she had said a special prayer for me that night that I would be watched over. That prayer was said, it was heard, and later we found out it was answered.
There are more stories, but again, my point is that we're all children of God and he loves us and He manifests his hand in our life in so many ways.
