I am convinced that there are very few “coincidences’ in
this life and many more “tender mercies.”
There are situations that occur all around me that some people would
either dismiss as a coincidence or they wouldn't see them at all.
Those same situations seen though different eyes are
evidences of the tender mercies of the Lord.
He sees us, knows of our needs, and blesses us with these tender mercies,
to let us know that he cares—that he is mindful of our specific needs.
I could relate countless times in my life when I have seen
these tender mercies of the Lord. However,
if shared too many of these situations, this blog would no longer be anonymous.
So let me just share one instance. And I will break it down into its smallest
parts. Any one of those parts could be
considered a coincidence. But all put
together they were part of a giant tender mercy.
- A while back I was stuck on
Step 6 dealing with identifying our own character weaknesses.
- Since we study a different
step each week, this particular week we just happened to be reviewing Step 6.
- That night we had a
visitor to our group. He normally
went to a different group. But due
to a conflict on that night, he just happened to come to our group.
- During the sharing time,
that visitor just happened to feel comfortable
enough, to share his experience with Step 6. He shared that he had been under the
impression that as he gave up his addiction, everything else in his life
could remain the same. He said that
was not true.
- As he was giving his
explanation, an image just happened to appear in my mind. It was an iceberg. And I understood it to represent my
addiction (at least the portion above the water). But the larger area below the water
represented my character weaknesses.
And as the addiction lessened (ice melting above the water), those
character weaknesses would begin to surface.. (Click here to see my other post on this subject)
- That had been on a Wednesday
night. The following Friday morning,
I felt emotionally drained and miserable, due to feelings that I could not
interpret. At the same time I just
happened to remember the image of the iceberg. Was it related?
- I just happened to already have an appointment with my therapist that same afternoon. In that meeting he explained that the iceberg was a great metaphor for what was actually happening to me. I was experiencing emotions that I had previously suppressed with my addiction.
The items listed above are all related. Any one of them could have been considered a
coincidence. But all together, they were
definitely a tender mercy of the Lord.
He blessed me with what I needed at the very time I needed it. Moreover, if any one of those items was missing, I would not have understood the message I needed to understand. (Click here to see my post on the Importance of Timing) If I had not been on Step 6, none of this would have had any impact on me.
Check out other tender mercies in the Index.
The following is a quote by Elder David A. Bednar. Please note what he says about the Lord's timing.
Each of us can have eyes to see clearly and ears to hear distinctly the tender mercies of the Lord as they strengthen and assist us in these latter days.”
Check out other tender mercies in the Index.
The following is a quote by Elder David A. Bednar. Please note what he says about the Lord's timing.
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