The tender mercies of the Lord

"But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith" 1 Nephi 1:20.

I've just been having these wonderful experiences. I don't know if it's because I've been making slight changes to the way I've been doing some things, or if my eyes have just been opened more. Or both. But I've been noticing the Lord's hand in my life a lot more than I ever have before. Maybe part of it is because I've started writing in my journal everyday. Some one in my seminary class had said that by writing in your journal, you would notice the Lord in your life more. At first, I was a little skeptical. How would writing in my journal do that? I already knew that the Lord had a hand in my life and that it was Him giving me blessings and stuff. But it is so true. It's just been two weeks since I've started writing in my journal every night - and I even slacked a couple days last week - but as I've started to write in my journal, this week in particular, I've noticed Him guiding my life so much more. I've noticed His blessings and His tender mercies. So I know that by writing in your journal, you will notice the Lord in your life more.

There's two experiences that I had this week that I would like to share. Both happened on Wednesday. The first happened during the school day. Wednesday was a different schedule at school because junior got to take the ACT. So when I had seminary, Bro. Tilley wasn't there because he had to go to class at ASU. So we went to Bro. Franzen's class. We ended up writing letters to the kids he teaches at Brimhall. He had them write questions about one of the scripture masteries. And these weren't questions like, "what is faith?" These were like hardcore questions that any troubled teen would have. My question, well I guess it wasn't exactly a question, more like a statement, was, "My friends are happy, but they don't listen to their parents or the church" in response to Alma 41:10. It's the "wickedness never was happiness" one. When I first got it, I just like like, "What the heck? I have no clue how to answer this!" But then, I thought of a lesson in seminary just about a week earlier. It was perfect! So I started writing about that. Then I thought of an experience that I just had. It wasn't a very good experience...it was one of those learning experiences that you try not to have. But it fit perfectly with my explanation. It just opened my eyes that the Lord knows what is going on. He has control. I just picked a question out of a pile. It was all chance - or so it seemed. But I had learned things in a lesson just days before that was perfect for it. The Lord was able to use the experience I had to this young person's benefit. I'm sure He wasn't pleased that I had experienced it, but He was able to use it.

The second one is kind of my favorite. Is that weird? To have a favorite experience? Oh well if it is. But Wednesday night, I was dead tired. This had happened the two nights before. It was tired as in I can barely keep my eyes open, so how the heck am I supposed to do my homework tired. I ended up not going to mutual, because we were playing volleyball. I didn't think I'd be able to do much. I decided I'd ask for a Father's blessing, because I didn't think I could handle four more weeks of extreme tiredness like that. And I could feel the stress of the last four weeks of school hitting me pretty hard. I figured I needed a Father's blessing. I told my dad why I wanted it. And then it turned out that only about half of the blessing was about what I had told my dad about. And the rest was about stuff my dad had no clue about. Stuff that was between me and the Lord. Questions that I had, things that I had been praying about. Exactly the things that I needed to hear. It was amazing. Because it truly was a Father's blessing. But not just from my dad. But also from my Heavenly Father.

So, moral of the story: the Lord is in control. He sends us tender mercies everyday. You don't believe me? test it out. Start looking for them. Write them in your journal. You'll start seeing them more and more evident in your life. Remember, the Lord loves you. I know He does. I have felt His love so strongly. So I would like to say that I, Beth, have shown unto you the tender mercies of the Lord. Look for them in your own life, and you will be amazed.