Tender Mercies



 Today I was sitting in our church service, keenly aware that across the country, my dad was undergoing surgery for his ankle injury sustained a little over a week ago.


As my mom posted updates, I felt far away.


There were some complex issues they had to face and I was, of course, worried and praying for him.


Then our closing hymn was announced and I smiled.


Hymn #252. 


Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel.


It was the song my dad chose for us to sing in Family Home Evening every time he was song leader.  We sang it SO many times.  


And today it made me feel a little closer to him.


Elder David A Bednar once shared a similar situation in which a hymn comforted him.


“A loving Savior was sending me a most personal and timely message of comfort and reassurance through a hymn selected weeks previously. Some may count this experience as simply a nice coincidence, but I testify that the tender mercies of the Lord are real and that they do not occur randomly or merely by coincidence.”


And tender mercies often are most apparent when we are struggling and reaching out to God.

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