1 Nephi 1:20 Tender Mercies

1 Nephi 1: 20  "And when the Jews heard these things they were angry with him; yea, even as with the prophets of old, whom they had cast out, and stoned, and slain; and they also sought his life, that they might take it away. 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, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance."

Two phrases stood out to me.  I worship a God who sends tender mercies my way.  I also worship a God who gives me the power of deliverance.  

Tender mercies -- those things we don't deserve?  Possibly.  In my case, one example was simply being in a situation that was totally out of my control.  I was in Lima, Peru with my Spanish-speaking daughter.  I know all of 10 words in that language.  I was dependent on her everywhere we went.  One afternoon we were boarding a bus back to our hosts' home.  When the bus doors opened, a man had gotten in between my daughter and me.  Right when I got to the doors, they shut in my face.  My daughter was inside and I was outside.  Both of us were in shock as the bus whisked my daughter away.  She had told me where we were getting off, but because of my ignorance in the language, I couldn't remember it let alone be able to recognize it on signs.  Luckily for me, or a tender mercy -- you decide -- the very next bus that pulled up was the same #.  I got on and kept my eyes on her bus.  I had a decent enough view that I could see when she got off.  Unfortunately, at one of the stops, my bus passed hers!  So now my bus was in front.  She had no idea that I had gotten on the next bus.  She wasn't carrying a cell phone.  We thought one phone between us would be a safe enough thing.  ;0)  My mind was whirring about what to do.  Our hosts didn't speak a lick of English, so I couldn't call them. And I didn't even have their phone number.  I didn't have their address so I couldn't even hire a taxi.  And if I did have their address, would the driver understand the address I could give?  One idea I did have was to stop at an Internet cafe and email the mission home.  

I was in Lima  "picking up" my daughter after she had served a mission here for 18 months, and the mission home was the one place I knew I could get help. As the bus stopped at a few more stops, I managed to see down a side street and locate the mission home - the very first place I had been in Lima.  Coincidence or tender mercy?  How is it that the mission home could be so close to the bus route I was on.  I got off on the very next stop after orienting myself where that side street was.  It happened to be the very last stop where the bus turned and headed backwards on its "loop".  Just in case, I waited there for 10 minutes to see if Kyra's bus would come.  I watched 3 different buses come with the same #, but no Kyra.  Unbeknownst to me, she had gotten off at a different stop, hoping that I had remembered where we were going.  The area I was in was not the safest.  Luckily there was some commercial locations which meant more people.  I happened to have a solid wood stool broken apart in a bag I was carrying . . . A gift for my cousin.  I was not in running shoes or walking shoes even because we had been visiting a holy place that afternoon and were in dresses.  So I slung this bag over my shoulder and with eyes wary, started out for the mission home.  I knew that at the first hint of trouble I would start swinging that bag around.  After 10 minutes of walking, I got to the mission home and rung the doorbell.  When they opened the door and I quickly started to explain my dilemma, a car pulled up in front and out comes Kyra with a stranger.  There was a very tearful reunion, and there's more to the story here, but for this blog, I just wanted to demonstrate that the tender mercies of the Lord are all around us.  There is no such thing as coincidences -- there are little (and big!) miracles all around us testifying of God's love and care for us.  This is the God I worship.

The God I worship knew I was close to the mission home.  I believe he inspired me to look the direction I did in order to see the mission home from the bus.  Even though the bus numbers didn't help us in the end, they sure gave me hope that we were both headed in the same direction, plus it gave me hope until I got to the next concrete step.  There's a purpose for everything...there really is!  I also felt calm and at peace that things would work out.  God delivered us from what could have been a greater dilemma.  I worship a God who makes the impossible possible.