1 Nephi 4:7-8 He Will Deliver Us From Our Enemies

"Nevertheless I went forth, and as I came near unto the house of Laban I beheld a man, and he had fallen to the earth before me, for he was drunken with wine.   And when I came to him I found that it was Laban."

As we continue the story of Nephi, he let himself be led by the Spirit of God into the city Jerusalem and found Laban, drunk, passed out and all alone.  Laban was the man who had tried to kill Nephi and his brothers twice, had stolen many riches and treasure from them, and refused to give them the plates of brass.  As we can see from these verses, God had delivered Laban into Nephi's hands, and Nephi was able to obtain the plates of brass and return with his brothers to his family.  

I had never had an enemy in my life until I filed for divorce.  I had hoped it would have been civil, but it was anything but.  It was disheartening in a way because it was like the previous 30 years had never happened.  What it did was show the true colors of my husband, and even though I had always suspected his duplicity, I hoped that I had been wrong.  I wasn't.  From the beginning of the filing he began to steal things from the home while I was away at work. In general, husbands leave the home during a divorce, especially when there are still children living there, but my husband was anything but the general kind.  He refused to leave, although he had choices available to him.  Many people reached out and offered, but No.    He got a storage unit outside our city and just started carting things off, thinking I didn't notice.  Unbeknownst to him, I had taken pictures of our entire home and its contents before I told him I filed.  He was also threatening me with a prolonged divorce, which promise he made good on.  He also stopped contributing to the family checking account and laid all the home's expenses and taxes and all insurances on my shoulders.   My youngest son still lived with us and it wasn't like I could let the electricity lapse.  The final straw for me, though, was that he started coming into my personal space and stealing personal items of mine.  I had my Dad come into our home and put a keyed lock on my bedroom door so I could leave home in peace, and not spend the day wondering what he'd take next.  One time I was in the kitchen when he came in and took the food I was preparing right out of my hands.  I couldn't live like this any longer.  I wasn't making an income sufficient to rent an apartment, so that wasn't an option for me.  For personal reasons, I couldn't move back in with my parents.  

And then a way opened -- two very good friends of mine opened their home to me.  By this time my son had moved in with his sister in their own apartment, so it was just me.  This family gave me a spacious room and more than that . . . . a spacious place of rest that was filled with peace and love and lots of caring.  The constant buffetings of my husband had worn me out, and these two precious souls bolstered, loved, supported, and gave me everything I needed at this time.   It was a joy to spend time with them in their home, and when all was said and done, and I was ready to move back into my own home that was awarded to me in the divorce, it was hard to leave.  They had become an integral part of my daily existence.   To me, this couple opening up their home to me was my being rescued from my enemy.  The God I worship prepares a way for our deliverance, and can even inspire the best people to reach out and save.

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.