God's Tender Mercy

I've been wanting to write this post for a while,

I have a friend, her name is Sarah (name has been changed). Thanksgiving of 2006, before I knew her, her father was diagnosed with a brain tumor. I met her in December when my father in law had decided to take her and her family out on his boat for a cruise around the lake to try and take their minds off things for a while. I had only met them for a moment, but from that time on I couldn't stop thinking about them and praying for her father's recovery, it affected me so deeply even though I barely knew them. Her father passed away in March of 2007, only three months after I first met them.

I moved to Washington the very next month and I was in the same ward as Sarah and her family. I remember the first time I saw Sarah's mom after Sarah's dad had died. I thought to myself 'She's all alone now', then the Spirit very quickly said to me 'No she's not, her Savior is with her'.

Little did I know what a lesson this would be to me in just a few short months. In June Sarah was assigned to be my visiting teacher. Her and her companion came over to visit me and Sarah gave a lesson on righteous examples in the midst of trials and then asked me if I had an example that I would like to share. I immediately started sobbing and was barely able to speak, but tried very hard to explain to her what an amazing example of strength and steadfastness in trials her and her family had been to me this past year. What Sarah and her family were going through was affecting me so deeply, and I didn't know why, I thought about them all the time.

Sarah continued to visit teach me each month and we became good friends. Then came September 16, 2007. It was Sunday and also Stake conference. We went to the morning session and when I was driving home a voice kept coming into my head saying, go get your cell phone when you get home. I quickly pushed it away thinking it was to call Matt since he was away working in Texas. When I got home I started making the kids some lunch, but the voice kept coming back in my head to check my cell phone. Finally I walked upstairs and got my cell phone. I had eight missed calls. I immediately knew something was wrong. The majority of them were from my cousin Crystal so I called her to see what was going on. She wouldn't tell me anything except that she was coming over and to stay there and wait for her. I felt sick, I knew something was seriously wrong and I knew it had to do with my dad, he was the only one who hadn't tried to call me, and he's always first to call me. I tried not to panic, I put the kids down for their nap and asked my father in law for a blessing, then I paced the kitchen waiting for Crystal to show up. While I was waiting my cell phone rang. It was my sister Mandy, she asked if I had talked to anyone that day and I said no, but that Crystal was on her way over, she asked me if I wanted her to tell me or if I wanted to wait for Crystal. I told her to go ahead and tell me. She said dad had been in a car accident that morning and he didn't make it. I said "what" because I thought maybe I had just misunderstood her, but I had not, dad was gone, his earthly life was over just like that. My mother in law immediately contacted Sarah. Oh, how it all made sense now. The Lord sent me an angel, He sent me Sarah. She knew exactly what I was going through, she had just gone through it six months before. Some people had wondered why Sarah was assigned to be my visiting teacher, we didn't have much in common as far as where we were in life, I am a stay at home mom with two kids, and Sarah had just graduated from college and was starting a new career. But the Lord knew better, He knew who I needed as a visiting teacher. He knew the experiences that I needed to have that would prepare me and help me when I lost my own father. This has been such a great testament to me that my Heavenly Father knows me, He knows what I need, and He loves me, and will never leave me alone, or turn His back on me. It is actually quite the opposite, He prepares me and sends me angels, when I don't even know that I need them.