“The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.”

My supervisor at work yesterday was such a great example to me. She and I were talking about how there really are tons of tender mercies in our lives and we just need to recognize them. She also told me one of her favorite scriptures that I often overlook. It is 1^st Nephi 1:20 and it reads “…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.”

So a recent story that really illustrates the tender mercies of the Lord watching over my family has to do with my dad. In February, he had a large tear in his retina. When he went into the doctor, their main goal was to try and save his eye sight but they were unaware if they could. This resulted in surgery after surgery on my dad’s eye due to it continuing to tear in different places. With each surgery, my dad lost some of his eye sight. I remember the despair I felt during this time. I just wanted to be home, helping my family. I wanted to have this happen to me instead of my dad. I was worried about the implications of my dad missing work and the possibility of him losing his job. I remember just fasting and praying that my dad would be able to keep his eye sight. I remember those nights that I would cry just begging my Heavenly Father to let my dad keep his eye sight. I am happy to say that after about 7 eye surgeries, my dad still has most of his eye sight. Though he doesn’t have much peripheral vision, he can still see. Yet this is not where the tender mercy stops. Just two months before this happened to my dad, my old young womens leader had a tear in her eye’s retina. She had described the experience and symptoms to me and I had talked to my parents about it. If this had not happened, I don’t know if my dad would have seen a doctor due to his general dislike of doctor visits. Another tender mercy was that my dad was able to keep his job. Even with all the time he had to miss, his employers still kept him which is a miracle in and of itself.

I am so thankful for all the tender mercies that constantly surround my family. From my dad’s eye sight, to my mom’s life being saved by a couple of inches in a car accident to my little brother’s life being spared during his seizures. Many may comment on my families lack of luck due to all our physical problems, but really it is the abundance of luck, or tender mercies, that the Lord has graciously given to us.