Tender Mercies

On Tuesday in Book of Mormon class we were talking about why it's called the Book of Mormon. My teacher believes that it's named after the Waters of Mormon based on what Elder Maxwell has said. When I went home that day, I checked the mail and guess what I found. A postcard from Guatemala that was mailed on July 13, sent on October 29 and delivered on November 15. Crazy huh? But that's not the cool part. When I read it, my mom had written that they had been at the Waters of Mormon on that day! So I told my teacher about it today because I thought it was pretty exciting. He called me to the front of the room and looked up one of Elder Bednar's talks in General Conference. He says:

Six months ago, I stood at this pulpit for the first time as the newest member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Both then and even more so now, I have felt and feel the weight of the call to serve and of the responsibility to teach with clarity and to testify with authority. I pray for and invite the assistance of the Holy Ghost as I now speak with you.

This afternoon I want to describe and discuss a spiritual impression I received a few moments before I stepped to this pulpit during the Sunday morning session of general conference last October. Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf had just finished speaking and had declared his powerful witness of the Savior. Then we all stood together to sing the intermediatehymn that previously had been announced by President Gordon B. Hinckley. The intermediate hymn that morning was “Redeemer of Israel” (Hymns, no. 6).

Now, the music for the various conference sessions had been determined many weeks before—and obviously long before my new call to serve. If, however, I had been invited to suggest an intermediate hymn for that particular session of the conference—a hymn that would have been both edifying and spiritually soothing for me and for the congregation before my first address in this Conference Center—I would have selected my favorite hymn, “Redeemer of Israel.” Tears filled my eyes as I stood with you to sing that stirring hymn of the Restoration.

Near the conclusion of the singing, to my mind came this verse from the Book of Mormon: “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” (1 Ne. 1:20).

My mind was drawn immediately to Nephi’s phrase “the tender mercies of the Lord,” and I knew in that very moment I was experiencing just such a tender mercy. 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. Often, the Lord’s timing of His tender mercies helps us to both discern and acknowledge them.

So it's clear that some might think this is a coincidence. But with belief and faith in our Savior (the topic of our lesson today) it's easy to recognize that simple things like this really are tender mercies of our Lord. I'm so grateful for my Book of Mormon teacher and for the great impact he's had on my life the past couple of months and for all that I am learning about the gospel. I really do love it and I'm doing all that I can to help my testimony grow each and every day.

To read the rest of the talk: http://lds.org/general-conference/2005/04/the-tender-mercies-of-the-lord?lang=eng&query=tender+mercies