My Sunday story… Tender Mercies…. Read a little further.

I will be honest that I am a bit anxious about this surgery I am having tomorrow. John is nervous too…. not because we don’t feel it will turn out well… just because it is hard to face another hurdle on the road to recovery since having our car accident. The idea of adding more pain to my life right now seems hard.

…

The other night I was tense and on edge.

We had said our night time prayers…. I had taken meds to help me sleep…. but sleep did not come.

I’ve been given many books as gifts since our accident last March to read while I am convalescing.

Even though I am usually an avid reader, I’ve only read one of them so far. It seems hard for me to focus on the lines and my eyes blur.

That night the thought came to my mind that I should read one of my new books. I looked at the stack and picked one near to the bottom of the pile.

It is called Divine Signatures  The Confirming Hand of God by Gerald N. Lund

I started reading and found the stories inspiring. The premise of the author is that God is always surrounding us with “Tender Mercies”. Sometimes we recognize them as gifts from God and sometimes we barely notice them at all. Once in a while, God’s “Tender Mercy” is sent to us in such a direct way that we not only recognize it as a “Tender Mercy”, we know for sure that it was God’s answer to our prayers and our needs. Gerald Lund says when this happens it is like God is giving us His “Divine Signature”.

I read to page 30. I was touched by the sweet stories. I was still feeling nervous over my surgery but my eyes were tired so I turned out the light and tried to sleep. 

No Sleep came but the thought “Read a little further” did.

I turned on the light and read about 10 more pages and then fell into a troubled sleep.  I awoke about 3:30 am, tossing and turning wide awake.( I can’t really toss and turn  with my broken ribs but I wanted to.)  Again I had the thought “Read a little further.”  I said “Self, I have read 40 pages in that book. It is a lovely book but it is not really calming my spirit….. and I am too tired to roll over and turn on the light to read right now.” …. so I didn’t. I tossed and turned (figuratively) the rest of the night.

Early the next morning I was awakened with the same worried feelings…. and the same nagging thought “Read a little further.”

OK, I said to myself, I will read a little further. I read to page 43 which was the end of that chapter. As I was closing the book , I was impressed as clear as day… “Read one more page”. The feeling was so strong that I could not ignore it.  I opened the book again and turn to page 44 where I found this scripture from the Bible:

Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God:  I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness…. For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.   Isaiah 41:10,13

I started to cry. These words filled my heart and my soul with light and courage.  It was like thousands of years ago, Isaiah had written these verses just for me.  It was just the right words to calm my worried heart. It was exactly what I needed to read. For me this was a “Devine Signature”

Even though I read the scriptures daily….. I am not an avid reader of Isaiah. I’ve read through Isaiah when I was taking an Old Testament class in College and when I was teaching Isaiah in our adult Sunday School class several years ago. Since then, I read the other books of the Bible and pretty much skip Isaiah because it is not an easy book for me to understand.  (I know real Bible scholars adore Isaiah…. I wish I were at that level, but I’m not.) ….

But….there it was….. this beautiful answer to my prayer to find peace and courage…. written just for me by Isaiah.  God knew me well enough to know I would not find this answer during my own Bible study…. so He sent it to me in Gerald Lund’s book….. on page 44…. I just had to read a little farther!

My surgery is tomorrow morning.  Today I can only eat Jell-O and clear broth because am going through all of the yucky pre-surgery  prep. I dread tomorrow, but I am not afraid because I know, as Isaiah tells me, God will hold me by the hand saying fear not, because I will help thee.

Thanks to all of you who have expressed your support, love and concern.

I appreciate each one of you. I will get back with you when I can….. or maybe Silvija will post for me tomorrow. She is coming up to be at the hospital with John and Mindy. 

Until I am back together with you, have a good week. May God continue to shower us with His “Tender Mercies”…..And may we have the insight to recognize them….. and when impressed to “Read a little Further”… do it.

Hugs, Lura