Lessons Learned While Trying to Have a Baby: Tender Mercies

{God often grants us the most tender of mercies in the midst of our darkest trials; the difficulty is to notice the light in the darkness.}

“The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works (Psalms 145:9).”

A few months before David and I began fertility treatments, I was called to be the relief society president of our ward. It was a daunting calling and, with everything else going on in our lives, I felt inadequate to say the least.

On the Sunday I was set apart by the bishopric, I was feeling extremely vulnerable and unsure of myself. Not only was I young but I felt inexperienced. How could I lead a group of women, most of whom were mothers, when I had no children of my own?

As the bishop placed his hands on my head and set me apart as the relief society president he also gave me a blessing. In the blessing I was told that this calling would assist me in my role as a wife and a mother. Afterwards, my counselors joked that the bishop had made a mistake and I laughed with them but inside I felt hope.

The bishop had no idea of our situation, but the Lord did. My Heavenly Father, through the mouth of my bishop, had strengthened my faith that the Lord was in control and that he had a plan for me. Many may have only seen this as a slip-up or a misspoken word but I know this was a tender mercy bestowed upon me by the Lord.