The Tender Mercies of the Lord

Picture taken the last time I was sick, June 2014

It's been an interesting weekend.  Beginning Thursday night, I knew that I was coming down with a cold.  Friday I was extremely tired and a little hazy, but managed to get through work and a friends Christmas party.  And then yesterday I was good enough to get some errands run, but knew by the evening that it was setting in at full strength.  And so today, I've spent the day sleeping, hoping that the rest will help me to recuperate quicker than usual.

For me, colds aren't a simple five to ten day affair.  If coughing accompanies the cold, it inevitably mixes with my asthma, creating a cough that can last anywhere from two to four weeks--and, at least recently, has usually meant a visit to Urgent care for a breathing treatment and a dosage of Prednisone that makes my blood pressure shoot up.  So needless to say, I wasn't particularly enthused about the prospect of this cold.

But this afternoon as I thought about all this, I also had another thought.  I realized that the last time I had gotten sick was June 2014, and the last time that I had dealt with a cold was December 2013-January 2014.  I know that some people have immune systems that work really well, and so long stretches of health like this are not uncommon.  I am not one of those people.  For me to make have made it nearly two years without a single cold, and to have made it a year and a half without being sick at all, is one of the greatest miracles of my life.

As I considered the timing of that all, it was a miracle that I desperately needed.  During most of that time, money has been scarce.  I spent all of last year teaching multiple adjunct classes at BYU and UVU, just to try to stay afloat financially.  I was living paycheck to paycheck during most of that time, and also receiving much appreciated assistance from my parents and others.  I simply didn't have time or money to be sick last year.  Furthermore, during the months that I would normally get sick last year (October-February), I was going through a painful breakup that at times required every ounce of strength I possessed to deal with.  All in all, it was a trying period of my life.  And yet, it was, by far, the healthiest period of my life that I can remember.

All during that time, I realized how great a blessing that health was.  I've been sick enough in my life that health isn't something I easily take for granted.  But the more I have pondered this blessing, the more I have realized that the Lord understands our limits and never gives us more than we can bear.  During this period of health, I was close to my limit several times.  I'm not sure that I could have handled being sick, and I believe the Lord knew that.  And so, He blessed me with health during that time.  And now, in December 2015, because the circumstances of my life are so radically different than the previous year, He knows that I can handle sickness again.

Even in the most difficult periods of our lives, we can rest assured that the Lord knows us and loves us and will not give us more than we can handle--and will even bless us with some of the greatest blessings and miracles that we have ever known concurrent with those trials.  We can rest assured, with Nephi, 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 Nephi 1:20).  One year later, I can see clearly that blessings abound.  And just as important, I can see that great blessings always did abound, even when I could not see them clearly.  For that, I am eternally grateful!

Brett