The Broken Washer

"But behold, I ... 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 Nephi 1:20

A few weeks ago, after the expenses of moving to a new home we realized that our washing machine was leaking water from underneath. My brave husband checked the bottom of the washer and after discovering a plethora of bugs, he also found that he had no idea how to fix the problem. We decided that we should probably call a repairman since our piles of dirty clothes were quickly multiplying.

Our repair team soon arrived and after looking at the machine for about five minutes they determined that it was probably cheaper to buy a new machine than to fix the problem. While I was trying to muster the resolve to fork out more money, the repairman stopped and asked if we knew about the problem with our heating flue vent that was directly above the washer. After saying that I didn't he quickly explained that there was a sizable hole in it and it was probably leaking carbon monoxide into our home. Because of his willingness to tell us of a problem we were able to get heating specialists in our home that day and after the flue collapsed when they were inspecting it they were able to quickly rebuild a safe one.

After the initial shock of having a carbon monoxide leak and the extreme danger this posed to my family, I have been humbled to remember the hand of the Lord in my life. Even though I didn't initially see the broken washer as a blessing, I realize that this repair's timing was a tender mercy to keep my family safe. I am grateful that I am not in this life alone, but that Heavenly Father continues to watch over each one of us.

Not Too Hot, Not Too Cold

My son is two years old. He has never been a great sleeper. He consistently wakes up one or more times a night which means I get up one or more times a night. One of the problems is that we cannot seem to figure out the temperature in his room. It's either really, really hot or freezing cold, and often goes from one extreme to the other during the night. The other night I was saying my prayers and prayed that my son wouldn't get too hot or too cold during the night. It was something I hadn't prayed for before, but I didn't think much of it.

I had been asleep for a few hours and was in the middle of a dream when I was suddenly awake and felt like I should go check on my son. It took me a few minutes to convince myself to get out of my warm bed, but I am so glad I did. I went into his room and it was very cold. My little boy had kicked off all his covers and his poor bare legs (he went to bed in shorts) were icy cold. I covered his legs with his blankets and went back to bed. He ended up sleeping through the night. It was great!

I know that my prayers always get answered, but it is such a testimony builder when something small that you pray for is given to me. I feel like this was a tender mercy given to me from Heavenly Father, showing me that he loves me so much that my simple little request was granted. Heavenly Father is just waiting to give us blessings and all we need to do is ask.

"Therefore, ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; for he that asketh receiveth; and unto him that knocketh, it shall be opened." 3 Nephi 27:29