How is it possible that another week has flown by? It's been another wonderful week filled with blessings and tender mercies! My heart is so full of happiness and gratitude. A few days ago, I was doing my scripture study and I came across a penetrating scripture in Mormon 5:23:

"Know ye not that ye are in the hands of God? ..."

 I had to stop and ask myself, "Do I know that I am in the hands of God?"  The answer came quickly as I contemplated the many evidences of His love and tender care for me. I can answer with a resounding yes; I know that I am in the hands of God! In fact, I know that all of us are in His hands, for all of us are His beloved children.

This question is so important to remember through all of life's stages. Sometimes when trials come, it is human nature to feel like God has left us or has forgotten us. In these moments, we must ask ourselves "Know ye not that ye are in the hands of God?" As we ponder this pertinent question, we can realize the ways that He is helping us endure. More likely than not, He will give us strength rather than remove the trial. I am thankful for a Heavenly Father who is more quick to foster strength and growth than to remove obstacles and hardships. Who becomes stronger: the person who has a mountain moved or the person who climbs the mountain?

Life does not only bring hardship, but also many sweet and happy times. In these moments, we must also ask ourselves this question, and we will be humbled by the sweet blessings from God on high. I love this question because it promotes strength and gratitude. It prompts the soul to search for the Lord's tender mercies.

Over the last week, I have been pondering a lot about families. I have been impressed with the Lord's mercy in designing the family unit and sending us to earth in families. There is no question that the family is of divine origin. I believe that the Lord gives us experiences in this life that reflect things of eternal significance, thus helping us better develop an eternal perspective. The experiences that we have in our families help us to widen that eternal perspective and help us understand our Heavenly Father and our divine destiny.

While I cannot claim to have the love that God has for all of us, I feel like I understand it better now that I have my own child. Having a baby brought out a love in me that I didn't even know existed. Because of this experience, I feel like I gained a small window of insight into how God must feel about all of us. What a beautiful and tender gift that our Heavenly Father has given us, that through our families we can learn to better understand His love for us.

I like to think that there are an innumerable amount of lessons that we can learn from families. No family is perfect, and for those who come from exceptionally difficult family situations, sometimes all you may have to go on is faith in the Lord's mercy. Those problems may not be alleviated during this life, but the Lord is tender and He knows all. There is happiness to be found in Jesus Christ and our eternal family. Even if your earthly family is broken, you are part of a heavenly family. You are loved and needed!

I believe that we were given earthly families so that we could better understand how we should love one another. It can be easy to forget that we are all part of one large family - God's family. Thinking about how much we love our own earthly families can help us realize how we should feel about others. We are all siblings on the same mission: to bring ourselves and each other back to Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. I know that I would do anything to help my own family return to God. I need to be better, however, at remembering that I have two families: an earthly family and a heavenly family. Relating my feelings for my earthly family to my heavenly family helps me desire to develop the kind of love that I need to be like my Savior, Jesus Christ. He truly loves us all, and part of why we are here is to learn to love one another as He loves us.

I am grateful for the Lord's tender mercies that come in so many ways. When I began thinking about what I should write about this week, I had many thoughts about things that happened that I could share. It wasn't my immediate inclination to share thoughts that had come to me as I had been pondering. I felt impressed, however, that these thoughts were a very sacred tender mercy from the Lord and they needed to be recorded and shared. These thoughts are truly from my heart, and they were a blessing from the Lord to me over the last week. I hope that in some way, they bless you too.