[1/17/12] Tender Mercy #1,223,498,458,423,294,567

I have a problem.

I can't do anything in the car when it's moving. No reading, no watching movies, no texting, no writing, no looking at maps, no crocheting or handiwork. Nada. Nothing.

When I do, I feel and look worse than this:

While we were in Kentucky over the weekend I found a topic for my first big paper in my awfully horrible English class.

That was a relief, let me tell you. 

I think the hardest part (okay, one of the hardest parts) about writing a paper is deciding what to write it about.

But the rough-in-my-head thesis was taken from an excerpt from a chapter of a book in a Harlem Renaissance anthology that my sister let me borrow (because this first paper has to be Formalist theory from the Harlem Renaissance period. Isn't that description enough to scare the bejeebers out of you? Me too!).

Anyway.

In order to make sure that my thesis was valid throughout the book, I needed to read the book.

Fabulous.

On top of everything else for my classes that's due this week, and this paper, and a YW lesson to prepare, and my normal "real life" stuff, I needed to read an entire book.

Luckily I found it for free and downloaded it to my Kindle.

I love my Kindle.

But remember, I can't do anything in the car. Especially anything that has to do with reading.

So we started to drive home yesterday afternoon from Kentucky and I had a thought: "Just try to read it. It might be okay."

"Yeah, right," I thought.

But I decided to try it.

Here's the tender mercy part:

It worked!!!!

I don't know if it's because it was on my Kindle. Or that I was able to sit in a way that I could shield my eyes from the landscape whizzing by me. Or just a small miracle.

But it worked!

I'm leaning towards the small miracle theory.

I read for all but one hour during the six hour drive home. I had to stop a few times because I was getting sleepy. I did get nauseous, but it wasn't bad enough that I needed to stop reading.

I decided I could live with a bit of nauseousness if it meant I could read my book.

I was able to read most of it, then I read some more last night before bed, and I'll finish it this afternoon.

Tender mercy, I tell you.

And a reminder that Heavenly Father knows what I'm going through, from small things to big things, and that He sends tender mercies to help me every. single. day.

And I don't actually know if this was tender mercy #1,223,498,458,423,294,567, but I know my tender mercies, noticed and unnoticed, are more than I can count.

And I'm so thankful for that.

*Image courtesy of microsoft clipart gallery