Merci for Tender Mercies

by H. Linn Murphy

I lost my church keys for a couple of months. Not fun. I looked everywhere for them. I tore my car apart. I ripped into my house, finding a few things I'd been missing for years. I made a few dozen trips to the church library where we usually keep lost and found items. I choked down the embarrassment and asked loads of people at places where I'd performed or shopped or gone to conference. I described them to passers-by (well nearly). And then I checked the old places I'd already checked several times.
No dice.
It was utterly mortifying. I had to use my councilors' keys to get into my cupboards to get things out for Relief Society. It almost felt to me as if I were missing the actual keys to my calling.
So the other day I was sitting in the car, waiting for my son to get to the bus stop so I could take him home (he buses across town to a school outside our zone). Usually I have several books to read. This time I'd run out without one. So I decided to clean the area between our seats. There's a cargo net to keep the bunch of junk we keep in the car from rolling under our feet.
I looked down at that mess and for some reason remembered the keys. I'd already looked there about seven times--lifted stuff up and looked under it. Thoroughly. So getting the urge to look there was random, although it did need a good dusting up.
And just as randomly, I said a prayer, laying out for Heavenly Father how I really needed those keys. I told Him how I felt so naked without them. I asked Him to help me find them. After I closed, I got this overwhelming feeling that my faith would pay off that day.

Then I leaned down and started to clean. I took all the keeper items out and chucked the trash. Then I got the idea to unhook the cargo net, which is completely see-through. It's a net. Random. But I did it.
There in the crack beneath the seats were my church keys! I couldn't believe it! Such a graphic illustration of how the Lord takes care of me even on the little things completely filled my soul and overflowed in tears of joy, mostly because it showed how much He cares for me.
I drove clear home with those keys in my grip. I probably would have slept with them if they weren't so sharp...;o)
The Lord does things like that all the time. I can't imagine thinking that God isn't real. He does way too much for me to ever ignore. And it's not like it's coincidence. There is no random generator that could accomplish the miracles He engineers on a consistent basis. God is real and He cares about us all.
And He is the Key.