This event was life changing for me, yet, I did not fully realize the impact of this experience until very recently.
I was not active in the church in the early years of High School. By the end of High School, I had became fully active in the church including seminary.
In the time that I evolved into my new self by inviting full church activity into my life, I also changed the social circle that I spent time with both in and out of school. I never hung around with a "bad group" of people. But, by the beginning of my Senior Year, I was spending time with people who fully supported my spiritual goals. Some of that support included weekly trips together to the Temple, ending dance dates early to properly open our fasts and observe the Sabbath, and strive to do all each of us could to support or prepare our friends for missionary service in the future.
However, that is not to say that I didn't still care for those who I spent time with in the years before my Senior Year. In actuality, these were the friends who originally exposed me to the church. Ironically, however, it seemed as though, I went one way while they traveled another in a spiritual sense. Because I knew what they were capable of, this really bothered me. I knew they could be anything that they spiritually set their minds to, yet they had no interest in doing so.
Out of concern, I wrote a letter expressing these feelings to one of those previous friends. This was someone I had dated on and off in High School (this minor detail will be relevant to the rest of the story). Anyhow, I spoke of how I thought it was sad that this person wasn't living up to what they could be, and how I wished they would consider living everything they knew to be right.
A few days later, out of the blue, I received a page from the office to go to the Seminary building. I had no idea what this was regarding as I was heading over to the Seminary building. As I arrived through the front door I was greeted by a teacher who I did not even know.Yet, he knew me, and he took me into his office. Hmmmmm.....This was interesting. I was nervous, curious, and confused all at once. I had NO IDEA why I was there.
The Seminary Teacher quickly explained the purpose of this visit. He promptly took the note I had written out of his suit coat and handed it to me. He asked me to open it. I opened it to find the letter I had put so much thought and time into. Now, I was a little embarrassed. The letter was somewhat personal, definitely something I didn't want an unfamiliar Seminary Teacher reading. However, my embarrassment quickly turned to curiosity. How on Earth did he end up with this letter?
He must have read my mind as he asked me: "I'm sure you're wondering how I got this letter, right?"
Of course I said yes, and he went on to explain. He told me that this individual who I had given the note to had brought the note to Seminary. Through the course of his class, he was sitting with a large group of boys, and making fun of the letter and me as the author of the letter. The teacher went on to explain that he could tell that the letter was sincere, and that he felt bad that this had happened to me. He ended with the "Tender Mercy" part of this story. He explained that this individual did not care for me, and that he hoped that I realized that I deserved much, MUCH better than him. He stated that he felt impressed to share this with me, as he could tell from the contents of the letter that I wasn't fully aware that this individual was not good for me.
Several people had tried to express this exact thing to me for close to a year prior to this. But, for some reason, I didn't really listen until that day. I shudder to think of how different my life may be, even today, if that Seminary Teacher hadn't taken the time to help me to know what I was truly worth as a Daughter of God. I will forever be thankful for this Tender Mercy that set me on the path that I deserved to travel.
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