It’s been a rough couple of weeks!

Seems like Murphy’s law is in full effect around me lately. If it can, it has/will.

Vehicles, bills, waterers, dealing with people, hectic schedule… all have caused me an incredible amount of stress lately.

There was a point yesterday where I broke down and text the crisis text line (741-741). I didn’t intend to share that part when I began writing today, but it came to the top of mind. It’s too important of a resource to not share.

I didn’t text because I was in any danger of harming myself. I was just under a lot of stress and needed to let it out. I needed a neutral party with whom I could share my burden… and it helped. It is cathartic to share problems with others.

My stresses didn’t stop immediately… in fact more were added over the next few hours. I realized that I was exhausted so I made it an early night and went to bed at 815 and got an incredible nights sleep. Susan Harris would be proud of me :).

I woke this morning very refreshed. Went out to check heifers first thing then I headed to the gym and had an incredible workout. Got to work on time ready to start the day. Then I got a call from Levi. The heifers I had just checked not 2 hours before had escaped out of their pen and were with the rest of the herd. Whatever.

I thought, “here we go again.” I thought it was going to be a better day and then this happens. However, just as thought as the day was going to be a continuation of woes, I got two calls that completely changed the trajectory.

First was from a fence builder. I have been putting off an EQIP cost-share project for quite some time now and it has been weighing heavily on my mind. I had originally intended to tackle this project on my own but soon realized that it was going to be too much for me. I had reached out to a couple of builders, but really had no luck in getting linked up. Keri suggested I call my brother yesterday to see if he had suggestions. He did and he shared his contact. The morning after I had reached out to this guy, he called me back and went over the project with me. I shared the documents that I had with him and he now has me on his books. Not only am I on his books, but he also called and ordered materials and will have them on hand to start the project soon!

The second call was from the President of the Salem Branch of our church. I was scheduled to give a talk there Sunday. I have really had zero spare time to compose a talk and this weekend wasn’t looking any better with tonight and Saturday chalked full of baseball games. So this talk was weighing heavily on me as well. Thankfully, President Schaible was calling me to see if it would work for me to forgo speaking this Sunday so he could share a message with the branch.

Just when I thought I was at my wits end, I received two calls that took two enormous loads off of my shoulders. It’s situations like these that help me to confirm my faith in God. I understand that life is meant to be full of tough times. That the purpose of life is to experience trials and to grow closer to our Heavenly Father. Just when these trials feel like they are going to be too much to bear, God sneaks in a couple of these “tender mercies.”

That’s how I know God is real. It’s becoming ever more popular to not believe in God. I’ll admit, sometimes it seems like a very abstract existence. However, when situations like this happen I cannot deny His existence. I do NOT believe in coincidence. I instead believe that situations like this happen to strengthen my faith. Now my burdens are not going anywhere. They may even get harder. But if I remain faithful, God will send these tender mercies my way when I’m in even the toughest of seasons.