Father of Mercies: A Story of Raspberries

The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.”

Psalms 145:9

I’m one of His works. 

You’re one of His works. 

I believe with all my heart that we are His most precious works. 

I know that He sends tender mercies to us—those little blessings meant just for us—probably more often than we realize, but if we’re not looking for them, we will miss them. We will miss the blessings He’s sending only to us. For us.

I got in the habit of looking for tender mercies several years ago, and it has been absolutely life changing.

Looking for tender mercies has allowed me to better understand how much He loves me, how important I am to Him, and how much He wants me to understand His love through the tender mercies He sends. 

Only to me.

One of the keys I’ve found to remembering His tender mercies is to write them down. I learned the hard way that when they’re not written down, I forget them. Most likely forever. And I don’t ever want to forget what God has done for me. 

Often, these tender mercies come in the form of little things I would miss if I wasn’t looking for them.

Other times, they come when I really need a little tender mercy—a hug from heaven—that lets me know that He’s aware of me and what I’m going through. 

God sent me a little tender mercy a few years ago, and this tender mercy had to do with our oldest daughter’s wedding day and raspberries. An unlikely combination, right?!

The Story of the Raspberries (And How God is the Father of Mercies)

Pin this for later…

A little background: I. Love. Raspberries. 

They are one of my most favorite things on the planet.

My Grandma Peterson used to have a raspberry patch in her backyard, so when we’d visit in the summertime, you would often find me IN the raspberry patch eating raspberries as fast as I could.

When I go to visit my mom and dad in Idaho, my mom always has raspberry jam for me to put on her homemade bread for breakfast. And while I love flowers, my husband has learned that the true way to my heart is to bring me a carton or 4 or more of fresh raspberries. He gets huge brownie points for that!

And I love the weeks during the summer when our local Kroger has raspberries 10 cartons for $10. I think “we” (mostly, me) can seriously go through 20 cartons in one week! 

Back in June of 2015, we were in Utah for our oldest daughter’s wedding.

We’d had a stressful and jam-packed few weeks of wedding preparations, and when combined with wanting her wedding day to be perfect and making sure everything happened like it should, it was one of those times in life that are both super stressful and super happy.

We’d stayed at a Hampton Inn & Suites for a few days before the wedding, and they had the best breakfasts! Each morning there was a platter of fresh cut fruit—pineapple, oranges, grapefruit, grapes, strawberries, and kiwi, and I definitely took advantage of that fruit every morning.

The morning of the wedding I was really struggling. I was over the moon happy for Kamala and Steven—they truly are a match made in heaven, but I was sad too.

I knew nothing would ever be the same after this day.

I so wanted everything to be perfect for her since she’d been dreaming of this day since she was a tiny little girl, and I was worried about a few details I hoped would fall into place.

And to be honest, I was on the verge of tears.

I knew one little thing would send me into meltdown mode, and I didn’t want that…because…red, puffy eyes for a million pictures that we’ll keep until the end of time would be so not good!

So I got ready and headed down to breakfast that morning, purposely alone, so I could have a bit of time to get my emotions under control for what was going to be a very happy but very exhausting day. 

When I went to get my fruit from the fruit platter, there was a huge pile of raspberries!!!!!

There hadn’t been any raspberries, or any evidence of raspberries, on any of the preceding mornings. I knew, at that moment, that those raspberries were a huge tender mercy meant just for me on this morning, and those little red berries were a sign from a loving God that He was aware of my struggles and was telling me that everything would be A-okay.

I instantly had a huge smile on my face and felt a million times better. I was able to control my emotions throughout the day (except for the joyous times, of course, because those times are always emotional for me!), do what needed to be done, and Kamala’s wedding day turned out just as she’d dreamed—perfect!

If I hadn’t gotten in the habit of looking for those daily tender mercies—both the small and the big ones, I know I’d have missed this very special one and others that happened that day.

I have come to know that there are no coincidences in life, only tender mercies sent from above just—and especially when—we need them the most.

Tender mercies sent personally and specifically to us from a God who knows each one of us, loves each one of us, and wants each one of us to feel that love. 

Every single day.

The Story of the Raspberries was originally shared here.