Some days someone sends you the perfect quote at just the right time in your life when you needed it most, or you come across a poem that applies perfectly to a situation you are going through, or you hear just the right song on the radio at just the right moment for you to hear the lyrics…I for one don’t think that happens by coincidence. I think that those are tender mercies that God gives us to help us through hard times or trying situations or even just to help lift us up on a down day.

For example, the other day my daughter Ashley emailed me a copy of a poem that she had came across back when she was living in Arkansas. She found the poem taped to the mirror of an old apartment she was moving into and the poem had exactly the words she needed to hear at that moment in her life. She had been struggling with feeling so inadequacy and feelings of being totally overwhelmed with the responsibilities being placed on her shoulders, so the words were the perfect reminder, at just the right time, that she was good enough to handle everything.

And just as Ashley finding that poem on the mirror came at exactly the moment she needed it, my receiving the poem in an email from her the other day came at exactly the moment I needed to hear those words to help me through a difficult day I was having as well. Here is the poem she sent to me.

The Knot Prayer

Dear God:
Please untie the knots
that are in my mind,
my heart and my life.
Remove the have nots,
the can nots and the do nots
that I have in my mind.

Erase the will nots,
may nots,
might nots that may find
a home in my heart.

Release me from the could nots,
would nots and
should nots that obstruct my life.

And most of all,
Dear God,
I ask that you remove from my mind,
my heart and my life all of the ‘am nots’
that I have allowed to hold me back,
especially the thought
that I am not good enough.
AMEN

-unknown

Hopefully one of you reading this will find that poem to have exactly the words you needed to hear at exactly the time you needed to hear it too. Or maybe you can think of a friend who needs those words right now in their life and you can share it with them because everyone could use a tender mercy in their lives now and again.

Have a great day!

~Amy Rees Anderson