Something to Think About Sunday - Tender Mercies

A few days after Christmas my son came down with croup. He's 8 years old and this was our first experience with croup. When you have croup you have swelling in your trachea and it can be hard to breath {especially at night, as we found out} We went to the doctor and they gave him a steroid to help with the that. That worked well for a day and a half.

Then my son started having trouble breathing again. We would bundle him up and go outside in the cold for a while, or we would turn on the shower and let him sit in the steamy bathroom. Both of those things were recommended by the doctor and both helped, but in the middle of the night right after the New Year started my son woke and was really struggling to breath. The poor kid was using all of his energy just to breath.  We went outside for a while and it didn't help. My son, with the amazing faith of a child, asked to say a prayer - which we did.

Then we decided to take him to the emergency room. My husband took him and I stayed home with the other kids. I could be strong for my son, but when they left, I broke down crying. I felt fear and panic for the unknown.  After a couple of minutes, a complete calm came over me.  I felt an amazing sense of peace that I've never felt before and I knew everything was going to be all right.

I, of course, had been praying for my son the whole time, and I feel like this was God's answer to my prayers {and my son's too}.  A few minutes later, my husband called to say they were on their way back home. His breathing had returned to normal {at least normal for having croup}.

The next night after I had gotten the younger girls to sleep, I came out to find him asleep on the couch really laboring to breath. {My son and I each slept on a couch in the living room during the whole week, so that I could be close to be able to help him} I decided to get him to the hospital. This time I took him and my husband swapped with me later on so I could get some sleep. During this whole time I still felt amazingly calm.

They gave him a breathing treatment and watched him for four hours. The doctor said it was a good thing he is solidly built and had the stomach muscles to help him breath. They weren't totally satisfied with the how well the breathing treatment worked and we took him to the doctor the next day, but by then he was much better and has gotten better each day since.

I guess this whole experience has reminded me how much God cares about each one of us and the tender mercies He gives us.

I recently came across this quote, which says exactly what I feel.

"Our Heavenly Father is aware of our needs and will help us as we call upon Him for assistance. I believe that no concern of ours is too small or insignificant. The Lord is in the details of our lives." Pres. Thomas S. Monson, " Consider the Blessings," Ensign, Nov 2012, 88.


I'm happy to report that he's back to his cheerful little self. He has a lingering cough and he's lost his voice, but those are minor problems that will take time to heal. In fact, he's back to driving me crazy by teasing the girls until they scream. But I'll take it!