Tender Mercies

I believe in tender mercies. I believe that sometimes, Heavenly Father gives us a break on things that are trivial yet bring peace to us.

My treadmill is loud. I don't mean loud that you have to turn the television up, I mean loud it sounds like a jet engine taking off. . . literally. The ONLY reason I still have my hearing is because I smartly took my ear buds and some hospital skin tape and taped them to my ears every morning. Don't judge me at 5:30 a.m.

I have had two neighbors come up to me with questions regarding sounds from my home at early morning hours (and sometimes nap time). One was wondering what siren was going off and if she needed to call 911. The other one just walked up to me when I was in the yard and asked what strange loud sound comes from my house in the morning when he walks out to get his paper.

I knew I had a problem from the beginning but had the same tech from the repair shop look at it and tell me that I had a loud treadmill. After FOUR long years of this and knowing I should have it serviced before we move anyway I called them to come back again and see what they could do. Unfortunately for them and fortunately for me the call dropped before I could set a date. I then looked online to see if there were any other repair shops because the original one was expensive. I left two messages for two other companies and this morning one guy calls me back and says he can look at it today! Wahoo!!

He arrived and cleaned it out (he said it was the most cleaned treadmill he had seen Yippee for me). And then he did the unthinkable. . . he turned it on. Now I knew it was loud but I hadn't realized how loud it actually was because I had always taped my ear buds in first. As I stood there I wondered why the whole neighborhood wasn't calling the military to see why one of their jets were taking off in the neighborhood. It hurt my ears. My poor husband and kids. . . they must be deaf when they are asleep.

He said the engine was bad. My heart sunk. No more running. . . I HAVE to run. It is a basic need for me. I need my sweat, my stink, my happy endorphins. I need the calm of listening to good books and General Conference before my day gets busy. I was bummed. My parts warranty ended 2 1/2 months ago, not that I knew that or I would have called sooner.

Never fear! This guy called the company and was able to get me a free motor. I could not afford to buy a motor or another treadmill. It would have been the end. We would have had some grumpy days in my house. He put the treadmill back together ordered the part and in about a week we will have a quiet treadmill. Wow! The other best thing is that he was half the price of the original repair company.

Some of you may think this is a dumb tender mercy. But for me, it makes me happy. It is the Lord saying that he knows me and he knows how much I need this time to think and listen and put one foot in front of the other.