Burdens

Last week I was asked to give a talk in church, this is how it turned out:

Today I am going to talk about burdens, about the often heavy load that we carry through this mortal life. We have all been in moments of deep despair, in the most difficult trials, truly feeling that life is loading more burdens on to our backs than we can bear.  Those burdens may come from our own choices, from our sins and past failings, or even from making a good choice that is leading us down a difficult path. We will always have burdens in our life that come simply  because we are humans living in an imperfect world.  

Elder Bednar explained in his April 2014 General Conference Talk entitled “Bear up their burdens with ease” why burdens are such an important part of our mortal life and how the Atonement helps us endure them.  He talks about a friend who convinced his wife to buy a new truck.  He went out one winter day to chop firewood for his family in his new truck, but got the truck stuck in the snow.  Not wanting to waste his day, he decided to chop the wood that he needed and then figure out a way to get out of the snow.  Only once his truck was loaded with firewood was the truck able to move.  Elder Bednar states:  

It was the load. It was the load of wood that provided the traction necessary for him to get out of the snow, to get back on the road, and to move forward. It was the load that enabled him to return to his family and his home.

Each of us also carries a load. Our individual load is comprised of demands and opportunities, obligations and privileges, afflictions and blessings, and options and constraints.

I’m sure we all feel like we are carrying a load each day.  For me, that load is the weight of a chronic illness with no cure, the weight of choices that will affect my future such as which job to take, when to go to graduate school or who to date or marry.  Each of the trials I face each day become part of the heavy load that I carry that, and while it can provide spiritual traction to help me gain eternal life, it can also weigh me down and prevent me from progressing.  As I remember that I am not alone, I am able to use the load I carry to create spiritual traction to endure to the end.  

When my load gets heavy, I turn to the scriptures for examples on endurance.  In Mosiah 24:12-15 we read about a group of people in the midst of their own trials, persecuted for their faith and threatened with death for praying.  They were carrying a heavy load and could not see the end of their suffering.  The Lord took the time to comfort and bless them, as he does for each of us. it states:

12 And Alma and his people did not raise their voices to the Lord their God, but did pour out their hearts to him; and he did know the thoughts of their hearts.

13 And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in their afflictions, saying: Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage.

14 And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.

15 And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord.

So what?  What does this teach us?  First, in verse 12, we learn that God knows our hearts, and that He hears us when we pour our hearts out to Him.  He knows the thoughts and feelings that we have that we do not share with anyone else just as well as he knows the ones that we do share.  Good or Bad, positive or negative, He knows our darkest fears and our greatest joys.  What does that mean?  That He KNOWS without a doubt how to lift and bless us.  When we are down and out, when we feel like we cannot go on, he knows our hearts.  He hears the silent prayers that we pray, he knows of our desperation in our moments of pain and grief.  

Second, we know that God wants us to turn to him in our times of trial.  In Verse 13, the Lord asks the people of Alma to lift up their heads.  How much joy the people of Alma must have felt when the Lord spoke to them.  How often do we, when stuck in the middle of a trial, focus solely on the steps we are taking forward, looking down at our feet, living a moment at a time to protect our hearts from the pain our trial might bring.  We know that perseverance during a trial means finding a way to put one foot in front of the other and keep going even when it is difficult to imagine doing so.  And so, how joyful we feel when God reminds us to look up.  To look to Him.  To count on Him to help us continue to take those steps forward and to continue to work toward eternal life.  

Third, God promises us comfort, even when we are burdened by the weight of our trials.  He knows when we are burdened in life, that we have left all comfort behind.  We are promised by the Lord that when we look to Him, He will send us comfort even in the times of our deepest pains. I love the phrase “be of good comfort”, found in verse 13, because the Savior used it constantly when he was performing miracles during His ministry.  Because he lived, suffered and died for us, The Savior understands exactly how desperate we become for comfort in times of trial.  I think this MUST be why He constantly blesses us with Comfort.  One of his titles is “the Prince of Peace”.  He can bring us peace even when everything around us is in chaos.  

Fourth, the Lord keeps his covenants with his people to deliver them out of bondage.  He remembers the Covenants that He has made with his people.  The Lord will always hold up his end of the promises that he makes with us.  Deliverance is defined as the action of being rescued or set free.  On my hardest days, I focus on the thought of one day being set free from my burdens. We need to remember, as Neal A Maxwell said, that “Faith in God includes faith in His purposes as well as His timing.  We cannot fully accept him while rejecting His schedule.  We cannot worship Him but insist on our plans”.  How often must the people of Alma have thought “okay Lord, you promised that we would be blessed for joining the Church, for continuing to keep your commandments and follow your plan, when do we get to see those blessings?” We all know what a struggle it can be to wait on the Lord.  to wait for His timing to come to pass and to be delivered.  However, the Lord DOES bless us in His timing. He knows our wants and he knows our needs.  He has promised that he will not leave us comfortless.   

The Lord goes on to promise the people of Alma that he will ease the burdens that are put on their back that they cannot feel them.  I love this promise the most because it is a reminder that the Lord is aware of us in our time of trial.  He knows and loves each and every one of us and never leaves us alone.  He knows what we can take.  I don’t like the phrase “God will never give you more than you can handle” because I feel it is untrue.  This LIFE is about going through things that we never would have thought that we could handle.  What our Heavenly Father does is allow us to endure trials because He wants us to learn how to handle them with His help.  This life is about learning how to become like God, how are we supposed to do that if we are not constantly looking to Him and communicating with Him during our times of trial?  I love that in verse 15 it states that the people could not feel the burdens that were placed upon them.  They were made light BECAUSE the Lord strengthened them up that they might bear their burdens with ease.  We are asked to turn to God in our times of trial so that we can be strengthened.  Sometimes our trials are lifted when we plead with the Lord with broken hearts, but more often than not we are strengthened so that we can bear our trials with ease.

Heavenly Father does not want us to suffer alone. He has sent us a Savior to Atone for us.  My favorite scriptures on the Atonement are Alma 7:11-13--

11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.

13 Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me.

I love these verses because they remind me that the Atonement is not just for sinners.  Rather, the Savior suffered and died to know the suffering that I have to endure in this life.  Yes, some of the heavy load that we are carrying may be caused by sin.  But our heavy burdens may be illness, the death of a loved one, or any other pain that is part of mortal life.  Elder Bednar stated:

Thus, the Savior has suffered not just for our sins and iniquities—but also for our physical pains and anguish, our weaknesses and shortcomings, our fears and frustrations, our disappointments and discouragement, our regrets and remorse, our despair and desperation, the injustices and inequities we experience, and the emotional distresses that beset us.

There is no physical pain, no spiritual wound, no anguish of soul or heartache, no infirmity or weakness you or I ever confront in mortality that the Savior did not experience first. In a moment of weakness we may cry out, “No one knows what it is like. No one understands.” But the Son of God perfectly knows and understands, for He has felt and borne our individual burdens. And because of His infinite and eternal sacrifice (see Alma 34:14), He has perfect empathy and can extend to us His arm of mercy. He can reach out, touch, succor, heal, and strengthen us to be more than we could ever be and help us to do that which we could never do relying only upon our own power. Indeed, His yoke is easy and His burden is light.” End quote

I sometimes wonder why the Savior would suffer for me.  I am sure we have all felt that way.  We have all felt that we are too far gone to save, too sick to go on or too lonely to be worth friends or loved ones.  How often do we indulge in these negative thoughts, that we are somehow not good enough for the Savior to want to save?  This is just one more way that Satan damages us.  He wants us to feel worthless.  Our goal in life needs to become seeing ourselves as God sees us.  Seeing ourselves as individuals worthy of the Atonement, worthy of being saved and redeemed.  

In Doctrine and Covenants 50: 40-42 it states:

40 Behold, ye are little children and ye cannot bear all things now; ye must grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth.

41 Fear not, little children, for you are mine, and I have overcome the world, and you are of them that my Father hath given me;

42 And none of them that my Father hath given me shall be lost.

The Savior knows us.  He loves us.  He wants to help us return to live with God again.  He is there to help us through our trials to return home again.  We are His, and he has promised that we will not be lost.

I testify that the Atonement can change our life.  I testify that, while each of us carry burdens, we can turn to our Father in Heaven to have those burdens made light.  I know it is not easy but I PROMISE that as we turn to him, we will be strengthened and we will be blessed.  I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.