At some point or another we all agreed to come to this mortal life and experience all that is included in Heavenly Fathers plan, this includes the joys, pain, and sorrows within our lives. However, some suffer or are afflicted with heavy hearts more than others, taught Daniel Balls, BYU-Idaho’s lead data analyst on the Institutional Data and Analysis Services team, in his BYU-Idaho devotional address.
He related those troubling moments to rocks being thrown into figurative backpacks when he referenced a quote from Sister Camille N. Johnson.
“Those rocks in our backpacks that got there by our own poor choices (in other words sin or rebellion) often have two opposing properties,” he said. “On one hand, thanks to our agency, we have the power to do something about these rocks—even if, at first, we can do little more than get on our knees to pray to Heavenly Father for help.”
Balls says besides resisting the natural man it’s important to be aware of another threat who seeks to make those burdens seem heavier and knows how to manipulate all our weaknesses.
“Satan will try to use such rocks to deceive us into thinking our sins have rendered us worthless or bad or unlovable, and we might as well give up. It may feel like these thoughts and feelings represent reality, but they are detrimental to our progress, and they are NOT true,” Balls said.
In those moments where it is hard to resist the natural man and it is easy to fall for Satan’s deception causing self-doubt, Balls offered some insightful truths in an interview with BYU-Idaho Radio.
“Joseph Smith said in order to have faith in God we have to know the true nature of God. He is our Father; He loves us, and He has all knowledge,” Balls said. “He knows what’s best for us, He has our best interest in mind. I think if we can remember that truth and learn that truth and have that truth renewed in our minds and hearts, that helps us out a little bit. You know I’m not being picked on. This is just life. Life is tough for everyone.”