It’s a beautiful tree!

The fruit looks perfectly white.

Everyone who partakes of it says it is absolutely delicious and fills them with such joy!⁣

So why were large groups of people headed towards the tree, but then walking away?⁣

The mists of darkness.

The temptations of the devil. ⁣

“And the mists of darkness are the temptations of the devil, which blindeth the eyes, and hardeneth the hearts of the children of men, and leadeth them away into broad roads, that they perish and are lost.” (1 Nephi 12:17)

Isn’t this just PERFECT imagery for how Satan’s temptations distract us?⁣

These people were suddenly choosing not to walk towards the tree because they literally could not see it anymore! ⁣

They couldn’t see how beautiful the fruit was, or how happy the people were who were eating it. ⁣

All they could see was a mist of darkness.⁣

When I have mists of darkness in my life, where I know that I am specifically being tempted, I have a hard time believing that the precious fruit (God’s love) is really there for me.

Following the iron rod to the tree seems a little too good to be true.

“All I have to do is to read God’s word and follow it until I feel of His love? Yeah… I don’t have time to read my scriptures tonight. It’s not that important. I’m dealing with some other, bigger things right now.” ⁣

We really start to cloud our own judgment. ⁣

We aren’t thinking clearly because we honestly can not SEE the happiness at the end of the path. ⁣

So how do we escape our mists of darkness?

How do we shake off Satan’s temptations so that we can just SEE what our end goal is?⁣

We hold fast to the iron rod. We don’t let go of the word of God. ⁣

We don’t let go of the scriptures and church and Conference talks just because we don’t see the point or feel the love right now.⁣

The mists WILL clear.

We WILL get to the tree. ⁣

And it’s the faith to keep holding on, even when we don’t know where God’s love is, that will lead us to the light.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Why would you let go? first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I gave each student a sticky note and asked:

“What is your ‘stumbling block’ when it comes to regular and meaningful scripture study? What makes it tricky?”

We quickly had a board filled with sticky notes covered in thoughts like:

“I’m too tired.”

“I don’t have enough time.”

“It’s really hard focusing on what they mean.”

We looked and talked about the patterns we noticed.

But then I asked them:

“How can we remove each of these stumbling blocks?”

It was so cool to see the empowering look in their eyes as they realized they could quickly come up with ways to solve their problems!

The youth said:

“Read them at a different time of day.”

“Make it a priority before I do homework.”

“Get a study guide.”

An angel told Nephi that “. . . if the Gentiles shall hearken unto the Lamb of God in that day that he shall manifest himself unto them in word, and also in power, in very deed, unto the taking away of their stumbling blocks.” (1 Nephi 14:1) 

God wants to help us remove our stumbling blocks.

And I believe that one way He does this is by allowing us to identify them and then seek personal revelation for how to remove them!

So what is your current ‘stumbling block’ for keeping a commandment or doing good?

Try asking God how you can remove or diminish that stumbling block and see what you can come up with together!

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Sticky note stumbling blocks first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

A few years ago, I consciously decided that I was ready to have a spiritual experience every single day when I opened the scriptures.

I wanted to invite the power that I knew I could claim into my scripture study.

So I started asking “So what?” when I read. ⁣⁣

Instead of just reading powerful verses and stories and thinking “cool” — I would ask, “So what can I do in my life right now because of what I just read?”⁣⁣

And if you’ve been following this account for any amount of time, you know that is the entire premise of everything that I write and share. ⁣⁣

Lehi told his family all about his extensive dream and vision. ⁣⁣

For Laman and Lemuel, they were confused for a bit and then moved on.

But Nephi turned to the Spirit.

I imagine that he asked his own version of, “So what?”

And he was filled with the desire to experience the vision himself.

He heard the dream and decided to act – and his action was to request the vision for himself. ⁣⁣

“For it came to pass after I had desired to know the things that my father had seen, and believing that the Lord was able to make them known unto me, as I sat pondering in mine heart I was caught away in the Spirit of the Lord…” (1 Nephi 11:1)

Asking “So what?” has truly transformed my scripture study experience. ⁣

Instead of reading and thinking, “Wow, that was cool!” and then never thinking about it again (or even worse, but still common, “I got NOTHING out of that”)…⁣⁣

… I’m trying to think more and more, “What does the Spirit want me to learn from this?”⁣

Nephi KNEW that the Holy Ghost would give him that personal instruction, and our current prophet has continued to make that his theme song.⁣⁣

“The Holy Ghost will be your personal tutor as you seek to understand what the Lord would have you know and do. This process is neither quick nor easy, but it is spiritually invigorating.” – President Nelson, Oct 2019

The Holy Ghost will be our personal tutor. He will teach us exactly what WE need to know from everything we go through.

BUT – we have to give him a chance to teach us. We have to ask for his help.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Asking and pondering first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

Nephi asked the Spirit for an interpretation of his father’s dream.

And I can just imagine how he was expecting a clear verbal explanation for each element.

But instead…

Nephi was taught the most important lesson any of us can learn:

Jesus is always the answer!

The angel showed Nephi a vision of young Mary holding her child.

And immediately, Nephi knew that the tree of life represents the love of God!

The angel showed Jesus preaching. “Look! And I looked, and I beheld the Son of God going forth among the children of men; and I saw many fall down at his feet and worship him.” (1 Nephi 11:24)

And clearly, Nephi knew that the iron rod was the word of God!

The angel showed the 12 apostles going out to preach after Jesus’ crucifixion and being persecuted.

And immediately, Nephi knew that the great and spacious building was the pride of the world.

How cool is that?

Christ WAS the interpretation of the dream!

And Christ can be the interpretation of our lives, too.

When we stay close to the Savior and learn about His life and His teachings…

We can clearly see the phone call from our friend as the love of God.

We can see the three verses of scripture we tried to read during a busy day as the word of God.

We can see that witty Instagram page as a manifestation of the pride of the world.

Jesus is always the answer.

And focusing on Him helps us to see our journeys clearly!

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Jesus is the interpretation  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.