“Wow, I can’t believe they would give you that calling right now!”

I’ve got 3 young kids right now, my Come Follow Me Study work takes up a lot of time, I have a lot of additional extracurricular commitments…

And my husband is serving as bishop.

I’ll admit that a similar thought crossed my mind when I was being extended the calling, as well.

Isn’t this asking a little bit too much?

But the Spirit had been subtly preparing me, and I jumped into the calling.

And now that our stake’s Girls Camp ended over a month ago, I can now say:

“Wow, I can’t believe that I got to witness so many miracles, get to know other amazing women, and feel God’s love for the young women and leaders in our stake.”

It doesn’t feel “fair” that I got to experience this tremendous blessing.

Truly.

Now this doesn’t negate all the late nights and endless meetings and difficult problems and so on and so forth that I had to deal with along the way.

It was a ton of work, literally and emotionally.

But when I’ve willingly submitted my heart to a calling I’ve been extended, I’ve always felt more love ALONGSIDE the sacrifice that often accompanies it.

Ammon so beautifully said:

“This is the blessing which hath been bestowed upon us, that we have been made instruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work.” (Alma 26:3)

That’s the BLESSING!

The blessing is being able to serve and love other people.

The blessing is being able to be God’s hands in both formal and informal ways.

It is a privilege to serve.

And it is a sacrifice. And it’s hard. And there’s nuances to different times of your life and various callings… I get it.

But maybe if we start looking at church callings as being given unique opportunities to experience more of God’s love, we might completely change how we talk and think about callings.

“Always hold a calling in the Church. Especially when life is busy, you need to feel the Lord’s love for those you serve and for you as you serve.” -David B. Haight

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Stake Camp Director first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

It’s a question that I have been asked variations of over and over again.

And I have some great suggestions to share that I’ve learned on my own.

⁣But in many of the messages, I actually hear my own concerns from a few years ago echoing in their words:⁣

“I just can’t seem to do consistent scripture study, and this means I am failing.”

In our church, reading the scriptures and praying every day are preached so often, that sometimes we mistakenly start to think that salvation comes through their repetition. ⁣

It’s like reading our scriptures becomes the goal.

We will make it if we can just read our scriptures every day!

But I want to look at what the Anti-Nephi Lehies had so wisely figured out:

“They did not suppose that salvation came by the law of Moses; but the law of Moses did serve to strengthen their faith in Christ.” (Alma 25:16)

Keeping the commandments and reading our scriptures every day are not part of the checklist we need to complete in order to earn salvation and get into heaven.

We keep the commandments and read our scriptures BECAUSE these actions strengthen our faith in the Savior.

Salvation comes only in and through Jesus Christ.

And everything He asks us to do is to point us to Jesus even more.

That is what God really wants us to do.

The goal isn’t to study our scriptures every day; the goal is to be totally focused on Jesus Christ as the center of our salvation, and scripture study is one of the easiest ways to focus us.

Don’t misinterpret here— I’m not saying “the law” or scripture study isn’t important.

I quite literally think effective scripture study can change lives, and it’s a worthy habit to develop.

But consistent scripture study isn’t the endgame.

Feasting on the scriptures daily is important BECAUSE it so naturally points us toward Jesus Christ.

Salvation doesn’t come by keeping the “law,” but the “law” helps us to become more Christlike if we keep willing and sincere hearts.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Failing at scripture study first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I wanted to improve my interactions with my family members and be more present.

And I felt like my phone was holding me back a bit from that. ⁣

So I decided to do better. ⁣

Notifications would pop up and I would ignore them. I let emails go unread. I stopped scrolling just because I had “down time”.⁣

I was doing it! I was resisting the temptation to waste my time on things that don’t matter.

But then…

I got a notification that looked really important. ⁣

And then I got an email that was super interesting and I just had to open it. ⁣

And then my phone was once again in my hand more often than it should be. ⁣

I wasn’t doing so well with my goal.

Finally, I decided I needed to tether it to a charger across the room with the sound on only for texts or phone calls – the actually important alerts. ⁣

And it worked. ⁣

I forgot about all of the missing notifications, and I was in the moment. ⁣

And when I intentionally picked up my phone later, all my notifications were still there for me to peruse on a timeframe that worked for me.

Resisting my go-to sin started out strong, but I kept finding “reasonable” excuses until I was back to where I was before. ⁣

Resisting my sin was really easy when I removed the temptation.

In fact, I didn’t really have anything to “resist”. ⁣

So yes, I am comparing my cell phone to the Anti-Nephi-Lehies’ swords. (Pretty similar, right?!)

“…we will hide away our swords, yea, even we will bury them deep in the earth…” (Alma 24:16)

But you can fill in the blank with whatever your go-to sin is right now: anger, inappropriate media, word of wisdom issues, self-deprecation, pride…

What makes you want to indulge in your sin?⁣

A notification? A group of friends? A certain habit or routine? A social media account?⁣

Try removing it. ⁣

Or at least try changing it as much as you have the ability to change it.

“It is easier to avoid temptation than it is to resist temptation.” – Lynn G. Robbins

Although we can ask for the strength to resist our favorite sins, often Heavenly Father asks that we take the initiative and remove the temptation altogether (or as much as possible). ⁣

And if we have great faith, we can bury that temptation deep in the earth, never to dig it up again.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post My distracting phone first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

No weapons.

The Anti-Nephi-Lehies were walking out onto the battlefield completely defenseless, knowing what was inevitably coming.

And what did they do as they walked to almost-certain death?

⁣They began to praise God.

“The Lamanites saw that their brethren would not flee from the sword. . . but that they would lie down and perish, and praised God even in the very act of perishing under the sword.” (Alma 24:23)

They praised God even in the very act of perishing.

Even as they anticipated death, their hearts were still communing with God in gladness and peace.

What an impressive but important feat–

To be able to praise God at all times completely independent of what we are going through.

To praise God even when life is falling apart.

To praise God even when we have hit our emotional limit.

To praise God even when we are frustrated.

Why does this matter?

Why would this be a goal for us— to be able to praise God at all times?

Most importantly, God deserves all the praise because of who He is.

The more I learn about God, the more I naturally praise Him and His Goodness.

I’ve also learned that praising and worshiping can be for our benefit.

Pondering about the goodness of God, feeling gratitude for Him, and being filled with reverence and joy ultimately brings us peace, joy, and happiness completely independent of what we are enduring.

We too can do as these brave soldiers did long ago and choose to praise God at all times, even if we are in the very act of perishing.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Praise while perishing  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.