First group: Limhi thought about how to escape. He asked the people for ideas. Gideon came up with a plan that seemed like a good idea.

So they gave strong wine to the Lamanite guards, and escaped while they were in a drunken sleep. It worked!

Second group: Alma and his people prayed, and the Lord told them to just wait a little bit longer. Finally, the Lord told Alma that they would escape that night, and that everyone should gather their things.

The Lamanite guards were in a deep, unexplained sleep, and Alma’s people all escaped.

The Lord answers the prayers of his people.

But He answers prayers in different ways for different people, situations, and times.

Limhi had to figure it out. He had to use the people and the resources he had, come up with a plan, and execute it.

How empowering!

WE can solve it own problems! WE can wrestle and come up with ideas, consider them all, and then execute the best plan of attack!

Alma had to rely on the Lord. It seemed impossible, but THE LORD came up with the plan. HE told them what to do. HE made the solution possible.

How faith-promoting!

The Lord will make a way, even when it seems impossible! He will make miracles happen! We just follow the promptings we receive, and the rest will be taken care of.

I’m grateful for the times in my life where I’ve been allowed to figure things out. To struggle to learn new skills, to be creative, to make scary decisions and then move forward with them.

And I’m also grateful for the times when I feel lost and I can feel the Lord guiding me and proving the miracles that I need in order to move forward.

Different times. Different people. Different answers.

But still the same result.

Artwork by James Coates

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Different answers, same result first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

What?! Have you seen my to-do list? And my deadlines? And my house? And my kids?!

But I’ve definitely learned that my lengthy to-do list will always be there – and it’s just a whole lot easier to tackle if I don’t give into “feeling overwhelmed” about it.

And I think the Lord is really good at helping me out with this.

When I call out to Him in those moments of desperation, when I am feeling overwhelmed and frustrated and like I just can’t do anything…

… He usually doesn’t shorten my to-do list.

He doesn’t make my baby stop crying and go to sleep.

He doesn’t clean up the spilled mac and cheese.

He doesn’t drop something off at a friend’s house.

But He helps to take away those negative emotions so that I can more clearly see my priorities, just get things done, or choose to not do certain things.

He strengthens me by helping me get rid of overwhelm.

I become a stronger mother as I learn how to just feel love for my little guy when he fights the sleep he desperately needs.

I become a stronger person as I power through my fatigue and learn that handling messes now is easier than letting them pile up for later.

I become a better servant and disciple when I remember that service is never convenient.

And as much as I plead for my burdens, however big or small, to be taken away, the Lord knows a lot better than I do.

He knows that He can make me a stronger, more devoted Christlike disciple when He uses my trials to help me grow.

He calms my overwhelm, and gives me strength.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Easing my overwhelm first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

Somewhere along the road, I got it into my head that needing other people’s help is a weakness.

So when things come up, I just handle them and deal with them on my own most of the time.

Especially as a stay-at-home and work-from-home mom with kids too young to go to school yet, my social bubble is pretty small compared to previous points in my life.

And yet, I know that some of my most meaningful and powerful memories are from when I have bonded together with others.

I KNOW that I feel better when I’m reaching out and interacting with friends (which has made these past few months particularly difficult!).

So how do we create unity in a world that places so much value on individualism?

Alma’s brave little church achieved this beautiful Christlike unity as they gathered at the Waters of Mormon.

And luckily, we are able to get a pretty detailed picture of how they achieved this unity.

Think about how you could feel greater unity within your family, class/quorum, or ward as you look through this step by step list from Mosiah 18:

• They were baptized and joined the church (v16)
• They taught each other from righteous sources (v19)
• They repented often (v20)
• They kept the Sabbath (v23)
• They filled their hearts with gratitude (v23)
• They gathered themselves together as often as they could (v25)
• They gave to those in need (v27)

Doing all of these things caused their hearts to be knit together in unity and love.

It’s a difficult time out there right now.

Maybe the unity in your family is starting to fall apart because you’ve had a little too much time together.

Maybe the unity of your ward is starting to fall apart because physical meetings have stopped.

But I think we can still make it a top priority to create unity in both situations.

In fact, I think we need it right now more than ever.

What is ONE thing you can do today to build greater unity in your family, and in your local branch of the church?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Hearts knit together first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

There are seven blind mice who each try to figure out what the large object in front of them is.

One feels the feet and thinks it’s a pillar, one feels the trunk and thinks it’s a snake, etc.

They all are accurate in their assessment of what they physically feel, and draw completely reasonable conclusions.

But they are all wrong.

It’s an elephant.

The Lamanites surrounding Limhi’s people had sworn an oath to not attack.
But then some of the Lamanites’ daughters were taken.

The people of Limhi had caused them trouble before. They weren’t happy in their current situation and didn’t like how much they were taxed.

So clearly, Limhi’s people were to blame for this horrendous crime.

The Lamanites went to battle to get their daughters back and show that they wouldn’t stand for this evil.

They fought like lions.

But they were wrong.

This is an essential lesson to learn here on earth:

While we do our best to draw accurate conclusions each day, there are many times when we are very wrong.

Your ministering sister who didn’t reach out to you when you were struggling has been dealing with anxiety and couldn’t find the mental energy to do anything.

Your Bishop who completely ignored you had just received some concerning news and was just trying to get through the meeting.

Your husband who didn’t load the dishwasher the correct way doesn’t know what your version of “correct” means.

We do our best to create the truth of what’s happening around us, but at the end of the day, we are often wrong in our assumptions of other people.

And other people are wrong about us.

Happiness and peace are found in letting go of the frustrating stories we tell ourselves when we don’t actually know the whole truth.

Happiness and peace are found when we let our anger go, and humble ourselves before Christ.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Assumptions first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

Alma had just finished telling the people what it meant to be a member of Christ’s church – to mourn with those who mourn, to take Christ’s name upon them, to keep the commandments, to be baptized…

And they clapped their hands because this was the desire of their hearts.

Although these people that Alma converted were pretty amazing, they weren’t perfect.

I can guarantee they didn’t always fulfill every single part of their baptismal covenants.

But, it was the DESIRE of their HEARTS to keep them perfectly.

They had (near) perfect DESIRE.

Ever fallen out of the habit of praying, repented, and then fallen out of the habit again?

I have.

It’s so tempting to feel frustrated, like we are failing.

But sweet Elder Holland’s words come to my mind: we get credit just for TRYING.

Do we DESIRE to pray every day?

Do we keep trying even when we forget or mess up?

Then we are doing everything exactly RIGHT.

And if we don’t have righteous desires yet, that’s what we can work on!

Turning our hearts to Him so that our desires become more and more Christlike each day.

And once our desires are there, we just have to try.

And keep trying.

That’s all He asks.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post The desires of our hearts first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.