I love it because I can stay in touch with family and friends who aren’t with me.

I show them funny things that my kids do, brag about accomplishments, ask for advice, vent, ramble…

Most of the time, no one is watching live as I send my video.

They’ll watch it whenever they can, and respond when they can.

It’s fun to not have to worry about whether or not they are available to chat – I just send it when it’s convenient to me!

(And no, this post isn’t sponsored by the Marco Polo app “live”  )

But this is how I imagine my constant prayers in my heart to my Heavenly Father, too.

Whenever I’m in a moment of gratitude, pride for my kids, laughter, frustration, confusion, or even boredom…

He is there and waiting for me to share the little snippet of my life with Him.

(Except, He’s always available and always watching me on “live” )

And there are other times where I actually meet up with my friends, FaceTime with my family, or speak face to face with my husband.

Those are important conversations because that’s where the real communication happens, where real bonds are formed, where my relationships become authentic and important.

Our relationship with our Heavenly Father needs BOTH the formal morning/evening prayers AND the constant, more casual check-ins.

Sometimes, I rock at my formal prayers.

But other times, I find myself only “sending Marco Polos” by reaching out during the day in casual moments when my emotions are particularly strong.

I think a good, strong relationship needs both.

We were counseled in General Conference to re-double our efforts when it comes to prayer, and I’ve been examining this balance a lot.

Real, deep, communing conversations with our Heavenly Father are essential in order to get to know Him.

And little, constant check-ins on our part keep our hearts always turned to Him.

Both are important to build and maintain a healthy and relevant relationship.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Sending Marco Polos first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

Why do I always forget that life is SUPPOSED to be hard and confusing?

That I’m not supposed to have prayers instantaneously answered all the time?

That I’m supposed to wrestle with difficult topics and not always know the answer, no matter how educated I am?

I know these things.

I can write a beautiful post about how we are here for challenges, and that Christ will help us overcome them.

But still, when bad times come, when temptations are too much, when my prayers are left unanswered for months on end, when I feel defeated… I sometimes forget.

And I think that’s why I actually find beautiful peace in the sweet statement of our Savior to Mormon that he wants to try our faith.

This is how it is supposed to be.

This is exactly how it’s supposed to be.

Nothing has gone wrong.

And yet, when I sit down to count the good times, the answered prayers, the quiet confirmations, the kind friends, the beautiful moments of clarity and understanding and peace…

They far outweigh the bad.

We aren’t supposed to know everything, but we can still learn a lot.

Not every prayer will be answered right away, but we can still pray and feel the Spirit along the journey.

Life will be super difficult sometimes, but I can still feel peace.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Trying our faith first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

Nephi retrieved them and handed them to the Lord.

Christ looked through some of the pages, scanning for something he knew he wouldn’t find.

He turned to Nephi, filled with love.

“I commanded my servant Samuel, the Lamanite, that he should testify unto this people, that at the day that the Father should glorify his name in me that there were many saints who should arise from the dead, and should appear unto many, and should minister unto them. Was it not so?”

Nephi and the others eagerly responded.

“Yea, Lord!”

And then Jesus looked right at Nephi.

“How be it that ye have not written this thing, that many saints did arise and appear unto many and did minister unto them?”

Nephi’s heart was likely pierced with guilt.

He had forgotten to write about that. He had written other descriptions, but not for this specific prophecy.

Maybe he had actively chosen to write about different prophecies. Maybe he had meant to write that in later. Maybe it honestly had slipped his mind as he recorded their history.

But ultimately, it had not happened.

Guilt might have started to overpower him. The Savior of the world uncovering a mistake he had made.

But what did Jesus do?

He commanded that the fulfillment of that previously omitted prophecy should be written.

And so it was written.

What I’ve learned time and time again is that my Savior doesn’t want me to wallow in self-pity and excessive guilt or shame.

He is so good at helping me see my faults, my mistakes, my weaknesses.

But after the exposure, after the piercing guilt…

All he really wants is for me to change.

Sometimes it’s as simple as writing something down that was forgotten.

And other times it takes a lifetime of feeling that guilt, trying again, omitting again, and then repeating.

But after every fall, after every moment I’m reminded of my weakness, he invites me to get back up and fix it.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post An invitation to change first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I had just graduated from BYU with my teaching degree, and now my husband was starting grad school.

So the plan was for me to work full time in order to put him through school.

But… the school year had already started and no one was hiring new teachers.

And so we sat with zero income coming in – watching our savings account get smaller and smaller.

That used car that we had bought? It was in desperate need of new tires. But we couldn’t bear to pull that money out of savings with nothing coming in.

And so I prayed to Heavenly Father. “Please help our tires last long enough until I get paid.”

I finally was able to get work as a substitute teacher.

My first check finally hit our bank account. We paid our tithing on it.

And our tire blew out on the freeway the next day, necessitating our purchase of new tires.

It was a super small miracle. Nothing like the much more dramatic stories that other people tell.

But the Spirit bore clear witness that our faithfulness in paying tithing when we had income coming in is what saved us from having to buy new tires out of only savings.

Because at the end of the day, we aren’t promised an outpouring of financial blessings when we pay our tithing.

But we are promised a blessing that we will not have enough room to receive.

And while I have my one story, I’ve learned that the true blessing of paying tithing has to do with my relationship with God.

When I willingly give up some of my money week after week, I root out my love of money.

And I learn to rely on God – a lesson that spills over into every aspect of my life.

My heart starts putting the love of God higher than my love of money, in the most literal way possible.

THAT is the biggest blessing of paying tithing for me.

Saying that I love God over everything else in my life…

And then putting my money where my mouth is.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post The love of God and money first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

“If you would have God have mercy on you, have mercy on one another.” – Joseph Smith, as quoted by Sharon Eubank

“God delights in mercy and does not begrudge its use.” – Dale G. Renlund

“Loving mercy means that we do not just love the mercy God extends to us; we delight that God extends the same mercy to others.” – Dale G. Renlund

From these quotes from Oct 2020 General Conference, I think we might need to extend more mercy to people right now than we ever have before.

I’ll be the first to admit that MERCY is where I feel most like a hypocrite.

I need it A LOT. But extending it to others in my life has not always been natural.

I know when I’m tired and overwhelmed and just need a break from normal responsibilities.

But letting other people “slack off”?! Much harder to do.

For the past three years or so, I’ve actively worked on showing mercy to the people around me as much as possible.

Letting go of “holding people accountable”, “they should know better”, and “how will they ever learn.”

Which is difficult, because those lessons are engrained pretty deeply within me.

But guess what I learned?

Showing mercy and extreme kindness to other people hasn’t changed their actions at all.

But it has completely changed my heart.

A loving God knows exactly when we need justice, and when we need mercy, and He doesn’t hesitate to dish out either.

And we mortals have to try and learn that perfect balance.

When does my daughter need me to stop the fun and enforce bedtime? And when does she need me to throw the rules aside and laugh with her a little more?

All I know is that I have never regretted erring on the side of mercy.

And I don’t think our Heavenly Father regrets His mercy, either.

He delights in sharing it with us.

Which means, in order to become like Him, we need to delight in indulging others with our mercy.

A tough thing to do in a world as tough as ours.

But a necessary step in order to soften our hearts and respond in kindness and mercy.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Kindness and mercy first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.