My roommates walked in with a slurpee and a soda for me to cheer me up. ⁣

But I wasn’t in the mood. ⁣

I was a grump for the next few days. ⁣

In my mind, my friends were asking too many questions and being too overwhelming. ⁣

I just wanted to be alone and deal with my emotions from the door that had just been shut in my life. ⁣

I kept being sad, and I didn’t want to stop. ⁣

I realized I didn’t want to be comforted yet. ⁣

A few days later, I started to see the light at the end of the tunnel. ⁣

NOW I was ready for comfort and support from friends and family. ⁣

Now I was ready for treats and parties and talking about it. ⁣

Now I was ready to pray for comfort and to turn to the scriptures. ⁣

I’ve learned that we have to be ready for comfort from others. ⁣

I’m sure that as soon as something heartbreaking and difficult happens in our lives, our Heavenly Father is ready to send His Spirit as a comforter. ⁣

Sometimes, we are ready right away and crave that comfort. ⁣

And other times, we need some space before we are really ready to accept that comfort. ⁣

“Verily I say unto you my friends, fear not, LET your hearts be comforted”.⁣ (D&C 98:1)

We have a part to play in receiving comfort, in allowing our hearts to feel the comfort that God is willing to offer. ⁣

It’s okay if we aren’t ready yet. ⁣

But when we are, we can let our hearts feel the comfort that our kind Heavenly Father wishes to give to us.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post I wasn’t ready for comfort first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I had work to do like crazy, my house was a mess, and my kids needed a whole lot of attention. ⁣

Add to that the fact that between long work hours and church service, time with my husband was getting sparse, too. ⁣

I just felt a lot of concern. ⁣

And then I opened my Doctrine and Covenants to start studying section 100 in preparation for writing some posts and podcast episodes. ⁣

The very first verse pierced my heart. ⁣

“Your families are well; they are in mine hands”. (D&C 100:1⁣)

That line was meant for me, right there, right then. ⁣

Tears filled my eyes and I prayed for a little more understanding. ⁣

I felt peace. ⁣

I felt comfort. ⁣

I felt reassurance that we were doing good things and that this busy season would pass soon. ⁣

And then I sat in amazement. ⁣

For some reason, I was waiting for a prompting of something to change to make the situation better. ⁣

But instead, I just felt like I was being cheered on and comforted. ⁣

It was almost like a little tight squeeze. A little “it’s all going to be okay”.⁣

It wasn’t a solution to all my “problems”. Instead it was a comfort and a love that elevated me to handle the load a little bit better. ⁣

This verse might be totally insignificant to you right now, and that’s fine. ⁣

I’m sure I’ve read it before and never thought twice about it. ⁣

And that’s what I will forever love about the scriptures. ⁣

He speaks. The Spirit inspires. My God comforts. ⁣

In exactly the way I needed it on that day.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post The verse I needed  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

“Your son has been severely injured in a car accident. We’ve got him and are taking him to the hospital.”⁣

The next few weeks of her family’s lives were overwhelmed with hospital visits, prayers, and uncertainty.⁣

But her community rallied around her family with constant meals, support, random treats, and love.⁣

The young man started to recover.⁣

And then suddenly, the truth came out.⁣

He had caused the accident. ⁣

He had been using his cell phone and lost control. ⁣

The facts of the situation were still the same. ⁣

A mother overwhelmed with grief and fear that she might lose her son; a family dealing with living life partially at home and partially in a hospital bed; a stream of prayers for his recovery. ⁣

But her community had to make a decision. ⁣

Would knowing that he caused his own problem due to great neglect change how they would support the family?⁣

Luckily, that answer was a resounding NO.⁣

In D&C 101:9, the Lord teaches: ⁣

“Verily I say unto you, notwithstanding their sins, my bowels are filled with compassion towards them. I will not utterly cast them off; and in the day of wrath I will remember mercy.”⁣

Notwithstanding their sins. ⁣

Their sins were to blame for the situation. ⁣

And yet that still didn’t stop the Lord from being filled with compassion for them. ⁣

And that’s how I believe God is with us, too. ⁣

He isn’t only giving us His compassion and goodness if we have been perfect, not causing any of the issues we have to deal with in life. ⁣

He knows that we make decisions all the time that make life harder for ourselves. ⁣

We cause so much disconnect, jealousy, pride, anger, contention. ⁣

And yet He will still have compassion for us. ⁣

He will not leave us comfortless, even if we are to blame for the discomfort in the first place. ⁣

Mercy reigns.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

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

I asked around to everyone who could possibly help me out. ⁣

No solution yet. ⁣

The deadline was approaching and I still didn’t have an answer. ⁣

I prayed a lot. ⁣

I prayed and then followed through on every single action that came to my mind. ⁣

And still, no solution. ⁣

The deadline day came…⁣

And passed. ⁣⁣

Nothing. ⁣

I kept praying. ⁣

I was doing everything that I could do. And so I really leaned into my faith. ⁣

“Heavenly Father, I know that the perfect solution is out there, and I have faith that it will happen whenever it needs to happen best. In the meantime, I will do everything I can on my end.”⁣

It was really peaceful. ⁣

When friends would ask me if I had found a solution yet, I got in the habit of responding, “Nope, not yet, but I have faith it will come soon!”⁣

Two weeks. ⁣

Two very long weeks after the deadline had passed. ⁣

It took hard work to actively choose faith that a solution was on its way every single one of those days. ⁣

And then, it came. ⁣

A better solution than I could have even imagined. ⁣

Now, I could tell quite a few stories where I have NOT used my faith in God to bring me patience while I wait. Plenty of examples. ⁣

But this recent experience was really cool for me. ⁣

I felt buoyed up. Even as I “stepped into the darkness” for those two weeks, I visualized taking those dark steps, but still landing on something. ⁣

I just couldn’t see what it was yet, but I knew I eventually would. ⁣

“Waiting patiently on the Lord” (D&C 98:2) is something we are all asked to do at various times. ⁣

And I’ve learned through personal experience of this beautiful tie between patience and faith. ⁣

Patience, the kind of patience we have to endure when we know we’ve down absolutely as much as we can…⁣

Patience is really just having true faith that God is taking care of things in whatever way He chooses.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post How to be patient  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.