Up the mountain with the thunder and the storm. ⁣

Days passed. ⁣

Weeks. ⁣

Moses was nowhere to be found. ⁣

Slowly, panic replaced faith amongst the Israelites. ⁣

“And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods”. (Exodus 32:1)⁣

And in their panic, they turned to the worship of something that was familiar to them, more concrete, unchanging and easy to understand. ⁣

(I know, a golden calf seems weird to us but it was a comfortable and logical move for them to make.)⁣

I’ve learned in my life that patience and faith in God are completely intertwined. ⁣

“When we exercise patience, our faith increases. As our faith increases, so does our joy.” —Elder Jeremy R. Jaggi⁣

Attending the temple hasn’t always made perfect sense to me. ⁣

After first receiving my endowment, there were a lot (A LOT) of things I was confused about. ⁣

But I had heard that the more often you go, the easier it is to gain a testimony of temple worship and work. ⁣

And I clung to that. ⁣

President Nelson even counseled that if we don’t yet love temple work, to go more often. ⁣

And slowly but surely, trip after trip, drop by drop, I’ve learned to love attending the temple. I’ve learned, I’ve worshipped, I’ve served, I’ve received priceless revelation. ⁣

But it took a lot of patience. And waiting. ⁣

AND it took faith in God in waiting for the answer and the testimony to come. ⁣

I can think of so many more examples of this in my life with the law of tithing, keeping the Sabbath holy, fasting, following the prophet…⁣

Patience in God’s timing and in His laws and principles takes a whole lot of faith. ⁣

Faith that He will actually reveal truths, or fulfill promises, or give us a testimony, or keep His covenants. ⁣

But keeping that faith while I wait has always resulted in long-term joy.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post A golden calf?  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

My sister was playing with a toy that I wanted, and I took it out of her hands. ⁣

Immediately, I knew I had done something wrong, and I felt so badly! ⁣

I had already messed up.

I had made a promise at baptism to always remember Jesus, and now I had forgotten. ⁣

Aaaaand I’m pretty sure this was the evening after I got baptized, so I hadn’t lasted very long at all. ⁣

The Israelites made such an eager promise when Moses read what the Lord had taught him: ⁣

“All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient.” (Exodus 24:7) ⁣

Spoiler alert: the Israelites did NOT keep this promise. ⁣

They broke it many times, just as each of us break the promises and covenants that we have made. ⁣

But the good news? ⁣

Repentance and the sacrament make it possible to re-commit to those promises.

So have you re-committed recently? ⁣

Have you thought about what covenants you’ve made, and decided to keep them again?⁣

Do you trust in the Savior’s ability to really cleanse?⁣

And can you draw on the Savior’s strength to re-commit over and over?⁣

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post My sin after baptism  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

In other words, don’t be jealous. ⁣

Why? ⁣

Why would this make the Lord’s Top Ten List for basic commandments that He wanted the children of Israel to follow, and that He still asks us to follow today?⁣

I think I’ve realized that jealousy is one of the biggest signs of where our heart is. ⁣

If I’m over here spending all my time jealous of my friend’s beautiful new backyard, or that trip that they just went on, or the bonus I know that they got…⁣

Then I’m not spending my time loving them. ⁣

I’m probably a lot less likely to want to serve them. ⁣

I probably am not praying for them. ⁣

And it also means my heart isn’t showing gratitude. ⁣

I’m probably not overwhelmed and grateful with how dependent I am on the Lord. ⁣

I might not be as willing to pay tithing.⁣

My heart starts to worry about the wrong things.⁣

This is a tough one in today’s super materialistic world, and it’s not a commandment I’ve conquered yet. ⁣

But I think it is worth every effort to try and root out that pride and jealousy.⁣

Because then we make a little bit more room to love.

“Most ‘thou shalt not’ commandments are meant to keep us from hurting others, but I am convinced the commandment not to covet is meant to keep us from hurting ourselves.” – Jeffrey R. Holland

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Why not covet? first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I wanted to be someone who “loved Conference,” even though I had no idea how to get to that point.

But I figured it would take a lot of effort, so I got to work.

I spent time reviewing previous talks. ⁣

I prayed with very specific purposes beforehand. ⁣

I did a lot of work beforehand so that I wouldn’t have to run errands or anything during that weekend. ⁣

And guess what happened when General Conference weekend arrived?! ⁣

I felt so immersed in every talk that I heard! ⁣

It truly was one of the most spiritual experiences of my life, and I felt like I was hearing the Lord speak, quite literally. ⁣

There was something powerful about really PREPARING for a spiritual experience. ⁣

The Lord even warned Moses to “Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes, And be ready against the third day: for the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai.” (Exodus 19:10-11) ⁣

The Lord wanted the Israelites to PREPARE for the amazing spiritual experience that awaited them. ⁣

He didn’t want to just spring it on them. ⁣

He gave them three days to prepare. ⁣

Preparation takes work. It takes effort to do things ahead of time. ⁣

But Bonnie Oscarson put it perfectly when she said:⁣

“Where much is required, much more will be given.”⁣

We choose how much to prepare. ⁣

How much to ponder about our covenants BEFORE sacrament meeting starts. ⁣

How much to do physically and mentally BEFORE walking through the temple doors. ⁣

How much to do BEFORE we open our scriptures to study. ⁣

How much to search for intention BEFORE serving in our calling.

But I have found that the more that I choose to prepare before what I anticipate to be a spiritual experience, the more that the Spirit is poured out upon me. ⁣

Preparation is for my own benefit.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post The effort of preparation  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.