A holy place, to me, is a place where I feel closer to God. ⁣

It is different than the ordinary. It is special. ⁣

⁣Unique. ⁣

And when I think of holy places, there usually is something different that I do with my outward appearance in order to reflect the holiness that I feel.⁣

⁣One of my favorite parts of learning about Moses seeing the burning bush is one of the first things that the Lord says to him:⁣

⁣“And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” (Exodus 3:5)⁣

⁣Moses was asked to make a change, a symbolic change, to reflect how his heart felt about entering a holy place. ⁣

⁣My church building is a holy place to me, a place where I partake of the sacrament and renew powerful covenants. ⁣

And so I dress a little nicer than I do the rest of the week.⁣

⁣When I attend the temple, I also dress nicer as I enter, and I prepare for more opportunities to make my outward appearance reflect the uniqueness of the temple spirit. ⁣

⁣I know that God is with me in the casual moments, in the messy house and the undone hair and the random sprinkles of shredded cheese that somehow always make it on the floor. (Anyone else?!) ⁣

⁣But I also love being able to take opportunities to show God that I am willing to make an effort to show my gratitude for the holy grounds that I am able to walk on.⁣⁣

What is one way you show God gratitude for your holy places?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

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

I almost always get a carton of eggs during our weekly shopping trip.

It’s a staple in our household for baking, scrambled eggs, and breakfast sandwiches.

So when the egg prices started to climb last year, I was shocked each time I added them to my cart.

So expensive!

And then, one week, there were no eggs available.

None.

“No big deal,” I thought. “We can do without eggs this week.”

But then, the next week, there weren’t any eggs either.

And still again, the next week, there weren’t any.

Finally, on my next shopping trip, I found the shelves filled with eggs again!

As I put a carton in my cart, my heart filled with gratitude.

I don’t think I have ever been grateful for eggs before…

But having to wait such a long time allowed my heart to feel that dependence on and gratitude for the Lord for such a simple blessing as eggs.

The Israelites had suffered for a long time.

So when they saw Moses and Aaron’s signs and heard their testimony that they had been sent from God to free them,⁣

“The people believed: and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped.” (Exodus 4:31)

When I have to wait for a blessing for a long time, my gratitude increases exponentially. ⁣

Maybe that’s why the Lord likes to let us wait sometimes.

He knows that our hearts need the training.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Grateful for eggs first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I was of absolutely no use that day, since I had recently found out I was pregnant with our first, and I was beyond sick. ⁣⁣⁣⁣

But my husband was doing great! ⁣⁣⁣⁣

My heart sank as I looked at our completely empty apartment, though. ⁣⁣⁣⁣

Because even though our stuff was all gone, there was so much CLEANING that still had to happen before we handed the keys back to management the next day. ⁣⁣⁣

And my husband’s grad school schedule meant the cleaning would all fall to me. ⁣⁣⁣⁣

Even though I was so sick and so tired. ⁣⁣⁣⁣

I remember my husband suggesting we just give the apartment back as it was, willingly forfeiting our deposit. ⁣⁣⁣⁣

But it was a huge deposit, and I wanted to get that money back. ⁣⁣⁣⁣

I prayed that night that I would feel well enough to clean. ⁣⁣⁣⁣

That next morning, I woke up to a text from a lady in our ward that we were leaving:⁣⁣⁣⁣

“Hey Cali! I heard you are feeling really sick! My family wants to come clean your apartment today so that you don’t have to. We’ll bring all our own cleaning supplies and make sure it’s super clean. You just rest and relax today!”⁣⁣⁣

I never set foot in that apartment again, and a month later, we got our full deposit back. ⁣⁣⁣⁣

I’ve thought a lot about this lady’s ridiculously kind offer, her teenage kids that probably weren’t super happy to learn about their family activity that evening, and her charitable heart that acted immediately after hearing a need. ⁣⁣⁣⁣

I also have thought about how the Lord COULD have given me strength to clean my apartment. He could have caused my sickness to subside. ⁣⁣⁣⁣

But instead he gave this family a chance to serve and to act. ⁣⁣⁣⁣

“We will surely be blessed with opportunities to be instruments in His hands”. -Elder Ulisses Soares ⁣⁣⁣⁣

It’s a blessing to be able to do what the Lord would do. ⁣⁣⁣⁣

He could make it all happen on His own, without any of us helping.⁣⁣⁣⁣

But He generously gives us the blessing of being able to act in His behalf. ⁣⁣⁣

Moses got this blessing, too. ⁣⁣

There were many ways the Israelites could have been freed. ⁣Yet the Lord was kind enough to let Moses lead.

“Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.” —Exodus 3:10

How could the Lord be calling to you to invite you to be part of His work as a massive blessing to you right now?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post The apartment cleaning deposit first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I mean, they kept growing and multiplying, and who knew what would happen next?! ⁣

And so what did this king do? ⁣

“He said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we: Come on, let us deal wisely with them… Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens.” (Exodus 1:9-11)⁣

The pharaoh was literally so afraid about the hypothetical military power this group of people could have in the future, that he did everything he could do to keep them oppressed. ⁣

Do you know what I can’t help but think about here? ⁣

“Unity and diversity are not opposites. We can achieve greater unity as we foster an atmosphere of inclusion and respect for diversity.” – Quentin L. Cook

One of the biggest messages our modern church leaders have been teaching over and over again is: ⁣

UNITY⁣

We can have cultural and social differences and still find unity when we realize that we are all identified as children of God, first! ⁣

Can you even imagine if the new king said:⁣

“Hey Israelites! You keep growing and growing, and we love you guys. What can we do to help you feel more included? Do you have any new ideas for how to make our kingdom even better?” ⁣

And yet, this king chose division and labeling people as “others”. ⁣

Which then led to him inflicting pain and burdens. ⁣

So how can you create unity where you live right now? ⁣

Who are you tempted to think about in divisive ways, and how can you turn that into love and unity instead?⁣

Kicking other people out or purposefully increasing their burdens just to keep another group comfortable isn’t the way the Savior worked, and it’s not how He wants us to work, either. ⁣

Unity looks like hard work. It takes effort. It requires people to get uncomfortable. ⁣

And the end result is so much more love, peace, and Christlike charity. ⁣

Unity is worth the effort.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Fear and oppression  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.