Made the journey to Ohio, leaving their homes and livelihoods after hearing the prophet’s call.

This community was tight-knit. They were staying together.

But where would they live in Ohio? Who had room for them?

Finally… Leman Copley offers his farm.

They all can live together! It will take work to build up their community. But at least, finally, some good news.

They have a home.

And then… Leman returns. Angry. With a friend.

They are all asked to leave. Leave their new home?!

But where could they possibly go now?

Where in the Kirtland area could house all of them?

Newel pleads on behalf of his displaced congregation.

And Joseph receives the word.

“You shall take your journey into the regions westward, unto the land of Missouri”. D&C 54:8

Missouri.

No one else had been asked to move there yet.

Joseph had never even been to Missouri.

And yet, the Colesville Saints packed up their belongings and started the trek to Missouri.

The Lord ended His revelation to his sweet children, forced to move yet again, with this loving reminder:

“Be patient in tribulation”. D&C 54:10

Tribulation is a constant.

The Colesville Saints experienced it.

But so do you. And so do I.

What’s your tribulation right now?

It probably feels lighter than the Colesville Saints burdens. But… maybe it doesn’t.

And no matter the load, we are asked to have patience.

To just wait.

To not hasten, or rush.

But to move at the pace that we can, to make the efforts we can make, and to feel patience, turning the timing over to God.

To wait in humility.

The tribulations aren’t the variable. They will come. They already have come.

And our Savior keeps promising us peace as we turn our will over to Him in patience, every single time.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Patience in tribulation first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

My daughter Quin turned 3 last year, which means she is brand new to the primary organization this year.

Starting that very first week in January, just a few months ago, Quin’s sunbeam teacher has dropped by our home every single week with an activity and a lesson completely prepped for Quin to do.

Like, stuff is cut out, glued together, extra supplies are attached in a baggie, multiple papers of coloring sheets and lessons…

Every. Single. Week.

We had so much fun doing her “primary lesson” together at home each Sunday.

And when we started up 2nd hour a couple of weeks ago here, Quin felt right at home with her teacher and has totally fallen in love with in-person primary.

This teacher has served in many notable callings in the church throughout her life.

And with her calling as a sunbeam teacher? To a group of 10 three-year-olds?

She has planted herself.

And then she has bloomed, blessing the lives of so many others, including my own and my daughter’s.

I’ve been planted in a lot of places in my life.

Different locations, wards, callings, jobs, friend groups, schools…

Sometimes it’s hard to be planted in a circumstance I don’t really love.

But I loved that the Lord told a few different Saints in Section 57 to permanently make the move from Ohio to Missouri.

And to “be planted”.

Not looking back, wondering when this was going to end. Not envious of those who got to stay behind.

But just to be planted for the sake of being planted.

I’ve resisted being planted plenty of times.

But I’ve always been surprised at how much more at peace I feel when I decide to be planted where I’m at.

To put down my roots, and see what I can do.

And Quin’s teacher has made me think about the other direction of this, too.

I don’t just plant myself for my own peace.

I also plant myself because that’s how I can best be of service to those around me.

I can look outside myself, bloom, and bless others when I choose to be planted, no matter the circumstance.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

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

Now, after coming back from Disneyland I think it actually is a really interesting question to ponder.

I’ve heard many people say something along the lines of:

“Having lots of money just makes you more of who you already are.”

And I think I agree with this.

If you are just barely scraping by financially right now, but you still pay your tithing and help a neighbor out when they need a meal, then you would likely be a wealthy person who still pays their tithing and is able to help out people in much more dramatic ways.

And if you are living well right now, but stingy with giving away any money, then it’s probably likely that you would find reasons to be stingy with your money when you had a lot of it, too.

The Lord says something along the same lines in D&C 56:16-17:

“Wo unto you rich men, that will not give your substance to the poor, for your riches will canker your souls….

“Wo unto you poor men, whose hearts are not broken, whose spirits are not contrite”.

So, if both the rich and the poor are getting warnings from the Lord here, what can we do to make sure we are doing as we should?

The Lord answers that in verse 18:

The “pure in heart, whose hearts are broken, and whose spirits are contrite”.

In other words, we need to have a soft heart!

If our hearts are broken and humbled before the Lord, then it doesn’t matter what our bank account looks like.

Rich and poor people can be prideful with hardened hearts.

And rich and poor people can be humbled, with soft hearts.

The status of our bank account doesn’t matter nearly as much as the status of our heart.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Rich and poor, pure in heart first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

If your mind went to a group of Saints in the 1800s trying to practice the Law of Consecration, but failing, and then having the Law of Consecration removed until we will be able to practice it better in the future…

Know that this is basically what I thought for a long time, too, until someone corrected me.

And my mind was blown!

While it is totally true that various groups of early saints did try– and fail– to organize systems through which they could live the Law of Consecration…

The actual Law of Consecration has NEVER been removed since it was restored!

In fact, as stated on the church’s temple website, the Law of Consecration is one of the specific covenants made during the endowment ordinance.

In D&C Section 51, the Lord was giving Edward Partridge, the bishop, some of the first directions when it came to giving members of the church stewardship over certain items and then redistributing them.

And the Lord’s main focus was to help everyone remember one important truth:

“And I consecrate unto them this land for a little season, until I, the Lord, shall provide for them otherwise, and command them to go hence” D&C 51:16

The Lord wanted them to remember that everything. EVERYTHING. Was from Him.

THAT is the biggest purpose of the Law of Consecration.

Which means… we can do that now!

Sure, we haven’t been asked to deed everything we physically own to our bishop to then redistribute.

But we can still consecrate EVERYTHING.

Elder D. Todd Christofferson taught in 2010:

“The Lord’s law of consecration… has an economic role but, more than that, is an application of celestial law to life here and now.

“To consecrate is to set apart or dedicate something as sacred, devoted to holy purposes.

“True success in this life comes in consecrating our lives—that is, our time and choices—to God’s purposes.”

But I can consider all the blessings that I have been given:

My time, my body, my financial situation, my talents and gifts, my leadership abilities, my education– how can I consecrate these?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Do we still consecrate? first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

Gaining a testimony is not the finish line.

That girls camp testimony meeting, your mission, that moment in the temple…

It wasn’t the finish line.

It wasn’t the peak spiritual experience in your life, and now everything is just downhill.

The Lord reminds Sidney Gilbert that: “he only is saved who endureth unto the end.” (D&C 53:7)

To me, THAT’S what I’ve learned it really means to “endure to the end”.

It means that I’m working to maintain what I’ve already felt and learned.

AND I’m working to create even more spiritual anchor moments.

I’m trying to keep the general trend going upward.

I’m thinking back on my anchor moments, and using them to fuel my day-to-day living.

I’m reading the scriptures to support the knowledge I already have and dive into the new.

I’m putting myself in holy places so that I can work on feeling the spirit more often. And then even more often.

I’m not even close to the finish line, and that is exciting to me!

I didn’t “make it” by getting sealed in the temple.

Or having that one strong spiritual experience.

It’s consistency.

It’s the daily workouts at the gym, instead of doing a marathon each summer and calling it good. (Figuratively speaking…)

A testimony is great. Having a strong witness that your Savior died and lives for you is amazing.

But after the amazing, anchoring spiritual experiences, I want to think:

“It’s only going up from here.”

And truly… it doesn’t always go up from there. There are dips and valleys and trenches along the way.

But I keep climbing back up and out as I keep turning to my Savior to lead the way.

He is the one who truly helps transform my “enduring” into “growing”.

Gaining a testimony isn’t the finish line.

It takes work to keep the flame going and growing.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Going and growing first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.