It seems like an exaggeration– that if I repent, then my Father in Heaven suddenly doesn’t remember what I did anymore.

But what if He really does forget my sin because I am no longer the person who sinned?

When I am truly and fully repenting, with my whole heart and soul, then I am actually changing.

My heart is changing.

My will is changing.

I am a new person. There has been a shift in who I am and what I want.

And so my perfect Divine Father isn’t going to hold something over my head that I no longer am.

It just wouldn’t make sense.

That weight is no longer a part of me.

That is the true beauty in repentance.

When I sincerely and humbly decide that I am ready to become a more spiritually mature individual, then I can.

Because my Savior already paid the price of justice.

He knows what the sin feels like, with the full force of consequences and pain and regret.

(Which is why I’ll praise Him forever.)

And through His suffering, I am freed to change. To use His power to mold and mend who I am.

So that judging me based off of my past seems completely irrelevant.

Remembering it and letting it hold a weighty place in my mind seems immature and myopic.

There is just no point.

I am no longer that person.

I am someone who is more Christlike. Someone with a softer heart and a more contrite spirit.

I repent and change, and I am forgiven.

I am new.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Real repentance first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

Life has so much more to offer than usefulness.

I believe we are meant to truly enjoy it.

To find beauty in the sunsets (and in Arizona, oh boy do we have the best).

To savor the delicious chocolate cake.

To dance to the background music.

To literally stop and smell the roses.

This is hard for me.

Because I’m a practical person.

I like things to have a purpose, a meaning.

But I’m getting better at selling my loaf of bread to buy a beautiful bouquet of hyacinths. Just because.

To get from point A to point B on a swirly twirly pathway, instead of sprinting.

Because one way of traveling leaves me refreshed and renewed. And the other way leaves me exhausted.

In D&C 59:18, the Lord so gently reminds us that things on this earth were made:

“Both to PLEASE the eye and to GLADDEN the heart”.

And in the next verse:

“To strengthen the body and to ENLIVEN the soul.”

The earth was created.

We aren’t living in a brown and gray abyss that will “work just fine” for living arrangements.

Instead, our Savior spent time creating beauty and intricacies.

Why?

He probably enjoyed creating it. He probably enjoyed the challenge and the beauty of the process.

But of course, He also wanted us to feel this joy.

To have our souls enlivened and gladdened and pleased.

Life is tough. There are lessons to be learned and trials to be endured.

But life is also beautiful and miraculous and delicious and harmonious and transcendent.

We need bread for our body.

But we also need hyacinths for our soul.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Hyacinths for the soul first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

“Let thy food be prepared with singleness of heart that thy FASTING may be perfect, or, in other words, that thy JOY may be full.

“Verily, this is FASTING and prayer, or in other words, REJOICING and prayer.” D&C 59:13-14

To be honest, fasting has always been tough for me.

I’ve always obeyed and fasted on Fast Sunday, but I’ve known I’ve had a disconnect.

Here are my two takeaways that I’ve learned as I’ve tried to focus on finding the purpose and joy within fasting:

First, pray, pray, pray.

I love this pretty popular quote from Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, who said:

“Without prayer, fasting is not complete fasting; it’s simply going hungry.”

This is the first thing that has helped me find some JOY in fasting.

When I pray, specifically at the open and close of my fasting experience, I feel like my fasting has more purpose.

And my fasting has in turn elevated my prayers to feel even more genuine.

But here’s the other thing that has helped my fasting journey recently:

Really understanding that FASTING and FAST OFFERINGS have an inseparable connection.

I’m not gonna lie, I wasn’t super familiar with fast offerings when I started living on my own. I feel like it’s just not something we talk about a ton.

The Church Handbook states that:

“The Lord has established the law of the fast and fast offerings to bless His people and to provide a way for them to serve those in need.

“When members fast, they are asked to give to the Church a fast offering at least equal to the value of the food they would have eaten.

“If possible, they should be generous and give more.”

Remembering that my fasting and accompanying fast offering is also a way of taking care of the poor and the needy in my immediate community, those who may be fasting breakfast out of necessity and not out of commandment, has given me huge growth in my understanding of and love for fasting.

In fact, sometimes, it brings me true joy. 

If you feel like you’ve found joy in fasting, I’d love to hear it! What has helped you rejoice?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Getting real with fasting first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I had been studying the assigned scriptures already all week long, and I had loved them.

Even though we were starting with the New Testament, that first week in January actually had us studying from various books of scripture about being self-motivated in our scripture study.

I pulled out my phone that Sunday morning to text some Young Women and remind them to study the assigned Come, Follow Me scriptures.

Suddenly, I had the thought to search for an Instagram account that they could follow.

I pictured some kind of account where someone was posting little spiritual thoughts each day inspired by that week’s scriptures.

I searched on Instagram and… nothing.

All of a sudden, a thought popped into my mind: “Maybe YOU should start the account.”

I’m pretty sure I laughed. I’m not really an “Instagram” type person.

But… it also kinda sounded fun, PLUS I have always loved talking about the scriptures and sharing personal applications.

But wait… that would be weird to start an Instagram account and like, ask people to follow me.

Should I really do this?!

And then guess what scripture popped into my mind?

Now, I want to be clear. Guess which scripture the Holy Spirit brought to my mind as a way of communicating a powerful lesson that I needed to hear immediately?

It was one of the assigned scriptures that I had already been studying that introductory week.

Doctrine and Covenants 58:26-27:

“For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things…

“Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;”

It suddenly seemed so simple.

Would this be a righteous thing that would put good into the world?

Would I be using my own free will to be anxiously engaged in God’s work?

Then I didn’t need to be commanded to do it.

I could just decide to do it, purely because I wanted to, and because it was good.

So I opened up Instagram, and started @comefollowmestudy.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

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

I was working so hard to just do the bare minimum that was required of me.

By my second year, I felt like I could handle the basics better.

And so I started figuring out how to be an even better, kinder, more involved, and more effective teacher.

It’s not like I was a bad teacher my first year. I was good. My students liked me, their test scores were good…

But I improved SO much each year that I taught.

And by the time I quit my job, I was an awesome teacher. But, I still could have been even better and certainly would have improved more.

The phrase that the Lord uses in the beginning of D&C 59:9 has always been powerful to me:

“That thou mayest MORE FULLY keep thyself unspotted from the world…”

It’s not a yes or no thing.

Just like it wasn’t “good teacher” vs. “bad teacher”, this isn’t a cut and dry “totally unspotted” vs. “spotted”.

It’s a spectrum of cleanliness.

And the Lord is saying:

Hey, do you want to move the needle on the spectrum even closer to ‘purity’? Do you want to become even more clean?

Do you want to rid yourself from all the worldly grime that’s darkening your spirit?

Then try keeping the Sabbath day holy even better.

Is not like you’ll do it “right” or “wrong”— I just know that you can do it even better than what you’ve been doing.

And it’s going to add cleanliness to your life if you choose to do it.

What a cool message, right?!

We are constantly invited to do just a little better. Not that we were necessarily doing it “wrong” before, but more that He knows the blessings and extra peace that await us when we move the dial on that purity spectrum just a little bit more.

Whether it’s Sabbath day observance, or a different commandment that you are feeling pulled toward focusing on right now—

I love that we can always find ways to become just a little bit more unspotted.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post More fully first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.