“I’m just a disorganized person.”

“I couldn’t stay calm any longer.”

“I completely messed up.”

Life is messy, and we often act pretty messily, too!

In Luke 3:5, we learn that through Christ, “Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth.”

If the Savior can make mountains to be brought low, He probably can take away bad habits or annoyances that we have too. ⁣

Jesus can help us become more patient.

He can make up for the awkwardness we feel when talking to someone new.

He can help us have compassion instead of constantly criticizing.

He can help us kick that habit of gossiping.

Every little crooked and rough way on our souls will eventually be made smooth!

But just like a river carving its way through a mountainside…

This process takes time.

These changes usually happen inch by inch.

Day by day.

Even year after year.

Are we willing to stick with the Lord through the entire process?

The “way that we are” isn’t how we will stay because mountains constantly change.

But we can trust and have faith that eventually, one day, in this life or the next, all of our rough ways will be made smooth.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Rough ways made smooth  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

People who sat at home, not wanting anyone to know that they had been clumsy and twisted their ankle again.

People who were sure their cough would pass on its own, so they didn’t need any help.

People who didn’t want their own family members to know they had been suffering with something that they desperately wanted healed.

“All the city was gathered together at the door.” (Mark 1:33)

Many flocked toward Jesus, begging to be healed.

But that meant that those people admitted they needed healing in the first place.

We all have those “weaknesses” that we are happy to publicly talk about.

Oh yes, I sometimes zone out during my prayers, too!

But what about the stuff that’s harder to admit?

The stuff that we don’t share about nonchalantly in a Sunday School class.

When we try to hide it from other people, do we mistakenly think that we can hide it from God, too?

Bringing our sins and our sicknesses and our weaknesses to the Lord requires a bit of vulnerability and humility.

It requires that we admit that there’s something that actually needs fixing.

It requires that we acknowledge that even if we COULD solve something on our own, everything is always better with Jesus.

Jesus heals.

He heals it all.

He takes our burdens and our yoke upon Him.

So will we go to Him?

Will we rise up and follow where He leads?

Will we admit that we have something that needs healing?

Will we allow the Master Healer to do what He longs to do?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Go to the Master Healer first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

When we are listening to a spiritual message or reading our scriptures, any of these three things can come to us:

1) Something we should start

2) Something we should stop

3) Something we should continue

This blew my mind because I think the third one is often overlooked.

I feel like I learn plenty of new things that I should start.

Start serving more. Start adding more authentic intent. Start saying better prayers.

And I get prompted often of things I should stop.

Stop being on your phone so much. Stop being prideful. Stop ignoring the important stuff.

But that third one is awesome:

What should you continue?

Do you think God is pleased with anything you are doing in your life right now?

Sometimes we focus so much on becoming better people that we forget we are already doing great things! ⁣

When Jesus chose to be baptized, God the Father expressed how pleased He was with His son’s actions.

“This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17)

It was the ultimate, divine ‘pat on the back’.

God knew He didn’t need to correct anything that was going wrong.

He instead wanted to draw attention to what was already going right.

So what’s something good you are doing right now that you can continue to do?

If you come up a little blank, try taking this question to the Lord in prayer, and see what comes to mind.

When I’ve asked God what things I should CONTINUE doing, I’ve given Him a chance to show me personally what He approves of in my life.

And there’s always a lot more goodness than I expect.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Start, stop, and continue  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.