Like, I’m an eternal optimist, which is a huge strength of mine.

But it took me an awfully long time to realize that most people telling me about their struggles just really want to connect and share.

… And they aren’t looking for me to immediately point out all the good things about their situation if only they looked at it differently!

But even with this blessing/curse of eternal optimism, I have learned…⁣

Sometimes, things are just HARD.

Life can be difficult and painful.

Our own beloved Savior had to endure being nailed to a cross.

Multiple times.

After being physically tortured. ⁣

There was no “bright side” to that.

That is truly one of the most terrible things anyone has had to endure. ⁣

I don’t want to directly compare what we have to go through with the truly torturous experience our loving Savior had, but I do think we can learn from His example. ⁣

“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2)

Many of us are asked to “endure crosses” in this mortal life. ⁣

There is no upside.

You aren’t “just not being positive enough”.

There are some truly terrible, scary, unexplainable things that we have to endure. ⁣

How do we possibly make it through? How can we endure? ⁣

How did Christ endure the cross?⁣

He knew the joy that was set before Him.

He didn’t feel that joy in the moment. But He KNEW it would be there waiting for Him on the other side. ⁣

We are not meant to feel joy in every part of our lives. Sometimes, things are just terrible. ⁣

Or even on a smaller scale, sometimes we are just having a bad day. And that’s our “cross to endure” for the time being. ⁣

When we don’t feel that joy now, we can look to our Savior as the example that the JOY WILL RETURN.

We can’t see it now. We can’t even imagine feeling it again. ⁣

But we have faith. We know that if we can just endure, we will feel that joy again.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Endure the cross  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I love Hebrews chapter 11 because Paul lists what many righteous people have done “by faith.”

Abel. Enoch. Sarah. Abraham. Moses. Rahab.

And so many more!

One that he mentions is Noah:

“By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.” (Hebrews 11:7)

Like… huge miracles.

Amazing stories.

Quiet but essential moves.

All made because of an individual’s faith in Jesus Christ.

So… what would your personal verse be in Hebrews 11?

What big thing have you needed to do in your life “by faith”?

What small things have you needed to do “by faith”?

When we build our faith in Jesus Christ day by day with small intentional actions, we lay the foundation for our own “faith story”.

We’ll each have different details and different paths, just like all of these scripture characters in Hebrews 11.

But we can unite in our mutual faith in Jesus Christ to watch the amazing miracles that He performs because we choose to believe.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post What’s your faith story?  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

It’s the one where little kids were put in a room with a marshmallow, and told that if they DID NOT eat the marshmallow by the time the adult came back, they would get a second marshmallow. ⁣

Some kids couldn’t resist it and just ate the first marshmallow. ⁣

Others waited patiently (or painstakingly) but received a second marshmallow and got to eat both. ⁣

I honestly can’t think of a better parallel to the commandments!⁣

— Hey, it really would be better if you avoided watching media that depicted unwholesome things. ⁣

But it’s your choice. ⁣

You can just watch it and get pleasure now. Because, yes, it can be very enjoyable. ⁣

OR you can avoid it, feel disappointed for a bit, but then TRUST that I will reward thee twofold at a later time. ⁣

(Repeat the scenario with any commandment that is tricky for you right now: sleeping instead of reading scriptures, doing things on the sabbath that probably aren’t the best, avoiding service opportunities instead of saying yes, getting immediate results from being angry and rude…)⁣

“For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.” (Hebrews 10:36)

As Latter-Day Saints, we’ve just got to be PATIENT a lot. ⁣

There are so many immediate pleasures that we put off in search of future blessings. ⁣

And that sure takes a lot of spiritual maturity to do. ⁣

So this is a cheer-you-on post!

You’ve got this!

You are not alone!⁣

It is HARD to sometimes sit and stare at that marshmallow when you know other people around you are eating it. ⁣

But you trust! You have faith! You KNOW someone is coming back with another marshmallow (or honestly, a reward greater than any amount of marshmallows!)⁣

We can do the will of God, be patient, and KNOW that we will receive the promised blessings!

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

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

She is super chill and great otherwise, but she went through a period of about six months where she would just cry every time we sat down in a pew.

One Sunday in particular was really rough, with me getting up and down multiple times to take her out and calm her down.

It was pretty loud.

I just felt exhausted.

Later, after church, there was a knock on our door.

Someone I don’t know very well showed up at our doorstep with cupcakes and a sweet, supportive message.

I was overwhelmed with gratitude.

And I felt her love, even though we hadn’t talked much before.

As soon as she left, I thought about how meaningful her service was.

And my mind went to a friend that was going through a rough time.

I texted her, and we had a nice conversation filled with sympathy and connection.

Paul wrote: “And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works.” (Hebrews 10:24)

How do we provoke each other to love more?

The answer to that is pretty easy when I think about what other people have done that helped inspire me to do good works:

They’ve loved ME and done good works for ME!

When I am served, I want to serve more.

When I am loved, I want to love more.

We can start a chain reaction of goodness and love when we choose to act as the Savior did.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Provoke to good works first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.