I am a super practical person— not really sentimental.

I prefer taking notes by hand, so I’d get a new notebook each semester and fill it up with notes from all my general, music, education, or religion classes.

So now I was left with 8 giant worn-down notebooks, filled with pages and pages of handwritten notes from dozens of classes.

What was I going to do with them?

I don’t have MUCH sentimentality, but I still had a hard time thinking about just throwing these notebooks away.

But, my practicality kicked in: despite the great information I gained in my education classes, would I ever actually go back to my handwritten notes to find information?

No. I would honestly just google it, or ask another colleague.

As I piled them into a garbage bag that immediately started to rip under the weight, my mind went to one thing I might miss:

Notes from my religion classes.

Because I had FANTASTIC religion professors, and the insights they had shared into the scriptures couldn’t just be searched or duplicated by others.

One of my biggest regrets to this day is that I didn’t reach in and tear out the notes from my religion classes about the Book of Mormon, the temple, prophets, New Testament…

I threw them all away.

When Esau was asked to sell his birthright, he responded:

“Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?” (Genesis 25:32)

He was caught up in the practicality of the birthright— I mean, what good would it be if he was dead?!

Are we caught up in the practicality of our blessings and our gifts and our knowledge that we willingly give them up?

It’s not practical to get to church at that time. Not practical to attend the temple. Not practical to minister to those people. Not practical to read scriptures.

But the real blessings come from what we are sometimes willing to give up in order to keep what we have.

To be hungry just a little bit longer, so that we aren’t tempted to give up great blessings in the future for some temporary comfort.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

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

The kids were both in the stroller, and I was catching up on finally responding to some emails, texts, and DMs on my phone as I pushed.

It was nice.

And then my daughter wanted to get out of the stroller.

I stopped and she started walking right next to me.

All of a sudden, she wanted to talk about everything.

Every flower she saw. Every number on every house. Every dog or decoration.

I still had my phone in my hand, but I was no longer able to be “productive” on the walk.

So I put my phone away.

She didn’t want to just go on a walk.

She wanted to walk with her mom.

And that meant communication and connection.

It was a fun little walk before she got tired and wanted to get back in the stroller.

I’ve been trying to think about what it means to really walk with the Lord.

And I think my daughter showed me the perfect example.

We need to be doing the things that He is doing.

We need to be talking with Him. Communicating in prayers, both formal and informal.

We need to be finding connection with the Lord. Asking questions, making observations, learning.

“The Lord, before whom I walk, will send his angel with thee, and prosper thy way”. (Genesis 24:40)

So when we make the effort to walk with God, He not only walks with us…

He then also sends angels to accompany us on our walk.

Angels to guide, comfort, communicate, prosper our way.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Walk With the Lord first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

Women who are named and who do things and work to draw closer to the Lord.

The Old Testament is a unique book of scriptures because we do actually get quite a few beautiful, powerful examples of righteous women.

And side note: If you want to dive into this topic even more, listen the interview we did with Amy Fisher called “Women in the Old Testament”. It was episode 614 of the One Minute Scripture Study podcast.

I have loved studying Rebekah this week.

She gives me so many attributes to look up to, and one that I want to mention is found in Genesis 25:22.

Rebekah was finally pregnant, after years of dealing with infertility.

But she was pregnant with twins, and she could feel the struggle of these two babies within her womb as she carried them.

And so what did she do?

“She went to inquire of the Lord”. (Genesis 25:22)

I love this powerful yet simple reminder from Rebekah that when we have questions, we can take them straight to the Lord.

And I especially relate to her as a very pregnant woman myself right now, who has questions about the future.

We can ask, and then we can receive answers.

Have you inquired of the Lord recently?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

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

I used to picture the Abrahamic covenant as some promise God made with Abraham a long long time ago.

And that’s it.

I know I’ve been told to study it and learn about it, but in my mind it was only to learn about history.

Here’s the cool realization I made, though!

Abraham’s covenant is not about him.

Yes, he’s the one being blessed, but what is the blessing all about?

Let’s see what we learn in Genesis 26:3-4, which is where the Abrahamic covenant is being extended now to his son, Isaac:

“I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries… And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.”

This blessing is about YOU! It is about ME!

We are the ones being blessed, across countries, and without number.

When we live a righteous and faith-filled life, we are being part of this covenant and we are being blessed.

And then we, in turn, become the ones who reach out and bless other people’s lives as we emulate Christ and share what we know.

This isn’t just a history lesson; we are the ones fulfilling the covenant!

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post We are the blessing first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

As we worked through “what came next” on a series of different patterns, I noticed how many of the kids worked very differently.

Some of the kids would try and figure out the color patterns on their own.

(Sometimes they were right; other times they were very wrong.)

And other kids wanted to wait and see what the answer was before they colored in their pattern.

(“Wait, what’s the answer? What color should I use?”)

These two approaches are pretty universal, right?

Sometimes we have questions and problems, and we do our best to find a solution.

Other times, we have questions and problems, and we wait for the answer to come to us before we move forward.

As an educator, I’m very familiar with where the most learning happens:

When we do our best to do the work and find an answer, whether it is right or wrong, we learn infinitely more than when we just wait to be told the right answer.

Abraham’s servant is such a perfect and sweet example of this.

Tasked with finding a wife for Isaac, the servant came up with a plan and presented it to the Lord.

“And let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that thou hast shewed kindness unto my master.” (Genesis 24:14)

The servant came up with a possible solution!

And the Lord agreed with the plan!

Now, he could have been totally “wrong”, which would have then made it pretty easy for the Lord to tell him how he would actually give the sign of the right wife.

But either way, this servant chose to at least come up with the plan, which is where the most learning and growth happens.

It’s so tempting to want to sit around, waiting to be inspired or told to do the right things.

Who should I serve? How should I simplify my life? What can I do to teach my family the gospel?

It takes a lot of faith, and setting aside “perfectionism”, to take fully formed ideas to the Lord and see what you’ll be taught.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Patterns and preschool first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

“That they may always have His spirit to be with them.”

Like, this is my goal in life.

You know those people that you looked up to in your ward growing up, who just exuded kindness and love no matter what?

Those people you meet now who seem so genuine and sincere in all they do?

I think I’ve discovered the secret to what makes these people so awesome.

Really, there is a big connection that I’ve made:

They all attend the temple on a regular basis.

And I say “regular basis” because I have lived both near and far from temples, and these individuals all worship there “regularly”, whatever that means to them.

Try it out— talk to that person that just magnifies the Spirit in all they do, and bring up their thoughts on the temple.

Because I think they real key to always having the Spirit with us is to always be keeping our covenants.

And to keep them, we have to know them and ponder on them regularly.

King Abimelech noticed this quality about Abraham, someone who was very familiar with covenants:

“God is with thee in all that thou doest”. (Genesis 21:22)

The Spirit is with those who draw priesthood power into their lives by keeping powerful and eternal covenants with God.

What have you covenanted to do?

Those actions will keep the Spirit pouring into your life, in all that you do.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post In all that you do first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I mean, it checked most of the boxes, which is pretty good for buying a new house.

But I didn’t like the location.

And “location” is supposed to be the thing you never compromise on, right?

But… the spiritual prompting was too strong to deny.

I had reluctant faith. We bought the house and moved.

But deep down, I didn’t really know if God could give me something better than what I had before.

Lot’s wife is a fascinating person because we don’t learn much about her story other than her final moments and judgment.

Most people know Lot’s wife associated with:

“But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.” (Genesis 19:36)

We know from modern revelation and teachings that she looked back on Sodom longingly.

I don’t love casting judgment on other people, especially when I don’t know their whole story at all.

But with scripture characters, I always like to ask “Lord, is it I?”

“Where am I in this story? Where can I root out weakness?”

Elder Holland has also taught about Lot’s wife:

“She doubted the Lord’s ability to give her something better than she already had.”

Now THAT is something I can relate to.

Time and time again, the Lord has shown me that when I am prompted and then choose to let go of something I really like, whether it’s a neighborhood, a job, a friend, a hobby, a responsibility…

He will never let me down. He will always lead me to something better.

Do I have the faith to let go and look forward?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Lot’s wife and trusting something better first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I had my degree, and was totally ready to finally teach professionally full-time and make a full-time salary!

But transferring my teaching license to a new state, waiting for background check results, and applying for jobs in the middle of a school year were leading me to getting a total of ZERO job offers those first few months.

I immediately started applying for substitute teaching jobs while I waited, and roadblock after roadblock kept popping up with delayed trainings and orientations and fingerprint cards.

My plan of supporting my husband and myself financially while he was in school was starting to fail, and our savings account slowly dipped lower and lower.

This was one time in my life where I really felt the concept that faith = action.

I knew that God would provide for us and that things would work out, but it was also really difficult sitting there without any income for a while, with many factors outside of my control.

I kept moving forward on every path I could find, and each time I would hit a roadblock, I’d think of another path and go that way.

And overall, there was this pervasive peace, this faith that I knew everything would work out okay.

When Abraham led his beloved son Isaac up to the mountain with all the supplies to make a burnt offering, except the lamb itself, Isaac started to wonder.

Where is the sacrifice? What were they going to do?

His father Abraham so wisely testified: “My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering”. (Genesis 22:8)

Abraham had pure faith that God would provide that offering, no matter what that looked like.

But I love that Abraham was also teaching Isaac of what was going to come in the future:

God would eventually provide a sacrificial lamb for all of mankind.

God has always provided for us.

When we really believe that God will provide, what can that give us the faith to do?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post God will provide first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

Someone gave me a small bag of trail mix recently, and I picked through to find the M&Ms and ate those instead.

Because, chocolate.

My husband took the bag from me to pick out his favorites, and I saw a couple M&Ms that I had missed at the bottom.

“Wait!” I said, and quickly found the pieces I had missed, doing a final sweep for any other chocolate that was hiding.

I didn’t want to give my trail mix away while leaving any valuable pieces of chocolate behind!

God told Abraham that Sodom and Gomorrah were going to be destroyed.

Abraham, with his kind and compassionate heart, pleaded for the Lord to not destroy them if 50 righteous people were found.

Abraham continued to try and prove how much a righteous soul would be worth to the Lord until he stopped at:

“Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake.” (Genesis 18:32)

One righteous person can make a huge difference within a home, a school, or a community.

Every effort that you make to turn to the Lord and show love, despite what may or may not be happening around you, matters.

One little light.

Even if you feel like you are the only M&M in the bag, the Lord sees you.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post The M&Ms worth saving first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I could write out a whole list.

Some things, you would probably say are very well justified.

Other things probably seem much larger to me than they really are.

Regardless, I’ve found a lot of things that have piled up in my mind.

Getting everything done or handling everything with grace seems… well, impossible to me.

It’s all impossible.

And so this question has not been able to leave my head:

“Is any thing too hard for the Lord?” (Genesis 18:14)

Because it sure seems too hard for me to handle.

But here’s a beautiful connection I’ve recently made:

If my Lord can handle it all,

And if He has promised to take my yoke and bear my burdens,

Then nothing is impossible for me when I partner with the Lord.

Sarah and Abraham both laughed when they heard they were getting a son, when it was biologically impossible.

Impossible.

And yet, it happened.

The Lord can make miracles happen all on His own.

I’ve had a few, tender, sacred moments in my life where I have seen these truly impossible miracles occur.

But more often, I see it more as a partnership.

A very, very, unfair and unequal partnership.

Where my load seems quite impossible. Mentally; physically; emotionally.

But I know that nothing is too hard for Him.

And so I rely on Him even more. I invite Him in. I tell Him the intricacies of what I’m facing.

And the cliche is true— the burdens are still there. The load is still as big as ever.

But I’m able to feel those moments of peace and relief as I endure.

With God, nothing is impossible.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post It all seems too hard first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.