As I stood a little bit speechless on the doorstep with chaos behind me and a husband who still wouldn’t be home for a couple of hours, she said:

“I felt a prompting that you needed dinner tonight, and I just had to act!”

I graciously accepted the meal, thanked her profusely, and held my tears back until the door had shut.

I wanted to feel embarrassed that I hadn’t even started thinking about dinner yet, but I couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude and love.

The sister who brought the dinner had redirected all the credit I wanted to give her to the Lord, and that made a big impact on me.

She didn’t want any of my praise that I tried to give her.

She was just following through on what I know to be one of her spiritual gifts— acting immediately and confidently on promptings.

In Joseph’s time, everyone was starting to recognize him as the dream interpreter.

The butler and the baker learned about him in prison.

And now the pharaoh was learning about his skill, too.

But each time that someone tried to label Joseph as the one who could interpret dreams, he was always quick to point out:

“It is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.” (Genesis 41:16)

God was the one giving Joseph the ability to do this.

I love two things about this:

First, that Joseph recognized where his gift came from.

But secondly, that he seemed to point this out to other people, too!

I think most of us know that we should be showing gratitude to God for our gifts and talents.

We try to redirect our minds to give God credit and to show how grateful we are.

But how often do we mention that to others?

YOU may know that your gifts come from heaven, but do other people know that you know that?

What a sweet and simple way to bear testimony.

The woman who brought me dinner wasn’t making me feel her love.

She was helping me to feel God’s love.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Gratitude and credit to the Lord first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

Here’s the golden question though:

What does it mean to “prosper”?

I tend to get a very specific picture in my mind:

An easy and happy life, money isn’t an issue…

But that would mean all righteous Latter-day Saints should be rich with easy lives, right?

I could point to tons of examples of real-life, church history, and scriptural figures who prove that theory wrong.

(Although do I think we subconsciously judge our own or others’ righteousness based off material possessions/jobs/education? Yes, but that’s a topic for another post)

So if God keeps His promises, how are people prospering?

Let’s look at Joseph of Egypt.

After being almost murdered by his brothers, sold into slavery, and traded to Potiphar…

“The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man”. (Genesis 39:2)

And then after being falsely accused of a terrible sin and being thrown into prison by someone who had grown to trust him…

“The Lord was with him, and that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper.” (Genesis 39:23)

I have found that when I am the most righteous, most devoted, most spiritual and in-tune with God version of myself, I am prosperous in lots of things.

Prosperous in inner peace.

Prosperous in love for myself and others.

Prosperous in joy despite my circumstances.

Prosperous in worshipping.

Prosperous in clarity.

Prosperous in blessings that aren’t tangible.

I fully believe that we are blessed to prosper when we keep our hearts pointed toward God continuously.

But just like Joseph of old, I believe that we prosper in all the inner ways that truly matter most.

How do you feel that you are blessed to prosper?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post What does it mean to prosper? first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I’m sure Joseph felt this excitement as he interpreted the butler’s dream down in the prison.

Because the dream meant the butler was going to make it out just fine and be restored to his place by pharaoh’s side!

So immediately after interpreting this dream, he asked the butler to put in a good word for him with the pharaoh.

He explained that he was an innocent Hebrew who had been sold into slavery and who hadn’t done anything wrong.

And so what did this butler do when he was restored to his position by the pharaoh’s side?!

“Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him”. (Genesis 40:23)

And it wasn’t until TWO YEARS later that the pharaoh had his own dream and the butler thought, “Wait a second, I should have mentioned this guy I met in prison earlier.”

TWO YEARS.

I’m not sure what kind of inspirational thought this is, but I couldn’t get this practical lesson out of my mind as I studied:

Sometimes, people just forget.

They forget to do things that they’ve promised, even things that seem especially important to us.

And sometimes, we forget.

We forget to reach out to that old friend after receiving a prompting.

We forget to check up on that person that we said we would.

We forget to make that next temple appointment.

Life is messy and mortal, and even with the best of intentions, people will forget stuff.

Sometimes it’s just good to remember that we all need grace because we all forget.

And yet, even if we have to wait for 2 years for someone to remember we even exist, God can always make miracles happen.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

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

It was pretty classic, as he had all the answers written in blue ink on the palm of his hand.

I was disappointed in this student’s decision, and we had a discussion where he confessed and apologized.

I made a note to call his mom after school to discuss the situation.

As soon as school got out, my Vice Principal showed up in my room, letting me know that this student’s mom just called, furious that her son was being falsely accused of cheating.

She had just picked up her son from school, and this mom said her son was telling her he had a friend’s phone number written on his hand, and that I had made the whole thing up.

I was… very frustrated, to say the least.

As a new teacher, never did I think that a parent would accuse me of lying so dramatically or trying to frame their child.

He was the one who had made a poor decision, and now I was being falsely accused?!

Luckily, the whole situation was resolved peaceably and I had some good talks with this kid’s mom.

But for just a moment, I felt that heavy sting of false accusation.

This mom really thought for a moment that I was trying to intentionally frame her child, and it did not feel good.

Now 1000000x more dramatic and serious than my experience, I imagine how Joseph must have felt after Potiphar’s wife accused him of a very serious sin.

And Potiphar’s reaction? He “took him, and put him into the prison”. (Genesis 39:20)

He did everything right, and yet his reputation was completely ruined, along with his lost freedom.

So where’s the redemption?

“But the Lord was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison.” (Genesis 39:21)

The Lord still showed mercy and still showered Joseph with blessings.

His circumstances may not have looked great, but he knew he at least had the Lord’s mercy.

Mercy and blessings always follow those who put their faith in God, no matter the circumstance!

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post False accusations and mercy first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

Growing up, I was asked to play the piano for everything.

Sight-reading has always been my strength, so I could play all the hymns or learn accompaniments super quickly. I was the one playing for seminary, every fireside, ward choir, musical numbers… you name it.

I wasn’t asking for these opportunities.

But I’d always say yes and was willing to play for anything.

And so I was shocked one day to learn that someone started talking about how jealous they were that I could play everything so easily, and that it wasn’t fair that I was the only one asked to play the piano all the time.

I was honestly surprised at how much it hurt me to learn that someone else was jealous of me.

I wanted to explain all the hard work that went into practicing the piano for hours and hours each week.

I wanted to explain that I knew that sight-reading was also a gift that I had when it came to music (don’t ask me to improvise or compose anything!).

I also wanted to explain that I was not volunteering for these opportunities. Adults and other youth were probably just asking me because I had done it before, and they knew they wouldn’t have to ask me if I had the ability to play something or not.

Basically, I did not like being envied.

And then I realized… I envied other people.

I mean, I was a teen. I envied other people for their natural beauty, their fashion, their humor, their wealth, their talents…

I had this realization that each person I envied would probably also have some sort of explanation for why they were that way.

Envying does no good.

Envying leads to separation.

Separation from that person and separation from God for not feeling gratitude for what we have.

Joseph had a tough time with his brothers because “his brethren envied him” (Genesis 37:11).

It seems like Joseph had lots of explanations for why.

He couldn’t help that he was the firstborn of his father’s favorite wife. He clearly had a natural talent for interpreting dreams. He obviously had a close relationship God, so he likely worked hard to develop his gifts.

And instead of embracing Joseph for his uniqueness, his brothers turned their feelings into envy, which boiled into hatred.

Who do you envy right now?

How can you cheer them on instead?

Because love is always better than envy.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Envying and separation first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.