“The gospel is perfect, the people are not.”

I’ve heard, and said, variations of these phrases many times.

It makes sense in theory, right?

The Plan is perfect.

But the Father only has mortals to work with here on earth.

And no matter how righteous some may be or how much love individuals might feel for God, it’s a fallen world.

Selfishness and pride and vanity will sneak in.

Weaknesses will manifest themselves in ways that hurt.

Misunderstandings happen even with good intentions.

People sin.

As we study people in the scriptures, especially many of the judges, we see a lot imperfections.

Ann M. Dibb said:

“Samson was born with great potential. His mother was promised, ‘He shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines’.

“But as Samson grew, he looked more to the world’s temptations than to God’s direction.

“He made choices because they ‘pleaseth [him] well’ rather than because those choices were right.

“Repeatedly, the scriptures use the phrase ‘and he went down’ as they tell of Samson’s journeys, actions, and choices.

“Instead of arising and shining forth to fulfill his great potential, Samson was overcome by the world, lost his God-given power, and died a tragic, early death.”

Somehow, God works with imperfect people to make His perfect plan come to pass.

Thank goodness.

It can be disappointing to see the imperfections in people we admire, whether living now or in the past.

But it can be a beautiful experience, as we do throughout scripture, when we take the opportunities to see the good in these individuals.

There is always something good to learn.

But above all else, the real praise is to God.

To see His WORK moving forward, sometimes in spite of the people He has asked to assist.

All of these very imperfect people, in every dispensation, and yet God’s work keeps growing.

And in our own imperfect lives, God is not limited by our own limitations.

Even in us, God’s goodness, mercy, and power can be made manifest.

Praise the Lord for that!

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

Artwork: “Samson Puts Down the Pillars” by James Tissot

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

“The Lord is with thee”. (Judges 6:12)⁣

Aren’t we told this a lot too?⁣

God is aware of us. ⁣

His Spirit is with us. ⁣

The Savior walks with us. ⁣

But Gideon pushes back on this idea:⁣

“Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? ⁣

“and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of…?” (Judges 6:13)⁣

Doesn’t Gideon’s logic sound familiar, too??⁣

If the Lord is really with me, then why are all of these terrible things happening? ⁣

Where are the miracles you promised? ⁣

The angel doesn’t completely answer Gideon’s question in the moment, other than pointing him toward future blessings. ⁣

But how would you respond to Gideon’s question?⁣

I usually try to focus on one point in each post that I write, but I’ve had a lot of thoughts swirling around on this topic lately, so I’m going to share a few ideas and you can take the idea that resonates the most right now. ⁣

– The reward for being righteous always comes. Always. Usually not when we want it, and sometimes not even in this life. But we have to trust in God’s promise that it will come. ⁣

– The real blessing in the moment is peace and joy on the inside, despite turbulent circumstances. ⁣

– Life can’t just be perfect for those who believe in God and miserable for those who don’t. That would take away the element of faith, and would hinder agency. ⁣

– Although I 100000% relate to this feeling, I can also see how spiritually immature it is to just want blessings all the time. A spiritually mature individual loves God and Jesus with their whole heart, mind, and soul, and the circumstances literally don’t matter at all. ⁣

What do you think? How would you respond to Gideon?⁣

Because Gideon isn’t the only one asking this question.⁣

It’s everywhere. It’s on social media. It’s in our church classes. It’s being asked over and over in our minds. ⁣

And I think there is a whole new level of spiritual understanding available when we start to realize that the angel’s declaration of the Lord being with us IS the miracle we’ve been looking for all along.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post If the Lord be with us…? first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

This is where we keep any shoes that are used often enough to stay downstairs. ⁣

It’s a good-sized basket, which means that sometimes shoes fall to the bottom, making them difficult to find. ⁣

When it’s time for our family to leave the house and put shoes on, sometimes I’ll notice that one of my son’s shoes has fallen to the bottom of the basket. ⁣

I’ll quickly dig his shoe out and place it on top, and THEN I’ll ask him to find his shoes and put them on. ⁣

He will then see his shoes near the top of the basket and put them on all by himself.

He still finds the task difficult sometimes,

And gets frustrated when he can’t easily find his shoes.

But he has no idea that I made his task much easier and much more appropriate for his abilities. ⁣

This is similar to the spiritual foresight that the mighty prophetess and judge Deborah had. ⁣

Barak was terrified to go against the powerful Canaanite army. ⁣

It seemed like a difficult task. ⁣

He didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t see the path forward that would end in success.

But Deborah wisely said:⁣

“Is not the Lord gone out before thee?” (Judges 4:14)⁣

She knew that if the Lord was asking them to accomplish a task, then He had made it doable. ⁣

She knew He had prepared the way, removing obstacles that they might not ever be aware of. ⁣

She knew He knew exactly what their abilities were, and what they needed in order to be successful. ⁣

It’s fun to see the obvious hand of the Lord preparing our paths— when the house suddenly becomes available, or that person returns your call, or that teacher has a change of mind. ⁣

But other times we just have to trust that the Lord is preparing our paths in ways that we aren’t aware of. ⁣

He is before us, and He will prepare a way to help us accomplish anything we are asked to do.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Preparing the shoe basket first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

That stoplight had a sign that said “no right turn on red”. ⁣

I despised that sign so much, because I couldn’t see any purpose for it. ⁣

Plus, the light took what seemed like forever to change every time I went to turn right. ⁣

I noticed something interesting about myself, though. ⁣

Whenever I got to the light and there was another car behind me, I would patiently wait until the light turned green. ⁣

But if I got to the light, and there wasn’t a car in sight, I would make the right turn whenever I wanted. ⁣

I thought about this pattern one time, and I realized that I only cared about following that traffic rule when someone was watching me that would judge me. ⁣

But when I was on my own, I did whatever I wanted! ⁣

I had no “integrity” when it came to following that traffic rule. ⁣

I only cared about whether or not other people THOUGHT I was following the rules. ⁣

This reminds me of the Israelites.⁣

They sometimes got a little more righteous because a good judge was with them! ⁣

But then… ⁣

“And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they returned, and corrupted themselves more than their fathers”. (Judges 2:19) ⁣

As soon as the judge was gone, they went back to their wicked ways. ⁣

They KNEW what was right the whole time, but they only turned to the Lord when someone was there with them. ⁣

Do we only do the right thing when others are watching? ⁣

Do we only say our prayers if our spouse will see?⁣

Watch media that won’t drive out the Spirit if someone is in the room? ⁣

Or do we have integrity to keep the same standards, no matter who is there?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Red light integrity first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I was reminded that if there’s anything that raising a human for the first six weeks of their life can teach you, it’s a nice, firm reminder that there are so many things outside of your control. ⁣

The word “schedule” is pretty meaningless. ⁣

Infants cry when they want. Sleep when they want. Have messy blowouts when they want. ⁣

It’s a time when you literally have so little control over a lot of details in your life as an adult.

My kids are older than my sister’s little infant, so we are dealing with a different type of chaos as we deal with “end of the school year” busyness.

No matter what phase of life I’m in though, I’ve always taken comfort in what I can control. ⁣

I can choose Jesus. ⁣

“Choose you this day whom ye will serve”. (Joshua 24:15)⁣

I can choose to still pray. ⁣

I can choose to still scroll through some scriptures as I’m falling asleep. ⁣

I can choose to react with love and all the patience I can muster. ⁣

And I can also choose to recognize that the good things I’m doing as a woman, wife, and mother are all huge ways of serving the Lord, too. ⁣

I’m choosing to make personal sacrifices to love those around me even better.

Basically, I’m choosing to serve God each day by embracing the chaos. ⁣

It’s what I can give.

“Choosing the Lord” looks different to everyone in different stages of life. ⁣

But the choice will always be there— in fact, our Savior suffered to endure that the choice would always be there. ⁣

How have you chosen Jesus today?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Choose you this day first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I told her the whole story.

She had been almost three years old.

I was there.

She cried a little but was then okay.

“Oh wait, we even got a commemorative certificate!”

I went upstairs to my closet and found the card along with a little lock of her hair.

I was SHOCKED to realize I had gotten most of the information wrong!

I looked at the date— it was 3 days after my son was born, and suddenly I remembered telling my husband and my mom to take Quin to get a haircut while I was freshly postpartum with my second.

I had melded different memories together from all 3 of my kids, plus I think I embellished a bit? I don’t even know.

Our memories are generally pretty bad.

I mean, my daughter is 8, and this was a pretty big milestone of getting her first haircut, and I had gotten out totally wrong.

Until…

I brought out that physical memento.

That physical certificate reminded me of what ACTUALLY happened.

I think of the Israelites who had to cross the River Jordan, completely on dry ground.

What a miracle!

How could they EVER forget that?!

And yet the Lord told them to take some stones from the river bed:

“These stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever.” (Joshua 4:7)

The stones and memorial helped them to remember.

A tangible object for a very real but very fleeting spiritual experience.

The Lord knows we are prone to wander. Prone to forget miracles. Prone to downplay covenants. Prone to misremember spiritual promptings.

How have physical objects helped you to remember spiritual experiences?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Forgetting my daughter’s haircut first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

But other times, God gives us the answer right away! ⁣

Joshua, the new leader of the Israelites, approached the city of Jericho. ⁣

This was the climax of 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, and now what?! ⁣

Well, the Lord tells Joshua: ⁣

“See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour.” (Joshua 6:2) ⁣

The Lord then proceeded to tell Joshua exactly what to do– march around the city once a day for six days, and on the seventh day, march seven times more. The priests will then blow ram’s horns, the people will shout, and the walls of Jericho will come tumbling down. ⁣

The prophet Joshua told his people the plan, they followed the directions, and the city was theirs. ⁣

Easy peasy, right? ⁣

Asked and answered. ⁣

Sometimes, the Lord is ready to give us the exact answer that we need.⁣

But the tricky part then becomes having enough faith to actually follow through on the plans. ⁣

Have you had an experience like this before? ⁣

Receiving direct answers to prayers is the best. ⁣

But then we have to trust and act. ⁣

Because receiving the answer is only the first half of the equation. ⁣

Whether that means to quit the job, have that conversation, or march around a city blowing horns and shouting, it takes a lot of faith to follow through on our answered prayers.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post The faith to march around Jericho  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

It’s one of my favorite songs that I learned as a child. ⁣

My language? ⁣

My actions?⁣

What would I do if the Savior was right next to me?⁣

It helped guide me to more Christlike decisions as a little kid. ⁣

But now, years later, with three kids of my own, it brings a different meaning to me. ⁣

Fear. Weakness. Dismay. ⁣

I’ve felt it all. ⁣

“Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.” (Joshua 1:9)⁣

My understanding of the Savior has grown a lot since I was a kid. ⁣

He’s not just there, watching me, hoping I say and do nice things. ⁣

He is with me in my weakness. In my dismay. In my fears. ⁣

He’s with me when I feel exhausted after putting out my kids’ little fires all day. ⁣

He’s with me when I think that I’ve messed everything up. ⁣

He’s with me when I hear more bad news. ⁣

He’s with me when I remember everything that’s on my to-do list. ⁣

“He is always near me, though I do not see him there; ⁣

“And because he loves me dearly, I am in his watchful care.”⁣

He’s there cheering me on. Guiding me. Comforting me. Loving me. ⁣

His Spirit can always be with me, whenever I have the desire. ⁣

And because He is with me wherever I go, I have no need to feel fear and dismay. ⁣

I can be strong and have courage to conquer whatever comes my way.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Be strong and of a good courage!  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I had never been on the path before.

There were little blue paint marks on sticks and trees along the pathway to help us know we were going in the right direction.

We suddenly came to a point where we couldn’t see the next blue mark.

How were we going to know where to go?!

Luckily, one of the leaders in our group had done this hike many times.

“Follow me!

“This part is a little tricky, but I’ve walked this many times.”

I had complete confidence to stay right behind her as we moved forward.

And, sure enough, we soon found the next blue mark and continued on the marked trail. 

When you trust someone, you’ll stick by them.

You’ll willingly obey their directions because you know they’ve been there before. 

“That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him.” (Deuteronomy 30:20)

In our journey here on earth, we have someone who has walked every path we have.

He knows every tricky part and invites us to stay with Him.

So will we trust and enthusiastically follow Him?

Even when the path seems especially rocky or twisty?

One of the natural results of growing in our love for the Savior is our more sincere desire to obey and cleave unto Him, even when we can’t see the pathway forward.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Following the path first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

It was early, it was outside, and I had a million other things to do. ⁣

When I arrived, I was disappointed to learn that none of my friends from my ward had even showed up, even though they said they would.⁣

Sooooo I spent the rest of the activity performing service with a terrible attitude. ⁣

Annoyed that I had come, tired, cold, and a little bit sore from all the hard physical work. ⁣

Clearly, I was missing the entire point of the service activity, and my heart certainly was not happy. ⁣

The Lord taught the Israelites to serve the poor and needy in their community. ⁣

“Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him”. (Deuteronomy 15:10) ⁣

We are asked to give freely to those who are need, which is so important. ⁣

But we also need to make sure our hearts are not grieved, annoyed, or resentful when we give service. ⁣

So would it have been better to just sleep in that Saturday morning and not go to the service project? (Like all my friends decided to do?!)⁣

I don’t think so. ⁣

Service was still performed. Someone else got to feel gratitude for a lightened load. The leaders who had organized it didn’t have to sacrifice as much time away from their families because so many youth bailed.⁣

And it has now become an anchor learning opportunity for me about how NOT to perform service. ⁣

(But just to be clear, that was not an immediate lesson I learned. Reflection and growth take time and maturity!)⁣

I still try to show up to things, even when I don’t totally feel like it because I know at least other people’s loads get lightened. ⁣

But it’s so much better when I prepare my heart and mind with love beforehand! ⁣

Giving with a happy and willing heart makes all the difference.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Bailing on the service project  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.