My teacher told us that at the beginning of class every day, we would write a paragraph by ourselves.

IN FRENCH.

My French skills were dismal at best, but I would pull out my English-French dictionary each morning and write the best paragraph I could.

After a couple of weeks, she asked us to turn in our notebooks.

The next day, she handed them back.

I opened mine and found tons of red marks.

My heart sank.

And then I realized…

She had underlined everything I had written CORRECTLY in red pen.

She also left a personal response in very simple French for each entry.

I felt so empowered!

She was pointing out everything that I was doing right.

My accuracy was below 50%.

But I suddenly felt that my teacher was on my side and really wanted me to learn French.

And I felt like I really could do it.

This is what our Savior does on a much grander and much more serious scale.

“Listen to him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before him.” (D&C 45:3)

He is looking for every single thing that we do correctly!

He notices every righteous desire (even if our actions don’t line up with those desires)

Every righteous effort (even if the results don’t turn out the way we wanted)

And every righteous action (even if someone else took offense).

He is underlining in red every single good thought, effort, action, ordinance, sacrifice, and service.

He gives us the benefit of the doubt.

And He will give us all the credit.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Red underlined French first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

My French skills were dismal at best, but each morning, I would pull out my English-French dictionary and write the best paragraph that I could.

After a couple weeks, she asked for us to turn in our notebooks. The next day, she handed them back.

I opened mine and found tons of red marks.

And then I realized… She had underlined everything I had written CORRECTLY in red pen.

She had also responded in very simple French to each entry with encouraging words or a personal connection.

I felt so empowered!

She was pointing out everything that I was doing right.

My accuracy was definitely below 50%.

But I suddenly felt that my teacher really wanted me to learn French.

She was on my side.

It’s a silly little story, but it’s stayed in my mind for over a decade.

She cared about me, she was on my side, and she made me want to learn French even better.

On a much grander, and much more serious scale, this is what our Savior does.

“Listen to him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before him”. D&C 45:3

He is looking for every single thing that we do correctly.

Every righteous desire. (Even if your actions didn’t totally line up.)

Every righteous effort. (Even if the results didn’t turn out the way we wanted.)

Every righteous action. (Even if someone else took offense.)

He is PLEADING and ADVOCATING.

For you.

He is underlining in red every single good thought, effort, action, ordinance, sacrifice, service…

He is giving you the benefit of the doubt even when the rest doesn’t quite make sense.

And the irony in it is this:

Christ being on my side and looking for every good thing that I’ve done, doesn’t make me feel like I’ve got a free pass.

In my French class, I suddenly had a natural curiosity to learn French even better so that I could communicate more clearly.

And this knowledge about my Savior motivates me to add even more goodness in my life.

Because He is my personal advocate.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post My personal advocate first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.