I honestly didn’t think too much of what I was doing.

But while I was volunteering, something took my by surprise.

In a very mundane moment during my volunteering, I felt completely overwhelmed with the Spirit.

Like, it still remains in my personal top ten list for spiritual moments.

I felt a strong impression that what I was doing, while it didn’t seem “spiritual,” was actually a really good thing my Father in Heaven wanted me to do.

Twelve-year-old Jesus taught His parents a beautiful lesson about His primary purpose on earth.

When Mary and Joseph found their son talking with and listening to the doctors in the temple, Jesus said,

“Wist​ ye not that I must be about my ​​​Father’s​ business?”⁣ (Luke 2:49)

Our “Father’s business” certainly does not only look like serving a full time mission or preaching about the scriptures.

(Although those are great!)

What other good things can we do with our time that might contribute to our being about our Father’s business of bringing light and truth and progression toward all of His children?

I have found spiritual confirmations while getting a good education.

While caring for family members.

While excelling at work, having quality family time, and strengthening my talents.

“Throughout His life our Savior showed us how to use our agency. As a boy in Jerusalem, He deliberately chose to ‘be about [His] Father’s business.’” —Robert D. Hales

And I think it’s important to consider what it looks like to NOT be about our Heavenly Father’s business, too.

What is wasting my time?

What is distracting me from the important stuff?

What is driving the Spirit away?

I don’t always need to be going to church or listening to the scriptures at every moment in my life.

But whatever I choose to do, I hope my Savior can see that I am always trying to be about my Father’s business.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post My Father’s business first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

You know those spoiled, wealthy kids who have parents that give them a giant sum of money to “help them get started” and then continuously bail them out of every ridiculous decision they make?

I don’t think we are too far off from that, spiritually.

We are sent into this world with so much going in our favor, regardless of our physical circumstances.

We are here on a beautiful earth.

We are given bodies that are totally unique and have been especially created for us, with minds that can think and problem-solve.

We are given the light of Christ to point our consciences toward good and righteous things.

And we are given a Savior who keeps rushing to our assistance every single time we make a mistake, as long as we sincerely call on Him for help.

And so can you imagine how Jesus Christ feels when we actively choose to turn away from Him?

“They are the workmanship of mine own hands, and I gave unto them their knowledge”. (Moses 7:32)

Christ weeps.

Not to try and guilt us into choosing the right.

Not to shame us.

Not to make us feel bad for Him.

But He weeps because He knows what brings true happiness and peace, and He is so sad to see us bring more pain into our lives.

Christ weeps out of pure compassion.

Pure love.

As our Creator, as someone who has given us absolutely everything, He weeps.

He has probably wept for you and wept with you many times.

He loves you so much and He cares so much about the decisions you are making each day.

The Lord weeps.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post The Lord’s compassion  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I asked my three year old this question the other day as we searched online for some new sippy cups.

“Ummmmm…”

I knew we were in trouble.

She spent quite a long time looking at the two options, talking about the colors that she likes (yellow is her favorite) and clicking back and forth between them both.

Some choices in life really don’t matter.

I don’t often pray about what shirt to wear, what to eat for dinner, or which paint to choose.

But more often than not, I’ve learned that the Lord says “it mattereth not” on some decisions that I think He really SHOULD care about.

When I prayed whether or not to serve a mission or marry the cute boy I had just started dating…

I was shocked to get a response of: “You get to choose! Either way, your life will turn out great.”

What?!

How could it not matter?

I’ve had a few thoughts on this recently.

I know for my life, that “mission or marry” decision 8 years ago dramatically affected everything about me.

And surely, the omniscient God knew what I would pick and how it would eternally change me.

But… He needed me to make the choice.

He wanted me to come to Him in prayer. But He didn’t want me to give my decision-making power up.

I needed to use my agency. To make that choice. To own my decision.

When I read about the missionaries heading down the Missouri River, asking for what mode of transportation they should use, I initially thought that the Lord saying “it mattereth not” was just a way of Him letting them know that it really doesn’t matter.

But right afterwards, we learn that the Lord commanded them to NOT travel via the canoes on the river.

So… their mode of transportation DID matter.

But He still let them make the choice.

So they could learn the lesson.

I know I’ve talked about this a lot recently, but the more I’ve studied about prayer and communication with my Heavenly Father, the more I’ve realized that He wants us to use our agency so much.

So much.

Agency is the way we are molding our will to His.

Not by asking for directions and then following them.

(Although, sometimes He knows it’s best to tell us His will.)

Sometimes, things really don’t matter. My daughter finally decided on the purple cup, and it will likely not have any lasting effect on her eternal destiny.

Other times, and in my opinion pretty rarely, things matter enough for God to tell me exactly what’s up.

But most of the time, things matter, and yet God knows that telling me is going to rob me of a growing experience.

I have to choose, and I have to own that decision.

For that’s how I become like Him.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post It mattereth not first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

There is a God who knows exactly what will happen tomorrow. In your personal life, in your kid’s life, in your neighborhood, in this country…

And yet we each have the personal power to do whatever we’d like to do tomorrow.

Crazy. My mind can’t quite wrap itself around that concept.

But I think that’s why we are so good at thinking we might mess everything up.

We might move to the wrong house, talk to the wrong person, choose the wrong spouse, or make the wrong diet choice.

Because we think that if there is a “right” choice to choose, then we have to avoid the “wrong” thing that will mess it all up.

Now certainly there are sins and decisions that might bring terrible consequences.

But even if I decide to do something truly horrible tomorrow… I will not have messed up God’s plan.

You have not messed up God’s plan.

That thing that you refer to as your “mistake”? It was all a part of the plan. Of your personal spiritual development.

Even something as egregious as a prophet of God choosing to ask a question he knew had already been answered, and loaning out precious translations of ancient records.

Even that can’t ruin God’s plans.

“The works, and the designs, and the purposes of God cannot be frustrated”. Doctrine and Covenants 3:1.

I still want to give it my best each day. I want to choose the right, to receive personal revelation, and to make the best decisions that I can.

But I can feel comfort on the days where everything seems to fall apart. Or when I commit that sin… again. Or when I think how much better life would have been with a different decision.

I’m not messing anything up.

I’m not that powerful.

I can make changes in my life, just as the young prophet learned an unforgettable lesson about listening to God the first time.

But I’m not messing it up.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post You can’t mess it up first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.