I couldn’t wait!

Until the process started and I realized that we’d have to basically live upstairs with small children for the week.

The upstairs hallway was lined with snacks, drinks, toys, my laptop, puzzles, games, garbage bags… anything I could think of. ⁣

(Because of course it was also super rainy and cold for those days, so park visits were suddenly out of the question.)⁣

EVERYTHING WAS A MESS. ⁣

Upstairs, downstairs, the garage that had basically become a temporary storage unit for everything… all of it. ⁣

I don’t know about you, but I’ve heard plenty of times that it’s easier to feel the Spirit in clean and orderly places than messy ones. ⁣

This was the thought running through my mind one evening as I sat, exhausted, and looked at the chaos. ⁣

I just wanted a clean home where I could feel peace! ⁣

“Heavenly Father,” I pleaded. “There’s no way I can get this house clean right now.” ⁣

Almost immediately, I was filled with this calming peace. ⁣

I felt a strong spiritual presence, and I felt like everything was okay. ⁣

Here’s what I know: ⁣

God doesn’t wait until our house or our room is clean until He speaks to us. ⁣

When we see Jacob wandering in a wilderness and making a pillow out of stones, this is where the Lord visits him and blesses him with great power. ⁣

And Jacob’s response? “Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not.” (Genesis 28:16). ⁣

The Lord is wherever His righteous people are, whether they are sleeping on stones, or whether their house is covered in dust, crumbs, and toys. ⁣

The Lord can be anywhere, as long as we take a moment to look for Him.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Can you feel the Spirit in a messy home? first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I was a really good parent before I gave birth!⁣

Come to my home now at any time of day and you’ll see dried mac and cheese, cracker crumbs, yogurt or any other assortment of foods hidden somewhere on my kids’ faces. ⁣

Now don’t get me wrong, I still want my kids to have clean faces. ⁣

I’ve just changed my expectations of what “clean faces” looks like. ⁣

It doesn’t look like constantly clean faces.⁣

Instead, it looks like constantly washing dirty faces. ⁣

“Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord.” (D&C 133:5⁣)

Being clean before the Lord seems like an impossibly high standard. ⁣

Because I’m getting “dirt” on me all the time. ⁣

A little splash here. ⁣

A little fleck there. ⁣

Staying clean constantly isn’t what I’m shooting for. ⁣

Instead, I’m deciding to never give up on washing the spots off. ⁣

I’m scrubbing here and wiping off there. ⁣

I’m taking full showers whenever I need.

That’s what real repentance and change look like!⁣

Not staying spotless, but committing to becoming spotless as soon as we realize we’ve gotten a bit dirty. ⁣

“Repentance is not an event; it is a process.” – Russell M. Nelson

My kids vary greatly in how clean they are each day.⁣

But I’m never going to give up on helping them get clean once again.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Dirty kid faces first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

“For I the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance.” (D&C 1:31⁣)

Of course not. ⁣

Because immediately after telling us this in verse 31, the Lord gives us the most tender, personal, and hopeful principle in verse 32:⁣

“Nevertheless, he that repents and does the commandments of the Lord shall be forgiven;”⁣

Sometimes I wonder, “How am I ever going to be good enough?”⁣

I’m repenting of the same things over and over. ⁣

I’m trying to figure out a life filled with messy relationships in the most Christlike way that I can. ⁣

I’m trying to do what’s right, and I keep falling short. ⁣

But when I’m in the scriptures, I feel these tender little reminders often:⁣

“You are good enough.”⁣

“You are trying.”⁣

“You are keeping the commandments the best you can.”⁣

“You are trying to change every day.”⁣

I write these statements in the margins of my scriptures pretty often, because I think the Spirit needs me to remember these often. ⁣

I will make mistakes. I will fall short. ⁣

But all that I need to do in order to enter the presence of the Lord…⁣

All that I need to do in order to be in the presence of my God and Savior…⁣

Is to just try. ⁣

To keep the commandments. ⁣

And when I fall short – I just have to want to sincerely change. ⁣

And that’s it. ⁣

It’s difficult. And it’s a lifelong process – no matter how long we’ve got here on earth. ⁣

But to be able to dwell in the presence of my God?⁣

I’ll keep going.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post No sign of sin anywhere! first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

(You can probably guess where the story is going…)

I wasn’t paying attention…

and spilled the entire glass of bright red juice.

All over our white carpet.

My parents weren’t home, and I panicked.

It was like a scene from a movie where I was frantically running around.

I tried everything I could to wipe it up in every way possible.

Sure, I got some of it up.

But that stain wasn’t going anywhere.

There was always going to be a reddish pinkish spot on the carpet.

My mom walked in the door, and I was ready to face my fate.

I sheepishly showed her what had happened.

To my surprise, she laughed.

What?!

She said:

“We are actually replacing the carpet with hardwood and the installers are coming in three days. Don’t worry about it!”

The relief washed over me as I realized that I wasn’t going to have a permanent reminder of my one silly mistake.

Within just a few days, there was no trace of the stain.

In its place was beautiful new hardwood.

This little experience of good timing gave me a small taste of how Jesus can make the sins and stains on our hearts disappear.

“These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” (Revelation 7:14)

The righteous are not the people who had unblemished white robes all along.

The righteous are the people who had great tribulations, who made mistakes, who turned away from God, but then chose to use Jesus Christ’s atoning power to be cleansed into an even better state.

It should be impossible to get a blood-red stain out of white robes.

But Jesus did the impossible so that we could wash the stains, heartache, and pain out as often as we need.

Every little evidence of red can be replaced with the purest white.

It’s all because of, and through, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Red juice and white carpet  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

We’ve had many friends in our ward turn 8 and choose to be baptized, and it’s been so fun to attend and celebrate each one.

I’ve noticed some patterns though.

First of all, grandparents give the sweetest baptism and Holy Ghost-themed talks, and it’s so fun to see how each person puts their own spin on it.

But secondly, I’ve remembered how simple the baptism ordinance is.

It’s over in literally just a few seconds.

This powerful, soul-saving essential ordinance accompanied by everlasting covenants is so…

Simple.

Pure.

Un-complicated.

It’s little 8 year olds who love Jesus, want to follow Him, and choose to keep a commandment.

It’s so simply beautiful.

“Be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord.” (Isaiah 52:11)

When these young children take upon themselves the name of Jesus and receive the Holy Ghost, they are bearing the vessels of the Lord.

These girls and boys have access to the priesthood power of the Almighty God as they keep their covenants.

Life is going to get a whole lot more complicated for these 8 year olds as they navigate what it’s really like to be Christlike in a world filled with fallen mortals and temptations everywhere.

But the premise is still pretty simple.

Whether it’s our initial baptism, or whether it’s the weekly renewal in another simple ordinance, we are invited to be clean so that we can access our priesthood power and bear His holy name.

Scrub off that sin, that tarnish, that anger, that hard heart, and just be clean.

And when that cleanliness doesn’t stay too long, we can try it again next week. 

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post It’s simple to be clean first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I was a really good parent before I gave birth!

Come to my home now at any time of day and you’ll see dried mac and cheese, cracker crumbs, yogurt or any other assortment of foods hidden somewhere on my kids’ faces.

Now don’t get me wrong, I still want my kids to have clean faces.

I’ve just changed my expectations of what “clean faces” looks like.

It doesn’t look like constantly clean faces.

Instead, it looks like constantly washing dirty faces.

“Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord.” D&C 133:5

Being clean before the Lord seems like an impossibly high standard.

Because I’m getting “dirt” on me all the time.

A little splash here.

A little fleck there.

Staying clean constantly isn’t what I’m shooting for.

Instead, I’m deciding to never give up on washing the spots off.

I’m scrubbing here and wiping off there.

I’m taking full showers whenever I need them (which is often).

That’s what real repentance and change look like!

Not staying spotless, but committing to becoming spotless as soon as we realize we’ve gotten a bit dirty.

My kids vary greatly in how clean they are each day.

But I’m never going to give up on helping them get clean once again.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Be ye clean first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

This short message from our prophet in the most recent General Conference stuck out to me the moment he said it.

That analogy of watching workers dig out debris from the Salt Lake temple during its enormous renovation.

And then a prophet of the Lord asking me to pray to discover what I can remove from my life.

My thoughts and prayers used to center around what I was doing wrong that I needed to change.

The music that I needed to clean up, the prayers that I was forgetting to say, the visiting teaching assignment I wasn’t doing.

And slowly, this phrase started being added to more and more of my prayers:

“Please let me know what I can let drop out of my life that will help me to feel the Spirit more.”

And that’s why I loved President Nelson’s short talk so much.

This idea that we all have the junky debris that is keeping us from our full potential.

It’s not straight up sin or filled with evil.

But it’s keeping the Spirit from being as present as possible in my life.

It’s keeping me zoned out and enjoying a dramatic storyline, instead of having that thought to text a friend.

It’s keeping me scrolling through a feed looking at pictures I don’t really care about, instead of spending a few more minutes in the scriptures being taught a lesson I need to hear.

It’s keeping me with frustratingly impossible standards for my family members, instead of learning how to love unconditionally.

The debris blocks out a lot if I let it pile up.

The Lord also gave this advice to Joseph Smith’s own family in D&C 93:48:

“Your family must needs repent and forsake some things”.

Repent = change

Forsake = forget

Your family needs to forget some things they are doing, and make some changes.

Don’t we all need to hear that message?!

I want to build so many great things in my life. I want to build places of beauty, of love, and of safety.

I want to build sacred places in my life.

But even with the best intentions and the perfect building plans…

The first thing I have to do is clear out the debris.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Clean out the debris first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.