When the first paper was due, the professor highly suggested we meet with the Teacher Assistants (TA’s) to go over it before turning it in. ⁣

I didn’t bother doing this; I was sure I could figure it out on my own. ⁣

And… when I got my grade on my final paper, I did not like it. ⁣

I realized I had misunderstood one portion of the paper prompt. ⁣

This poor grade on the paper brought my overall class grade down dramatically! ⁣

So guess what I did for the SECOND paper of the class? ⁣

When that second paper was almost due, I signed up to meet with a TA. ⁣

It was completely free, only took about 15 minutes of my time, and she told me exactly what to fix. ⁣

She also made note of my name so that when I turned my paper in, she would be the one to grade it. ⁣

It was literally such a painless and easy process.⁣

Guess what grade I got on that paper?⁣

A perfect score. ⁣

I was frustrated with myself for not meeting with a TA the first time around. Why had I left such simple, free help on the table?! ⁣

I imagine Enoch felt a similar exacerbation as he spoke to the wicked people. ⁣

In Moses 6:43 he says, “Why counsel ye yourselves, and deny the God of heaven?” ⁣

In other words, why are you trying to give each other counsel and figure it out yourselves, when you have a loving God who literally wants to tell you all of the exact right things to do to make it back to Him?! ⁣

We don’t have to guess. ⁣

God WANTS to help us each step of the way. ⁣

But we do have to ask and claim the help we’ve been offered.⁣

Are we leaving heavenly help on the table by forgetting to ask for it?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Going to the TA first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

When I sit down to write, and my mind goes completely blank.

I write a lot of things to share on social media.

There was one time where I had a scripture that I really wanted to post about, so I pulled out my phone to write a caption.

But……. As much as I loved the scripture and wanted to share it, my mind was completely blank for what to write.

I tried to think of personal stories, other perspectives I could add…

Nothing.

I looked at the time and realized I only had 5 minutes left before I needed to go somewhere.

Yet, I still couldn’t think of anything!

I quickly prayed.

“Heavenly Father, help me to be able to type this post while I have the time!”

I waited a bit.

And still, nothing.

I finally gave up and moved on to my next activity.

Honestly, I was a little frustrated that Heavenly Father hadn’t helped my brain focus when I needed it the most.

Fun fact, this particular event happened in the beginning of March 2020.

When I frustratedly put my phone away, unable to access divine power to blast away my writer’s block…

I had no idea what was going to happen over the next 48 hours.

That “sickness” I had vaguely heard about on the news, completely shut the world down.

The world had changed in an instant.

And that scripture that I couldn’t write a caption about?

It took on a totally new meaning. What I had thought about writing wouldn’t have even seemed relevant. The changes in the world gave me a perspective that allowed me to write a lot of my thoughts.

Many of us have learned:

“Wherefore, brethren, seek not to counsel the Lord, but to take counsel from his hand.” (Jacob 4:10)

I was trying to “counsel the Lord” with my bad attitude about Him not ending my writer’s block.

I was getting frustrated that He wasn’t doing what I asked!

And yet, I was missing an opportunity to hear His real message to me.

Maybe He was trying to calm my heart and let me know that my writer’s block was a blessing that would make sense in a few days.

Maybe He was gently urging me to become more humble.

Maybe He was prompting me to move to a different task.

What messages might you and I be missing right now?

What answers are we waiting for so loudly that we unintentionally miss the Spirit’s calm voice? 

“We ought not to think of God’s plan as a cosmic vending machine where we (1) select a desired blessing, (2) insert the required sum of good works, and (3) the order is promptly delivered.” – D. Todd Christofferson

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Counseling the Lord first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

It was Halloween time, and my teacher had asked all of us to write a spooky story.

When the time was up, we got into groups of 4 to read our stories to each other. My group read our stories, including one girl who hadn’t finished hers.

Our teacher then asked us to pick the person who wrote the best spooky story who would then read it out loud to the entire class.

It was SO AWKWARD to have to pick the best! No one wanted to say theirs was the best, everyone was beating around the bush, and finally someone suggested the girl who didn’t finish because her story was the spookiest since there wasn’t an ending.

She didn’t want to share hers, but everyone kind of agreed out of pity, the time was up, and we made this girl share her unfinished story out loud with the rest of the class.

Over 20 years later, I still remember how painful that experience was. We all knew we hadn’t picked the “best” story, and we made someone really uncomfortable at the same time.

Group decisions are rough.

There are emotions, different backgrounds, opinions from everywhere, communication style hurdles…

And yet, the Lord’s church functions almost entirely in councils and presidencies.

Groups. Making decisions together. Counseling together.

It even happened during the creation.

“And thus were their decisions at the time that they counseled among themselves to form the heavens and the earth.” (Abraham 5:3)

I don’t think counseling together is meant to produce the most efficient results, but it is meant to give the most well-rounded ones.

When all viewpoints are considered, when everyone feels safe to share what they actually think, when everyone trusts each other to say what they mean, then councils provide beautiful perspectives.

Maybe counseling together to create the world is where the idea came for placing beauty in the dry deserts, or for the placement of the planets, or for the diversification of species.

Counseling together can be tough.

But if it’s a pattern set from the foundation of the earth, it’s probably a skill worth pursuing.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Counseling and decisions first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I had finished up my freshman year, and had to make the pretty dramatic decision, at least to a 15-year-old, about which school to attend.

I knew my two options.

And I had faith in the power of prayer, so I prayed all summer long.

But… no answer.

But I knew the answer would come at some point, right? So I kept just praying.

Still… no answer.

My parents started to counsel me that I needed to get some more information about the two schools.

I needed to learn information, and that as I did, I would probably feel inspired for which school to attend.

I ended up getting course lists for both of the schools and mapping out my grad plan.

And all of a sudden, one of the schools seemed like a way better fit.

I was drawn to their huge offering of elective classes that matched my interests, and it just seemed like the right way to go. It seemed obvious!

And that’s when I realized… that was my answer.

When Joseph and other leaders were trying to make a decision together, the Lord taught them to make their decision: “inasmuch as it shall be made known to him by the voice of the Spirit, and according to the counsel of the order, and by the voice of the order.” D&C 104:36

Did you catch that? The Lord wanted them to come to their answer by listening to BOTH the voice of the spirit and the counsel of the people in the room.

President Nelson has even recently said: “I know that good inspiration is based upon good information”.

I’ve seen this time and time again since my teenage years.

Praying for inspiration AND learning from people who may know more than I do is the way that my mind is usually enlightened.

My husband sees this in his calling, too.

So, if you’ve been waiting for inspiration to strike, it might be worth it to start gathering information, and see where that takes you!

Have you had an experience like this before? Where good information or counsel led to better inspiration from the Spirit?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Information and inspiration first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

Every Monday, I would write all my posts for the week for this account.

But this time, I wrote Monday’s post, I wrote Tuesday’s post… and then my mind went blank.

I could tell it wasn’t just writer’s block.

It was a true stupor of thought. And I literally could not think about any insights from the scriptures to share.

I started to pray. The time I had set aside was slowly ticking away.

I started to get frustrated. “I’m trying to be more organized and use my time more wisely so that I’m not multitasking so much! Please can you help unblock my mind?” I pleaded to Heaven.

I kept asking for that inspiration to come. Why wasn’t He answering my prayers?

And yet, I still couldn’t write.

It was a really weird experience, and it made a big impression in my mind.

And then, on a week in March 2020 that I’m sure you all remember, the world started to shut down that Wednesday.

By Thursday, everything had changed.

I sat down to write the remainder of my posts for the week, and my ideas and thoughts were bubbling over the surface. I couldn’t write fast enough to contain the messages from my heart and the scriptures.

When I finally had a chance to ponder on this situation, I had a powerful and clear thought come to my mind.

“You were not doing anything wrong on Monday. I wasn’t ignoring you. You just had to wait until something outside of your control happened before it all made sense.”

I just had to wait.

There was no giant spiritual lesson or divine ignorance.

It was literally just that the world hadn’t shut down yet.

This was so powerful to me because it was one of the most poignant times when I realized how little I know compared to God.

I was trying to counsel God, to make Him give me in the inspiration I usually received.

“Seek not to counsel your God.” D&C 22:4

I thought He wasn’t listening to me.

But in reality, I didn’t even know what I didn’t even know.

Sometimes, we just have to wait for other things to happen before we can receive a clear answer for our prayers.

God knows what He is doing.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Timing is everything! first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

This past week, I wrote many of my posts on Monday. I knocked out 3 and started into my 4th post, found the scripture I wanted to write about, and hit a wall.

I KNEW the idea and thought that I wanted to convey in my post, but I literally couldn’t write the words down.

I said a little prayer to help me move forward in my writing, because when you are a young mom and have the time to sit down and write, you gotta take it! I kept praying. I kept trying to start writing the post. I told God about my timeline and how I only had a few more minutes before nap time was over.

And yet, nothing changed. I couldn’t write the 4th post.

I stopped trying, felt a little unsettled, and moved on.

I slowly posted my first posts that I had scheduled. Monday… Tuesday…

And then the world seemed to fall apart.

I looked back at the scripture that I had wanted to make that 4th post about, and it literally no longer made sense in the context I had imagined (It was all about General Conference, which had now drastically changed).

The timing just wasn’t right. Circumstances were going to change dramatically for myself and my readers so that my original words wouldn’t have the impact that I had imagined. We all needed a different message instead.

And sure enough, a new scripture and a new thought jumped out. I wrote that 4th post and posted it on Friday, and it was exactly what I needed to say.

Trying to “counsel the Lord” doesn’t always look like praying and telling the Lord exactly what he should do (although sometimes it can).

Instead, I think it can just mean that we are missing the true counsel from the Lord.

I was too busy asking for my writer’s block to be lifted, that I probably missed the message of “Wait. This has nothing to do with you. Just wait.”

So what messages are we missing right now? What answers and solutions are we waiting for so loudly, that we unintentionally miss the Spirit’s calm voice?

Slow down. Pray without an agenda. And then listen to his counsel.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Seek his counsel first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.