This has come to my mind a few times recently.

I LOVE connecting with God through the scriptures.

But things have felt a little… off?

Then I read a very simple scripture I know I had read many times before:

“Prepare thy heart to receive and obey the instructions which I am about to give unto you”. ⁣(D&C 132:3)

Boom.

That was the answer that I needed. ⁣

I needed to prepare my heart a bit better to receive whatever I needed the Spirit to give me in these scriptures. ⁣

I had grown lax with my preparation.

So I prayed for a softer, more prepared heart. ⁣

I humbled myself and was ready to be taught. ⁣

And then I read the scriptures again. ⁣

This time, I found what the Lord wanted to teach me. ⁣

At least, I found what He wanted to teach me right then, because I’m sure there is much more that I can learn. ⁣

Sometimes, we just need to prepare. ⁣

Prepare our hearts to be sensitive to hard things. ⁣

Prepare our hearts to not worry about the stuff that we don’t need to worry about right now. ⁣

Prepare our hearts to be a little more humble and submissive to the Spirit. ⁣

So that’s what I learned. ⁣

Scripture study isn’t always easy. Finding inspiration isn’t always easy. ⁣

Maybe the scriptures will be easy for you. ⁣

Maybe you’ll struggle a bit as I did. ⁣

It’s all good. ⁣

But there is still always something to learn, and my testimony of that was strengthened even more as the Lord taught me about the power of preparation.

“The condition of our hearts directly affects our sensitivity to spiritual things.” – Gerald N. Lund

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post When the scriptures don’t inspire  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

Ever felt that way before?

I have.

I have followed through on a prompting, just to have to deal with a lot of emotional pain from all the fallout.

I’ve decided to keep sticking to church standards and lost a friend because of it.

I’ve reached out and offered service, only to have a super awkward result that left me feeling frustrated.

Can’t you just hear the emotion in Moses’ voice here?

He had been asked BY THE LORD to go talk to the pharaoh and request that he let the Israelites go.

The Israelites were looking up to Moses as the prophet who would free them from captivity!

And how did the pharaoh respond?

He increased the burdens on the Israelites to the point where they couldn’t even bear them anymore.

And so Moses went to the Lord in frustration.

He did what he was supposed to do, and things got worse for everyone.

“Why is it that thou hast sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he hath done evil to this people; neither hast thou delivered thy people at all.” (Exodus 5:22-23)

The Lord didn’t deliver on His promise.

Or so it seemed.

Doesn’t obedience = blessings?!

It’s like that cartoon online I’ve seen tons of times—

We think that obedience to God’s commandments, revelation, and inspiration is going to lead us in a steady, straight, upward climb.

… when obedience often looks like a path filled with lots of mountains, valleys, and steep drop offs.

I’ve learned that it takes a lot of faith to believe that following promptings and keeping commandments will always work out in the long run.

Because no matter the short-term difficulties and obstacles

The Lord knows what we need to fulfill His plan. 

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post This was not the plan first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

Why do I always forget that life is SUPPOSED to be hard and confusing?

That I’m not supposed to have prayers instantaneously answered all the time?

That I’m supposed to wrestle with difficult topics and not always know the answer, no matter how educated I am?

I know these things.

I can write a beautiful post about how we are here for challenges, and that Christ will help us overcome them.

But still, when bad times come, when temptations are too much, when my prayers are left unanswered for months on end, when I feel defeated… I sometimes forget.

And I think that’s why I actually find beautiful peace in the sweet statement of our Savior to Mormon that he wants to try our faith.

This is how it is supposed to be.

This is exactly how it’s supposed to be.

Nothing has gone wrong.

And yet, when I sit down to count the good times, the answered prayers, the quiet confirmations, the kind friends, the beautiful moments of clarity and understanding and peace…

They far outweigh the bad.

We aren’t supposed to know everything, but we can still learn a lot.

Not every prayer will be answered right away, but we can still pray and feel the Spirit along the journey.

Life will be super difficult sometimes, but I can still feel peace.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Trying our faith first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.