I tried it once at a mall— and I remember how weirdly hard it was to get started!

But then I figured it out and it was pretty easy.

I felt cool.

(Obviously I don’t rebel much in my life.)

I’ve heard it said though that our relationship with God is like trying to walk up an escalator that is moving down.

Meaning— it takes EFFORT.

It’s not passive.

AND if we stop making any effort, we aren’t just halting our progression—we are actually moving away from God.

What about if we stop moving completely?

The Lord reminds us what is waiting for us at the bottom of that escalator if we stop trying to connect with the divine:

“Pray always, that you may come off conqueror;

“yea, that you may conquer Satan,

“and that you may escape the hands of the servants of Satan that do uphold his work.” (D&C 10:5)

It’s the adversary and those who “uphold his work.”

I definitely don’t want to fall down there!

So, how do I conquer Satan?

How do I work my way up the escalator so I can feel God’s love and gain more peace if in my life?

“Pray always.”

Prayer is not just a checklist item each day.

When I pray always, I find that I am being kept away from the adversary.

Temptations don’t seem as difficult to resist.

I can more clearly see people who are just trying to drag me down.

I recognize the little lies that he tries to whisper to me.

These are blessings I desperately want in my life.

So I’m going to keep praying as much as I can and keep moving up that escalator, closer and closer to God!

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Up the escalator first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

There’s no such thing as standing still on a downward escalator.

You are either working to take steps up, or you are slowly being brought down the staircase.

In Helaman’s epistle to Moroni, he talks about all of the energy and strength it took his army just to maintain the cities they had already taken back.

There were times where they couldn’t put any thought into offensive strategy because they just had to maintain.

It takes a lot of work to “maintain”.

I know this as a homeowner, as someone who gets her hair done, as a car owner, as someone with small children living in a home…

And as a lover of the gospel.

Maintaining takes a lot of effort.

When I take a vacation from keeping myself close to the Spirit, I can feel myself slipping farther away, even just a little bit.

But the cool part is that the escalator analogy starts to break down when we look at the big picture.

Because we are on a never-ending escalator. There is no “gone too far”, and there’s also no “you’ve made it” in this life.

The very moment that we desire to take a step forward, the moment we send off our troops to just maintain the city…

Our Savior is there to help give us a boost.

Sometimes we are walking much faster than the escalator is moving. We are taking back cities and busting sins and growing that testimony.

And other times, it takes all of our effort to just hold on to the ground we’ve already made.

Just like those Nephite soldiers, giving everything they had, and waiting for more strength to be sent their way.

So here’s to the maintainers.

Those who do the unseen work. Sometimes not even noticed by ourselves.

The reinforcements will come, the strength will come, the growth will come and you will win the war.

But, for now, we maintain.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post To the maintainers first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.