Joseph F. Smith actually saw this righteous assembly in a vision. ⁣

Who did he literally see there, being taught by the Savior?⁣

President Smith mentions our Father Adam first. And then…⁣

“Our glorious Mother Eve, with many of her faithful daughters who had lived through the ages and worshiped the true and living God.” (D&C 138:39⁣)

Our Mother Eve and her faithful daughters from throughout the ages. ⁣

Mostly nameless. ⁣

Not recognizable to a current prophet looking in. ⁣

We don’t know most of their stories. ⁣

Not often recorded in the scriptures. ⁣

That’s the fate that women have faced for centuries. ⁣

But we can’t deny that faithful and righteous women are represented in heaven, right alongside Isaiah and Malachi and Noah. ⁣

“These the Lord taught, and gave them power to come forth, after his resurrection from the dead, to enter into his Father’s kingdom, there to be crowned with immortality and eternal life,⁣

“And continue thenceforth their labor as had been promised by the Lord, and be partakers of all blessings which were held in reserve for them that love him.” (D&C 138:51-52⁣)

Our names don’t have to be known in order to receive immortality and eternal life. ⁣

⁣Our stories don’t have to be told in order to receive all the blessings held in store for those who love the Lord.

Life on earth is messy. ⁣

(Although I can’t deny how grateful I am to be a woman alive at a time when I feel blessed with so many more opportunities than previous generations.)⁣

But heaven?⁣

It’s filled with women and men assembled together, side by side, with their focuses on the Savior. ⁣

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Women in heaven  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

We often don’t receive a testimony of a principle until AFTER we have lived the principle.

I mean, it makes sense.

But it also is very difficult to do.

To learn a new principle, not understand it, but still live it wholeheartedly.

Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden, and God told them to take their firstlings of their flocks and sacrifice them for the Lord.

Keep in mind that they had no prior concept or understanding of animal sacrifices— this was the first time that God had made this commandment.

AND THEY DID IT!

They had no clue what they were doing, or why they were doing it, or if it was really worth all the effort, or if it really had to be the firstling…

And they obeyed. Why?

Well, an angel asks this couple the same thing: “Why dost thou offer sacrifices unto the Lord?”

Adam’s response: “I know not, save the Lord commanded me.”

Blind obedience? No. Adam and Eve already knew they could trust the Lord and His promises, so if He commanded something else, their faith that it would be important and worthwhile overtook any blindness they had.

BUT MY FAVORITE PART COMES NEXT.

The angel teaches them the “why”!

They don’t have to stay in this unknowing trust with God; they get to learn the truth.

The angel teaches them why sacrifices are important and what they are symbolic of.

AND THEN

Adam and Eve finally understand, bear their own testimonies of what they’ve learned, AND THEN TEACH THEIR KIDS.

This is just my favorite pattern ever:

Receive a commandment that doesn’t make sense at all.

Obey the commandment because of prior trust in God.

After time has passed, be taught the “why”.

Fully understand and embrace the “why” and form a testimony.

Teach others what you’ve learned.

It takes time. It takes patience. It takes true faith and trust in God that it will be worth it.

It’s tough to sometimes sit in that middle phase for a long time.

But you can find comfort with knowing you are in the company of our first mother and father who also admitted, “I know not [why], save the Lord commanded me.” Moses 5:6

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post I don’t know why first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

Shame is when we believe we are a bad person because we have done something wrong.

It keeps us hiding and secretive, because we wouldn’t want anyone else to find out about the “bad person” that we really are.

Sometimes other people play a lot into shame.

A kid hears their mom making judgmental comments about the kid next door, and they assume that if their mom knew they were caught up in the same thing, mom would judge and talk badly about them too.

A youth leader makes an analogy in a church lesson that makes the teen listening feel like they have lost their worth because of a mistake they have made.

These are so sad, and I’m constantly trying to get rid of any “shaming” that I may inadvertently do in my parenting or in my teaching.

But other times, I think we are really good at inventing the shame all in our head.

“They heard the voice of the Lord God… and Adam and his wife went to hide themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.” (Moses 4:14)

Did God shame Adam and Eve when they had their discussion about what had happened?

Not at all.

In fact, I think God gives us a perfect parenting example of asking curious questions, showing love, teaching about a natural consequence, showing even more love, and then even giving them a beautifully symbolic gift of a coat of skins to protect them as they left the garden.

But Adam and Eve, as natural, fallen, humans at this point, still felt that shame and wanted to hide from God.

Feeling like we need to hide because we have sinned is a natural thing to do.

But the more that we learn about the nature of God and Christ, ideally, the less shame we feel.

Because we are instead filled with Their love.

God never turns away anyone who wants to run toward Him and ask for help, no matter what sins they’ve committed.

So where do we turn when we have sinned?

Do we hide it and hope no one ever knows? Or do we place it at the Lord’s feet in full humility, ready to be cleansed and changed?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Shame and hiding first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I grew to love those kids, but every day was an exercise in my patience, classroom management, crisis management, and attitude, to say the least!

I moved to a new school the following year, and these kids were a dream.

I remember coming home after the first day and telling my husband that this was going to be a much better year.

After the first week of school, my co-teacher, who I swapped the exact same kids with every day after lunch, sat down to debrief.

I sat there shocked as he went on and on about how rough these kids were!

He had been teaching at that exact same school for 10 years, and he said it was the worst group of kids he had ever had.

Our attitudes toward our two shared classes were almost completely shaped by the differing experiences we had prior to that moment.

In that moment, I realized that so much of our experience here on earth is about comparison.

Adam and Eve learned this lesson very early on!

In Moses 5:10-11, Adam said:

“Because of my transgression my eyes are opened, and in this life I shall have joy…”

Eve said, “Were it not for our transgression… we never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption”.

As tempting as it can be to wish for smooth-sailing throughout life, with perfectly organized and balanced schedules, it can’t be so.

There’s a purpose for the busy seasons, for the chaos, for the trials and struggles.

We need both!

We need the rough times so that we can actually find the joy when the blessings flow!

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Opposition in all things first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I was talking with a student who had just called a classmate a bad word during work time.

It’s a tough lesson to learn as a 6th grader, and so I launched into my tried and true explanation:

“I’m so sorry that she was being rude to you. I can deal with that separately.

“But at the end of the day, what’s going to serve you best in life is if you can understand that you always are responsible for the choices you make.

“If she had pushed you, and you fell down, you would not get any consequences for falling down because that is a natural reaction that would happen to anyone.

“If she has been rude to you all class, you can’t really control how frustrated you feel. But you could have chosen to come and talk to me, or you could have moved to a new seat, or you could have talked to her in a respectful way.

“You still made this specific decision, and so you’ll need to deal with the consequences for this choice.”

I had given this same talk to countless other middle schoolers whose first reaction to getting caught doing something was to put the blame on someone else.

It’s one of the most powerful life lessons that both Adam and Eve demonstrate beautifully for us.

Eve could have put all the blame on the serpent, and Adam could have put all the blame on Eve.

But they both, after giving explanations for their motivation, took full responsibility for their actions:

“I did eat.” – Adam, Genesis 3:12

“I did eat.” – Eve, Genesis 3:13

When I’m praying, I notice how tempting it can be to put the blame on someone else:

My kids were so crazy that they made me lose my patience and yell today!

And yet it is so much more empowering to realize that I still made the choice:

My kids had a lot of energy today. And I chose to yell when I couldn’t handle my emotions anymore. I feel badly about this, and I want to do better at dealing with all that frustration when it happens.

Personal accountability makes it so much easier to repent, to change, and to improve!

How has personal accountability been a blessing in your life?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Personal accountability with Adam and Eve first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

There was no way what my HR director was telling me was true.

“But I’ve signed up for short-term disability for the past three years! This is exactly what it is for!”

I told her how each year, I would sign up for insurance benefits on the computer during our little staff meeting at school, and I made sure to always select short-term disability insurance.

“Oh,” the HR director said. “But did you also fill out the physical application for it each year, too?”

I had no clue about a physical application.

She told me that even though all other insurance choices and options were made on the computer, short-term disability insurance required an extra physical paper application.

I’m a fairly competent, intelligent person who had attended the employee benefits meeting every year.

And I truly, honestly did not remember hearing about this extra step.

I was frustrated, devastated, concerned for our financial situation…

But nothing could change that. I hadn’t paid into the insurance, and so I didn’t get it.

It was one of the worst feelings, and I still despise that emotion today—The feeling of being punished for something that you truly had no clue you were doing wrong.

Real life is rough like this sometimes.

Honest mistakes and innocent oversights can have devastating impacts.

I can hardly even imagine a loving Heavenly Father who would hold something over my head that I did not knowingly do.

I think of silly times, like when I thoroughly enjoyed a cake at a neighborhood party, just for my mom to realize it was filled with coffee afterwards, and I felt so guilty.

Or more somber times when I believed I was helping someone out, only to discover that I had unknowingly harmed their progress.

But above all, I am grateful that I will be punished (AKA held accountable) for my own sins (which require a knowledge that there is a principle I am sinning against).

And that I won’t be held accountable for anyone else’s transgressions. Whether it’s Adam, or Eve, or a leader, or a friend.

I will only be held accountable for the sins I choose.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Honest mistakes first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

Joseph F. Smith actually saw this righteous assembly in a vision.

Who did he literally see there, being taught by the Savior?

President Smith mentions our Father Adam first. And then…

“Our glorious Mother Eve, with many of her faithful daughters who had lived through the ages and worshiped the true and living God.” D&C 138:39

Our Mother Eve and her faithful daughters from throughout the ages.

Mostly nameless.

Not recognizable to a current prophet looking in.

We don’t know most of their stories.

Not often recorded in the scriptures.

That’s the fate that women have faced for centuries.

But we can’t deny that faithful and righteous women are represented in heaven, right alongside Isaiah and Malachi and Noah.

“These the Lord taught, and gave them power to come forth, after his resurrection from the dead, to enter into his Father’s kingdom, there to be crowned with immortality and eternal life,

“And continue thenceforth their labor as had been promised by the Lord, and be partakers of all blessings which were held in reserve for them that love him.” D&C 138:51-52

Our names don’t have to be known in order to receive immortality and eternal life.

Our stories don’t have to be told in order to receive all the blessings held in store for those who love the Lord.

Life on earth is messy.

(Although I can’t deny how grateful I am to be a woman alive at a time when I feel blessed with so many more opportunities than previous generations.)

But heaven?

It’s filled with women and men assembled together, side by side, with their focuses on the Savior.

Artwork: “Faithful Women” by Amber Eldredge

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Women in heaven first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.