The music that I needed to clean up, the prayers that I was forgetting to say, the ministering 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.”⁣

That’s why I love President Nelson’s message so much. ⁣

“Pray to identify the debris you should remove from your life so you can become more worthy.” – Russell M. Nelson  

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, of safety. ⁣

I want to build sacred places in my life. ⁣

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

I have to start by clearing the debris.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

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

Elder Holland says, “I testify … that a perfect Father did not forsake His Son in that hour. ⁣

“… Nevertheless, that the supreme sacrifice of His Son might be as complete as it was voluntary and solitary, the Father briefly withdrew from Jesus the comfort of His Spirit, the support of His personal presence.”⁣

Heavenly Father did NOT forget His Son.

In fact it seems crazy to think that Heavenly Father would even possibly forget Jesus, especially in His greatest time of need.

But do we ever feel like we have been forgotten by Heavenly Father?⁣

Do we feel like He isn’t answering our prayers? ⁣

Do we feel like our deepest desires are not being granted?⁣

Do we feel like we are doing everything right but missing out on promised blessings? ⁣

And yet, how absurd to think that OUR Father in Heaven would actually forget us! ⁣

ESPECIALLY in our greatest time of need!⁣

It is okay to THINK that God has forgotten us from time to time.

Life is really rough.

Things don’t go according to how we think they should. ⁣

We have to suffer a lot. ⁣

Our Savior asked this same question. ⁣

“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46)

And yet, deep down, we know that we have not actually been forgotten. ⁣

We know that sometimes we have to endure awful things. ⁣

We acknowledge that we don’t understand the bigger picture. ⁣

I think that is true faith right there. ⁣

Even when others point to circumstances as evidence of “no God”, we push forward. ⁣

Even when things feel numb, we continue to show faith.

Heavenly Father did not forget His Son on the cross. ⁣

Heavenly Father does not forget you on your knees, praying. ⁣

Heavenly Father does not forget you, crying in the bathroom so no one else sees. ⁣

Heavenly Father does not forget His children.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post God does not forget you  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

“They forsook all, and followed him.” (Luke 5:11)

I believe Peter walked away from comfort.

From a predictable life.

From being focused on himself.

From being worried about what others thought.

“I am learning that Heavenly Father is more interested in my growth as a disciple of Jesus Christ than He is with my comfort.” — Michelle D. Craig

Sometimes I get stuck thinking “My goal is to be able to get all this stuff done so that I can relax!”

And I keep getting taught the lesson that this isn’t how life works.

I mean, relaxing is great and totally 100% necessary along the way.

But God isn’t hoping that I’ll finally finish my to-do list so that I can have more free time to catch up on shows.

He wants me to become better!

He wants me more refined. He wants me serving. He wants me loving. He wants me mourning and comforting and overcoming.

And those emotions… feel like a lot of work sometimes.

But the Lord loves effort, right?

So what will we be willing to forsake?

Are we willing to be uncomfortable? To step outside our comfort zones? To truly love? To develop our gifts?

In a gradual process, we can start to “forsake” having the ultimate goal of COMFORT.

And instead, we can allow Jesus to lead us to His ideal goal: GROWTH.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Forsaking comfort 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.