After a recent funeral, I started to think:

What will people say about me?

What kind of life am I living?

What kind of legacy will I leave behind?

I want to be a force for so much good in the world.

I want to proclaim my testimony boldly and arrive in the next life exhausted from doing my best.

The Lord says:

“For by doing these things the gates of hell shall not prevail against you;

“yea, and the Lord God will disperse the powers of darkness from before you,

“and cause the heavens to shake for your good, and his name’s glory.” (D&C 21:6) 

THIS is the kind of impact I want to make!

Dispersing the powers of darkness!

Causing the heavens to shake for my good!

So, what do I need to do to have this kind of legacy?

Right before this verse, the Lord tells us the key:

Follow the prophet.

Sometimes, it’s easier to follow the prophet’s counsel and other times it takes a lot more humility and prayer.

But when I do my best to stick with what the prophet is teaching, I have felt power flowing into my life.

If I am looking for darkness to disperse and for the heavens to shake for my good…

Then I want to stick with the prophet.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Cause the heavens to shake first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I think the adversary is super good at helping us get caught up in false benchmarks.

“Ugh, once I can actually stay up with the Come, Follow Me schedule, I’ll be okay.”

“I reach out to my ministering sisters once a month so I’m good.”

“If he serves a mission and gets married in the temple, then he’ll be fine.”

Building our own benchmarks.

Building our own tower, brick by brick.

While those are fine and worthy goals to have, those aren’t what save us or change us.

The people in Babel had their sights set on the wrong benchmark.

“Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven”. (Genesis 11:4)

We need to get closer to heaven? Okay, let’s build a big building to get there, and everything will be fine. God will bless us then.

It’s relying too much on our outward appearance to judge our closeness to the Savior.

So… what are your benchmarks to know if you are actually coming closer to Christ?

They probably don’t look too impressive from the outside.

Here are a few benchmarks that I’ve tried:

Benchmarks like… becoming slower and slower to anger.

Reacting with compassion when someone tells me a story instead of judgment.

Desiring more opportunities for service and honestly seeking them out.

Finding excuses to show love as often as possible.

Meeting outward benchmarks will never save us, just like the Tower of Babel didn’t save the citizens of Babel.

It’s what’s in the inside that matters, and that’s a little bit more difficult to achieve.

The post Benchmarks for heaven  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.