I had recently moved into the ward. ⁣

My house was still being slowly organized.⁣

I was pretty sick and tired from pregnancy. ⁣

There was just a lot going on. ⁣

So, no thank you. I couldn’t handle my own life at the moment, which meant visiting my assigned sisters was not going to happen. ⁣

And then my new companion cornered me, and I quickly found myself agreeing to dates and times to go minister. ⁣

I picked up some cookies on the day we had planned, and met her at a house. We were invited inside. ⁣

And the conversation and company that flowed for the next unexpected two hours was so refreshing. ⁣

I found connection, I felt sympathy, I laughed, I shed a few tears, I served. ⁣

I’ve realized I’m really good at giving this excuse in a lot of areas in my life:

“Oh no, I can’t handle the simple day-to-day stuff right now, so I can’t take on anything else.”⁣

But time and time again, I’ve learned that when I try to give and serve in times that I lack, it is enough. ⁣

The amazing Kirtland saints didn’t wait until their bank accounts felt a litttttle more comfortable and all their debts were paid off before they donated their money. ⁣

“Out of our poverty we have given of our substance”. (D&C 109:5⁣)

They had nothing. And they still gave. ⁣

And with what they gave, they built the first holy temple to the Lord in this dispensation. ⁣

When I don’t think I have enough time to serve, but I do it anyways, I am always proven wrong. ⁣

Because… I’m always going to lack. ⁣

At least, it seems highly unlikely that at some point in my life I’ll be like, “Yeah, I’m totally comfortable now. I have nothing else to worry about and so NOW I’d like to serve others.”⁣

We are asked to serve from our own lack. ⁣

Of course, paying attention to when the line has crossed into unhealthy service. It’s okay to say no. ⁣

But I’ve come to learn that for the most part, I’m never going to feel like I’m “ready enough” to serve more or sacrifice more. ⁣

And yet, even in my complete and utter lack, the Lord can take what little I’m offering and transform it into a mighty miracle.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post No ministering lessons please first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

Listen to your first thought or prompting, and act on it right away. ⁣

I have been working on that as much as I can these past few weeks, and some days are better than others, but I’ve had some pretty cool experiences. ⁣

It was exactly the advice that I needed to gain a little more clarity in my life, and invite even more spiritual promptings to come. ⁣

“What lack I yet” is a question I ask pretty often in prayer, and it’s a principle I even use to guide my scripture study and look for personal applications. ⁣

The reason I love asking this question so much is because it keeps me focused on improvement. ⁣

I’ve found that the Spirit is always eager to bring my attention to one area I can focus on in particular. ⁣

Instead of being overwhelmed by everything that I lack, I can be shown what one thing would get me started in the right direction. ⁣

When I was reading about the Lord’s comments about Sidney Rigdon this week, I was really intrigued by this connection:⁣

“I, the Lord, am not pleased with my servant Sidney Rigdon; he exalted himself in his heart, and received not counsel”. D&C 63:55⁣

Sidney was exalting himself in his heart, which is definitely a problem. ⁣

But what an interesting side effect, right?!⁣

Because of this pride, he didn’t receive counsel!⁣

He wasn’t asking “what lack I yet?”— he was thinking something like, “I’ve got it all figured out. I’m good enough.”⁣

Pride is so sneaky. ⁣

The adversary wants us to stay as we are, and reject any advice that’s given to us, whether through prayer or through other kind loved ones. ⁣

And yet our Savior invites us to change. His atoning sacrifice is the reason we CAN change. ⁣

But we don’t have to tackle this impossible task of “becoming Christlike” all on our own. ⁣

The Spirit can whisper to us exactly what the next step is.

Being so gentle and kind in giving us just what we can handle next.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post “What lack I yet?” first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

At first, the home seemed perfect.

I felt so abundant and grateful to own a home and live in it!

But then… I wanted the walls painted.

When they got painted, I felt abundant again!

Everything was all good.

But then… we wanted to do our backyard.

When our yard was finished, I felt overwhelmingly abundant and wanted to throw all the parties!

The cycle has continued on and on.

I think we go through similar cycles in almost every area of our lives.

Paul acknowledged this, too:

“But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality.” (2 Corinthians 8:14)

Isn’t that such a cool balance that we’ve been asked to help with?

Whether in our wards,

our neighborhoods,

or the walls of our own homes,

We can help use our abundance to fill others’ wants.

And we can have our wants assisted by other people’s abundance.

We will always have wants.

Sometimes it’s emotional needs like good friendships and authentic connection.

Other times it’s spiritual needs like a testimony or a desire to read the scriptures.

And other times it is literally physical and temporal needs.

We can find a sweet equality when other people have an abundance to share with us.

It works both ways.

What do you feel like you currently are “abundant” with?

How can you find someone with a “want” to share with?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Abundance and wants first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

Mine recently has been this theme of LACK vs ABUNDANCE.

On a personal level, when I think that I don’t have enough time to get something done, I act panicky.

Or when I think I’m running out of time to help my children grow into good people, I am not happy.

Or even simple things, like trying to ration bananas because I think we are going to run out… but then they all grow brown before we eat them all.

But on a spiritual level, LACK shows up everywhere, too.

Feeling like I don’t have enough energy to get the things done that I need to in order to feed my spiritual connection with God.

Feeling like I don’t have enough time to fulfill my calling.

Feeling like I can’t ever find time to go to the temple.

And this week is the perfect week to explore that LACK vs ABUNDANCE tension because so many of these Old Testament prophets used these same exact concepts to show the contrast between people who made and kept covenants with pure intent with God, and those who forgot everything spiritual.

In fact, Ezekiel had a famous vision that dove into this idea more.

Dry bones are one of the best representations of LACK that I can think of.

No water. No life. No beauty. No joy.

And what did the Lord ask Ezekiel to say to these dry bones?

“O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.” (Ezekiel 37:4)

That is where we find abundance.

In the word of the Lord.

The law of the Lord.

The commandments.

The scriptures.

The covenants we make in the temple.

Slowly but surely, as we stick to the word of the Lord, He turns our lack into abundance.

Service becomes a joy that we certainly have time for.

There will always be more great opportunities to teach your children.

Attending the temple becomes a top priority.

The scriptures become your lifeline to heaven.

You feel generous with sharing everything that you have, no matter how small it may seem to the world.

So rise up, dry bones!

It’s time to take life, drink some everlasting water, and hear the word of the Lord to live in true abundance!

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Dry Bones first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I had recently moved into the ward.

My house was still being slowly organized.

I was pretty sick and tired from pregnancy.

There was just a lot going on.

So, no thank you. I couldn’t handle my own life at the moment, which meant visiting my assigned sisters was not going to happen.

And then my new companion cornered me, and I quickly found myself agreeing to dates and times to go minister.

I picked up some cookies on the day we had planned, and met her at a house. We were invited inside.

And the conversation and company that flowed for the next unexpected two hours was so refreshing.

I found connection, I felt sympathy, I laughed, I shed a few tears, I served.

I’ve realized I’m really good at giving this excuse in a lot of areas in my life.

“Oh no, I can’t handle the simple day-to-day stuff right now, so I can’t take on anything else.”

But time and time again, I’ve learned that when I try to give and serve in times that I lack, it is enough.

The amazing Kirtland saints didn’t wait until their back accounts felt a litttttle more comfortable and all their debts were paid off before they donated their money.

“Out of our poverty we have given of our substance”. D&C 109:5

They had nothing. And they still gave.

And with what they gave, they built the first holy temple to the Lord in this dispensation.

When I don’t think I have enough time to serve, but I do it anyways, I am always proven wrong.

Because… I’m always going to lack.

At least, it seems highly unlikely that at some point in my life I’ll be like, “Yeah, I’m totally comfortable now. I have nothing else to worry about and so NOW I’d like to serve others.”

We are asked to serve from our own lack.

Of course, paying attention to when the line has crossed into unhealthy service. It’s okay to say no.

But I’ve come to learn that for the most part, I’m never going to feel like I’m “ready enough” to serve more or sacrifice more.

And yet, even in my complete and utter lack, the Lord can take what little I’m offering and transform it into a mighty miracle.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Serving from lack first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

Listen to your first thought or prompting, and act on it right away.

I have been working on that as much as I can these past few weeks, and some days are better than others, but I’ve had some pretty cool experiences.

Using my time wisely has become a little more natural. I’ve found more opportunities to fit good things into my life. I’ve had some cool teaching experiences with my kids.

It was exactly the advice that I needed to gain a little more clarity in my life, and invite even more spiritual promptings to come.

“What lack I yet” is a question I ask pretty often in prayer, and it’s a principle I even use to guide my scripture study and look for personal applications.

(Elder Lawrence’s talk in Oct 2015 on this subject is FANTASTIC by the way, if you want some reading/listening!)

The reason I love asking this question so much is because it keeps me focused on improvement.

It’s so easy to think that I’m doing just fine, I’m doing all that I can handle, or that I can’t even keep up with the things I have right now.

But I’ve found that the Spirit is always eager to bring my attention to one area I can focus on in particular.

Instead of being overwhelmed by everything that I lack, I can be shown what one thing would get me started in the right direction.

When I was reading about the Lord’s comments about Sidney Rigdon this week, I was really intrigued by this connection:

“I, the Lord, am not pleased with my servant Sidney Rigdon; he exalted himself in his heart, and received not counsel”. D&C 63:55

Sidney was exalting himself in his heart, which is definitely a problem.

But what an interesting side effect, right?!

Because of this pride, he didn’t receive counsel!

He wasn’t asking “what lack I yet?”— he was thinking, “I’ve got it all figured out. I’m good enough.”

Pride is so sneaky.

The adversary wants us to stay as we are, and reject any advice that’s given to us, whether through prayer or through other kind loved ones.

And yet our Savior invites us to change. His atoning sacrifice is the reason we CAN change.

But we don’t have to tackle this impossible task of “becoming Christlike” all on our own.

The Spirit can whisper to us exactly what the next step is. Being so gentle and kind in giving us just what we can handle next.

All we need to do is ask.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post What lack I yet? first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.