Singing and joy and happiness are so intertwined. ⁣

So I know that He sings. ⁣

How do you think our Heavenly Parents sound?⁣

I know They sing. ⁣

Singing is joy and praise. ⁣

But it doesn’t always feel that way, right?⁣

When we open our hymn books in church to sing the opening hymn, it’s oftentimes routine. ⁣

(Or time to try and keep your kids from tearing pages out of the book.)⁣

Yeah, yeah, opening hymn. It’s what we do. ⁣

But how would our congregations, and more importantly our own hearts, be transformed if we sang with joy and praise in our hearts?⁣

Singing without a care in the world?

My heaven is filled with a whole lot of singing. ⁣

“And they shall sing the song of the Lamb, day and night forever and ever.” (D&C 133:56⁣)

It’s not going to be somber when we see Jesus. ⁣

Reverence and praise work together!⁣

And I think the newest songs being added to our hymn book are encouraging us to realize that joy and reverence can go hand in hand.

Singing, with our hearts and souls and intent fully behind it, is a beautiful way that we WILL use to praise Jesus.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Does Jesus sing? first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

While I’ve since learned that everyone experiences the Spirit differently…

And that it is perfectly fine to not cry,

There is actually one sure way to get my tears flowing:

Play beautiful music.

When I sit down to watch General Conference and I hear the choir begin singing a song, the tears usually start flowing.

My absolute favorite way to bear my testimony is to play a piano solo of a hymn arrangement in church.

Or to sing with a choir, all united together in perfect harmony.

The Lord asked Emma Smith to compile sacred hymns for the Church, and then He told her:

“For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads.” (D&C 25:12)

God delights in our music.

Songs of righteous people are prayers.

And these song-prayers will be answered with blessings.

No talent, audition, or training required.

Where can you add even more joyful music to your life?

“Some of the greatest sermons are preached by the singing of hymns.” – First Presidency Preface to Hymnbook

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post I thought something was wrong with me first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

STRENGTH

There are probably many times each day when I feel I could use extra strength or support.

For example, when my toddler needs me to open the same toy for the millionth time, when I’ve got a work deadline to hit, or when a friend tells me of a new heartbreaking trial.

Jesus can be my strength in these difficult moments.

When I remember to call out to Him for help!

SONG

But what about Jesus being my song?

Let me tell you that I always have a song stuck in my head.

Always.

Whether I’m doing the dishes, driving in the car, or trying to fall asleep at night, I’ve got a song repeating over and over in my head.

What if we could be like this with Jesus?

What if Jesus was always “stuck” in our minds?

He can be my strength and He can be the song in my heart.

I’ve learned that Jesus can be my strength and my song when I call on Him for help, and I do my best to always remember Him.

What does it mean to you that Jesus is your STRENGTH and your SONG?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Strength and song first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

You know, the super catchy song that just makes you want to dance, buuuut if you listen too closely to the lyrics you realize how completely inappropriate it is? ⁣

My husband and I had plans to go to the temple for our date night that night. ⁣

I had the thought, “I really should change the station.” ⁣

But I didn’t.

Fast forward to sitting in the temple a few hours later. ⁣

I’m sitting in an endowment session, and sure enough, what song pops into my head? “That song”. ⁣

I couldn’t get it out of my head, no matter what I dd. ⁣

So I decided to pray! “Please, help me to get this terrible song out of my head so that I can feel the spirit!”⁣

The reprimand I received was clear as day:⁣

“You can’t ignore the Spirit’s promptings earlier in the day, and then demand the Spirit to help take away the natural consequences later.” ⁣

I was choosing to keep the door closed on my drive home from work. I wanted to enjoy the music in my car.⁣

I heard the voice, the knocking, the prompting. And I didn’t open my end. ⁣

And then in the temple, I had ripped open the door, demanding that heaven now help me. ⁣

“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” (Revelation 3:20)

But I hadn’t listened to His voice and knocking earlier.

Christ WANTS to be standing at our door and knocking constantly. ⁣

But the scripture says, “if any man (1) hear my voice, and (2) open the door”. ⁣

We have to hear His voice and then open the door. ⁣

We can’t demand He be there at our whim while we deliberately ignore Him other times. ⁣⁣

Now, this does not mean we have to be perfect, or even “worthy” to open that door. ⁣

Our Savior is willing to help us wherever we are at. ⁣

I needed to be reprimanded in that moment, but He still helped me to learn and ponder, and I received new impressions that evening.

But we have to listen for His voice and His knocking in our life. And then we gently respond by opening the door and letting Him in.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post We need to open the door  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

Singing and joy and happiness are so intertwined.

So I know that He sings.

How do you think our Heavenly Parents sound?

I know They sing.

Singing is joy and praise.

But it doesn’t always feel that way, right?

When we open our hymn books in church to sing the opening hymn, it’s oftentimes routine.

(Or time to try and keep your kids from tearing pages out of the book.)

Yeah, yeah, opening hymn. It’s what we do.

But how would our congregations, and more importantly our own hearts, be transformed if we sang with joy and praise in our hearts?

Without a care in the world about technique or right notes.

My heaven is filled with a whole lot of singing.

“And they shall sing the song of the Lamb, day and night forever and ever.” D&C 133:56

It’s not gonna be somber when we see Jesus.

Reverence and praise work together!

And singing, with our hearts and souls and intent fully behind it, is a beautiful way that we WILL use to praise Jesus.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Singing with Jesus first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

As I listened to the lyrics though, I pretty quickly realized it was not-so-awesome.

Kyle and I were going to the temple that evening with some friends as soon as I got home from work.

I had the thought to turn the radio off.

But… I didn’t.

Later, in the temple, guess what song kept popping into my head?

I sat there and sang a bunch of primary songs and hymns in my head, trying to get rid of these terrible lyrics that kept coming to my mind.

Nothing was working.

I eventually just prayed my heart out.

“Heavenly Father, please remove this song from my mind. It’s distracting me from the spirit in the temple.”

And immediately.

Immediately.

A piercing thought came into my mind.

It was still and small, but powerful.

It was very clearly Divine.

And that voice said:

“Cali, you can’t pray away the consequences of your decisions.”

I was being reprimanded by the spirit in a very direct way.

I realized in a dramatic fashion that I couldn’t choose to ignore the spirit when he told me to change the radio station and then expect him to help remove the natural consequences of my actions later on.

Joseph Smith shared a powerful example of his experience with this spirit in D&C 85:6:

“the still small voice, which whispereth through and pierceth all things, and often times it maketh my bones to quake while it maketh manifest”

In the car, the spirit spoke to me in a very still and small voice.

And in the temple, it pierced my mind and made me very aware of the power behind it.

I needed to learn that lesson that day, and it has dramatically shaped my music choices ever since.

I needed that piercing voice for a major course correction.

And I am so grateful for a companion like the spirit who can give those messages in a way that I can’t write off.

I heard it, and I knew God knew that I heard it.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post A piercing message first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

And then I got into choirs in High School. All of a sudden, we were adding nuanced dynamics and shaping phrases. My mind was blown! This was so much more exciting, and took a lot more practice and focus.

And then I got into the Women’s Chorus at BYU. Suddenly, we were focusing on where the sound was resonating in your mouth when you sing, different styles of vibrato and tone, and tuning notes that didn’t sound that “off” to me.

If you had taken me to a BYU Choir concert when I was 12 years old, I would have said that the choirs sounded amazing because they were all singing the right notes.

If you had taken me to a BYU Choir concert when I was 17 years old, I would have told you how amazing their dynamics and phrasing were.

We only notice what we have the capacity to notice.

I like to think of some of the most Christlike people that I have known in my life.

When I was 12 years old, I would have told you they were Christlike because they were reading their scriptures and going to church.

When I was 17 years old, I would have told you they were Christlike because they were also kind and loving.

And now, at 29, I notice that they also regularly attend the temple. They volunteer to serve. They invite the spirit into their lives. They act on promptings regularly.

I only notice what I know to notice.

The Lord taught in D&C 50:24:

“He that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day.”

At the beginning of our spiritual journey, we have light— but only a little.

And so I’ve been seeking to add more and more light to my life.

To gain more light and knowledge so that I recognize what other light and knowledge I still need.

And I know that my light can become brighter and brighter as I slowly become more and more Christlike, not even realizing what more I lack until I get to that next step.

Light adding to light, becoming brighter and brighter.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Adding light first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

(Side note: I think we can do better at reassuring our youth that feeling the Spirit is not the same thing as crying, even though many people experience both!)

But one sure way to get the tears flowing?

PLAY BEAUTIFUL MUSIC.

When I sit down to watch a broadcast, as soon as the Tabernacle Choir starts singing a song, the tears start coming.

My absolute favorite way to bear my testimony is to play a piano solo of a hymn arrangement in church.

Or to sing with a choir, all united together in perfect harmony.

There is just something magical about music.

But it’s not just high-quality music that brings the Spirit, though.

The Lord asked Emma Smith to compile sacred hymns for the church, and then He told her in Doctrine and Covenants 25:12–

“For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart;

“yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me,

“and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads.”

God delights in our music.

Songs of righteous people are prayers.

And these song-prayers will be answered with blessings.

But the thing is…

I don’t think my musical training or abilities have much to do with my spiritual connection to music.

It doesn’t matter whether you can read a note or sing a melody.

No talent, audition or training required.

Songs, sung with an intentional devotion to God, are prayers.

And God delights in any sort of prayer or communion with Him.

And so I’m making sure to keep good, uplifting music in my life, to sing and play as often as I can.

Music is a prayer.

What is a song that has touched YOU most recently?

Just this weekend, I joined with a group of saints singing “Come, Come Ye Saints”, and felt a beautiful whisper from the Spirit that while the pioneers experienced tough trials, we are faced with completely different but still totally valid trials today. And that we can still find reasons to rejoice that “All is well!” 

️Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post The song of the righteous first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

Here’s what I mean –

Shortly after Kyle and I were married, we moved wards, and I was called as Ward Choir Director.

We were brand new in the ward, and I remember the member of the bishopric kind of laughing as he extended the calling and saying, “You are probably feeling very under-qualified and overwhelmed by this call, but I know the Lord will help you fulfill it.”

And I sighed a bit as I shared just a short list of my musical background and assured him I felt just fine accepting the calling.

The truth was, though, I was disappointed in the calling.

I wanted to be able to teach the gospel. To be in Young Women’s, or Primary. To interact with other strong women and create goodness together. To plan fun events and learn gospel principles together. To make friends in this new ward.

Not to beg people to come to choir practice all by myself.

But I fulfilled the duties that were outlined in my calling.

I did them grudgingly, but I did them. The choir rehearsed and performed on schedule. The songs sounded pretty good. We grew our participation numbers.

But I had such a prideful attitude about it.

After a full year of this calling, General Conference rolled around. And sure enough, there was a talk about serving with real intent in our hearts.

Some pride in my heart started to soften as I realized that I had been “serving” by fulfilling my checklist duties, but my heart was not being fed or changed by my service.

I knew I needed to make a dramatic change in order to root out the pride and anger. I wanted to become more Christlike, but I wasn’t quite sure how.

So I thought, “How can I be the best Choir Director I could possibly be?!”

And then I got to work.

I had that calling for another year and a half, and I found true joy in it. I made good friends who were choir members and accompanists. I was overcome with the Spirit while conducting performances of a simple 8-person, 2-part choir.

I finally felt like I was serving my ward members, and I finally felt like I was serving the Lord.

I’m really good at tricking my mind into thinking that if I just go through the actions, I’m doing what’s required of me.

But nothing counts as much as the intent.

Are we serving, giving, loving with pure intent in our hearts? Or are we doing it grudgingly?

After 2 1/2 transformative years in that calling, we moved. I was grateful for the lesson I had learned, and was ready to jump into a new calling in my new ward “all in”, with pure intent.

My new calling in my new ward?

Ward Choir Director.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Ward Choir Director first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.