When she said her name, I thought, “Oh, that’s a memorable name! I will definitely remember that one!”

And then, as soon as my husband asked what her name was later that day…

I had completely forgotten.

Even though I think I will remember important things, my memory is not always the best.

Memory fades.

But guess who can help us remember things perfectly?

The Holy Ghost!

In fact, it’s one of my favorite roles of the Holy Ghost.

He can help us remember important things that have happened to us.

David Whitmer was a new acquaintance to Joseph Smith.

The Smiths were now living at the Whitmer home.

In a revelation to David, the Lord tells him:

“. . . you shall receive the Holy Ghost, which giveth utterance, that you may stand as a witness of the things of which you shall both hear and see.” (D&C 14:8) 

I truly believe that we see the hand of God everywhere, every day.

We are surrounded by miracles and tender mercies.

And yet, even if we think, “Oh, what a beautiful tender mercy,” during the day…

We might find ourselves getting to bedtime and feeling that nothing special happened that day.

The Holy Ghost can help us remember the miracles we have seen and heard.

We just need to ask, wait, and listen to hear what He is ready to bring to our minds.

When we are reminded, our hearts are filled with gratitude for the abundant spiritual experiences all around us!

“The Holy Ghost brings back memories of what God has taught us.”⁣ – Henry B. Eyring

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post What was her name again?! first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

It had “LDS” in the name. ⁣

President Nelson had already made statements about the full name of the Church, but in my mind, “LDS” wasn’t really a harmful acronym. ⁣

But in March of 2019, the Church announced that they were changing lds.org to churchofJesusChrist.org. ⁣

And that’s when I had the strong impression that I needed to change the name of my Instagram account to remove the “LDS” acronym. ⁣

I, personally, didn’t feel that putting the name of our Savior into my name was the right thing to do; but I knew that I didn’t want to perpetuate any names for our Church that removed our Savior. ⁣

It seems kind of small looking back on it, but it was an important and powerful, tangible change for me at the time. ⁣

I already had a few thousand followers on my account at that point, and I was growing exponentially every day. ⁣

And yet, I knew I needed to change it. Thus, “Come Follow Me Study” was born!⁣

The Savior taught his disciples in 3 Nephi 27:5 that the church needs to be called in His name. ⁣

“Have they not read the scriptures, which say ye must take upon you the name of Christ, which is my name? For by this name shall ye be called at the last day”.

It is His church. We worship Him. And others need to know. ⁣

Elder Neil L. Andersen taught us recently that, “As the world speaks less of Jesus Christ, let us speak more of Him.”⁣

We can do our part to remove harmful or dismissive abbreviations or nicknames for our Church. ⁣⁣

But then we have to fill their places with more talk of Christ! ⁣

In virtually every post that I make on this account, I try to make the connection between the principle I’m sharing thoughts about, and my Savior. ⁣

I would hope that anyone scrolling through my feed would know that I am not afraid to preach of my Savior. ⁣

And I’m working more on making sure my family and friends get that same dose of “Jesus” from me, too!⁣

This is Jesus Christ’s church. Any little adjustment we can make to rid ourselves of harmful phrases and add statements about our Savior will yield blessings! ⁣

As Christ himself teaches, “whoso taketh upon him my name, and endureth to the end, the same shall be saved at the last day.” 

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post LDS no more first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

My husband will often talk to me about people, maybe from work, maybe from our ward, and I have NO CLUE who he is talking about.

Like, it’s bad. ⁣

BUT I fully believe there is actually a sacred respect around our names. ⁣

They are important. ⁣

In fact, when I was a full-time teacher, I usually had around 90 new students each year.

And I made it a goal to memorize all 90-some kids’ names by the end of the third day of school.

It was hard work.

I would quiz myself with their picture rosters.

I would walk around the room during independent work and call them by name.

And honestly, I would pray for help. ⁣

For some reason, this was a really important goal for me. ⁣

And by the 4th day of school, I had them down! Even all the Kylies, Kayleys, and Kaylas.

But a few weeks into the school year, I would notice some other teachers would still be asking students in their own class what their names were, or calling some students by the wrong name repeatedly. ⁣

Names are important.⁣

There is something different, deep, and personal about calling someone by their name. ⁣

Jesus Christ, the Savior of all mankind, appeared to Mary first. ⁣

And all He said was her name. ⁣

“Jesus saith unto her, Mary.” (John 20:16)

Can you imagine the Savior saying your first name?

Really imagine it?⁣

What a tender experience. ⁣

And she responds with the respectful title, Rabboni. ⁣

Two names were said, but I imagine a flood of meaning and emotion from both ends. ⁣

I’m not sure what the “takeaway” is for this lesson, other than it has come up in my life a lot recently so I felt like I should post. ⁣

Maybe we can do better at putting effort into learning people’s names and using them often.

Especially those who we have stewardship over in callings.

Maybe we can do better at referring to our Savior and Heavenly Father by name or title more in our home.

Maybe we can take more solace in the fact that our Heavenly Father and Savior really do know us BY NAME.⁣

But names are powerful, personal, and meaningful.

What lessons have you learned about the importance of names?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post The importance of a name  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

Too too many to count.

Sixth graders forget to write their names on everything from casual homework to formal tests!

The assignments I would get without a name on them would go in my “no name” folder, and zeros would go in the grade book.

When students realized their overall class grade was tanking from a missing assignment, they’d usually rush to the “no name” folder, find their nameless work, write their name on it, and turn it back in.

And their grade would go right back up.

No matter how many times they turned in late no-name work, their grade would go right back up.

Psalm 136 is pretty cool because every single verse ends with the same phrase:

“For his mercy endureth for ever.”

“O give thanks unto the God of heaven: for his mercy endureth for ever.” (Psalm 136:26)

Forever.

Always extending mercy.

Every time we realize we forgot something important.

Every time we realize our spiritual progression has been halted.

Every time we know something is wrong.

He will extend His mercy. He will forgive.

Over and over and over.

We never have to worry that we’ve run out of opportunities.

We don’t have to worry that we’ve taken too many chances.

That grade can always go right back up.

All semester long. And next semester. And the next.

Because His mercy endures forever!

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post  Enduring forever first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I can think of a few who taught me in Young Women’s, in Seminary, at BYU, and in Sunday School that I will truly never forget.

But one thing I’ve noticed about these great gospel teachers, is that they always pointed me to the Savior.

Sure, there might have been other teachers who were more “popular” at the time. Flashier.

But they aren’t the ones who still stick out in my mind years and years later.

These favorite teachers weren’t just always talking about themselves and why they were the best teachers– they showed it by teaching me more about the Savior with every class.

I’m sure that Abraham was an amazing teacher as well.

He was probably charismatic and a great missionary, too.

Right as he was starting his ministry though, I love that the Lord gave him this same little lesson:

“Through THY ministry MY name shall be known in the earth forever”. (Abraham 1:19)

The purpose of Abraham’s ministry was not to spread Abraham’s name far and wide.

It was to spread the Lord’s name far and wide!

And that should be our real purpose every time we teach the gospel, too.

To be transparently honest, I struggle with what people might perceive of me on social media when it comes to this.

If you know me in real life, you know that I’m not pursuing fame here, and I truly have very little “pride” built up by what I do.

But at the end of the day, am I pointing the people who have chosen to follow my account to Cali Black, or to Jesus Christ?

I hope it’s Jesus. I hope it’s always Jesus.

My ministry is for HIS name.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post The best gospel teachers first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.