“I’m reading my scriptures each day, so why am I still struggling to be patient with my kids?”⁣

“I followed that very specific prompting, so why did that friend start pulling away from me?”⁣

I’ve thought these questions, and many more like them, at various points in my life.⁣

Basically, they are all a form of:⁣

If I’m being loyal to God, why aren’t the circumstances of my life awesome?⁣

The Israelites were really good at looking at their outside circumstances. ⁣

And when they looked at what they had physically been through… boy, was there a lot to complain about. ⁣

“Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!… were it not better for us to return into Egypt?” (Numbers 14:2-3) ⁣

They had endured so much since leaving Egypt, so wouldn’t it have been better to just endure the hard things they had to face in Egypt?!⁣

Why did life seem to be getting harder and more difficult, even though they were following the Lord and the prophet? ⁣

Oh children of Israel, I can relate to that question. ⁣

And this is why I love studying the scriptures. ⁣

Because from far away, I can see the answer that the Lord wanted to teach the Israelites. ⁣

It seems crystal clear and obvious. ⁣

And then I go… “Oh yeah. Duh. He’s doing the same thing in my life, too.”⁣

God doesn’t want us to measure the success of our life by our circumstances. ⁣

He never has, in Old Testament times, New Testament times, Book of Mormon times, and modern times. ⁣

So why would I think my life would be the exception?⁣

Boom. I love studying the scriptures for this exact reason. I see the PATTERNS the Lord has worked with for centuries. ⁣

Why does the Lord care if we keep His commandments with sincere intent?⁣

Because He cares about the journeys that our hearts take. ⁣

Are we becoming more devoted? More dependent? More likely to align our will to His?⁣

That’s what a successful disciple’s life has looked like, dispensation after dispensation. ⁣

He wants to see where our hearts go and what they become.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Better to stay in Egypt!  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

In the scriptures, we frequently read about “righteous” people and “unrighteous” people.

But if none of us are perfect, how can we possibly know whether or not we are at least on the right track to being considered “righteous”?

Paul gives us a great clue!

He was speaking about those who are NOT righteous when he said:

“As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.” (Romans 3:10-11)

If a group of people doesn’t have any righteousness in them…

It’s because they aren’t SEEKING after God!

So, are you seeking after God?

If I lose my cell phone during the day, I’m proactively going to get up and look everywhere until I find it.

That’s how I picture “seeking after God”.

It’s someone looking for the Spirit, service, personal growth, and prayer with God with earnest.

Don’t forget, we still don’t have to be perfect at this!

We just need to take some sort of action each day to SEEK after God.

Even if it’s just a silent, sincere prayer in our hearts that we are on the right track.

Small but proactive actions like that add up to righteousness!

“Although we may not be perfect, brothers and sisters, we can be worthy.” -Becky Craven

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post How do I know if I’m righteous?  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I’ve said silent prayers like this many times.

When a friend brings up a difficult gospel topic, when I’m comforting someone in need, or when I’m teaching a Sunday School lesson…

I’ve sent that super prayer upward, pleading for words to come to my mind that would help me to navigate the situation.

The words don’t always appear instantly.

In fact I’ve noticed that sometimes I have to stumble through a lot of wrong words before I start to find my pathway forward with words that fit better.

But when I have a good, Christlike need for communicating, I have found that the support comes in one way or another.

The Savior mentioned that this is actually part of the covenant that He makes with those who turn away from sin.

“My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed”. (Isaiah 59:21)

When we covenant to take Jesus’ name upon us and always remember Him, He in turn promises that we can always have His Spirit to be with us.

And when we have the Spirit with us, we can be blessed to know what words to say at the right time.

Not a witty remark or a good comeback or anything else that might be self-serving.

But when we are in the position to bring people closer to the Savior or to strengthen our own testimony, the words associated with the gospel of Jesus Christ can be found within our mouths.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Righteous words first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

“Blessed is my servant Hyrum Smith; for I, the Lord, love him because of the integrity of his heart, and because he loveth that which is right before me, saith the Lord.” D&C 124:15

(Besides pregnancy hormones, I’m crying at everything right now to be honest.)

It is just so tender and personal.

God really knows our heart.

Like, He REALLY knows.

Deep down, He knows what we love most and what we want.

He knows the good intentions and the selfish intentions.

He knows the true weaknesses, and He knows the continued excuses.

He sees us as we really are.

That is… a vulnerable realization, right?

Like, there isn’t hiding a thing from Him.

(Just a reminder that He sees all this and still loves you completely and isn’t expecting a perfect heart right now.)

But I think that’s what makes the Lord’s comment about Hyrum Smith so beautiful.

He could see that Hyrum wanted to do what was right.

He had good intentions, he had integrity.

And he loved, truly truly loved, righteous things.

Yet, I haven’t heard any reports that Hyrum was a perfect man.

The Lord isn’t saying that everything that Hyrum DID is good. Or that everything he SAID is good.

His intentions and his heart were always good.

Good and perfect are very different.

So how can I become focused on turning my heart to be a little more righteous today?

How can I get rid of the things in my heart that I know aren’t the best for me?

What do I truly love?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Integrity and love first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.