And he wept. ⁣

This encouraged him to plead with the Lord for a blessing on Noah’s descendants. ⁣

And the Lord made an oath:⁣

Never again would the earth be covered in a flood of water, and Noah’s descendants would be blessed to multiply and stay on the earth. ⁣

Ready for some of the most poetic language I think the Lord uses throughout all of scripture?!⁣

I love it. ⁣

When He talks about the dark days that will accompany the Savior’s Second Coming, Enoch becomes mournful again. ⁣

And so the Lord makes this promise, RIGHT after they had discussed Noah’s flood:⁣

“Righteousness and truth will I cause to sweep the earth as with a flood” (Moses 7:62). ⁣

Righteousness and truth is sweeping the earth like what?! ⁣

Like a FLOOD! ⁣

The destructive flood waters will not cover the entire earth again.⁣

But now, WE are the flood!⁣

Sharing righteousness and truth across the entire world in unprecedented ways. ⁣

Covering literally every corner of the earth with the influence of goodness. ⁣

Helping Christ to be known, loved, and worshipped by anyone who desires to. ⁣

I am beyond grateful that I am not living in the time of Noah’s flood that Enoch foresaw. ⁣

We missed that flood. ⁣

But I am also beyond grateful that I am here when another flood is sweeping the earth:⁣

This one filled with truth and righteousness. ⁣

And I think this is one I definitely want to be swept away in! 

“We live in the day foretold when righteousness is sent down out of heaven and truth out of the earth ‘to sweep the earth as with a flood,’ and to gather out the elect ‘from the four quarters of the earth.’” – Dallin H. Oaks

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Two types of floods  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

Aaaaaand I’ve got some pretty brutal weaknesses. ⁣

Satan is a smart guy. ⁣

He knows what my weaknesses are. ⁣

So he crafts temptations that perfectly prey on my weaknesses. ⁣

But, just to be clear, my weaknesses are a part of who I am. I see them as opportunities to strengthen myself and become more Christlike. They were given to me from my Father in Heaven. ⁣

Satan is NOT in my weaknesses. ⁣

But he’ll do whatever he can to get me to fall away from my faith by placing temptations before me that are most likely to work based on my weaknesses. ⁣

Anyone else excited for the time that John saw where:

“He laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years”. (Revelation 20:2)

While we can’t completely eliminate the adversary right now, how can we find little ways to “bind” Satan in our lives each day?

How can we minimize the ability he has to influence us for bad?⁣

Two strategies that have worked for me:

1. Call him out. ⁣

I’m too tired to pray tonight. – Wait, really? Even a one minute prayer? I’ve got time for this. ⁣

2. Fill my life with tons of good things. ⁣

I fill it with so much prayer and so many scriptures and so much kindness and service that I hardly have time for the bad thoughts. ⁣

Every single time I start listening to more conference talks, scriptures, and uplifting music, then my temptations to waste time or view not-so-uplifting media dwindle.

“The only power I know of that will bind Satan, or render him powerless, is righteous living.” – Eldred G. Smith

Satan is real.

But who has infinitely more power than Satan?⁣

Our Savior, Jesus Christ. ⁣

And who has access to Christ’s literal priesthood power? ⁣

Anyone who has made covenants with God and keeps them with intention.

We can have the adversary “bound” as much as possible in our lives because we have access to Christ. ⁣

And that is true hope.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Binding the adversary first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

“The Lord is with thee”. (Judges 6:12)

Aren’t we told this a lot too?

God is aware of us.

His Spirit is with us.

The Savior walks with us.

But Gideon pushes back on this idea:

“Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us?

“and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of…?” (Judges 6:13)

Doesn’t Gideon’s logic sound familiar, too??

If the Lord is really with me, then why are all of these terrible things happening?

Where are the miracles you promised?

The angel doesn’t completely answer Gideon’s question in the moment, other than pointing him toward future blessings.

But how would you respond to Gideon’s question?

I usually try to focus on one point in each post that I write, but I’ve had a lot of thoughts swirling around on this topic lately, so I’m going to share a few ideas and you can take the idea that resonates the most right now.

• The reward for being righteous always comes. Always. Usually not when we want it, and sometimes not even in this life. But we have to trust in God’s promise that it will come.

• The real blessing in the moment is peace and joy on the inside, despite turbulent circumstances.

• Life can’t just be perfect for those who believe in God and miserable for those who don’t. That would take away the element of faith, and would hinder agency.

• Although I 100000% relate to this feeling, I can also see how spiritually immature it is to just want blessings all the time. A spiritually mature individual loves God and Jesus with their whole heart, mind, and soul, and the circumstances literally don’t matter at all.

What do you think? How would you respond to Gideon?

Because Gideon isn’t the only one asking this question.

It’s everywhere. It’s on social media. It’s in our church classes. It’s being asked over and over in our minds.

And I think there is a whole new level of spiritual understanding available when we start to realize that the angel’s declaration of the Lord being with us IS the miracle we’ve been looking for all along.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Where are my miracles? first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

Here’s the golden question though:

What does it mean to “prosper”?

I tend to get a very specific picture in my mind:

An easy and happy life, money isn’t an issue…

But that would mean all righteous Latter-day Saints should be rich with easy lives, right?

I could point to tons of examples of real-life, church history, and scriptural figures who prove that theory wrong.

(Although do I think we subconsciously judge our own or others’ righteousness based off material possessions/jobs/education? Yes, but that’s a topic for another post)

So if God keeps His promises, how are people prospering?

Let’s look at Joseph of Egypt.

After being almost murdered by his brothers, sold into slavery, and traded to Potiphar…

“The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man”. (Genesis 39:2)

And then after being falsely accused of a terrible sin and being thrown into prison by someone who had grown to trust him…

“The Lord was with him, and that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper.” (Genesis 39:23)

I have found that when I am the most righteous, most devoted, most spiritual and in-tune with God version of myself, I am prosperous in lots of things.

Prosperous in inner peace.

Prosperous in love for myself and others.

Prosperous in joy despite my circumstances.

Prosperous in worshipping.

Prosperous in clarity.

Prosperous in blessings that aren’t tangible.

I fully believe that we are blessed to prosper when we keep our hearts pointed toward God continuously.

But just like Joseph of old, I believe that we prosper in all the inner ways that truly matter most.

How do you feel that you are blessed to prosper?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post What does it mean to prosper? first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

And he wept.

This encouraged him to plead with the Lord for a blessing on Noah’s descendants.

And the Lord made an oath:

Never again would the earth be covered in a flood of water, and Noah’s descendants would be blessed to multiply and stay on the earth.

Ready for some of the most poetic language I think the Lord uses throughout all of scripture?!

I love it.

When He talks about the dark days that will accompany the Savior’s Second Coming, Enoch becomes mournful again.

And so the Lord makes this promise, RIGHT after they had discussed Noah’s flood:

“Righteousness and truth will I cause to sweep the earth as with a flood” (Moses 7:62).

Righteousness and truth is sweeping the earth like what?!

Like a FLOOD!

The destructive flood waters will not cover the entire earth again.

But now, WE are the flood!

Sharing righteousness and truth across the entire world in unprecedented ways.

Covering literally every corner of the earth with the influence of goodness.

Helping Christ to be known, loved, and worshipped by anyone who desires to.

I am beyond grateful that I am not living in the time of Noah’s flood that Enoch foresaw.

We missed that flood.

But I am also beyond grateful that I am here when another flood is sweeping the earth:

This one filled with truth and righteousness.

And I think this is one I definitely want to be swept away in! 

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Two floods first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I’ve got a lot of hopes.

Things that I would love to have happen in the future.

But Mormon is just a rockstar for pointing us in the right direction with our true hope.

Although we hope people will get better, viruses will be eradicated, others will forgive, circumstances will improve, and love will grow…

When it comes to our most essential, godly hope, we can’t look to things in this lifetime.

And think about the men who are teaching this.

Both Mormon who spoke these words, and Moroni who wrote them down years later as words he hoped would be of great worth to us.

Their hopes for improving circumstances, healing, and softened hearts were virtually unanswered.

But both Mormon and Moroni stamp their powerful testimony of where our hope should be.

We have hope that, because of Christ’s atoning sacrifice, we will be raised to eternal life in the next life as a result of our good desires and actions.

We have hope that our righteous desires and unseen acts of service will be rewarded with eternal life.

We have hope that our trials and hardships are only trials from a mortal standpoint.

We have hope that the relationships we develop here on earth do not end at death.

We have hope that we will be able to live with our Heavenly Father and our Savior.

What a truly hopeful message!

Although we may be disappointed, maybe even often, with our earthly hopes, Mormon gives us that beautiful reframe:

Our hope is in the promises given to us about what we can expect in the next life.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post I hope! first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

Because that seems kinda weird. And also a little cliche.

But Moroni’s life and his own commentary reveal that he was going through pretty much exactly what brave Anna was experiencing in her dark cave.

Can you imagine not knowing what was going to happen to you next?

After having lived a life of general predictability, being thrown into a situation where you have absolutely no idea what tomorrow might bring?

Moroni had been honest ever since his father died.

He didn’t think he was going to live very long.

So he hurried and wrote down his father’s last teachings.

But then… he was still alive.

So he looked at the Jaredite records again, and had a prompting that he should abridge those.

Halfway through, he said goodbye again.

But after still being alive, he kept going until those records were complete.

And then he was still alive.

As unpleasant as it might seem, Moroni was actually expecting to be killed, time after time.

And so when his plans changed and he was left with unexpectedly large amounts of free time, what did he do?

He did the next right thing.

He didn’t spend his days wasting away, thinking that his death would come eventually.

And he didn’t wait to see the whole big picture before jumping in.

He just took a step. And then another step. And then another, not being able to see the next step until he had taken the one right in front of him.

I’ve had plenty of times where my life has turned upside down. Searching for a job that wasn’t coming, leaving a job that I loved, or even having some summer plans completely change.

On a much, much smaller and less dramatic scale, I have often needed to remind myself of this same lesson.

I can’t see the whole plan. I can’t know the purpose for every action.

But I think I can figure out what the very next right thing is, and take that step. And that keeps me moving forward, through the darkness of uncertainty.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post The next right thing first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

Does anyone else feel like they need that reminder every week or so?!

We love preaching that righteousness = blessings.

But then we sometimes get a false sense of what those blessings are.

If you are righteous, you are not promised freedom from financial issues.

If you are righteous, your spouse can still ask for a divorce.

If you are righteous, you can still lose your job.

If you are righteous, you can have a lot of people really angry at you.

If you are righteous, you can still feel really disappointed by others’ actions.

If you are righteous, it’s possible to not look the way you want to look.

If you are righteous, you can totally fail a test.

If you are righteous, you can still be dramatically harmed by other people.

If you are righteous, you can still be diagnosed with a terrible illness.

So… why am I choosing to be righteous?!

Because of the real blessings that we are promised.

Because of the peace.

The inner joy.

The confidence before the Lord.

And unimaginable and innumerable blessings for the eternities.

Because I love my Savior and my Heavenly Parents, and I want to keep the commandments that I have been given.

But sometimes I need to have that reframe.

I am grateful for all of my outward blessings. I am filled with gratitude when I look at my living situation, my loved ones, my health, my opportunities.

But really, all of those could be taken away.

I could be living in a cave, completely alone for the rest of my life.

And I could still #givethanks.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Bad things happen to righteous people first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

“He did ease the burden of the people, by which he did gain favor in the eyes of the people.” (Ether 10:10)

He took away all of their grievous taxes and let them live wonderful lives!

But the catch?

“He did do justice unto the people, BUT NOT unto himself because of his many whoredoms; wherefore he was cut off from the presence of the Lord.” (Ether 10:11)

He sought to gain favor with his subjects and to ease their burdens.

But he never turned to the Lord and repented of sins.

He was a blessing outwardly to many people, but he didn’t save his own soul and turn to the Lord.

Did you know it’s possible to do good things without gaining a relationship with Christ?

It’s possible to go to church and fulfill your calling just to socialize.

It’s possible to pay tithing just to keep your temple recommend, so you aren’t left out of the temple for the upcoming wedding.

It’s possible to post a bunch of #givethanks pictures just so other people don’t judge you for not doing it. 

But…

We often hear that we gain testimonies of principles as we follow them – so how do we do this without being hypocrites?

I think it all comes down to one thing.

Desire.

When we are struggling to want to go to church in order to worship the Lord, we can still go with a desire to want to go to church more often in the future.

If paying tithing becomes a big challenge, we can still pay it with a desire to gain a stronger testimony of it in the future.

If we don’t want to participate in another social media challenge, we can try to post with a desire that it will become more authentic and fill us with gratitude and peace.

Doing righteous actions is fantastic. Blessing lives through our example, our service, our money, our testimony… that is amazing.

But are we neglecting our own hearts? Or are we using our actions to turn our hearts to our Savior?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Actions and desire first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

He never experienced righteousness and peace in the land.

He didn’t really have any super successful “missions” where he converted a bunch of people.

He didn’t get to perform miracles in front of a bunch of believers.

(This is all at least as far as we know, and I feel pretty fair assumptions based on his descriptions.)

His world was in extreme turmoil, war, and hatred from the moment he was born until he took his dying breath.

And yet he lived a righteous life, followed the Spirit, was visited by the Savior when he was 16 years old, tried to influence his world for good, and took on a writing project that influenced millions of people for years to come.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve definitely had the attitude sometimes that the world needs to go back to “normal” before my real purpose can go back to normal.

But Mormon never had a “normal” world.

And he still found a way to be one of the most righteous individuals in history and change history for the better.

President Nelson taught us recently to: “Embrace your new normal by repenting daily.

“Seek to be increasingly pure in thought, word, and deed.

“Minister to others.

“Keep an eternal perspective.

“Magnify your callings.

“And whatever your challenges, my dear brothers and sisters, live each day so that you are more prepared to meet your Maker.”

We don’t need to wait for old “normal” to do any of that.

It’s all available to us right now.

And even if we never go back, even if we keep getting more chaos and hatred and even bloodshed around us-

We still have full access to God, to our Savior, to righteousness, and to fulfilling whatever our purpose might be.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post A lifetime of abominations first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.