I had zero intention of hiking down into the canyon and was very content staying up on the rim and taking nice shuttle rides around the park. ⁣

But there are warnings EVERYWHERE for those who are intending to hike down into the canyon. ⁣

Every brochure, every sign, every trailhead. ⁣

They say, basically, “Do you have a realistic plan?⁣

“Lots of people hike down into the canyon and are unprepared for how difficult it is to hike back out.

“We have to do a lot of rescues, either by ranger or by helicopter. ⁣

“Make sure you really know what you are getting yourself into, and that you are extremely physically fit to do this hike.”⁣

I can only imagine the kinds of stories that have caused these warnings to be plastered everywhere. ⁣

People choose to hike down into the canyon (the easy part), and then get caught off guard doing the uphill climb while they are already exhausted. ⁣

And then realize they completely miscalculated their abilities. ⁣

And that they need a lot of help. ⁣

And the park service has to spend a lot of manpower and expenses to get them out. ⁣

Thanks goodness the Lord is with us to the end, right?! ⁣

Sometimes, life is like a walk down into the Grand Canyon. ⁣

But other times, it seems like we’ve been asked to hike out of a giant hole in the ground in scorching noonday Arizona heat. ⁣

(Or maybe we are just riding the shuttle around in the rim, with air conditioning.)⁣

But literally no matter what our pathway is, our Lord is with us to the end. ⁣

“I will be with them even unto the end.” D&C 75:13⁣

For those who ask for the Lord to travel with them, He will be there the entire time. ⁣

He isn’t rolling His eyes when He has to come rescue us again. He isn’t frustrated that He has to stop what He’s doing to give help in a situation you got yourself into in the first place. ⁣

He’s just there. Whenever we ask. ⁣

What a kind, wise Heavenly friend.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Grand Canyon warning first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

Why do some suffer with cancer while others are cured?

Why do some struggle financially while others have abundance?

Why do some have difficult family relationships to navigate while others have such unity?

Why do some fail while others get accepted to every school they wanted?

Why were the faithful women of Ammonihah and their innocent children killed in the most brutal way, while a prophet of the Lord was told not to intervene?

Life can be infuriatingly unfair.

So, so, so unfair.

Elder Dale G. Renlund gave a talk in 2021 titled “Infuriating Unfairness” that shook me to the core, and I’ve quoted it often since.

I actually want to point you to this apostle’s words to answer this complicated and heartbreaking question.

Please go read or listen to that talk today.

But here are some of my favorite teachings he shared:

“I declare with all my aching heart that Jesus Christ both understands unfairness and has the power to provide a remedy. Nothing compares to the unfairness He endured.

“It was not fair that He experienced all the pains and afflictions of mankind. It was not fair that He suffered for my sins and mistakes and for yours. But He chose to do so because of His love for us and for Heavenly Father. He understands perfectly what we are experiencing.”

“In mortality, we can “come boldly” to the Savior and receive compassion, healing, and help. Even while we suffer inexplicably, God can bless us in simple, ordinary, and significant ways.”

“In the eternities, Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ will resolve all unfairness.”

(Go read his talk and share it with others you know are grappling with the same question.)

Life is inherently unfair, and while this unfairness is manifest in both insignificant and life-altering ways, God’s will always reigns supreme.

And Jesus PERFECTLY understands the unfairness you face.

I am sure that these righteous women and children in Ammonihah, surrounded by their beloved scriptures, praised God “even in the very act of perishing”.

Do we have the faith to praise God, despite the infuriating unfairness we have to face?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Why weren’t they saved?  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I think that answer is actually pretty easy and obvious to most of us.

Right?

He had to sacrifice His physical body for us so that He could then overcome the grave.

He knew it had to be done to fulfill the whole plan. ⁣

And yet, the priests and others passing by Christ’s crucifixion said:

“He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.” (Matthew 27:42)

They put specific requirements on the miracle that Christ had to perform in order for them to “believe”. ⁣

Yet Jesus had spent His whole life performing miracles.

(Which they actually reference by saying “he saved others”.)

And He was about to perform the greatest miracle of all. ⁣

And STILL these onlookers decided that He only was a true Savior if He could get Himself off the cross.

Do we sometimes put our own requirements on the help we get from heaven? ⁣

“I haven’t received a yes or no answer yet.”⁣

“This terrible thing happened even though I followed a prompting.”⁣

“I keep praying for a way to help my daughter but I’m not getting an answer.”⁣

With our own limited viewpoint here, we think we know exactly what we need sometimes, right?

I need to know if I should do this or not.

I need to get inspiration for this.

I followed a prompting so nothing unsatisfactory should come from it. ⁣

And yet there is someone above who sees the whole big picture. ⁣

Sometimes the answer is no answer. ⁣

Sometimes the prompting is to do nothing.

Sometimes following the Spirit leads to terrible suffering. ⁣

What we or what others think the miracle “needs to be” is not always what it is. ⁣

God’s ways are not our ways. ⁣

And I’m so grateful for a Savior who understood this and knew that performing NO miracle in that moment is what would lead to the greatest outcome for all.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Why didn’t Jesus save Himself?  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

It’s a big question.

I’m gonna bet that if you are reading this post from a scripture study account, you want to be like Jesus.

But is there anything you want more than that?

Maybe you just want to have friends and fit in.

Maybe you want your kids to be better behaved.

Maybe you want a better job.

Maybe you want your rough trial to end.

These are honestly all fine to want.

But when we want them MORE than we want to be like Jesus, we’ve started focusing on trying to save our own lives rather than turning to Christ to be saved.

Jesus even warned:

“For whosoever will save his life shall lose it:

“and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.” (Matthew 16:25)

Of course, we all want to improve our lives.

Finding ways to make our own situations and relationships better is a great goal.

But anything that causes us to focus on “saving” our own lives MORE than turning to Christ is something that should be removed.

And anything that causes us to focus on the Savior is something that we should keep!

One interesting thing I’ve noticed though:

Losing our selfish views of our lives by focusing on the Savior more, can actually sometimes give us what we originally wanted for ourselves as a by-product!

We might become more well-liked BECAUSE we are developing Christlike attributes.

We might earn more money BECAUSE of our righteous desires to bless other people.

We might feel more peace during our trials BECAUSE we are willing to give them to Jesus.

But no matter the result, when we really turn to the Savior, we will always find our true purpose in life.

And gain a Glory that is more amazing than anything the world could even pretend to offer!

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post More than Jesus?  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

Do you know what I think SHOULD be the easiest part of our baptismal covenants…

But is actually so difficult for our mortal brains?!

To ALWAYS REMEMBER Jesus.

That is WAY more difficult to do in practice than it may seem.

We have endless things our brains can dwell on: to-do lists, food, desires, TV shows, conversations, plans…

And yet, Jesus invites us to always remember Him.

I love the story of Peter walking on water for more reasons than I can say.

But I also love so much what happened when Peter starts to sink into the water.

“But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.

“And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him”. (Matthew 14:30-31)

How quickly did Jesus react after Peter cried out to the Lord?

IMMEDIATELY.

Not immediately when Peter started sinking.

But immediately after Peter cried out for help.

I think Jesus is ready to help us. He wants to let us feel peace. He wants to take away our fears and anxieties.

But He won’t infringe on our agency.

Those who have made baptismal covenants know that we get the extreme privilege of having the constant companionship of the Spirit, a literal member of the Godhead who is ready to prompt and warn and guide and teach.

And what is our role?

What is the small action that we need to do in order to hold up part of our end of the covenant?

We need to always remember Jesus.

When we talk with a friend, while running errands, while putting your kid to bed, while going to youth activities, while planning out the week…

Always remember Jesus.

Because when we always remember Jesus, we are perfectly poised to call upon JESUS when we start to drown.

We don’t look back to the ship, we don’t ask our friends, we don’t try to trust our own strength.

We ASK for help from Jesus because He’s already been in our mind.

Cry out to Jesus for help, and He will immediately save in the exact way we need it.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

Artwork: “Hand of God” by Yongsung Kim

The post Always remember, and Jesus saves  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

As a teacher, “teacher evaluations” where an admin would just tell me everything I could have done to make my lesson better were the worst.

And in our personal lives, I’m pretty certain none of us love getting laundry lists of what we are doing wrong.

But on the other hand…

We each know we aren’t perfect.

We know we have blind spots to certain weaknesses, we know we mess up constantly, we know we aren’t living up to our full potential.

So if we don’t like hearing everything we are doing wrong, but we also are fully aware we aren’t doing everything right, how do we still grow?

“God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” (John 3:17)

Jesus isn’t one to condemn.

He is one to love and save.

Jesus isn’t making lists of everything we are failing at.

(So maybe we shouldn’t either.)

But Jesus also knows how we can improve.

“God loves us as we are, but He also loves us too much to leave us this way.” -Brad Wilcox

Jesus invites us to follow Him.

He find us at the well, loves us, and invites us to believe and change.

He is there when we need help and healing, and invites us to exercise even greater faith in order to see the miracles unfold.

He sits with us and teaches us eternal truths that broaden our limited perspective.

He’s not here to condemn.

He’s here to love and save.

And while we take comfort in this, I think we can follow His example, too.

We aren’t here to condemn, whether it’s ourselves or others.

We are here to love. To love and invite and then love some more while constantly looking to the Savior.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Not condemn, but save  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

This is what He does.

He knows we will try, and that our faith might falter, and we’ll slip below the surface just a bit.

And He will always be there with His arm outstretched, ready to save.

Not annoyed that we need Him again, but instead, “mighty to save.” D&C 133:47

But if you’ve followed my account for any amount of time, you know that I prefer to get to the nitty gritty of topics.

What does it look like to be saved by Jesus?

Peter was able to be pulled out of the water, being literally saved by the Savior.

But for most of us, it’s much more abstract.

When I felt overwhelmed by a big change that was about to happen, to the point that I didn’t know how I was ever going to handle it, I collapsed in prayer.

I cried and shared everything that was in my heart, and I called on my Savior’s help.

Immediately, I felt a strong prompting of an action to take, and a blanket of peace covered me.

It was still a difficult change, but I felt like the Savior was with me, empowering me through each step.

Another time, I was drowning in a wave of inaction.

I knew what I wanted to be doing and what I should be doing to draw myself closer to heaven, but I couldn’t bring myself to do anything.

I kept throwing half-hearted cries for help into heaven, but nothing was changing. I was stuck with my actions not matching my desires, and I felt like I was slowly sinking.

And then it was a talk at church, by a very average member of the ward, that included exactly the story that I needed to hear.

The one that shook me awake enough to recognize this was what I needed.

And this time I prayed with much more real intent to act on any promptings I received. And I received one, and I acted on it.

Those are examples of how I’ve been saved— promptings, prayer, peace, and action steps.

It can look different for everyone, depending on your relationship with the Lord, and what you need saving from.

But Jesus is always there to save.

Not just willing to save, but saving with the godly power that only He can.

Jesus is mighty to save.

Artwork by Yongsung Kim

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Mighty to save first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.