This has come to my mind a few times recently.

I LOVE connecting with God through the scriptures.

But things have felt a little… off?

Then I read a very simple scripture I know I had read many times before:

“Prepare thy heart to receive and obey the instructions which I am about to give unto you”. ⁣(D&C 132:3)

Boom.

That was the answer that I needed. ⁣

I needed to prepare my heart a bit better to receive whatever I needed the Spirit to give me in these scriptures. ⁣

I had grown lax with my preparation.

So I prayed for a softer, more prepared heart. ⁣

I humbled myself and was ready to be taught. ⁣

And then I read the scriptures again. ⁣

This time, I found what the Lord wanted to teach me. ⁣

At least, I found what He wanted to teach me right then, because I’m sure there is much more that I can learn. ⁣

Sometimes, we just need to prepare. ⁣

Prepare our hearts to be sensitive to hard things. ⁣

Prepare our hearts to not worry about the stuff that we don’t need to worry about right now. ⁣

Prepare our hearts to be a little more humble and submissive to the Spirit. ⁣

So that’s what I learned. ⁣

Scripture study isn’t always easy. Finding inspiration isn’t always easy. ⁣

Maybe the scriptures will be easy for you. ⁣

Maybe you’ll struggle a bit as I did. ⁣

It’s all good. ⁣

But there is still always something to learn, and my testimony of that was strengthened even more as the Lord taught me about the power of preparation.

“The condition of our hearts directly affects our sensitivity to spiritual things.” – Gerald N. Lund

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post When the scriptures don’t inspire  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

(Also how the heck was that already four years ago?!)

I don’t think many people escaped that year without any “battle wounds”.

Whether emotional, social, or even physical, “hurt” was experienced by virtually everyone.

Here’s one of my absolute favorite observations Mormon makes in the entire Book of Mormon.

During the brutally long war between the Nephites and Lamanites, two interesting groups emerged:

“. . . many had become hardened, because of the exceedingly great length of the war; and many were softened because of their afflictions, insomuch that they did humble themselves before God, even in the depth of humility.” (Alma 62:41)

So, many hearts were softened.

And many hearts were hardened.

By the SAME EXACT EVENT.

Everyone experienced the same war, but there were different personal outcomes.

Isn’t that so true?

I believe that our agency and attitudes play a huge role in how our hearts react to events.

When reflecting on 2020 or any other major event in your life, have you felt your heart get a little harder or a little softer?

Have you empathized more or judged more?

Have you been a creator of joy and peace or of confusion and division?

And as life continues to be tough, divisive, and frustrating, how do we continually choose to react?

“Do not let unfairness harden you or corrode your faith in God…. Rather than becoming bitter, let Him help you become better.” – Dale G. Renlund

The outside circumstances don’t matter nearly as much as how our hearts choose to respond.

And when we choose humility, meekness, and Jesus Christ, we can let even the hardest of situations soften our hearts.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Harden or soften? first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I literally told my husband: “This week is rough. I’m having a hard time feeling inspired from these scriptures.”

I was trying, and this usually comes very naturally to me.

Normally, I come up with tons of post ideas, and then painstakingly narrow it down to the 5 ideas that I will post on Instagram that week.

But every scripture that I read seemed to be about something so random that it didn’t seem applicable to anything… or it seemed to be about an uncomfortable topic that I wasn’t finding inspiration in.

I wasn’t going to even be able to come up with enough ideas to post on Instagram.

I kept praying and praying, and I still wasn’t getting very far.

And then my eyes were pulled to D&C 132:3, which I had already read, but hadn’t connected with yet.

“Prepare thy heart to receive and obey the instructions which I am about to give unto you”.

Boom. That was the answer that I needed.

I needed to prepare my heart a bit better to receive whatever I needed the Spirit to give me in these scriptures.

I prayed for a softer, more prepared heart.

I humbled myself and was ready to be taught.

And then I read these scriptures again.

Some of them still seemed random and irrelevant, and some of them still covered uncomfortable topics.

But I found what the Lord wanted to teach me.

At least, I found what He wanted to teach me right then, because I’m sure there is much more that I can learn.

Sometimes, we just need to prepare.

Prepare our hearts to be sensitive to hard things.

Prepare our hearts to not worry about the stuff that we don’t need to worry about right now.

Prepare our hearts to be a little more humble and submissive to the Spirit.

So that’s what I learned.

Scripture study isn’t always easy. Finding inspiration isn’t always easy.

Maybe this week will be easy for you.

Maybe you’ll struggle a bit as I did.

It’s all good.

But there is still always something to learn, and my testimony of that was strengthened even more with this reading.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Prepare your heart first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.