Because when I first searched for “Come, Follow Me” resources in January of 2019…

I only found ways to teach your kids about the scriptures.

Basically, family scripture study support.

And I so selfishly thought (with a 1 year old who I wasn’t really concerned about teaching yet)…

What about me?!

Where is my help and support?!

(Which led to the prompting for me to start this account, but the full saga is a story for another day.)

I have gained SUCH a strong testimony that we have to learn for ourselves first. ⁣

We have to put the oxygen mask on ourselves first.

In fact, I think that’s the best way to teach our families!

Now that I have older kids where I DO want to teach the gospel more…

I find that most of my teaching comes from my heart.

It’s from my real life experiences.

From real struggles and testimonies and tests. ⁣

It’s from what I have already studied.

(This is not a knock at lesson-helps by the way – I actually have tried and currently use many that I love. I am so grateful for those who use their talents in that area.)

And now with my Youth Sunday School calling, I try to make my top priority each week studying the material on my own and learning what the Spirit needs to teach me.

Before it even crosses my mind what to teach, I fill my own mind with learning and inspiration for my own life.

Are we sometimes TOO concerned about how to teach a topic to our kids?

How to give a good talk?

How to keep our class engaged?⁣

Or is our focus on how WE can gain a better understanding of a concept?

“Seek not to declare my word, but first seek to obtain my word, and then shall your tongue be loosed; then, if you desire, you shall have my Spirit and my word, yea, the power of God unto the convincing of men.” (D&C 11:21)

“In order to successfully teach the gospel, you must have both the word and the power of the gospel in your life.” – David M. McConkie

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Why I started this account  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

Like… a lot.

It’s easy to see this as a “fail”.

And in fact, I used to get really upset with myself when I would do that.

Couldn’t I just stay awake for the scriptures?!

But guess what I think now?

Falling asleep while reading your scriptures is infinitely better than not opening them at all.

Infinitely.

The Lord loves effort.

And the Lord loves the effort we put into keeping His commandments and drawing closer to Him.

John said of those who attempted to read:

“Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein.” (Revelation 1:3)

Are you not doing your best “studying” every time you open your scriptures?

Do you ever fall asleep when you should be reading?

It’s okay!

I mean, we can always find ways to improve and often the Spirit can help us discover ways to make our scripture study a little more effective each time.

I’m not going to give up or become complacent.

But I also know that I am blessed for any effort I make just to read.

Even when I am utterly exhausted.

The Lord is filled with mercy and love, and when we give Him an inch, He blesses us with a mile in the best way possible!

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Effort for reading scriptures first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

Growing up, I would hear people giving talks in church and casually throw in references to “Alma and Amulek” or “the city of Enoch”.⁣

I was always so impressed!

Because I always forgot who these people were until I heard a lesson on them. ⁣

I read my scriptures virtually every day starting at age 12…

And I still felt like I didn’t understand them super well. ⁣

So I was determined to serve a mission, because that is where everyone seemed to learn their scriptures so well!

Perfect. Problem solved.

Well guess who didn’t serve a mission?

This girl. ⁣

I still kept reading every day, but I felt like my opportunity to really “know” them was gone. ⁣

Fast forward some more years and I’ve started to realize…

I’ve become someone who knows the scriptures pretty well!

I can remember stories, make connections, refer to names of people casually. ⁣

When did this happen?! How?!

There was no magical mission to force me to learn the scriptures! ⁣

Paul teaches it well here:

“And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” (2 Timothy 3:15)

I have known the scriptures since I was a child. ⁣

I have been learning them my whole life. ⁣

And oh my goodness I still have a lot to learn.

This will be a lifelong process. ⁣

But I’ve FINALLY read them enough times that I’m starting to put everything together in my mind and truly make sense of the stories.

And even more important than remembering all the “stuff”?

Internalizing the lessons that they teach and accessing the Spirit’s promptings

CONSISTENCY.

That’s the real magic answer. ⁣

Of course we aren’t going to see major results from scripture study after one day. Or one week. Or honestly, one year. ⁣

It’s the repetition.

It’s the ability to grow and mature and then read them again so we can actually learn the lessons we need. ⁣

I’m grateful for the scriptures we have and for the blessing they are to me when I give my best CONSISTENT effort.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post I wanted to learn the scriptures first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I spent time reviewing previous talks.

I prayed with very specific purposes beforehand.

I did a lot of work so that I wouldn’t have to do that much during the weekend.

And guess what happened when General Conference weekend arrived?!

I felt so immersed in every talk that I heard!

It truly was one of the most spiritual experiences of my life, and I felt like I was hearing the Lord speak, quite literally.

Although I’ve always loved General Conference, there was something powerful about REALLY preparing for a spiritual experience.

The Lord even warned Moses to “Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes, And be ready against the third day: for the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai.” (Exodus 19:10-11)

The Lord wanted the Israelites to prepare for the amazing spiritual experience that awaited them.

He didn’t want to just spring it on them.

He gave them three days to prepare.

Preparation takes work. It takes effort to do things ahead of time.

But Bonnie Oscarson put it perfectly when she said:

“Where much is required, much more will be given.”

We choose how much to prepare.

How much to ponder about our covenants BEFORE sacrament meeting starts.

How much to do physically and mentally BEFORE walking through the temple doors.

How much to do BEFORE we open our scriptures to study.

How much to search for intention BEFORE serving or loving someone.

But I have found that the more that I choose to prepare before what I anticipate to be a spiritual experience, the more that the Spirit is poured out upon me.

Preparation is for me.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Benefits of preparation  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I recognized that I felt pretty uneducated about the subject, because most of the “knowledge” I had was what some leader had taught me in class, or what I read in a blog post one time.

So I went on a search for knowledge and truth from the best sources that I could find.

And I actively tried to ignore anyone else’s perspectives or interpretations, no matter how right they sounded.

My search brought me to 4 places, essentially.

The scriptures.

General Conference manuscripts.

The plethora of other church-produced materials provided on the church’s website.

And prayer.

I stuck to those 4 locations.

I searched a lot. I pondered a lot. I took it slowly.

D&C 88:118 really touches my heart and reminds me of this time in my life.

Here, the Lord teaches:

“Seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith.”

I didn’t read my answer anywhere written in stone.

But eventually, I had as much knowledge as if it had been.

I prayed and had promptings and felt the spirit whisper to me enough that I realized I knew at least portions of the answers I had been seeking.

And I felt a deep, eternal, and confident peace in the things I still didn’t know.

That was hard sometimes for my brain to wrap itself around– the fact that I didn’t find my answer explicitly hidden somewhere.

Instead, I had to also use faith to fill in some of the spaces.

But deep down, I was just as sure in my knowledge as if I had learned it through any other way.

Knowledge and wisdom are out there. It’s hard to imagine that someone hasn’t already discovered the truth and I can just google enough that I can find it.

With the real, deep stuff, I’ve learned to rely on my own judgment, to be led by the Spirit to the best sources.

And then to let my faith step in for the rest.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

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