God

Devotional – Wrong All The Time

~ Tonya ~ Leave a comment

Matthew 11:18-19 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.”

Back to the same lessons. God keeps bringing me scriptures to drive home this point. So, I’m sorry if I seem redundant to you – I’m only passing along what I feel the Lord keeps showing me. It’s just your bad luck to follow a blog written by an (apparently) slow learner.  Continue reading →

Devotional – Unexpected Gifts

~ Tonya ~ Leave a comment

Matthew 7:11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

It is amazing to me how faithful God is. Just the other day, I was trying to remember where this verse was located. The passage came to mind as I was considering what to speak on for an upcoming luncheon – but I couldn’t remember where it was located. I thought about it again this afternoon as I was decorating the Christmas tree with my kids. Thinking about gifts as input into our lives. How much I love my kids – how much I want to teach them. The lessons I want to give to them so they don’t have to learn the hard way. And, yes – about presents. Gifts. How much fun it is to give things to them. The delight on their faces. The joy it brings them. Made a mental note to look up the reference to this verse during my devotional – but God did it for me. It was in the reading today.
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Devotional – Bragging Weakness

~ Tonya ~ Leave a comment

2 Corinthians 12:9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

Power made perfect in weakness. What a backwards thought. Just yesterday I was having a conversation with my mom about allowing myself to be weak. Recognizing that where I am most vulnerable is where the Lord can show his great strength. I’ve been a Christian my whole life, well – since I was 5 anyway. However, most of my adulthood has been spent trying to do it on my own might, instead of relying on God. Part of the problem is that I’ve been very richly blessed. I know, to have such “problems”, right? Really though. God has poured out blessings in heaps and mounds on me. I frequently have struggled with pride in my heart because of it. Like somehow my talents are my own doing, not gifts from the Lord. Continue reading →

Devotional – Married to Life

~ Tonya ~ Leave a comment

1 Corinthians 7:34 …An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world—how she can please her husband.

So. True. How often do I find myself going twelve different directions in a vain attempt to get it all done? I want my house to be clean, I need to workout, Madison wants to play polly-pockets, Donovan wants to point out every “fruck” (truck) in a 30 yard radius of his body, dinner needs to be made, the laundry is now so wrinkled it really should be thrown back in the dryer, I should probably at least run a brush thru my hair so Zack recognizes me when he gets home and try to save some energy for actually being a wife…and on, and on, and on. Where does my devotion to the Lord fit in? Continue reading →

Devotional – Worldly Is As Worldly Does

~ Tonya ~ Leave a comment

1 Corinthians 3:3 You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans?

Ouch. Zing! Just in case any of us thought we were obeying all the little Bible rules and are therefore somehow better than the next guy…guess what? You’re not. I’m not. None of us are.

In this installment (number 37 by my count) of God’s lesson entitled “Everybody Stinks”, I read today in 1 Corinthians about people quarrelling, fighting and generally being divided over who’s following the right rules. The people of Corinth were taking issue with each other over which church leader their neighbors were following – who was better. Like somehow it actually mattered – that it was a big enough deal for them to be separated because of it. And Paul sets them straight, without any sugar-coating. I think I would have liked Paul.
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Devotional – Predicting Responses

~ Tonya ~ 2 Comments

Mark 11:31-33 They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ 32 But if we say, ‘Of human origin’ …” (They feared the people, for everyone held that John really was a prophet.) 33 So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”

It’s interesting to me how often a group of very educated people can’t come up with a simple answer to a basic question. Election day was yesterday and whatever side of the aisle you fall on, we can all probably agree that politicians in general use way too many words to ultimately not say very much of substance. Trying to please everyone, quite often leads to what I like to call mamby-pamby speech. Basically, not taking a hard stand on anything for fear that it will turn people off. Continue reading →

Devotional – Rinse and Repeat

~ Tonya ~ Leave a comment

Acts 15:10-11 10Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? 11No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”

Ever notice the instructions on your shampoo bottle? Yeah, me neither really. We’re so familiar with how to wash our hair, we never need to look at the directions. I just checked three different brands of shampoo (I’m a couponer…I have a stockpile) – all of them say some version of the following: Apply to wet hair and work into a lather. Rinse. Repeat if necessary. This was a particularly funny set of directions I found:

I think God is in the “repeat if necessary” portion of directing my life. He keeps slamming home the point that it is thru Jesus that I’m anything at all. That there’s nothing so great and wonderful about me to set me apart from anyone else. That all I’ve got is His grace and love. And that is more than enough.

Today’s reading included this passage from Acts where Peter is once again defending those who’ve come to a belief in Jesus who are not Jews. The churchy people of the day were insisting that new Christians follow the old laws of Moses – including (yipes!) circumcision. I think it’s pretty obvious why the men folk weren’t too excited about signing up for THAT. Peter gets up and makes a little speech where he basically says “Back up churchy people! God knows what’s in their hearts. He has already chosen them. They’re all cool with the big dude – and they don’t have to go under the knife or prove themselves by following a bunch of rules. I mean really guys, WE haven’t been able to obey all these rules either…that’s why we needed Jesus. You do realize all of US needed Him too, right?” Yeah. Welcome to the New Tonya Translation of the Bible. Totally paraphrased. Read the chapter yourself in a “real” version if you think I took too many liberties here.

The point I’m taking away from all this is the same one (rinse and repeat if necessary) God has been showing me for a couple of weeks now. It’s not about rules. It’s about the heart.  It’s not about me being better or worse than anyone else. It is about all of us needing the same savior. Nothing we have done or will do can make us any more or less loved by God. I don’t have to prove anything. I don’t have to tow the line or make sure all my t’s are crossed and my i’s are dotted. It is simply accepting that I’m dirty, just like everyone else. There is no amount of life scrubbing I can do to make myself worthy of what God offers me freely. He stands with the shampoo bottle in hand, ready to lather my mess again until I finally get the point. Just like I cannot keep my hair perfectly clean, free from oil, dirt, dead skin etc – I cannot live a clean enough life to not need Jesus. Thankfully, God has a big bottle of shampoo, as long as I continue to recognize my need for Him (aka, realize my hair still isn’t clean), He’s there to give me another rinse and repeat.

Devotional – Factory Settings

~ Tonya ~ 3 Comments

Romans 8:28  And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Last night I had a total flip out. Completely lost it. I felt like I was going to vomit I was so incredibly upset. I locked myself in the bathroom and sobbed for about 10 minutes. I cannot remember ever doing that before.

Here’s the story:

I’m working on a wedding slide show for my baby sister, who’s getting married in about a month. I went to retrieve some photos from my back-up hard drive, which I purchased specifically to hold the thousands upon thousands of pictures that were clogging up my C drive on my main computer. I’ve been systematically moving my photo files over to the back-up drive and then (after checking to verify they are in fact copied on the back-up), deleting the files off my main computer to free up space. I’m sure you can all guess what’s coming – when I went to pull up the “Windsor 2010” file, which held about 700 photos from our recent all family vacation in Windsor, it wasn’t there. As in, not where I filed it. I didn’t panic until I’d done my customary search thinking I just mis-filed it or hadn’t actually transferred it to the back-up drive yet. But it wasn’t on my C drive either. Wasn’t on any drive I searched. Wasn’t anywhere.

I started to flip out thinking of how on earth I was going to tell my parents and siblings that all those hundreds of photos – including the “formal” family shots we’d taken hours to shoot were gone. Then I hit the wall…the thing that put me over the edge. I realized that somehow the back-up drive had auto refreshed…and had copied exactly what was now showing on my C drive. Which meant that it wasn’t just the Windsor file that was missing…all the photo files I’d deleted from there were now erased from my back-up. Files which included every picture I’d taken of my daughter since she was born 4 years ago. Every. Single. One. Gone. The moments after her birth, Christmases, birthdays, her first smile, first bath, first everything. All of them erased in some horrible factory setting auto-refresh. Continue reading →

Devotional – L.O.V.E.

~ Tonya ~ Leave a comment

2 John 1:6 And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another.

It’s not new. It’s not flashy. It’s not really that hard. Just love on another. So, why is it so difficult to accomplish? I find that my own life gets in the way of loving others. Because to really show love, you’ve got to do something. It’s not enough to just say it. Honestly, I’d rather be doing my own thing. I’m selfish like that. Showing love to those around me takes time, effort and thought. But, it’s a command. It’s not an option – I’ve said this before, loving others isn’t a choice.

Today, I’m trying to remember that as hard as it is sometimes, showing true love is always worth it. Even when I don’t get the recognition I think I deserve. Even when the person I’m loving doesn’t respond the way I think they should. Loving others well is just an outpouring of gratitude for the love I’ve been shown by God. Maybe it will help to remember – I’m not doing it for the people around me  (necessarily), I’m doing it for God. Making Him happy is more than enough for me to be willing to step outside myself – and simply love.

Heavenly Father,
I thank you so much for your never-ending love towards me. No matter how many times I fail, You are always still there, still loving me. Please help me to demonstrate that same devotion to others – especially when I don’t think they deserve it. Help me to put into action Your love.

Devotional – What’s Your Talent?

~ Tonya ~ Leave a comment

1 Chronicles 15:22 Kenaniah the head Levite was in charge of the singing; that was his responsibility because he was skillful at it.

What are you good at? Not just ok, not good enough, but really truly gifted at?

My tendency in life is to focus on the attributes that need some work. I’m always striving to become better at certain skills. I’ve been working on sympathy for years. Mercy is another “improvement needed” area in my life. In the struggle to maintain areas that have some rough patches, I forget that God has given me talents that I naturally excel at. Some of them are easy to spot.
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