Toni Ford

By Toni Ford I pray that each of you reading this article is safe and healthy. Each week, I continue to pray Psalm 91 over you and your families, especially verses 9-11, which say, “If you make the Lord your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter, no evil will conquer you; no

By Toni Ford Last week our nation was called to a “Day of Prayer” concerning the coronavirus that has since been identified as a pandemic. Many churches across our country sent out a message encouraging everyone to pray Psalm 91. While praying that psalm over my family, our country and our nation as a whole,

By Toni Ford I do not normally watch the news on a regular basis. Based on all that is happening around the world regarding the coronavirus, however, I decided to watch both the local and national news yesterday. If I was not alarmed or anxious before the news, I definitely was afterwards. Throughout the day,

By Toni Ford I struggled this week with the title of this teaching. I wanted to title it something more positive and life-giving, but I kept coming back to this question I ask myself often when I let my circumstances become bigger than my God. It is so easy to let our circumstances and the

By Toni Ford In the Gospels Matthew and Mark, the first parable mentioned is of the farmer scattering seed. This more often referred is to as the parable of the soils, since the emphasis of the teaching is placed primarily on the different soils in which the seed falls. The setting for how Jesus begins

By Toni Ford In the 15th chapter of Luke, Jesus shares three of His greatest parables ever told. Before He begins, He is approached by the Pharisees and other religious leaders, who are upset with the crowd Jesus is hanging out with. Not only did Jesus welcome the outcasts and teach them, He went a

By Toni Ford Over the past few weeks, I have found myself in several conversations with friends and co-workers about the difference between head knowledge and heart truths, what we know in our head verses what is rooted in our hearts. It is often easy to read God’s Word, and listen to teachings about God

By Toni Ford Have you ever experienced real and true hunger? I heard a story of a young couple who were struggling to pay bills. As they sat down one evening to eat a meager meal of a single hamburger patty and a glass of milk, the young husband gave thanks and offered up a

By Toni Ford I love beginning a New Year by reading the Book of Genesis, the very first book in the Bible. The Hebrew meaning for Genesis is “Bereshit,” which means “in the beginning of.” This year, the Lord opened my eyes to something I had never seen before in the first five verses of

By Toni Ford Hebrews 4:12 tells us, “The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” This is one of the many reasons I love the Word of

By Toni Ford This week’s devotion is actually one I saw written by Sylvia Gunter with “The Father’s Business.” Sylvia is an incredible woman of God and has written several books and Bible study curriculum. You can read more about Sylvia and her ministry at www.thefathersbusiness.com. I love Genesis 1:27 and personally believe it is

By Toni Ford  One of the methods Jesus used in communicating His message to the people and to His disciples was through parables, which basically are earthly stories with a heavenly meaning. His disciples asked Him in Matthew 13:10, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” Jesus basically replied in Matthew 13: 11, 14-15,

By Toni Ford  As we prepare for a new year, we often start by making a list of all the many ways we are going to improve our lives and do more by working smarter and not harder, which then leads to us creating all our New Year resolutions for the coming year. I would

By Toni Ford This might be a bit different from my usual articles, so hang in there with me if you will. After reading the gospel accounts on the birth of Jesus, my mind and thoughts began to shift to, “What happened after the birth of Jesus, and how should my own thoughts and focus

During this Christmas season, one of my favorite things to do is take time and read and reflect on the birth of Jesus. I love to read about the story of His birth, as well as all the events that took place before and after His birth. Each year as I am reading, the Lord

During this Christmas season, I am reminded of Isaiah 9:6-7. This Scripture is one of the greatest prophesies ever foretold and serves as a great reminder for the true meaning of Christmas. Isaiah 9:6 proclaims not only the birth of Jesus (“a child is born”) but also His deity (“a son is given”). In these

By Toni Ford In Luke Chapter 5, we have a beautiful picture of the difference Jesus makes in the lives of four individuals. We have numerous stories in the gospels of Jesus teaching and preaching to the crowds of people. The crowds were always drawn to Jesus; however, His message was always to the individual.

By Toni Ford As soon as you read the above title, your mind might have immediately gone to Psalm 100. Consisting of only five verses, this short psalm, is often referred to as the “Psalm of Thanksgiving.” When I think of the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday season we currently are experiencing, I think of a

By Toni Ford As we enter the holiday season, the Thanksgiving holiday has become my favorite of them all. Not only is this is a season to give thanks and to reflect upon all that we have to be grateful for, but it is also a time, more so than any other time in the

By Toni Ford This past week, I had the honor of speaking at a celebration of life service for one of our students. Carlie passed away last week in a tragic car accident, which was a shock to us all. She was a beautiful young lady, and although she was only on this earth a

By Toni Ford This week, we will have 375 students participating in “Expedition,” our annual obstacle race in Cullman. Leading up to the race over the past couple of weeks, one could hear multiple conversations among students consisting of anything from fear, anticipation of the unknowns, enthusiasm and all the way up to great excitement.

By Toni Ford I would not say that I am the best with plants, but over my years of trying to grow plants, I have learned a few things that plants need in order to grow and be healthy. The first thing is that plants grow best when we pay attention to them. This means

By Toni Ford There is a story of a little boy who was overheard talking to himself as he strode through his backyard, baseball cap in place and toting ball and bat. “I’m the greatest baseball player in the world,” he said proudly. The boy then tossed the ball in the air, swung and missed.

By Toni Ford Every person on this earth places his or her identity in someone or something. Depending on the stage of life we are in or the crisis at hand, what we place our identity in may change several times throughout our lives. And yet, who we believe we are and how we see

By Toni Ford Psalm 30 is a beautiful reminder for us as believers that no matter what trials come our way in life, if we choose to keep our eyes on our Lord, then joy will follow. This psalm opens and closes on a note of thanksgiving and yet, during the time David wrote this

By Toni Ford As of late, this has been an extremely busy season in my life. My time of reading God’s Word has been cut short on many mornings and I knew I needed more of Him to get through my day. I have found myself leaning more on prayer and conversations with our Lord

By Toni Ford Lately I have been thinking about the vastness and magnitude of our Lord, and how this attribute along with His consistent character never changes. I have been learning that as I reflect on these things, it changes my perspective concerning my current issues and problems. All of a sudden, my problems, which

By Toni Ford In the Book of Ephesians, Paul explains how we are to equip ourselves for the battles we face in this life and for spiritual warfare. Ephesians 6:11 says, “Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil.” In ancient times,

By Toni Ford In a battle, I believe all of us at times need encouragement to keep fighting and not give up. We need a glimmer of hope or some type of sign that we can be victorious. Personally, I have found Psalm 86 to be a great psalm to read when one is faced

By Toni Ford It has been an interesting week as I have been faced with multiple situations where I have realized and recognized my need for the Lord and His wisdom more than ever before. As I began to pray and ask the Lord for wisdom and insight, He led me to Ephesians 1: 15-23.