Toni Ford

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.

By Toni Ford In the ninth chapter of Acts, we read about Saul’s conversion story. Saul, whose name was later changed to Paul, was blinded by a light on his way to Damascus, where he was going to arrest believers and bring them back to Jerusalem. Acts 9:3-4, 6 tells us, “As he was approaching

By Toni Ford Have you ever wondered if your words had any power? There is a story about a group of frogs that demonstrates how our words impact the lives of others. A group of frogs were traveling through the woods and two of them fell into a deep pit. All the other frogs gathered

By Toni Ford There is a story about a young logger who approached a foreman of a logging crew asking for a job. “That depends,” replied the foreman. “Let’s see if you can cut this tree down in a timely manner.” The young logger stepped forward and skillfully started cutting the giant tree. Impressed, the

By Toni Ford In my reading of the Word, I recently came across Psalm 93. I had never before noticed the beauty and boldness of this psalm. This hymn, perhaps written by a Levite, presents three truths or assurances about our Lord that are never changing. Based on all the current events going on in

By Toni Ford Have you ever seen the letters “WWJD” on a frame of some sort or bracelet? Young people used to wear the bracelets with these letters on them which stand for “What Would Jesus Do?” The best place to find this answer is in the gospels, where we see numerous examples of Jesus

By Toni Ford What do you think of when you think of summer? What brings you joy about this season? Better yet, what do you want your summer to look like? I love the creativity of God when He created the four seasons. We use seasons as a way of dividing up the year, but

By Toni Ford Have you ever stopped to thank God for being a God of second chances? Personally, I know that I don’t thank Him enough for all the second, third and fourth chances He had given me in my lifetime and will continue to give me. When you think about it, we all have

By Toni Ford As we celebrate Memorial Day this week, I hope everyone took time to remember those who lost their lives by serving in the U.S. military. These men and women paid a great price to protect our civil and religious freedoms and gave their lives for our country. Honestly, our gratitude, appreciation, respect,

By Toni Ford In Chapter 8 of the Book of Mark we find the story of the feeding of the four thousand. people This story shows us a beautiful picture of not only our Father’s heart for ALL people but also skills needed to be an effective leader. Let’s take a look at this story

By Toni Ford Have you ever heard a speaker begin his or her seminar by holding up a $20 bill? Talking in front of 300 students, a speaker recently asked, “Who would like this $20 bill?” Of course, hands started going up all across the room. He said, “I am going to give this $20

By Toni Ford Have you ever heard of the Book of Micah? Better yet, have you ever read the Book of Micah? Micah was an Old Testament prophet who received visions from God concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. He sought to call the Jews back to faithful worship of Jehovah and sincere obedience to His covenant

By Toni Ford If you know much about Paul in the Bible, you know that he never doubted his calling, which was to share the Gospel of Jesus to both Jews and Gentiles. Paul did this with an incredible boldness and never wavered in his calling, regardless of the persecution and trials he faced. In

By Toni Ford Chapter 4 of the Book of Jonah reveals Jonah’s sins as well as the intentions and thoughts of his heart. We are reminded in 1 Samuel 16:7 that God looks at our hearts and weighs the motives of our heart. The root of every problem is the problem in the heart, and

By Toni Ford In just a few days, Easter Sunday will be here and millions of people will gather around the world to reflect on the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Yet the resurrection is more than just a historical event. For the believer, this is a time of great celebration

By Toni Ford The conversion of Saul, the leading persecutor of Christians, was one of the greatest events in church history. Saul, whose name was changed to Paul shortly after his conversion, met Jesus on his way to Damascus. The Lord had a special work for Paul. This Hebrew of Hebrews would become the apostle

By Toni Ford When we read the minor prophet books in the Old Testament, we quickly observe a recurring pattern in their prophecies to Israel and the Jews. First comes the warning to repent of their sins and next is the judgement that will come upon the Jews and their land if they do not

By Toni Ford I love the story in Acts 12 of Peter’s miraculous escape from prison. The story begins a few verses ahead, with King Herod Agrippa persecuting the believers of the church to such extremes as having the apostle James killed with a sword. This actually is the first of the twelve apostles martyred

By Toni Ford In the closing chapters of the Book of Joshua, we see that the children of Israel, as a nation, are resting from war and enjoying the riches God had given them in the Promised Land. But when we move to the next book, in Judges, we see the nation of Israel suffering

By Toni Ford What comes to mind when you think of the word “freedom?” Personally, I think of, “woo-hoo!,” minimal stress, relaxed not confined. Webster’s Dictionary defines freedom as “the quality or state of being free, the absence of necessity or constraint in choice or action, released from something.” Freedom is available to everyone, but

By Toni Ford In Acts Chapter 4, we once again see a crowd of people gathering around Peter and John, as they talk about this man named Jesus who walked among them for 33 years, was crucified by the people but resurrected from the dead by God, His Father. Since His resurrection, the disciples, along