Tag: worship

Injured to Rest

by Tonya LaLonde, posted in accountability, breaks, God

Generally, it takes an injury to get me to take a break and rest. It is just how I am cut. I am a worker, I enjoy it, love it and it is healthy and gets things done. I would rather do something than sit around, every time.

So, not being a kid anymore, here I am with a right shoulder ligament tear. Yippee. And thr pain is big when I do pretty much anything. So, God wants me to rest again. I have to get better and finding a balance so it doesn’t take such extremes to get me to slow down a bit.

And resting is important. In fact, just as too much rest makes you lazy, too much works causes pain. We are to do both. Rest in the Lord. Work for the Lord. Still working n on how to do that, but I think they key is to honor the Lord in anything you do and rest is a part of taking care of the body He gave me, just as much as working is. 😄❤

Leading Worship

by Tonya LaLonde, posted in church, God, leadership, worship

When asked to lead worship, no matter how many you are leading- 1 child or thousands of people, no matter- it is the highest honor. There is no cause so worthy as worshipping the Most High God and leading that worship is so much higher an honor. It actually is leading in humility to lift up the name of Jesus. Leading the bow is fantastic.

So today I received that honor. We sang together How Majestic Is Your Name, There is Power in the Blood, We Bring the Sacrifice of Praise, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, A Shield About Me and The Cares Chorus. Such beautiful worship together. Praise God!😄❤

Today God Answered Another Prayer

by Tonya LaLonde, posted in appreciation, church, God, prayer

Today’s worship was beautiful. Our church family loved the hymns and Bible readings before each one. And since we are still searching for a pastor, we had a guest pastor today who spoke on the power of prayer. His message was that we need to pray deeply to fill up our tank and build our spiritual muscles to change us. We do not pray to change God and God’s hand but to change us and our faith. Then we can minister to people for Him. Powerful and very true message. I am grateful and many were moved and encouraged and myself included. So very thankful! God is powerfully and lovingly good!❤❤❤

Leading Worship

by Tonya LaLonde, posted in Contemplations

Our music minister is out of town tomorrow so he gave me the honor of asking me to lead worship. We normally sing a combination of hymns and contemorary worship songs and he asked if I would lead all hymns, as the church family has been asking him for this blessing. Church congregations often overlook the roots and blessings of good Bible-sharing hymns. They worship with all new songs, which is fine. However, there is nothing wrong with hymns. In fact, they are an anchor for the soul. They are our roots. So to dismiss them entirely is to throw tradition and roots to the wind. Hymns have a beautiful place in collective worship, a long standing, beautiful place. I love it. So, tomorrow we worship together and my husband is joining us on guitar. In addition, I fasted today in preparation and wrote down Bible verses that coincide with the hymns: At the Cross, Sing the Wondrous Love of Jesus, What a Friend We Have in Jesus, Blessed Assurance, Sweet Hour of Prayer and His Eye is On the Sparrow for the special. I am excited to worship tomorrow and have loved the honor of planning and leading worship. Praise God!! ❤ ❤ ❤

Heaven’s Waiting Room

by Tonya LaLonde, posted in accountability, action, America, appreciation, assurance, choice, Contemplations, encouragement, eternity, God, heaven, Jesus, meaning, ministry, responsibility, service, truth, worship

Our time here on earth for all of us should be time spent waiting for heaven. But it is not a passive wait. We are not sitting around on our butts waiting for time to pass, we are worshipping God and thanking Him for Jesus’ work to assure us a place. We are thankful, friends! And while we worship and live thankfully, we are growing closer in our relationship with God. Wow, what a magnificent thought! We are loved by Almighty God our Creator who is rich in love and kindness, goodness and gentleness, joy and peace, holiness and self-control. He who created the stars knows and loves and wants to be close to us. Wow! In such deep thankfulness and worship, we cannot help but radiate His love and good things and humbly serve others also. What better show of our gratitude? And this is our waiting room experience on earth, awaiting heaven with our precious Savior! How blessed we all are!❤❤❤

God Continues to Bless & Give Chances

by Tonya LaLonde, posted in accountability, action, America, appreciation, assurance, blessing, chance, choice, encouragement, God, Jesus

God is perpetually generous! He blesses and answers prayers, gives chances again and again and keeps on loving us to Himself. Oh how He proves His matchless worth! Oh how He loves us! That is amazing to me the more I ponder it. And the late Rich Mullins said it best that with all his philosophy and theology classes, thr most profound truth in the Bible or universe is that “Jesus loves me, this I know, for thr Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong. They are weak but He is strong.” So great and powerful is that truth! So blessed we are to have another chance today to love Him and accept His present love and past love via Jesus. So amazing is our Heavenly Father!❤❤❤