TutuCute tutus by Tonia

01/01/2023

11/03/2022

Lead a Life of Authenticity 

Today I would like to share a passage from my book that I wrote in the final days before finishing. It came to me as the glow of my computer screen was keeping me awake in the dead of the night. It is called “You Are More.” 

You are more. 

More than your thoughts, emotions 

More than your hopes and dreams
More than your work and position
More than the passage of time in your body 

More than your failures and shortcomings
More than your accomplishments and possessions 

More than your partner, children, or parents
More than the dysfunction of your family of origin
More than the words with which you label yourself
More than the facts that support them
More than the lies you keep in your heart
More than the grief you have endured
More than the abuse you have suffered
More than the hurts inflicted on you, that you inflicted on yourself and others
More than the voice that keeps you down
You are more.
You are more than yourself.
You are more than enough. 

I hope today’s Scripture enables you to embrace your true you and to live wholeheartedly and fully present.

You have made it this far. And I am so beyond grateful. 

Thank you for sharing this journey with me. 

Thank you for diving deeply into yourself and diving deeply into God.

Thank you for being vulnerable. 

Thank you for your time; I know it is sacred. 

Truth is beautiful. And God is the purveyor of truth.  

For more content like this, pick up a copy of True You, https://getreallive.com/trueyou/

11/02/2022

Find Your True You

I have spent the better part of the last twenty years writing and speaking about identity—who you are in context of whose you are: God’s. 

We often describe ourselves like a résumé. We are full of labels and details: name, age, spouse, children, values, beliefs, hopes, dreams, location, what we’ve done, who we know, who we are friends with, our likes, our dislikes, what we look and sound like, who our tribe is, the list goes on—like the ingredients on a processed food product. We derive much value in cultivating and defending this ego and consider it our identity. 

But we are more. You are more. I am more. For in the quiet stillness of the very core of my being, and with each passing day, I am becoming more aware of and more present to God’s presence within me and God’s presence around me. To be truly human and to be truly ourselves, we are to become what God is: love. We are made from love and for love, and we are made in the image and likeness of God who is love.

10/31/2022

The Joy of the Lord Is My Strength 

It would make sense for me to say that I wish I could tell my children no harm will ever come to them, and every day will be filled with rainbows, butterflies, and unicorns. But actually, I don’t wish those things—at all. I’ve seen how challenges play a part in making us who we are, and through it all, we will stand. The important part is that you must remind yourself you will come through it, and the beauty is that in the midst of it all—the good, the bad, and the ugly, you will grow. 

I once had someone tell me to never lose my joy because the joy of the Lord is my strength. For a while, it was something that I really held on to. Being someone who is predisposed to joy, that kind of thinking served me well. For a while, this lost some of the flair for me, but over the course of the last three years, I have renewed that thinking.

I want you to take a moment to think about one of your hardest days in recent times. A day that felt like the wind was out of your sails, and you felt unsure of your next breath. A day when you felt like Chicken Little and thought the sky could be falling. Guess what? It didn’t. And guess what else? You made it through that day. Thus far you have made it through 100 percent of your hardest days and perhaps without knowing it, joy played a part. 

Just like that someone told me, today, I am telling you that the joy of the Lord is our strength, and peace is found in letting go.

10/31/2022

Happy Monday 🎇

10/31/2022

Happy Birthday to my niece Ari 🎉🎂
Happy Halloween 🎃

10/31/2022

Welcome to the 50's Pam
Happy Birthday cuz 🎉🥳
Happy Halloween 🎃

10/30/2022

Beauty from Ashes

Since I was a young girl, I’ve always had a profound understanding that at the helm of life was something much bigger than myself. When times have been tough, I’ve certainly hoped and prayed that something grander than myself is directing this life I lead. If I had to rest in the knowledge that I’m it—that the buck stops with me, and I had nowhere to rest and recline—I think I would crumble. 

To let go and let God are acts of surrender, trust, and love. It is not an act of giving up. It’s the opposite. We let go of our cares and burdens to a loving God. We do not deny that we have them. We acknowledge them; we experience them, but we do not need to live there. With open hands and open hearts, we let go. We let go with intention and consent to God’s action and presence within us. 

This is difficult when we’ve been hurt. We question where God was when during our suffering. Without God, we would simply be stuck with our pain and brokenness, but because of God we can heal more strongly and beautifully than ever before. This is God’s goodness to us that inspires us to trust. God is with us through it all. We are never alone.

Some of the most beautiful things are made from what we often consider waste. I love to cook, and I know that the richest broths are made from the pieces that are usually thrown to the floor. The nutritional density is found in what isn’t the most pleasant to look at. Marrow and sinew bring the robustness to the broth. What if it is our mess, pain, and ugly that God uses to create the most incredible beauty in our lives. Could our pain be the broth that nourishes our souls?

10/29/2022

Resilience 

During the seasons of life when hardship and pain and heartache follow us, it is especially important to remember that while we once used to depend on our parents for just about everything, we have now learned to depend on God instead. 

Resilience looks different for everyone, but it’s there. Sometimes we don’t even recognize resilience because we just keep going, and it isn’t until we stop and reflect that we realize just how resilient we are. 

In Ephesians, Paul’s prayer is that God will strengthen, and with that strength we will have faith that Christ will dwell in us. This heavenly strength produces resilience and allows us to understand love and push past adversity. Perhaps the reason why we don’t immediately consider ourselves as resilient is because we endure rather than rest in God’s love for us. 

This thing called resilience shows up in the most desperate of moments, puts a rod in our backs, and causes us to stand when it looks like we should crumble.

Today take a moment to recognize that the Spirit of God is strengthening your inner-being, and resilience is showing up and propelling you forward.

10/28/2022