I loved the movie Despicable Me; I especially love the Minions! I am so excited for the second one. I hope it is as good as the first, but this is not a movie review. This is a letter of thanks to the one and only God, my Savior. You see, I was in Sunday school a few weeks ago and we were talking about our favorite hymns. Some said, "Blessed Assurance." I said, "What a Friend We Have in Jesus." Our teacher said, "Amazing Grace." I have a lot of favorite hymns, but when the teacher broke down Amazing Grace, I thought, "How can that not be every Christians battle cry?"

You need only look at the first line to be in awe of God, "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me!" Grace is unmerited favor and many people can recognize that we do not and did not deserve the sacrifice of God's only Son, Jesus Christ as our substitute. There is nothing we did or ever will do that can repay such an awesome, and well, AMAZING sacrifice. The part I think I, and possibly others gloss over is the "wretch like me" part.

I have sung this verse countless times in my life and I never stopped to think what wretch even means. But, our teacher broke it down, and the meaning that stuck out to me was "despicable." We don't like to look in the mirror and see the parts of our lives that are despicable to God. We love to compare ourselves to other people because they make us look fantastic! We pray more than they do. We give more than they do. We serve more than they do. But, what happens when we actually hold ourselves up to God's standard of human living; the way Christ lived on Earth? Then, we look pretty despicable.

And yet, in spite of our messy, mistake-ridden lives, God offers His amazing grace. What makes it so amazing? The fact that someone as despicable as me (and you) has the ability to be cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ and made whole and live forever, and not because of who we are or what we have done, but because of the love of God through Christ Jesus. I cannot speak for anyone else's life, but knowing what I know about me, I cannot understand why He loves me; I am just forever grateful that He does! Ms. EV

I recorded another song yesterday. This song is part of my testimony. Each day, I have to remind myself that nothing in this life or on this earth will be more satisfying than my relationship with Christ. This song is called, Soul Satisfaction and it uses a play on words in the chorus, "sole," as in the only and "soul," as in your entire being. I pray that this song blesses you and honors God. I would love to hear your feedback. For more of my lyrics and music, check out Toni LaShaun Music. Enjoy! Ms. EV

So, in my last blog, How Do you Like Your Eggs, I discussed how sometimes God gives us something and we think that because He gave it to us, there is no room for growth or improvement. One of the comment for that post said that what I was describing was "flexibility."

On December 31, 2011, I was wallowing in self-pity on my living room floor. I was lamenting my loneliness and loathing my life's failures. I had one foot in the ppol of depression and I was ready to dive into it. But, thank God for God. As I cried and prayed and prayed a cried. He said, "Okay, that's enough. Now that you got that out of your system, what are you going to do about it?" I really wanted to keep crying and praying, but instead, I started writing down what was hurting and how I, with God's help could fix it.

Pretty soon, I got on a roll, and at that point I wrote down everything in life that God have given me the talent to do and I wanted to share them all with the world! But, I needed a name that fit as an umbrella covering everything. And, that is how Elevated Values Consulting and Coordinating was born! My law degree gives me just enough knowledge to be dangerous, so I got my website, Facebook, Twitter, fictitious name, and I was off an running. I thought this could be a great outlet. It could maybe even grow into a side business, so i could make a little money. It was exciting. I felt like I had found a purpose.

I was told several times that I was offereing too much under one umbrella. At first, I did not listen. I felt this is what God gave me and this is how I am going to do it. Eventually, I separted the music, but kept everything else intact. I was eating the whole egg, shell and all. Now, after realizing what truly brings me joy and what God really wanted me to do, Elevated Values Consulting and Coordinating, is just Elevated Values. No more consulting (with the exception of the articles, blog, and devotions, if you want to consider them consulting) and no more coordinating or catering. I used to love baking as therapy, but when it became a business, it became a chore; there was no more joy in it.

In Joanna Weaver's book, Having a Mary Heart in a Martha world, she describes a story about a woman whom God told to pull a wagon up a hill. This is a paraphrase of the story. On the way, people kept asking her to carry their rocks in her wagon. Soon, the wagon was too heavy to pull and she felt weighed down. She cried out to God, "Why would you give me a task I cannot complete?" God answered, "I told you to pull the wagon. I did NOT tell you to put all these extra rocks in it." That is how I have felt lately. I have felt burdened down, but not because God told me to do something because I decided that my life was meaningless unless I was doing all of these things and creating multiple streams of income. That is not how my eggs were meant to be cooked.

I am a Christian woman with heavenly-high standards, I love to write and share my experiences in articles, blogs, devotions. I like to bake or plan for my family and when I feel like it. So, there you have it. That is why the name has changed. I will continue to blog as God gives me what to write. There are three remaining weeks in the PWYP Devotion Series. My articles and any new articles will stay posted and you can always find music at www.tonilashaunmusic.com. I hope that these changes do not disappoint anyone because I believe I am acting in obedience to God. If you are feeling burdened down, ask yourself if you are working for the Lord or for validation. The former may be rough, but will be worth it. The latter will always leave you feeling empty. I pray you still find helpful insight on this website. Be blessed! Ms. EV

First, let me explain why the blogs have been so sporadic as of late. A few weeks ago, I was in the midst of a very busy time, and when I write, I like to write from the heart. Even when I repost a past blog, I want it to be relevant versus random. So, I took a break to prepare for the IMMERSE conference and get in the right frame of mind to receive what God had for me there. There were a couple of days during the conference when I felt led to share some thoughts, so I did.

It was my intention to get the blog back to its daily distribution this week; however, my oldest nephew graduated yesterday from the school where I teach, so no blog. My conclusion through all of this is that I want those who read this blog to have fresh perspectives, so I am only going to post when God lays something on my heart to share. That means posts will be more sporadic, but I pray that you will continue to read because I intend to write high quality content.

All of this leads to today's blog. While I was in a class at IMMERSE about songwriting and rewriting music, one of the panelists said something that really hit home with me. I cannot remember her name and, unfortunately, I did not write it down, but I will never for get her words. She said (paraphrased), "A lot of artists are reluctant to change their songs because they say, 'This is how God gave it to me and I cannot change it,' but God also gave us whole eggs and that's not how we eat them.  Now, I am not the biggest fan of eggs, so the thought of just biting into an eggs, shell and all, and having all of the yolk and everything spill into or on the sides of my mouth nearly made me gag. But, the point was that we should not be so rigid in receiving gifts from God that we are reluctant to make them the best they can be.

I started thinking about all of the ways people eat eggs. Some people do eat whole raw eggs, but not with the shell on them. I prefer mine in an omelet or mixed in with a bunch of other breakfast foods after being scrambled hard. Some people prefer sunny-side-up, runny, or fried eggs. Still others like hard-boiled eggs. But, this is not a blog about eggs. This is a message about taking God's gifts seriously enough that you are willing to change when He gives you wisdom to change the shape of the gift, whether it is directly or through someone else.

Because I started this blog as a daily blog, I thought, I would always post something everything, but instead, Now that it has been nearly a year and a half, I think it's time to listen to God and write when He gives me something new. I would be doing a disservice to anyone who read Ms. EV's blog if I did anything more of less. Thanks for hanging in there on this journey with me. I pray that you find ways to apply these lessons to your life. Ms. EV