I love to dance. I have great joy in my heart when I dance. I do not like to perform, but I love the fun and laughter I experience when I dance. Moving in rhythm with the music is like a singer singing in harmony with the music. It’s a beautiful thing. My dad was a great dancer. I was remembering the other day, when I was in my early twenties, when my dad and I were out on the dance floor at a wedding, and he quietly told me to stop resisting his lead, and to pay attention to the pressure of his hand on my back. He said when he gently pressed into my lower back he wanted me to move forward with him, and when he released the pressure he wanted me to move backwards. The pressure of his hand was ever so subtle, and as I learned how to tune into his hand we danced fluidly across the dance floor as one. It was so much fun to learn how to dance this way.
Years later, I found myself out of beat with life and with God. I was following the lead of a man of God rather than God, and I found myself off balance in life. Life seemed to be crumbling around me in every area. Rather than my life being like a symphony, it was a cacophony of sounds with no meaning or harmony. During this season, God whispered in my heart, “Stop running out ahead of Me. Move in rhythm with My grace.” He went on to explain, “When I say ‘walk slowly with Me, or rest for awhile in My presence, or I tell you it is time to run and move quickly in this, and you listen to Me, there will be balance, harmony, and fluidity in your life as you follow My lead.”
This really spoke to my heart, so I set out to increase more time in God’s presence and in His Word so I could once again find that sweet spot of listening to God’s voice above all others. And, God was right. My life began to find a healthy rhythm and pace once again, and my walk with God was restored.
God says in Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path.” (NKJV)
When we learn to move in rhythm with God’s grace, His grace does just what His Word says it will do. 2 Corinthians 9:8 says, “God is able to make His grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.” Titus 2:11 tells us that God’s grace reveals His salvation and it teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. In Hebrews 4:16 we are encouraged to “come boldly into His throne of grace so that we can obtain His mercy and find grace to help us in time of need.” Yes, God’s grace is manifold and helps us to learn how to walk in newness of life in the spirit.
I am an elementary teacher, and it has been exactly one year since our whole world was turned upside down with the Covid pandemic. One year ago from today, March 13th, 2020, teaching took on a whole new look, feel, and delivery. There wasn’t anything in my toolbox I could reach in for to help me learn to navigate this era of lockdown. I have spent the past year stepping into new waters and upon new terrain. We were thrust into a virtual learning platform overnight- literally. We were taught in one day how to run a class over Zoom, use Seesaw, Google Classroom, and other new technology platforms to provide a “free and appropriate education” to our young students. Then we were moved from total virtual learning at the beginning of the new school year into a hybrid model only six weeks later. Within that hybrid model we were thrown many tweaks and adjustments to how the schedule looked and new technology we had to learn to use to deliver instruction to confused, wiggling, and squirming children between five and eleven years old. I have done my best to cleave to God in these times, and trusting Him to give me just enough light for the step I am on, and He has been faithful to me. However, my flesh is weak and my heart was beginning to fail as yet one more change was being suddenly thrust upon us this past week. It was announced this past week that we are going to go back to a full day schedule with our students Monday March 15th, with the understanding that if parents want to keep their children home to learn virtually they still can. They took away our half day Wednesdays this past week in order to give us Friday to prepare for this sudden turn of events. This, of course, threw off our plans for the current week which in course threw off how the next week’s plans would flow. Ugh!
At the hearing of this news, my heart sank, and I could not find within me the energy or the confidence to make this monumental change at this time of year. For elementary teachers, this is the season when we are getting report cards ready to go out, and preparing for parent-teacher conferences as well. On top of this, we were now asked to completely change our schedules and lesson planning to adjust to a full day of in-school learning with masks and social distancing still I place. However, don’t forget, we will still have some students on line ALL day as well. It was a daunting task set before us, and I was out of steam. But God, in His mercy…..
But God in His Mercy
But, God knew all of this was around the corner, and had been preparing something special for me. I was asked to be a part of a study group on prayer and prophecy a month earlier, and it started the very day we received the news about the changes at school. At the end of our time together that evening, the facilitator of our group said she wanted to pray for me, and if anyone was inspired to prophecy to go ahead and do so. Well, I was surprised yet blessed, because I could tell it was God who inspired this idea, so I was all ears.
God reminded me to stay connected with Him to have the power and strength I needed to do Hi s will, to focus on being His daughter, to remember His love for me and my worth in His eyes, and that He wanted to pour His joy into me. Then He said a couple of things that stood out to me. He said He wanted to minister to me emotionally, and that I was to dance with the Lord and be filled with joy. The next morning I sat down as usual with my tea, bible, and journal. I decided to listen to the recorded prayers and prophetic words of comfort and encouragement. As I listened, the phrases “dance with the Lord” and “I am going to minister to you emotionally” really stood out. So, I wrote in my journal and asked God to show me what He meant by “dancing with the Lord” and “ministering to me emotionally”, and what it would look like. I told God “I receive your willingness to minister to me emotionally and the joy He was offering me.”
“The Lord Wants to Minister to You Emotionally”
That very morning when I went into work, another believer came into my room and asked me, “How are you doing? I mean how are you really doing? I saw you yesterday and I know you are struggling.” Tears fell down my face for I knew God had prompted him to come to me that morning, and that God was showing me how He intends to minister to me emotionally. I had a wonderful conversation with my coworker, and he reminded me that I was not alone in this and that he was there for me whenever I needed anything. We hugged and went on with our days.
God was showing me that He is at work in the Body of Christ to bring His love and care to me. I needed to be willing to receive it the way He was delivering what I needed. There was a time in my life when I sought out people to meet my needs emotionally the way I thought I needed to be taken care of. But God was showing me that He knows who I need in my life that will walk by the spirit to deliver the words I need to hear and the offer the help I need as well. When God energizes the Lord Jesus as the Head of the Body to activate the Body of Christ, the body works harmoniously and all the members are built up in love.
“Dance with the Lord”
The next morning on my way to work the phrase “dance with the Lord” came to mind. I asked God what He meant by that. Then I remembered the past weekend when I danced at a wedding : how much fun I had, and how free I felt dancing and laughing with friends and family as I moved in rhythm with the music. Right then and there God reminded me of what my dad had taught me about responding to his subtle hand pressure in order to be able to follow his lead as we danced together. When I dance, I usually dance solo and in a “freelance” way. I really don’t dance couple dances other than to a slow song with my husband. God started to have a conversation with me on my way to work that again brought tears to my eyes. He was showing me that He loves the joy I have when I dance, and that dancing with the Lord can bring me an even better joy- a joy that remains. However, I needed to get in rhythm with His grace so I can be aware of the Lord’s prompting in the spirit. He will guide me to let me know when it is time to slow down, rest, move left or right, or speed things up cause it is time to run a race. I am not meant to dance a solo dance in this life, but the kind of couple dance my dad taught me how to dance so many years ago. Learning how to move in rhythm with God’s grace will release His power and wisdom I need in my life so I can have His life flowing through me causing me to desire and to do of His good pleasure without burning out.
We were not created by God to live this life on our own and in our own strength. God designed us to live life connected to Him with His love and life flowing through us. He is love and He is the source of love we need. He is light, and we need His light to shine on the path we are on. He is almighty God, powerful and strong, and we need Him infusing us with His power so we are able to desire and do of His good pleasure. Learn how to move in rhythm with His grace so you too can have His love shed abroad in your heart, and the fullness of His joy that will strengthen your heart.
