Degas, The Dance School
I’m so excited that today is the beginning of our second MomHeart Online Book Club, Dancing With My Father!
We will be sharing thoughts about this book weekly at MomHeart and TheBetterMom, and today I wanted to share some personal thoughts about this book and what I feel is God’s heart for women everywhere. This book was written as I studied what God had to say about joy and walking with God throughout all sorts of seasons of life, and I know its message will resound with many of you!
Have you ever had a day when you felt like poor sweet Joy? I certainly have! Here’s an excerpt from the book, to give you a taste of what it’s all about …
With so much sadness and so many daily burdens to shoulder, how do Christian women maneuver steadily through this journey of life with joy and peace of heart intact? What does it look like to be a woman filled with joy, every day, all the time, no matter what? In the deluge of all the stresses and disappointments in a fallen world, how does a mature Christian woman really walk in the power of the Holy Spirit? How does she face each situation with gladness, despite the relentless and demanding day-after-day, month-after-month, year-after-year things that would rob her of emotional and creative energy such as chores, bills, arguments, messes? Or how does she maintain joy in the center of more devastating troubles: a divorce, the tragic death of a loved one, a child who has a chronic illness or disability, rejection by family members, alcoholism and drug-related scars, a job layoff?
He gave me a personal, visual image of what He wanted me to understand about His joy: that it is wrapped up in Him as my heavenly Father; that He is the Initiator, the Provider, the Lover, the Strong One. In short, He is to be my leading Man in the dance of life.
But even more, dancing seemed to be a visual picture of what God wants me to do in my soul: He wants me to dance inside my heart, no matter what is going on outside in my circumstances. To dance is to celebrate life, to make merry, to physically live out the reality of internal joy. Those who walk closely with the Lord have a secret inner joy, a dancing energy just from knowing Him. It is in having Him as my partner, in letting Him take the lead, that I will be directed around the “dance floor” of my life. He is the One who will show me the steps, how to listen to the music, how to engage my heart with Him and to stay in sync with Him, the real Source of the music, the dance, and the everlasting joy.” ~ from Dancing With My Father
The pathway of turning our mourning into dancing, is a secret pathway, away from the world of voices, where God waits for us to be with Him, learn of His ways. His ways our not our ways, Isaiah tells us. They are higher than the heavens are above the earth.
We are merely toddlers, beginning to understand the ways our lives take, the ways of wisdom and love. Even as a toddler must quit having his little fit and be still in order to receive the comfort and message of their parent’s heart, so we must leave our burdens and stresses into His hands, climb up in His lap and allow Him to be God–allow Him to direct our lives and show us how to let go of all that is not essential.
God does not intend us to be filled with anger and frustration and disappointment. Sometimes when we want to blame God, we refuse to see that we have not walked His ways, or followed His paths, and so our lives and our souls are filled up with the world of man, which will always carry with it confusion and grief.
Read the first chapter and follow the questions, and ask God to work in your life as you read this with all of us.
Join Momheart.org for more on the first chapter today. And may He bless each of you with the knowledge that He loves you and is with you and is there to respond.
Will you join us, both in the dance and in our community as we read together? Misty Krasawski is sharing today at MomHeart Online. Come on over and take part in the discussion!
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I am also writing today at Thebettermom.com Join me there!
Sally, this vlog is pure gold. I walk away from it and into my day bolstered and so encouraged… my favorite line: God is saying, “I want you to have a life that is quiet enough that you can be comforted by Me.”
Looking forward to hearing you speak at Allume:)
Your haircut is so flattering and lovely!!!
And I agree with Diane, the words God spoke through today’s vlog are pure gold. He is the one who created fulfillment and satisfaction-golden!
That was beautiful, Sally! Thank you so much for the heartfelt words of inspiration and joy.
Wow Sally! It’s as if you opened up and took a peek inside the window of my soul with this post. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your wise words and encouragement.
i’m fairly new to your blog but you have no idea how much these posts encourage me. i’m still mulling over the excerpt from that book. wow. it’s as if someone wrote down a very personal experience of mine. dancing with my father hits VERY close to home. when my older brother (my best friend), took his own life a few years ago at the age of 28, i was ruined. i felt dragged down, beat up, and tossed aside. no one in my family follows Jesus, so it was very hard to process. it wasn’t until months later that it all REALLY hit me. i started to fervently seek God for comfort and answers. He showed me a picture. i saw myself in a big dark ballroom, like one in an old castle. i was sitting on the edge of a ballroom dance floor wearing rags, covered in dirt & bruises, with my head down. God lifted me up, took off my rags, and suddenly i was in a beautiful white gown fit for a queen. and He danced with me. He showed me how the only way i was going to get through this dark valley, and life in general, was to dance with Him, letting HIm lead, no matter what. And when i felt like He had left me in my darkest hour, He showed me that I wasn’t able to see Him because He had been holding me so close to His heart. Not having an earthly father who has ever shown me affection has made it somewhat difficult to fully embrace all this, but I’ve learned trust. And it’s in that place of trusting His lead that I’ve found a joy and peace that has gone beyond any understanding. (i’m not one to wrtie on blogs, but I felt like it this morning…if only it might encourage one person walking through a tough time
thanks again for this amazing blog…it’s been such an encouragment to me as a new mom!!)