Why She Dances
“Let them praise his
name with dancing.” Psalm 149:3
She doesn’t dance for fame or fortune. She doesn’t dance to
boast of all of her skills. She dances to give God glory. She dances to praise
Him with the gifts He has given her. While some people sing praises to His name, she dances
praises to His name! 1Peter 4:10 tells us “God has given each of you a gift
from His great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.
Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God Himself were
speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all
the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring
glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to Him forever and ever!
Amen!”
When Sarah retired from gymnastics right before her 11th
birthday, she began a search for something that would both interest her and
challenge her like gymnastics. She tried basketball and volleyball. They were
fun and were great sources of exercise; but she decided that they weren’t the
activities that she wanted to do with all of her time. So, next, she tried
dance.
She started with just a few classes in the summer before her
6th grade year. She took ballet, jazz and lyrical and she loved
them! Her 22 hours a week of gymnastics training had given her a firm
foundation that made her a natural in dance. And, she found that she loved the
discipline of ballet because she was used to the strict discipline from
gymnastics. After trying those classes that summer, she decided to take a full
load of classes in ballet, jazz, lyrical and hip hop for the following school
year. And after that first year, she auditioned for the competitive team, further
increasing her hours the next summer and school year. She loved every minute of
it!
In the spring of her first competitive year, she also had
the opportunity to compete her very first solo. Having previous competition experience
from the years of competitive gymnastics, she wasn’t even nervous to do a solo
for the very first time. I had seen her practice it many times and she danced beautifully.
She was ready to take the stage! I was confident that she would do well, but I
recognized that this was a pivotal moment in her future as a dancer. So, right
before she took her place in line, I pulled her aside and prayed with her. I
prayed that she would step out on that stage to dance for an audience of One-
to give glory to God through the beauty of dance and with all that He had
gifted her. It wasn’t about winning or about the competition. She needed to
know that, from this point forward, her reason for dancing had to be for God. Because if she ever lost sight of that, she
would enter a path of self-glorification and comparison.
Competing is a wonderful thing, when done for the right
reasons. In 1Corinthians 9:24, Paul tells us “Don’t you realize that in a race
everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes
are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade
away, but we do it for an eternal
prize. So run with purpose in every step.” So, I prayed that she would dance
with an eternal perspective. I prayed that she would dance for Someone greater
than herself and use her gifts and talents to give glory to the God who gave
them to her in the first place.
It will never be about beating another person. It will never
be to boast. In fact, she will always aim to
build up and encourage others to be their very best, as well. She dances with
eternal purpose- to influence other gifted dancers to dance for an eternal
prize, too. By doing so, they will be like iron sharpening iron, pushing each
other to reach their full God-given potential. The focus will be on Him- not on
each other. I like the Bob Goss quote, “We won’t be distracted by comparison if we’re
captivated by purpose.” How awesome that she can learn this at a young age!
Moving forward, Sarah understands that nothing that happens
to her is by accident. Every place she goes and every team she dances with are her
assignments from God. Sometimes, she will have to leave the place where is
comfortable to go to the place where He will grow her even more. Change is
hard, must necessary. But, as long as she trusts that He positions her where she is supposed to be, she can face the change
with confidence. She has learned that He decides when she needs to take a
leadership role and when she needs to be a supporting member. He knows the
areas that need growth and has equipped the right people to see her potential
and help her reach it.
There is such freedom in trusting God’s plan. Even when it
seems like everything is working against us, He is using it for good. And, when
everything seems to be falling into place, His hands are all over that, too. I’m
so thankful that God built Sarah’s confidence in Him through this process. I
truly believe that I have learned to be a stronger mother to my children by
learning to parent like God the Father parents us. Not only is He building His
strength in them, but He is also revealing His goodness to me. I love watching all of my kids do the things that they
love. And, understanding how God equipped them and positioned them with their
gifts is just the icing on the cake.
