Dance, Dance, Dance

I have this habit of praying the Psalms. Most days I will read 5 Psalms out loud as part of my prayer time. It helps me settle in my thoughts towards God and David has a way with articulating his emotions that is so helpful.

So, the past few days there have been references to dancing in my Psalms reading, so it made me think.. if I had to name my top 5 dances ever, what would they be? So, here goes.. (in no particular order)

1. Greek dancing at my wedding- Greeks are into group dancing. They form this opened ended circle and have various simple steps they do together. At the beginning of the circle, there is a leader that holds a napkin in their left hand with the 2nd person in the circle, then everyone else joins in, holding hands. The leader picks which dance sequence to do and leads the way. When I was a little girl, I would go to the Greek festivals at church and watch the older girls dance and dreamed of one day being able to lead a Greek dance at my wedding. So, my day finally arrived and I loved it! In fact, one of the things I look forward to in heaven is Greek dancing around the throne with other Greeks. I can't wait- it's so fun here and can't imagine how fun it will be there.

2. Teenage dance clubs- I am a child of the 80's- big hair, big costume jewelry, and stirrup pants. When I was 13-14 years old, my friends and I loved to go to the 3 big teen dance clubs each summer- Coca Cabana, CandyBand and R-9. Each week we would dance our little hearts out to Madonna and Prince. Such good times.

3. Dancing at church- I grew up in a very traditional Greek Orthodox church. In high school I started attending the Vineyard, which has to be the most opposite worship experience from my GO up bringing. I remember learning about the Holy Spirit and seeing people raise their hands up in the air when they sang, which was so foreign and kind of weird to me. After observing this for months I came to the point one Sunday, where I really just wanted all that God had for me and let go of my conservative approach to worship. I danced in the back and it was so freeing. It marked a whole new level of connecting with Jesus and even now when I really want to connect at a heart level in worship, I will sometimes just dance in my room.

4. Dancing with Chris- Too personal to go into on a blog, but it is def. my top 5.

5. Dancing with Liliana- When we were in Texas waiting for our paperwork to clear, there's a song I asked Chris to download that combines a few different Psalms..
Oh Taste and See that that Lord is good... You've turned my mourning into dancing, put off my rags and clothed me with gladness.. And I will rise and I will praise.. I will sing and not be silent... Oh Lord, my God, I will give thanks to you forever....

I remember putting that song on repeat, holding Liliana as tight as I could, dancing around the living room with a flood of tears of JOY. I literally felt an exchange take place that day. For almost 3 years my life had been one continuous season of mourning and finally God was replacing it with gladness. I could not thank God enough. I danced and danced until I ran out of breath and could do it no more. It was a beautiful moment in my life that I will never forget.