Dance Testimony: God’s Pleasure in Our Creativity

“Let them praise His name with dancing; Let them sing praises to Him with timbrel and lyre. For the Lord takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the afflicted ones with salvation.”

Psalm 149:3-4

As far back as I can remember I have always loved to dance. My parents told me when I was 3 years old they couldn’t get me off of the dance floor at my uncle’s wedding. I would even dance when the live band was tuning their instruments.

My sister, Suzanne, was the first to start taking dance lessons. When I saw her dance in her recital I knew I wanted to dance too. So my parents signed me up. I mainly took ballet and jazz starting from 1st grade up until 10th grade. After a while, I decided to take a break from taking lessons because I knew I wasn’t going to be a professional dancer and the competition of it all was not what I wanted anymore. I still loved to dance but decided to just focus on another passion of mine, sports.

After high school, I went to a christian dance performance, and I cried when it was all over because I realized in that moment that my true passion was to dance for the Lord and to tell His story through the creative outlet of dance. I wanted to give back to Him the gift He had given me. I sent in an audition VHS tape (this was back in the 90’s) of a choreographed dance piece to a song by my favorite band at the time “Jars of Clay.” The company had asked me to come out to Oklahoma to audition. After spending some time praying about it, I felt the Lord telling me to finish college. I didn’t know then that I was about to face one of the hardest challenges of my life.

I started having a lot of issues in my knee. I just figured it was due to being so rough on my knees playing volleyball, basketball, softball and track. When I turned 19, the pain in my left knee was unbearable. Finally my chiropractor went ahead and ordered an MRI. My chiropractor later gave me the news that I had a giant-cell tumor in my left femur bone and it was hitting against my nerve, which is why I had been experiencing so much pain. He proceeded to tell me the worst case scenario; if it was malignant then there's the possibility that my leg would be removed. I felt my world was crashing down. It was a very rare type of tumor, and the likelihood of that happening was very slim, but that was the last thing I wanted to hear.

A month before my surgery, my world came crashing down further. My grandfather died. I had never experienced the death of a loved one before. Then the night before my surgery, I was in a car accident. Thank God my mom and I were not injured, but the front end of my car was totaled. Everything was hitting me all at once, and it was a lot to bear at just 19 years old. I remember sitting in my dad’s car when he came to the scene of the accident and just praying, “God, I really can’t take this anymore.”

I got home that night and danced around my house one last time because I knew it was going to be months before I would be able to dance again. I then had surgery, and the surgeons found that my tumor was the size of a golf ball. I was told that had it not been removed, it would have kept growing, and eventually it would have broken my leg, which would have caused a much more painful and difficult recovery. The tumor had also damaged the cartilage behind my knee cap. I couldn’t put any weight on my knee for 9 weeks because there was a hole in my bone and the doctor filled it with these calcium deposits that would eventually fill in the hole to become bone again. I went through months of physical therapy to strengthen my leg and learn how to walk all over again.

So why do I tell you all this? It’s because I’m so grateful that I have my leg and I am able to still dance. The enemy tried to steal dance from me.

“The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy; I came that they might have life and might have it abundantly.” John 10:10.

The enemy knew what I was created to do. Do I still have problems with my knee? Yes! There are times that I am in a lot of pain, sometimes it’s even hard to walk. Those are times I rest and pray. I can get discouraged, but I will still get up and dance. I don’t think I will ever stop dancing. I will be one of those old ladies dancing until I die.

Fast forward to 2002 - moving up to Virginia from Florida…

I had an opportunity to start a dance team at Dwelling Place Christian Fellowship with a few friends. The dances were incredible and God taught me a lot during that time about worship, dance, and leadership. After 5 years, I took a break to focus on a job along with some personal stuff between me and the Lord. One thing that I was struggling with was my identity. I was known as a dancer. My true identity as a child of God had gotten sidetracked. I had to go through a season of learning that even if I didn’t have dance anymore, I would still be His daughter.

In 2009, Joe (my husband) and I had been living in NY. But, when we had our newborn son, Joseph, we decided to move back to Virginia. Previously I had led a dance team in New York, and when I came back I started to dance again with the DP team, which at the time was called Days of Grace. Once I started having kids I knew I wanted them to have an opportunity to learn about worship dance. So, another friend and I started DP kids dance. I loved seeing the Lord develop a passion for dance through so many of the kids at Dwelling Place.

Eventually I took over all of the dance ministry at DP. I have learned so much! I am still learning about how to lead a whole dance ministry, from the youngest generation to the oldest generation. It’s not always easy, but the Lord has confirmed by His word, as well as through the words of others, that He has anointed me and set me apart for this season of leadership in DP Dance.

Coming from the secular dance world, everything was focused on performance. But the Lord has turned my heart. I know that it’s not about being perfect. It’s just about developing a heart and passion for the Lord. If that’s through the medium of dance, then I want to help cultivate that for anyone who wants to dance.

There is a quote by Eric Liddell that I love and that I feel like defines my passion for dance. Eric was an Olympic runner in the 1920’s before becoming a missionary in China. He said, “I believe God made me for a purpose but He also made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure.” The first time I heard this quote I knew that is why I love to dance. I just hadn’t put it into words like Eric did so beautifully. I love to DANCE because I feel His PLEASURE.

So let’s go back to the scripture in the beginning of this post. “...He takes Pleasure in His people.” He delights in His children when they do anything creative for Him, because He is the ultimate Creator. It doesn’t have to be dancing or singing. It can be cooking or fixing cars. When do you feel the Lord’s pleasure for you?

(If you are ever interested in learning more about worship dance, please contact me at mpsalm37@gmail.com)