I Hope You Dance.
The song with that title sung by Lee Ann Womack stirs my heart with love and prayers for my children and grandchildren. It expresses my sentiments and hopes for them to cherish every moment in life, face challenges with courage not fear, and chase their dreams relentlessly.
I hope you never lose your sense of wonder
You get your fill to eat, but always keep that hunger
May you never take one single breath for granted
God forbid your love ever leave you empty-handed
I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean
Whenever one door closes, I hope one door opens
Promise me that you’ll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
I hope you dance...I hope you dance
Life is full of opportunities for happiness. However, hope and courage are necessary to navigate the road filled with obstacles, challenges, pressures, and fears.
God is the source of Hope; but is it okay to dance?
I was raised in church where the common phrase was overheard many times, “Baptists do not dance; they do not smoke or chew or go with girls who do.”
I never smoked and did not chew. So, I guess two out of four is not bad.
I was never very good at dancing unless one considered a choreographed imitation of Steve Martin’s wild and crazy non-rhythmic toe-tapping finger pointing happy movements as cute and humorous.
God is the reason to dance through life. He is the only source of Hope and Help.
I pray that your heart might dance as it faces the challenges of life. I hope you feel loved, forgiven, blessed.
As I pray for you and my family, I realize there are too many kids having to grow up without encouragement to dance in hope. Much needed ministries strive to help them.
I want to share one life story where despair turned to dancing.
This youngster grew up in a dysfunctional family. It was a big family, lots of brothers and sisters. He was one of the youngest. His mother died when he was a little boy. His father was immoral, a thief, and an habitual liar who deceived and cheated his way through life.
Somehow, this young boy never lost his sense of wonder.
Besides his untrustworthy father, the boy was mistreated by his siblings. He was abused, bullied, resented, and unwanted. He grew up around crime. His sister was sexually assaulted. His brothers lied to hide their wrongdoings including murder.
The Wikipedia description of his developmental years would read more like the crimes of a mob family than a dancing troupe.
He often felt small and was left empty-handed; but he kept on dreaming.
Eventually, he was ostracized from all his family and became homeless. As a young man, he was in and out of prison. His early life was filled with manual labor and low-level jobs. He even cleaned toilets and mopped floors just to get by. There were bad bosses and undesirable circumstances.
The young man gave faith a fighting chance. When he had many reasons to sit it out, he chose to dance.
He was hated, lied to, and lied about. He was cheated and mistreated. He had no chance to make it in life, just left without help and hope—except for God’s plan.
When one door closed, another door opened. It was all part of God’s plan.
In the midst of all the turmoil and trauma, he gave his life and circumstances to God. God molded him through the adversity and used him as a great vessel to help others all over the world.
Eventually he forgave and reconciled with his family and provided for their needs. He became rich and famous, but most of all he became a godly family man who lived and loved like Jesus.
He refused to let some hell-bent hearts leave him bitter. Whenever he was close to sellin’ out, he reconsidered his place in God’s plan.
His life was characterized by humility, holiness, happiness, and hope. He showed love and forgiveness to those responsible for his traumatic experiences.
Through it all, he never took one single breath for granted. God was with him, in him, over him, and under him.
HIS NAME WAS JOSEPH, A TRAUMA VICTOR…A HOPE POSTER. HIS LOVE CHANGED GENERATIONS FOR THE BETTER. HE LEFT THIS LASTING LESSON FOR ALL OF US AS HE SPOKE TO THOSE WHO HAD MISTREATED HIM.
“You meant evil against me, BUT GOD MEANT IT FOR GOOD, to bring about good for many people.” (#1 Textbook)
But God meant it for good.
That is dancing music!
That describes your life no matter wherever you are on the trauma-hope spectrum.
Hope is not an outcome…it is the ever-growing confident expectation of experiencing all the goodness God has promised…somehow…some way…some time.
I say again to all of us, “That is heavenly music. I hope you dance.”
The young men and women will dance for joy…AND SO WILL THE OLD (Jeremiah 31:13).
There is my personal note from God, “I Hope You Dance…Again.”
Joseph discovered the answers to his questions were found in the person and character of God. When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You (Psalm 56:3).
Hope in God is grounded in the promises of God which are grounded in the person of God revealed in the Word of God.
Do not worry or envy those who cause so much trauma in your life.
They will fade away like winter grass.
Trust in the Lord and do good.
Be kind to others.
Trust God to help you.
Be patient.
Do not give in to anger, fear, or worry.
The Lord directs every step and always holds your hand.
Blessings are coming.
God designed it all for your greatest good.
Our hope is in God.
There is a wonderful future ahead for you. What a different story!
There is a happy ending. (Psalm 37).
What should you do in those moments of desperation where God is your only hope? Preach to your trauma-troubled soul…change your thoughts…change the source for your thoughts.
AND DANCE!
Whenever you focus on your problems, it always spirals into fear, worry, anger, anxiety, depression. You must replace negative thoughts with positive thoughts. Change the source of your thoughts.
God changed my sorrow into dancing (Psalm 30:11).
Learn to preach to your troubled soul from God’s Word. Remind yourself, “God is my one and only hope…my only rock…my only salvation…my only real hope. God is the solid rock under my feet, breathing room for my soul. Everything I need comes from Him. I will trust and hope in God” (Psalm 62:5).
What are the lessons passed on that taught Joseph, Job, Miriam, David, and Solomon to dance...again?
There is a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance (Ecclesiastes 3:4).
God is always faithful. Always! God is always with you and for you in every trial and trauma and trouble.
Choose to LIVE. Choose to LOVE.
Joseph experienced a plethora of traumatic challenges. Hatred. Deception. Betrayal, Abuse. Abandonment. Persecution. Slavery. False accusations. Injustice. Imprisonment.
When Joseph faced the challenges of life, he chose to LIVE and LOVE. He came through those traumatic life experiences with forgiveness and without resentment. How? He eventually understood “but God meant it all for good.”
Don’t let some hellbent heart leave you bitter
When you come close to sellin’ out, reconsider
Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
I hope you dance
Joseph eventually saw the bigger picture of his life. It was God-designed to be a benefit to so many more people than himself.
Take heart, my friend. You have not yet read the last chapters of your God-written story! Faith and Hope are always future-oriented. Like Joseph, we often see the Lord’s goodness only through a rear-view mirror.
Oh Lord, please give us a bigger perspective than a focus on our past or present troubles. Change our thoughts. Give us wisdom. Renew our faith. Strengthen our hope in the unchanging, unending faithfulness of our God!
Make us Dance…Again!
LOVE FIRST...LOVE MOST 