Valse (Waltz)

Daddy and I
Photo by DramaticElegance

The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in His love, He will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing. ~Zephaniah 3:17

I am a dancer.

I suppose that my dancing abilities come with the musical theater territory...as well as attending a high school where swing dancing was the movement of choice.

It also may have something to do with my jazz musician father and musically-inclined mother slow dancing together  in his office to Frank Sinatra records...seeing them dance together at school functions...watching them share a dance in the corner on my wedding day.

My mom is a willing follower...my dad is more than a joyous leader.

It's one of my earliest memories: standing on my daddy's toes while he taught me the simplest of waltzes next to the stereo system in his office, him counting in my ear while my tiny five-year-old fingers clutch his large paternal hands.

It's a memory that follows me to this day...and shall continue to do so all of my life.

It's a memory that came to culmination on my wedding day...holding my still tiny nineteen-year-old hands against my daddy's slightly wrinkled palms, his tux contrasting with my white dress as we cried together to the tune of Cinderella. 

Is it not so poignant then to know that our Father dances over us?

My daddy showed me how to form the steps...my Daddy forms them over me.

My daddy counted out the rhythm in my childish ear...my Daddy counts my breaths and knows them all.

My daddy taught me how to dance.

My Daddy taught my father how to dance.

You dance over me / While I am unaware / You sing all around / But I never hear the sound / Lord I'm amazed by You / Lord I'm amazed by You / Lord I'm amazed by You / How You love me / How wide / How deep / How great / Is Your love for me. ~Amazed, Jared Anderson

Waltz

I'd rather waltz than just walk through the forest / The trees keep the tempo and they sway in time / Quartet of crickets chime in for the chorus / If I were to pluck on their heartstrings, would you strum on mine? ~Plant Life, Owl City


As many of you know, yesterday was not one of my favorite moments on the calender. 


A lot of things decided to happen all at once...one hard hit in particular was aimed at my blog, and got very close to shutting me down. 


However, throughout the entire disastrous evening, I was overwhelmingly blessed by the love that poured from the hearts of my friends as they leapt to my defense. 


I was blown away by the messages, emails, comments, and other various feedback that flew to my heart from the hand of God and the keyboards of my friends. 


A blog post written by Grace at Puddles of Memories...comments from Mary at Sue-Sue's Stories...text messages, emails, and phone calls from friends all around the world that are too numerous to mention all here...


...every last one of them added a small piece of wood to the flickering fire of hope and endurance in my heart.


All through the night and into the wee hours of the morning, the notes...the prayers...the words of encouragement continued to slip from glory and into my hand. 


And I awoke to waltzing. 


Yes, my heart still hurts...confusion still abounds. 


But I have been blessed by all of you. 


You were used by the King...


...to turn sorrow into joy


...and my mourning into dancing.


And again,


because of Him


and because of each and every one of you,


I will awake to waltz. 


Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: "What! You too? I thought I was the only one." ~C.S. Lewis


(For a more detailed account of the strike against DramaticElegance, and to get some very important new information about my URL and other blog changes, please take the time to read my post here.)