I enjoy watching this amazing couple. They are so fluid and show the movements of this praise dance well! May you draw closer to Him as you praise Him in the dances of His Chosen People, Israel!
What an awesome Father! He had given me the perfect position: a project manager of a global software application in a major corporation. I loved it! No long times of sitting. No long periods of standing. I got to do everything from figuring out what they needed, to designing the application, hiring the programmers, testing, implementation, training, everything. I loved it! Good pay with absolutely zero risk of being bored! Did I mention that I loved it?
Only He could have arranged it. I had already made my plans. Three of us were going to form a new business. Just after July 4th, as we were getting ready to solidify all the technical and legal details, Cherie said she had something to share first. She had been in Chicago that Sunday, and our Father had told her to move there, to minister in that church. As I was taking that in, Lori mentioned that while she was in church at a college town that Sunday, she had been told to move there! I silently watched my future crumble before me!
Then I it hit me that when my precious, loving Father moved others close to me, my time to move was typically coming fast. I new where I had been that Sunday: at my sister’s church, half way across the continent, in Detroit. I had shown my children where I had lived, told them of the wonderful things He had done for me there, before they were born. My sister was moving. As I said my final farewell to the city, a thought popped into my head. Abba has an outragous sense of humor, that far to few appreciate. Wouldn’t it be just hilarious if I ended up back here someday!
NO! He couldn’t be serious. He couldn’t be asking me to move! I was planning a life here, where He had put me. I had grown to love the city on the coast, its winding streets, its beaches, its people. That He was asking me to leave didn’t strike me as hilarious. I didn’t want to go.
His reply: I didn’t ask you to want to; I just asked you to do it.
After six weeks of pleading and tears, I was back in Detroit; the first of the three to move. Nine months later, my boss had moved on and I was chosen to replace her over one who had been waiting years to take his place as her designated successor. I had been promoted to a position that was beyond my wildest dreams.
And He was setting me up to learn His Truth.
Event: Joy Worship Conference
Praise Dancers: Minister Hope Golden & Workshop Participants
Praise and Worship Artists: Mary Alessi
Praise and Worship Song: Again I Say Rejoice
It is so exciting to see His people follow His leading! Here is just one awesome example of the excellence of life and worship He craves from us!
He was teaching me, molding me, growing me into His praise dancer. He shared Psalm 100 and enforced the importance of thanksgiving with the quilt pattern castle walls. But there was more He had for me.
I was a tutoring a junior high student, helping him with his homework, which included medieval history. I learned so much about the relationships of a people to their king, the nearly continual wars with neighboring lords, and the critical need of a castle for survival of all in the kingdom. What I remember most, was what applied directly to our lives with our King.
The castle itself was usually built in a strategic place, on a hill or peninsula, surrounded by a ditch or a moat. It was built specifically for protection, made to be difficult to conquer, giving the knights of the king all possible advantages in the battle. It was typically built with a thick, high wall with several towers, allowing the armies of the king to keep watch or to shower the enemy with their weapons as they approached.
The gates were thick, sometimes a series of gates through the wall, additional protection from an enemy conquest. When an enemy was spotted from the towers, all the people of the king who were able would come running through those gates. They would gather into the outer courtyard, surrounded by the walls of protection, where the knights of the king would fight on their behalf.
Deep inside those protective walls, there was yet another area of even greater protection: the court of the king. Here, the walls were so thick, it is said that the noise of the war could not even be heard. It was not only a place of protection; it was a place of peace in the midst of the battle, and only those who have the permission of the king dare enter.
But, we face no death penalty, as did Queen Esther/Hadassah, if we desire to enter the court of the king. We have only to remember Who He is, for He is the One Who never slumbers or sleeps; He is the One Who is our defense, He is the One Who can calm our storm. As we remember and praise Him for Who He is, we bless Him, and we too can experience the peace of His presence, even in the midst of the battles of our lives.
Praise Dancers: Bezalel School of Internation Dance
Musicians: Barry and Batya Segal
Praise and Worship Song: Hiney Lo Yanum
