Be Still and Know That I Am God

Salsa dancing on New Years’ Eve … not exactly what I’d expected!

However, we were celebrating with our dear friends who had served as missionaries in South America for more than twenty years. So yes … of course salsa dancing was on the agenda.

While the living room “dance floor” was filling up, I was engaged in a lively conversation with a young woman I’d just met from Mozambique. After serving two years as a missionary in China, God called her to attend “university” in the U.S. She didn’t know how she’d pay for it, but deciding “to believe God for big things,” she applied to every Christian and secular university God placed on her heart. Although her top choice was Wheaton College, she gratefully accepted a full scholarship to Colorado College.

I was moved by her courage to trust God with numerous unknowns and uncertainties. I was challenged by her faith to persevere through daunting disappointments and heartache. I was also impacted by the intricate ways the Lord had woven tender expressions of His love and care into her life.

As I considered her story, the ways God led and the faithful ways she responded, my gaze was drawn to the room full of salsa dancers. Some were graceful, others not so much, but even though the skill levels differed greatly, there was a surprising uniform sway to the room, each dancer responding to their partner … back and forth, right and left. I couldn’t help but smile as I noticed that all the dancers, regardless of skill level, were fully engaged and whether they realized it or not, each radiated the joy of the dance.

Leah, the passionate instigator of the salsa dancing event, shared the following quote with me:

“Life is a dance toward God. And the dance is not so graceful as we might think. For while we glide and swing our practiced sway, God crowds our feet, bumps our toes, and scuffs our shoes. He lowers His head, whispers soft and confident, ‘You will dance to the beat of “Amazing Grace” or you will not dance at all.’ So we learn to dance with the One who made us. And it is a taxing dance to learn. But once learned, don’t we glide. And don’t we sway. And don’t we bury our head in His chest. And don’t we love to dance.” ~ Donald Miller

As I move into this new year, I’ve been sensing the God of the Dance calling out to me, through the sometimes hurried and stressful pace of the Christmas celebrations, “Be still, Kelly … let your soul be stilled.” We find this same invitation to soul-rest in the Psalms: “Be still and know that I am God. I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world.” (Psalm 46:10)

But what does it really look like to be still and know our Almighty God in the ups and downs, in the back and forth’s of life?

I’m starting to think it looks a lot like salsa dancing.

Initially we stumble around, trying to go our own way, but as we faithfully respond to the powerful presence and loving instructions of the One who made us, we learn to relax in His everlasting arms. As we begin to believe that His amazing grace is truly for us, we follow more closely in His footsteps. Hope rises as we fully engage our hearts and finally come to that place of soul-rest where we trust that our Almighty Lord knows exactly what He’s doing.

Lord, still our hearts with your amazing grace and fill us with a joyful awareness that You are the Lover of our souls and the God of our dance.

Be still and know …