My heart breaks over the situation in Haiti … breaks.
I had been wondering how to talk to Casiday about it and what to say. Yesterday, on the way to dance, I asked her if they’d talked about the earthquake in Haiti at school. She said they hadn’t. So I explained there has been a terrible tragedy and many lives have been lost and many people were left with nothing.
She was quiet … contemplating that information, trying to take it all in. She climbed out of the truck at the studio. Scott and I had some errands to run for that hour and when we picked her up she said, “Rebecca has friends who died in that earthquake in Haiti.” Rebecca is an 11-year-old girl in Casiday’s dance class whose family has been very involved in missions in Haiti over the past few years.
I told her I was so sorry and asked how Rebecca was. Casiday said she was sad. Then she explained they had not really practiced anything in dance … rather they had spent the hour praying and doing free dance as a prayer.
In that moment I was so thankful that we have put Casiday in a Christian dance studio … and my mind filled with images of ten little girls praying … for their friend who was heartbroken and for people in a country most had probably never heard of before the last few days. I could imagine what it sounded like in that studio … soft worship music playing in the background, the tender prayers of children wafting through the room and finding a resting place in the ears of God, ballet shoes touching the wood floor as blossoming dancers used their bodies to express their sorrow for such great loss and their love for such a great God.
Times like these are frightening and heartbreaking. We feel overwhelmed and even uncertain. And many of us will … we’ll donate $10 by sending a text, click on Compassion banners (like the one on the left!) and send money, buy raffle tickets for wonderful prizes from our fellow bloggers … and all of that is good and necessary.
But in the midst of all the doing … let us also remember to take time to dance … the dance of mourning for all that has been lost … but also the dance of faith, grounded in knowing that God remains in control.
Oh, my goodness, Teri! I am crying all over the place! :,) What a precious image, of all those little girls dancing a prayer to the Lord. Thank you so much for sharing!
Teri you've captured a moment that moves the heart of God. Let us learn from the children how to offer all of ourselves as a sacrifice of prayer and worship.
He will turn our mourning into dancing and then receive our dancing as a prayer.
You are amazing, my dear friend, and God uses you daily to speak Truth into my heart. How often I use the image of Savannah dancing in Heaven to bring peace to my mourning. My heart is breaking for this country, these beautiful people. Praying on how to respond!
Christina
Thank you for sharing Casiday's moments with us. She's an extordinary girl. I wish I could have been there to see God work in those girls, but your words painted a wonderful picture of a sweet time of worship between little ones and God. Thank you.
As for my kids I've found it difficult to get the older 2 alone long enough to really talk about it, though we have spent some time in prayer as a family. I just haven't gone into much detail around the little ones.
BEAUTIFUL. Your little C has quite a heart. Dancing the dance of mourning and peace…
Did you see my pics from the trips I took to Haiti in '96? They are the images my mind goes to… the children I remember vividly, and wonder if they are still alive. I shared them on Wednesday: http://www.krististephens.com/2010/01/haitian-faces-in-my-minds-eye.html
This actually made me tear up a little…which does NOT happen easily!!
If this touched me so much, I can only imagine how tenderly the Lord must have received their prayers…
WOW, that is amazing! I didn't realize she was in a Christian dance studio. I was in one growing up and it was an incredible place. Not only to you get to nurture your talent, but you get to nurture your faith. There are constant reminders that talent is a gift from God.
Praying for Haiti. One of our close friends from NYC has not heard from her grandparents who live in Port au Prince, so we're praying extra-hard for their safety.
What a sweet, sweet way to worship and pray! I am sure C will not forget that hour of dance…ever!