It's a dance . . .

Melissa Rumrill is a beautiful young daughter of God who is serving a prison sentence. It is amazing to watch and feel how her Abba Father is using an incredibly difficult experience to draw her close to Himself. Recently, she wrote me a letter and in the letter she paints a picture of her relationship with God that is so deep and powerful that I had to share it.

“Kevin, I’m so blessed in prison. I spend virtually all day in prayer, in the Word, being a witness for Christ. I am definitely learning how to live by the Spirit and keep in step with the Spirit. To truly keep in step – to me – is illustrated perfectly like this:

When I was a little girl, my dad took me to our town’s annual daddy-daughter dance around Valentine’s Day. I didn’t necessarily know how to dance, but I knew my dad did and he would show me how – I was so eager to learn! So when the very first song came on – usually a slow song – I’d put my little feet on top of his and I’d wrap my arms tightly around him and [because I was so short and tiny compared to him] I would tilt my head back and just gaze up at him in awe. I felt such an intense joy that I didn’t even notice when other people bumped into me – nothing could take my focus away from my father’s face. It was always really packed, so people would accidentally run into others – stepping on toes, knocking others out of rhythm, but not me – I could not be moved. People would bump us, but my dad had me wrapped up in his embrace so nothing could separate us. Nobody ever hut me by stepping on my toes because, as they rested on my father’s shoes, they were always protected, and no amount of commotion caused us to fall out of step with one another because essentially we were one – he was leading our steps. I recognized that I clearly could not be the leader, so I willingly trusted him to guide me, and even in the midst of the chaos on the dance floor, I loved my dad so much that I refused to take my eyes off of him. Although I’m a grown woman now, I’m learning to keep in step with the Spirit of God, my Heavenly Father. As a daughter of the King, I’m learning to stand on the solid rock of Christ, to keep my focus fixed and my gaze upward to heaven, to cling to the tree on which Jesus bore my sins [I Peter 2:24] and gave to me His righteousness, to walk in His ways so as to ensure that I will not be moved [Psalm 15].”

Thanks, Melissa. May we all, today, keep our eyes on our Father, who has us in His embrace and allows us to stand on His feet as we dance with Him through life.