I loved dancing with my father when I was young. I remember being about six or seven years old and my father holding my hands and gently helping me step on top of his feet. I don’t remember if any music played, but I remember my father’s smile as he looked down at me, and we began to dance. Because I was standing on his feet, I went wherever he led me.
As I got better, my father danced to a particular rhythm. He counted numbers like “one, two, three, pause, one, two, three, pause,” as he spun me around the family room floor. All I cared about was sharing the love, laughter, and enjoyment of one another’s company.
A few years later, at the father/daughter dance with the Girl Scouts, the music played, and my dad gently led me to the dance floor. He smiled, held my hand, and we danced. At this moment, I realized I had learned to waltz, even though I hadn’t had a formal dance lesson during all those intimate times of standing on my father’s feet.
I am thankful for the experience my dad gave me as a little girl, which taught me so much about my heavenly Father. I learned that my Father in heaven longs to teach me life lessons in an intimate way too.
Sometimes, like the rhythm of a waltz, life situations are positive and move forward, but sometimes a delay arises (Psalm 30:11). There will be times when life is going well with joy, and then a pause of sorrow comes. Times of rejoicing followed by a pause of mourning. All these occurrences are not unusual. God wants us to know that the pause will end eventually, and He will turn our mourning into joyful dancing. God loves to waltz.
If you are in a pause of delay or difficulty right now, Father God longs for you to know you are not alone. Take His hand by drawing close to Him. Soon, He will take a step and return you to joyful dancing.
Stacey Gawthrop lives by the Clinch River in East Tennessee with her husband Steve. She has six grown children and three grandbabies. They adopted her only daughter from Kazakhstan when she was a baby, and one of her sons was adopted at thirteen years old from across the street. She enjoys sharing the love of Jesus in many ways, such as being a registered dietitian, trauma professional for children and adolescents, homeschool mom, volleyball coach, Gigi, and friend. Her first writing adventure was published in Guideposts.