Crazy Times with the Sisters

It's week 2!

One of the things that has been interesting about this adventure, is spending so much time with my two younger sisters, Anna and Tabithah.

Now, I do spend a lot of time with them at home, but nothing creates comradery quite like taking three dance classes a day together, and then sharing the same cold room.

The three of us shared aching muscles for the first few days, and from then on, we have shared aching abs from laughing so hard.

Seriously, we practically haven't stopped laughing since we got here.

My sisters have been teasing me about breathing through my ears for a few days. Just to clarify, I do NOT breathe through my ears, but I made the mistake of mentioning to Carolyn (our teacher) that my ears keep popping during class and it's quite annoying.

Well, none of them could understand what I meant by "pop," so I said it felt like I was breathing through my ears. You know what I mean, right?

Well they didn't. So they all laughed at me, and Carolyn told me it might go away if I would focus on breathing through my mouth and nose. Sigh. Never gonna live that one down.

Anyway, our most recent escapade, I like to call, "The Canadian Homeschooler Prank," because it's a fabulous prank that none of us actually have the guts to do.

We came up with it Thursday morning when we were upstairs in the studio, partly practicing, partly stretching, and mostly just cracking up about anything and everything.

There is a part in one of the dances, in which you turn, and place your foot flexed in front of you. Well, Anna discovered that if you hop to the same position on the other side, and then repeat several times, it looks quite a bit like some sort of Russian folk dance.

Thus, we invented the most genius prank that we will ever not do, which was that the three of us would practice that in sync, adding things like turning around, prancing around the studio, and occasionally throwing your arm in the air and yelling, "Hey!" Then, in rehearsal, we would do the actual dance until we got to that part, and then flawlessly switch, making our teachers second guess themselves.

Yup. That was a good time. We laughed really hard, and then went downstairs and practiced like good Canadian, homeschooled students.

I do want to keep this blog semi-focused on what is really important, so I will finish by telling you about a moment I experienced at prayer meeting on Wednesday night.

As I was sitting there, my mind wandered a bit, and I thought about ballet classes, and how my ears kept popping. The worship team started playing a song just then.

It's Your breath in our lungs,

So we pour out our praise,

We pour out our praise to You only.

I had to laugh. I heard the words in my head as,

It's Your breath in my ears,

So we pour out our praise,

We pour out our praise to You only.

God does have a sense of humor, and ever since then, when my ears pop during class, my first thought is to praise Him.

Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. (Psalms 150:6)

A Place of Rest

At this moment, I am sitting in a car, watching rain hit the windshield. 

Okay, so I'm staring at my iPod screen, but in between sentences, I'm watching the rain.

Guess where I'm going? Home!

In my last two posts, I told y'all about my invitation to train and tour with 1:11 Ministries for two months. Well, I was thinking maybe you'd like to know how that's going, so I'm going to write about it.

We just finished week 1. I'm on the road right now, heading home for my sister's bridal shower, but we'll be making the trip back Monday morning, in time for my first class at 10:30 am.

This first week has been awesome. Every day I take two ballet technique classes, and a choreography class. We've been working on a different dance each day, so it's a lot to cram into my head, but it's been really good.

I'm not going to write a super long post, for your sakes, although I have a ton I could write about. The highlight of this week was definitely at the beginning, when God showed me something amazing.

Man, I'm trying to write short, but everything has backstory! Okay, so the synopsis of what you need to know, is that for a really long time now, I have been struggling hard. Spiritually, emotionally, not having a good time. I've been trying to cling to truth, and seek God in it all, but it's just been so blatantly obvious how bad I am at that.

Anyway, it kind of reached a peak recently, where I just felt like I was about to reach the end of my rope, and I needed...something. I honestly had no idea what I needed. Rest? Revival? Breakthrough? I didn't know anymore. I'm so glad Jesus did. :)

This trip, as much as it was like a dream come true, felt like another thing added to the burden I was carrying. I could barely even get excited about it, I just got stressed out.

I realized something on the road to my new house though, I was leaving a lot of things that were burdening me behind. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my home, but I felt relieved to be going somewhere where some of my stress didn't exist.

We drove on Saturday, and went to church the next morning. I can't even tell you how amazing the service was. Mostly the worship, I wish I could remember the lyrics to tell you, but I can't. All I remember is God speaking, telling me He had provided a place of rest for me. 

Another major thing that was stressing me out He clearly addressed in one of the songs, and as I sang, I knew He wanted me to let it go, because He had control.

Another weight off of my back. I already felt like a new person. But there was more.

After that, I believe it was Sunday night, we were having dinner, and there was a little picture frame with a bible verse on it.

He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me. (Psalms 18:19)

Again, He brought me into this place to be a sanctuary for me, a place of rest. I might add, the house I'm living in is HUGE. He definitely brought me forth into a large place. :D

A few times, I have gotten discouraged during dance class, or stressed about something, and it's like I can almost hear Him saying, "Are you going to trust Me?"

I feel like He's given me one task. Trust.

It's very humbling, because I want to claim to be such a great Christian that I don't need two months to JUST trust, but it's what God has given me, and I think He knows what I need best.

That's really all I can say without repeating myself, but it really doesn't do justice to the peace I'm feeling.

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5)