Elizabeth's Experiences

Dear Friends,
I had mentioned earlier that I wanted to find someone to write a synopsis of the recent Arrows trip to Guatemala...
Well, I have found someone and her name is Elizabeth and she would like to share from her heart what she encountered and felt. Please enjoy...

I went to Guatemala in June. The trip was a time of the victory and sovereignty of the Lord. I have tried to give you a brief taste of what happened on the trip. Throughout the whole time Satan was working to thwart our plans, but I have no doubt that he failed. The focus of our trip was to share the Lord using dance. We had opportunities to dance in a school, orphanages, a prison, a park and churches.

All these different locations, spaces and audiences made for some challenges. It was exciting to make decisions such as number of pirouettes or which costumes to wear at the last minute after seeing and slipping or sticking on the floor. During more than one performance, I remember quickly taking off my shoes right before starting to dance. We danced one night on an unfinished concrete floor, another right beside people setting up a carnival. But that was not important. We had one performance at a church in a very small space with a very small audience, but God was so intimate and worked very deeply in many people’s lives. We also got to dance in a large men’s prison. After hearing the salvation message, we had ministry time and saw some of these men humble themselves before God. At the school, many children were accepting the Lord and crying as the Lord ministered to them.

It is amazing to see the ways that God uses dance (1 Cor. 1:27). We are still undeniably connected to our physical bodies, so it is not surprising that using them to worship has special results. It is an effective way to communicate regardless of which languages are or are not spoken. The joy, love, compassion or longing that we have through and for the Lord can be displayed very clearly. After each program we danced, someone would speak and put into words what had been seen. The dancing helped prepare the hearts for the word the Lord wanted to speak to them. We always had a response from the audience and a move from the Lord when we danced; He is so faithful! There is something about dance that brings abundant freedom and joy from the Lord. When we dance in worship to the Lord, our worship ushers in His presence very strongly. After worship services in the churches, we had times of prayer and ministry that were thick with the presence of God. People were healed physically as well as emotionally. Many people were crying, being slain in the spirit, lifting their hands to the Lord and crying out to Him. Dance is also intercession. During ministry time, we sometimes danced our prayers over the people. It is warfare as well. Psalm 149:6 says that the praise of the Lord can be a double-edged sword in our hands. We danced to tear down the plans of the enemy and in victory over him.

So, I encourage you: seek the Lord, step out in faith and see how He wants to use and grow you! He is faithful!
“To the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.” Jude 25

- Elizabeth

I am so excited about my first post; I'm hoping that God will use it all for his glory. I want to begin with how dance first originated. It started in the Bible with the Israelites dancing before their God with exceedingly great joy. One of the meanings of the word "Dance" is 'rejoice' which means 'to jump and spin about wildly' such as David & Miriam did in Biblical times. Our culture over the years has changed this innocent, pure & worshipful art to a style that is not fit for humans to see or even to do. What grieves me so much is that people rarely ever think of dance being dynamic and powerful for the kingdom of God. When someone hears the word dance, it is usually connected with sensual/sexy movement and immodest women and girls.

Each one of us is put on this earth for a purpose and that is to worship God with our soul & spirit. Everyone can dance. Many don't feel comfortable doing it, but in Gods kingdom you are going to do a lot of things that are uncomfortable to you flesh. Dance is a release between your Father, the maker of Heaven, Earth and you. Dance itself is very emotional and feeling-oriented. You might think of examples such as the first dance at a wedding, proms, nightclubs, etc. What we need to do as children of the Heavenly Father is to use this are and the emotions he has given us for Him and to glorify Him. At the beginning I said we were made to worship, which is true, but because of the fall of Satan and Adam & Eve's sin we now have to teach people how to worship our Father.

You might be wondering whether I'm talking about Worship or Dance. I am trying to explain that when a person worships, everything else will follow. Dance can be something you just do in the shower, your house, in a dance studio, or in a church. As long as it glorifies your Maker then Dance, Dance Yea!!!!!!