“…the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;…” Isaiah 61:3
I do this tonight…this morning. I fall to my knees somewhere between 3:00 and 3:30 a.m. I come in repentance and brokenness before God. I am God’s child, but I need to repent, to come before Him in my despair and grief. I have allowed uncontrolled emotions and unprofitable thinking to operate quite freely in my life. My Life Saver, God, shows up and demonstrates the way to become free from this “spirit of heaviness.” I accept God’s forgiveness and His help offered to me in the early hours of the morning.
I have been praying gladness, rest, and a merry heart for several of my friends. I recognize at this moment that I also need these things in my life.
I “try” the above Scripture. In other words, I prove the Word to be true. I experience what the Word declares. As soon as I put on the garment of “praise,” the “spirit of heaviness” falls off and I get HAPPY FEET!
I begin to DANCE! At first, the dance is for God, just to show Him I love Him. He loves me back. Dancing for God is quite exciting, but get this…He joins me in the dance! God moves from His place on the sideline and comes to participate with me in the dance! God comes, takes me in His arms, and dances with me…wow!
We twirl…pirouette…laugh…as we dance.
Every fiber of my being, the nerve endings of my physical body are SET ALIVE! I am alive to God, His presence, His love, His forgiveness, and His power. I am free! I become aware of being glad…restful… merry in heart. I become alive and revived in my whole person.
I am so electrified by what is taking place. I crawl into bed beside my husband and shake him gently and say, “Guess what just happened?” He mutters something, so I assume he is awake to hear the telling of my glorious encounter with God. I say, “I DANCED WITH GOD!” I repeat it again, “I DANCED WITH GOD!” My darling husband turns over and replies very sleepily, “Ah, that’s good.” Ah, that’s good? Did he hear me? Obviously, he is not awake enough to grasp what I share. We laugh about this the next day. I am still reeling in this wonderful dance with My Savior, and I try in detail to share with my husband, with better success, about my encounter with God. He responds at this telling of the story, “What better partner could you have! There was no need for me to get up at 4:00 in the morning and dance with you!”
Dancing with God! It starts by “putting on” the garment of praise.
Betsey Kelley
Betsey Kelley is a wife and mother. She has served over 30 years in local churches as youth coordinator with her husband for teens/singles, couples ministry, teacher, children’s ministries, and as choir director. She and her husband of 30 years are the parents of two young men, Brandon and Zach. Betsey lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with her husband.