Sometimes prayer happens without saying a word.
I had one of those moments last Sunday. The week had been stressful, and the weekend was even more stressful.
I got the kids down for bed, but I wasn’t ready. I needed a reset before starting another week.
My most common prayer discipline is journaling. Writing comes easy for me so picking up my pen and taking time to write down what I hear God saying, or what I want to say to Him is my go-to communication channel.
But on Sunday night, I had no words. No words came to mind for what I could say to God, or even hear Him say to me to allay my state.
So instead, I danced. Yep. I turned on Rita Springer’s album Created to Worship and I danced my prayers. (Side note: I’ve been a sucker for Rita Springer since I first heard her on the Winds of Worship albums. That was back in Vineyard’s glory days. Anybody else grow up listening to Vineyard worship? Man, I sure did. )
Now, I know some people who worship-dance all the time. For me, it’s not a regular thing and I’m certainly not the most graceful dancer.
But something happened as I danced my prayers: God met me.
His presence was sweet. It was soothing. And the stress of the week melted away.
I danced to Rita’s song Moving with the Lamb. I made my requests known to God in hands raised and spins and sways and kneels on the floor of my living room.
And I went to bed ready to start another week.
Reflecting on dancing my prayers, I am struck by a couple things:
First: The power of movement to release emotion.
When I was preparing to have my second child, I read the book Birth Skills. In the book, the author describes that with each contraction, adrenaline is released into your body, and if you don’t do anything to turn that adrenaline into action, it just builds up inside you and becomes stress or fear or other negative emotions that won’t help you have your baby.
You have to move.
I took this advice to heart. During even the latest stages of my labor with Declan, I had a stress ball in one hand that I would rub up and down my leg with each contraction. I channeled all my adrenaline into that small movement and it got me through.
I had a similar experience while dancing my prayers. Moving my body released the stress from the week and completely changed my emotional state.
“Divine communion is sharing my innermost thoughts and feelings with a holy God in exchange for His most intimate thoughts and feelings. ”
Second: The importance of learning new ways to pray.
I have my standby way of communing with God, but that doesn’t mean it’s the only way. And there will likely be more times where my standby just doesn’t cut it. I want to know when those moments come that I have other ways to connect with Him and experience His presence.
Divine communion is sharing my innermost thoughts and feelings with a holy God in exchange for His most intimate thoughts and feelings.
I’m grateful to be learning new ways to commune with the Divine.
*Header photo taken at a Muse concert during confetti craziness. Concerts are another place where you'll find me dancing.