My husband and I love to dance. We have danced since we dated. We even like to dance in the kitchen. A good Pandora station can do wonders for a couple. If anyone saw us they might laugh, my goodness… we laugh at ourselves! But it is so much fun and such a sweet thing between us.
I had struggled for several years with believing the Father really loved me. My earthly dad and I had issues (parents’ divorce), so his love always seemed conditional.
How could my heavenly Father love me without conditions attached? I thought God only loved me when I did something “for” Him. I was completely immersed in legalism. I thought the more I worked, the more He loved me. No work, no love.
It was exhausting. I could not keep up with all the “work”. I struggled so much. I had no joy. This kept me from sharing with others and that only brought on more guilt and condemnation.
I began to pray about this and finally did a word study on “love.” As I filled up my notebook, I could feel something changing in my heart. I wrote every scripture with the word “love” in it from the old and new testament.
Then it happened.
The dream…… the beautiful, lovely, incredible dream.
I was dressed in the most beautiful blue iridescent ball gown. I looked like a princess. I had on a tiara that glistened with my favorite stones, sapphire. This stone represented my month of birth. The ball room was just as gorgeous. The light in the room was the brightest I had seen….it just sparkled. The warmth felt like a breeze from the ocean, coating my spirit in praise. It felt as though I could glide on air.
It was like Roger and Hammerstein’s “Cinderella”. I remember seeing this version on television when I was a little girl. But this dream was a thousand times better. I will never forget it.
I was ballroom dancing with a man. I assumed it was my husband… he was tall, broad shouldered and had hair down to his shoulder, which was not my husband’s hair. Hmmm, his skin was darker than my husband. I was a bit curious. Could it be?
We glided effortlessly across the floor to the beautiful music. The dance was full of grace and beauty and love seemed to pour from the very room. I had seen nothing like it before, and even though it was a dream… I had never felt so loved in my life! Not at all a romantic love, but a love that was like nothing I had ever felt. Unconditional love….so deep that nothing could penetrate it.
I was dancing with Jesus.
Jesus.
As He led me across that ballroom floor, I began to understand just how much He loved me… His daughter, His princess. It was then that I began to believe the Father’s unconditional love for me.
“May He grant you out of the riches of His glory, to be strengthened and spiritually energized with power through His Spirit in your inner self, [indwelling your innermost being and personality], so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through your faith. And may you, having been [deeply] rooted and [securely] grounded in love, be fully capable of comprehending with all the saints (God’s people) the width and length and height and depth of His love [fully experiencing that amazing, endless love]; and [that you may come] to know [practically, through personal experience] the love of Christ which far surpasses [mere] knowledge [without experience], that you may be filled up [throughout your being] to all the fullness of God [so that you may have the richest experience of God’s presence in your lives, completely filled and flooded with God Himself].” Ephesians 3:16-19 AMP
Dear ones, never doubt His love for you. Allow that unconditional love to permeate your very heart and soul. Once you believe it, once you rest in it….it will come out of you onto others without effort.
So……
Yes, you can have this dance Jesus.
Tammy Allgaier is a retired special education teacher, current author, blogger and radio announcer for WBVN. Most importantly, she is a grandmother to her beautiful granddaughter Norah. Oh yeah, and a wife to Alphonse of 40 years and the proud mom and mom-in-love to Austin and Brittany and Taylor and Brittany. And yes, you read that right, both sons married beautiful women named Brittany. Oscar, their Westie, keeps the empty nest not quite as empty. After all these years of marriage, a few books and paintings later, they started their own website at apenandbrush.com, where they share their creative designs, books and encouraging blog posts. She has also has maintained a blog over the last seven years, “Encouragement for Today” at www.yelobrd777.com She drinks too much coffee, loves to read and write constantly and loved Downton Abbey. Helicopter rides are now off the bucket list and on the as “often as possible” list, due to an early anniversary surprise from her husband. Give her an ocean side seat or her back porch, a sunrise or sunset, some CCM, a good book and she is content. Not to mention she loves jeep’n and a whole lot of Jesus. Tammy waited 25+ years to finish writing and publish a book that the Father had called her to write. “Peace in the Midst” Book 1 of the UNEXPECTED GIFT series was published November ’18 and “Seaside Change-A Novella w/Companion 30 Day Devotional and Discussion Guide” was published August ’19. “Take Heart” the second book in the UNEXPECTED GIFT Series is about to be published. Fear stopped her all those years. Tammy knows that “fear is opposite of faith” and will continue to write, encourage others and fall more and more in love with Jesus.
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