Hands down, the most iconic example in my life of a beautiful dance is Danny Kaye and Vera-Ellen in “the best things” scene in White Christmas. I remember sitting in front of the TV every December, mesmerized by her swirling pink skirt. Even as a young girl, I wanted to tap and twirl, swing around a pole (before that become a provocative dance), and hear my toes pounding on the boat. They even caught a ride on a zip-line! Danny knew what he was talking about when he sang, “The best things happen while you’re dancing…”
A Delight is a woman who trusts God. She jumps into His arms with complete trust. He leads her faithfully and joyfully through the dance of life, and she follows. Trusting God is so unique because He invites you to make it awesome!
God doesn’t expect His girl to be a timid dancer, wide eyed and wondering what is happening. He gives her confidence and encouragement to shine. As she trusts God, He also trusts her. When He lifts his hand for a spin, He knows she will spin with all her might, flashing a smile the whole time.
In other words, a Delight will value the journey God has given her enough make the most of each moment! Her confidence does not come from personal competency, but rather trusting that God will work in and through her. Her trust in God produces a trustworthiness in her own character.
Trustworthy in the family of God:
“In the same way, the women are to be worthy of respect, not malicious talkers but temperate and trustworthy in everything.” 1 Timothy 3:11
This verse is referring to women in leadership for the church, such as pastor’s wives or women of influence. As a girl grows into a woman of God, she gains more influence in the world around her, including God’s people. As a Delight, she must be trustworthy within the church.
One way to be trustworthy within God’s family is to control your conversation. The Bible warns against women being malicious talkers (1 Tim. 3:11), gossips (Proverbs 11:13), over-sharers (Proverbs 12:23), and liars. (Proverbs 12:22).
A girl who wants to be a trustworthy woman will have self-control over her tongue. The Holy Spirit must help with this, because it is so difficult for girls. We LOVE to tell stories to connect with others. But some stories, whether good or bad, don’t need to be shared. Can you be the gossip stopper? Sometimes, this requires stopping your EARS from hearing a story. A trustworthy woman will ask others to stop talking about a person in gossip, exaggeration, lies, or even “venting.”
The trustworthy girl will also control her words on social media. She does not send words in a text message that she would not speak out loud. She will not display her feelings on Facebook, but later manipulate her personal relationships saying, “I’m fine.”
Again, her confidence to be trustworthy comes from her trust in God. Dancing with Him defines her. Because she doesn’t use different avenues to validate her life, she can be trusted to make a difference in those areas.
Trustworthy in a world of lost people:
The woman at the well, in John 4, became a trustworthy woman. After trusting Jesus, she was faithful to share with her whole village the truth about her own life, and the truth about Jesus. She caught up her skirt and rocked out to the greatest dance of her life, inviting others to do the same.
A girl in today’s world can do the same. She should be willing to share her faith in Jesus with other people. Again, this requires complete trust in God first; otherwise, she will worry about what people think. Sharing your testimony does not have to be a huge project. Your testimony is simply your side of the story: how Jesus saved you.
Jesus tells a story in Luke 19 about a man who was faithful with the little things in life. Because of his hard work and wise actions, he was given responsibility over much more than he expected. Often, a Delight’s greatest longings is to hear God say “well done, good and faithful servant.” We often think we must do something extravagant or spectacular to earn this. But the man in Jesus’ story earned that label after taking care of just 10 coins; the 10 cities came later.
Like the Excellent woman, a Delight who trusts God is a woman who works hard (is completely trustworthy), but also rests well (trust’s God completely). God doesn’t ask us to save non-Christians, or share a convincing argument for the gospel. As we trust Him, He gives us the strength to simply share the good news of our story–our dance–with Jesus.
As Proverbs 13:17 says: “An unreliable messenger stumbles into trouble, but a reliable messenger brings healing.” (NLT) Being a trustworthy messenger will bring healing to a world dying in the pain of sin. Sometimes, people don’t want to hear this message of truth and love. Your friends may reject you for it, or call you a bad friend for sharing. Remember that, “The wounds of a friend are trustworthy, but the kisses of an enemy are excessive.” (Proverbs 27:6 HCSB)
La Fin…
This is the final unit of this journey. You have learned so much, and have hopefully grown in your closeness with God. Moving forward, from life as a girl into life as a godly woman, you will face many challenges and confusion. The changes in your life wont always be clear. You may feel stuck, or emotional, or like its all going too fast. You have only learned a speck of the things God wants to teach you as a woman who seeks to delight Him. Though this foundation is a great starting point, your journey is never over. Through it all, will you put your trust in God? As His delight, will you be trustworthy with every detail you have learned about being a godly woman?
Move forward in that trust, encouraged by the words of Paul:
“Therefore we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day. For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
*For more from Delight: a Joyful Journey to Biblical Womanhood, visit here.