My sweet friend, Joyce, is still battling cancer. In fact, she is in her third bout with it. She just finished 3 weeks of radiation treatments for a tumor that had appeared on her spine. We are waiting for the results of her latest tests to know what her current situation is.
3 weeks ago, I was helping at the youth group and the youth band played "I Can Only Imagine," which always makes me think of Joyce since it is a dance Miriam has performed for a few years that she has loved so much.
I was overwhelmed with the thought of gathering together all Miriam dancers (past & present), the Youth Missions Club for Girls (which Joyce has supervised), and the children in the congregation whom Joyce has such a love for. I wanted to see these groups come together to present a special gift of love through dance to Joyce. I also thought it would be special to have the Undespised Youth (our youth group) band play the song as we dance it. And I felt an urgency to put it together very quickly to be a surprise for Joyce.
I asked my Monday morning women's Bible study to pray about the idea and they loved it. So, I sent an invitation to the dancers via email and text. Almost everyone was available. My pastor agreed that we should try it and do it as soon as possible, so I held a one-day/5-hour rehearsal Saturday, February 27th and we danced it the next morning at our Sunday church services. Joyce was present at the 2nd service to see it.
I wasn't going to post this on my blog for the most ridiculous reasons: I am embarrassed that it isn't as polished as it would be had I had more time (no fault of the dancers- they are amazing to learn this so quickly and do such a marvelous job)...and the most silly reason, I am not as thin as I once was. Ugh! Why is that such a struggle!? So please forgive me for not sharing with you earlier this God-blessed gift for our sweet Joyce because of my stupid vanity. (I hope you don't mind my transparency in sharing this secret of my heart with you. Maybe others will be encouraged to know that I struggle with my vanity and weight too! I strive for contentment with my appearance. I am God's work-in-progress.)
Ok, a funny part of this crazy Joyce-dancing week was that when I sent the mass email to the dancers...I ALSO SENT IT TO JOYCE!!!! AAAAAAHH! Of course, the instant I hit "send", I realized my enormous mistake. So, I panicked, called Milo (Joyce's husband) immediately and begged him to chisel his way onto the computer and discreetly DELETE my email. He, of course, got a great laugh at my expense...and deservedly so. Haha! So, needless to say, Milo was in on the whole thing and I'm glad he was because Joyce was not feeling well that Sunday morning and he practically dragged her to church because of the dance for her.
The video link is below. You will see Joyce on the house right side dancing with her hands right along with us. May we always "bear one another's burdens" and "edify the church", "giving to one another as they have need."
Please keep Milo and Joyce in prayer.
Enjoy!
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