Divine Dance , livre ebook

The Divine Dance
Books by Shannon Kubiak Primicerio FROM BETHANY HOUSE PUBLISHERS
Being a Girl Who Leads Being a Girl Who Loves Being a Girl Who Serves The Divine Dance God Called a Girl Life. Now.*
If the world is your stage, who are you performing for?
The Divine Dance
SHANNON KUBIAK PRIMICERIO
The Divine Dance Copyright 2006 Shannon Kubiak Primicerio
Cover design by Jennifer Parker
Unless otherwise identified, Scripture quotations are from the NIV version of the Bible.
Scripture quotations identified KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.
Scripture quotations identified NASB are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE , Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977. Used by permission. ( www.Lockman.org )
Scripture quotations identified NKJV are from the New King James Version of the Bible. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means-electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise-without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Published by Bethany House Publishers 11400 Hampshire Avenue South Bloomington, Minnesota 55438
Bethany House Publishers is a division of Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Primicerio, Shannon Kubiak. The divine dance : if the world is your stage, who are you performing for? / Shannon Kubiak Primicerio. p. cm. Summary: Recognizing that teen girls spend much of their time trying to please their friends, parents, and teachers, Primicerio encourages these girls to stop performing for the world and start dancing for the One who matters -Provided by publisher. ISBN-13: 978-0-7642-0343-5 (pbk.) ISBN-10: 0-7642-0343-6 (pbk.) 1. Teenage girls-Religious life. 2. Self-actualization (Psychology)-Religious aspects-Christianity. 3. Self-perception in adolescence-Religious aspects- Christianity. I. Title. BV4551.3.P775 2006 248.8 33-dc22
2006031682
To Mom, Dad, Darlin, and Papa- thanks for being the loudest of my balcony people. I love you guys!
And for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ- thanks for setting my heart to the rhythm of writing and for giving me the chance to dance. I love you so much!
A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
I have no explanation for how it happened, really. The story of how I got published has been recounted thousands of times in the last three years, and for some reason it never loses its wonder. The only explanation for it is that it was a God thing. Only twenty years old when I first wrote The Divine Dance, I had no idea if anyone would ever want to print it, and I definitely didn t have any credentials to write a book. All I did was tell my story.
And one by one people began to tell me that this is their story too. The numbers now reach into the thousands. Girls and women everywhere seem to feel the same pressures I felt (and still feel) to perform for other people. We all seem to have critics and fans that fill the auditoriums of our lives. All of us have closets jam-packed with pretty costumes and glittery masks that we tend to hide behind. Every single one of us wants to be somebody special. Yet none of us feel like we are.
Thus the performance begins. Step by step we begin dancing our way through life, hoping that someone will notice all of our hard work and make it all worth it. We want someone to clap; we want someone to cheer. We want someone to give us a standing ovation and throw roses at our feet. We want to be princesses. And even more than that, we want to be loved. So we dance, and we dance, and we keep on dancing until we are worn out and there is nothing left.
Four years have passed since I wrote this book, and my life is very different now. Back then I was a college student wanting to fall in love, wanting to graduate, wanting to dance for someone who cared. Now I m a college graduate, a wife, and the author of more than a handful of other books. Yes, life is different now. But the choices are still the same: I can dance for God or I can dance for the crowd.
This book was initially written as a book for teens. And in its truest form, it still is. But I have received far too many e-mails from women in their twenties, thirties, forties-even seventies-to believe that only teens will read it. No matter how many books I write in my lifetime, this will remain the one dearest to my heart. The Divine Dance is my life message. Writing this book brought me to freedom. Continuing to live out its purpose is what keeps me free. It is a lesson for women of any age.
We all dance for somebody. And if dancing for the crowd has brought you tired and weary to these pages for the first time, welcome. If you are an old friend who has come back to be reminded of the message that has already touched so many, welcome back. The message of this book is one we all need to hear over and over again.
That s why when the opportunity arose to reprint this book with Bethany House Publishers, I chose not to alter the content of the book at all. The text remains exactly as it was when it was first published-only some study questions and dancing steps have been added at the end of each chapter to aid you in your journey as you dance with the Lord.
May the following pages bring you the freedom you so desperately seek as you learn to accept God s grace. May you rest in His peace as you turn your back to the crowd and learn what it means to dance for the Audience of One.
Grace and peace,
Shannon Kubiak Primicerio June 7, 2006
FOREWORD
All the fairy tales are true, you know.
There is a real Prince. He came from the vast kingdom of His Father with one purpose: to woo and win His long-sought-after bride. One day, He will return to carry her away, and they will be together forever.
Thousands of stories, movies, and songs tell this story. All of them have borrowed the theme from one book: the Bible.
Several years ago I was on a live radio interview where the host started by saying, How can you call yourself a Christian and write romance novels? In that moment (after gulping mightily), I had a piercing thought.
It s because when I was in high school I read a book that changed my life, I answered. In the first few chapters everything falls apart and you think they re never going to get back together. About three-quarters of the way through the book, He moves heaven and earth to prove His love for her, and still she won t come wholeheartedly to Him. But finally-in the last chapter-He comes riding in on a white horse and takes her away to be His bride and live with him forever.
The radio host scoffed. How could a book like that change your life? It sounds like a formula romance novel to me.
I grinned and said, Really? That s funny-because I was talking about the Bible. There s a white horse and everything.
The host froze. Radio listeners everywhere caught nothing but dead air.
It s all true, I said plainly. God is the Relentless Lover and we are His first love. He never gives up on us because He wants us back.
We cut to a station break rather abruptly, and the radio host looked at me through teary eyes. You re right. I never saw it that way before.
For nearly two decades I have been sharing this truth with young women under the cover of novels. Forty of them, to be exact. When I read The Divine Dance I couldn t stop smiling. Shannon has captured in this one book the essence of everything I ve wanted to say to teens for so long. It s all here: truth, hope, gentle correction, and a brilliant spotlight on God, the Relentless Lover, who has been dearly longing to have this dance with you.
Robin Jones Gunn
Bestselling, award-winning author of the CHRISTY MILLER, SIERRA JENSEN, and GLENBROOKE series, as well as the SISTERCHICKS novels
CONTENTS
SETTING THE STAGE
Chapter 1: AUDITIONING FOR A ROLE IN THE STORY: Dancing for the World
Chapter 2: THE RHYTHM OF YOUR HEART: Dancing to Your Own Music
Chapter 3: THE IMPORTANCE OF THE BACKGROUND DANCERS: Dancing With a Difference
Chapter 4: THE BEAUTY OF THE BODY: Dancing in Harmony With Other Christians
Chapter 5: EVERY DANCER NEEDS A COACH: Dancing With Your Parents
Chapter 6: CLOTHED IN RIGHTEOUSNESS: Dancing With Integrity
Chapter 7: WANTING TO TANGO: Dancing With Dating
Chapter 8: THE WORLD IS YOUR STAGE: Dancing in the Darkness
Chapter 9: REJOICING OVER PRODIGALS: Dancing in Redemption
Chapter 10: AN AUDIENCE OF ONE: Dancing With Delight
If the world is your stage, who are you performing for?
Setting the Stage
In a busy, noisy world, a little girl walks onto a dark stage and begins to perform. She wears her pink princess costume with pride.
Will you love me? her actions ask. Will you hold me; will you keep me close to your heart forever?
The pain in her eyes screams at you. And with graceful pirouettes across the stage, she beckons you to choose her, to set her apart from the other performers, and to call her beloved. She has wounds buried so deeply beneath her costume that she has almost forgotten they are there. But the laughter of her audiences echoes through her mind as she thinks of all of the times she has tried and failed. All she has ever wanted is acceptance, but she has never found it-at least not for long.
Inside each of us is a desire to be loved, a desire to be chosen, called out of the crowd, and loved for who we are. Seeking these desires, we all become performers, morphing ourselves into whatever role may earn us a place in the hearts of those around us. We constantly audition for affection, and once we have it, we feel we have attained perfection. We put all of our energy into our performances as we please our audiences however we can.
To become beautiful is the ogre