Rejoice in the Lord

{Our post today was written by an amazing high school Junior, Maia Miller.}

As the spring of 2020 hit the world, I was beginning the transformation out of elementary school. Through that next year of 6th grade I really truly felt the isolation and the confusion of change but without any connection besides my family and a few friends. Though that year was really hard for me and many others, I was really blessed to still have community and a hobby through ballet.

I have been dancing since I was about three. It started with classes at a community center, but then I switched to a dance studio called Portland Metro Arts and I have been there ever since.

So during this year of big change and isolation I continued to have my community and a love for dance. And at some point during the year I began rejoicing in the Lord through dance. For me dance had become a way to celebrate the movement of our beautiful bodies made in God's image. So through this time of isolation I danced a ton, even not at ballet, I danced to help the stress and strangeness of covid, but also in hope and celebration of new times to come.

Thinking back on it now, a psalm that reminds me of this rejoicing through the hard is Psalm 30.

Psalm 30 starts off by saying “ I will exalt you Lord for you lifted me up out of the depths”.

When I hear this verse I am reminded of how God is like a ladder to climb out of the darkness and how he is so merciful and kind. The psalm continues on, and in verse 9 and 10, David asks that, if he falls back in the depths, will God help out again?

Six years from 2020 as a junior in high school I am starting to look forward to a new time of change and uncertainty. The questions of what do you want your future to look like and where do you want to go with college are starting to come up. And the truth is I worry about what I want my future to look like and the thousand what if’s are running through my mind. What if covid comes back, what if I fail a whole bunch of classes? In this moment of change and confusion I feel like I'm asking God the same question David is asking. Will he help me once more to find ways to rejoice in him and climb back up to the surface out of the uncertainty and worry? And I believe he will because he is a God who will not give up on anyone and will help us.

Writing this I am reminded of how the Lord will help his people as he has helped me in the past. Throughout the past six years I have used dance to rejoice and to be part of my community of people around me, but with my life changing soon I will see how God wants me to rejoice in him and perhaps it can be in more ways than just one.

 As I find ways to rejoice the Lord through dance and other things even when it feels really hard, how do you rejoice in the Lord even when you don't want to. Maybe you do it through poetry or through playing an instrument. Whatever you do, be reminded that God will come and help you over and over again as life continues on and you find new struggles.