Nothing could've made the "mother of the groom" dance any sweeter.
Is it bragging when you acknowledge your worthiness to receive?
I’ve come a long way from believing Satan’s lies that boasting of God’s kindness to me somehow demonstrates arrogance. My whole purpose for writing my mid-week miracle stories is to testify to God's tangible presence and activity. God gets the glory for the things he does in my life. Therefore, I’m absolutely going to brag on him.
Receiving good gifts from God often hinges on our willingness to acknowledge our worthiness to receive.
If we think we aren’t worthy to receive anything from God, we won’t ask. And if we don’t ask God for his blessings, then we won’t have as much to testify about. Revelation 12:11 promises that we can triumph over the powers of darkness by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony.
Triumphant testifying to the fruit we bear for God’s glory isn’t bragging.
On April 9, 2022, God showed up on the dance floor at my son’s wedding to assure me a generational wound had been healed. The tender moment during the mother-of-the-groom dance testifies to the fruit of my prayers for this healing to take place. I tell you about it at the risk of bragging on my son, Scott—who happens to be extremely talented, considerate and generous. Between his wedding ceremony and the start of the reception, Scott mentioned he planned to give me something special at the end of our featured dance. He knew I would delight in his incredibly thoughtful gift, even if no one else noticed.
In order for you to grasp the significance of what Scott did, I need to back up to my daughter’s wedding in September 2014. Actually, let’s back up even further. Back to when Steven Curtis Chapman released a song inspired by his daughters called, Cinderella.
The lyrics to Cinderella broke my heart. My dad and I had the kind of relationship Steven Curtis Chapman sang about. Dad died of cancer in 2009—the year the song was constantly on the radio. The year the artist performed Cinderella at the Dove Awards. The year my daughter, Sarah, went into a tailspin grieving the loss of her beloved Papa. My dad and Sarah had a “Cinderella” relationship too. Papa always made time for his granddaughter. My husband, Steve, on the other hand, poured his energies into his work.
I begged God to get Steve’s attention, to open his eyes to how desperately his daughter needed him. Each time Cinderella played on the radio served as a reminder that my prayers were going unanswered.
I began to punch out the song with the opening strands of its lovely waltz. I had a love/hate relationship with Cinderella, but was determined to feed the love and starve the hate. So, I stopped turning off the song when it started to play. Instead, I prayed for breakthrough.
The radio station’s playlist gave me plenty of opportunities to pray. I prayed that the workaholism my husband had learned from his father would be broken in this generation and that his relationship with Sarah would be healed. I prayed that Steve would be the Papa to his granddaughters that my dad had been to Sarah. I prayed that Scott would be the kind of dad mine had been. I remember thinking, even if my husband doesn’t dance to Cinderella at my daughter’s wedding, my son will dance to a similar song at his daughter’s wedding one day.
But God had a surprise in store for me.
In the months leading up to Sarah’s wedding day, Steve worked hard to transform our backyard into a beautiful venue for the ceremony and reception. He later told me that he would hear the song Cinderella as he swung a hammer or shoveled dirt.
God was working on Steve’s heart.
My daughter chose Stevie Wonder’s Isn’t She Lovely for the father-of-the-bride dance. At the appointed time, the DJ played Sarah’s choice and my husband swung his daughter into a twirl, but immediately began waving his arms.
Steve told the DJ he was playing the wrong song.
The look on Sarah's face was priceless.
What Steve was up to?
Then, I heard the all-too-familiar opening strands of the waltz I’d begun praying through back in 2009.
As I wept profound tears of joy,
Steve danced with his Cinderella!
Years later at my son’s wedding, I hear a different waltz begin as Scott escorts me to the dance floor at his reception. I wasn’t surprised by the song this time because we had discussed the need to delete the second verse of May I Have This Dance by Scott Krippayne. My son is a professional audio engineer, and I knew he could remove the verse, which sang of a love more suited to the bride than to the mother of the groom.
Captured in the moment dancing with my son, I didn’t notice Scott’s perfectly smooth edit as the song beautifully moved from the first verse and chorus into the bridge and final chorus. As the song drew near the end, I began to speak a blessing over my son, but he didn’t want me to miss his surprise.
“Mom.” Scott said firmly. “Listen.”
I quieted myself as the closing measures of our dance turned into the opening strands of Cinderella. My breath caught in my throat and tears splashed onto my cheeks. Scott beamed, knowing I’d heard the surprise he’d planned and performed especially for me.
“Those two songs aren’t even in the same key.” I said later. “How did you do that?”
He shrugged and grinned. “I’m good.”
Scott’s light-hearted boast testified to the fact that God had healed a generational wound. I can’t help but brag on God’s faithfulness.
My friend, you absolutely are worthy to receive good gifts from God. Plow the ground with prayer and trust God to produce the fruit in due season. Then when God brings the harvest, you go right ahead and boast in triumph.
So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. – Galatians 6:9 NLT
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