A Beautiful Scene

Dear Momma,

Some of my favorite nights are the nights where we spend time together before we’re all getting ready to go to bed.  I have a really good book wide open in my hands.  It could be any book from the breathing, living book of the Bible or it could just be another book where we learn something new about who our God is.  I am so grateful for the mentors I’ve had through books. I am grateful for the words written on pages in their books, and these authors may never know just how grateful I am for their obedience to the Lord for sharing their testimony, their story, their walk with the Holy Spirit.  

I hear from moms that they just don’t know where to begin when it comes to their own faith and especially the faith of their children. Sometimes, you can start to learn more about who He is through someone else’s testimony. You might be learning about His character right alongside your daughter, and that’s ok! Sometimes you can start with creating a routine of reading together from a great book.

Recently, the girls and I were reading a book together called Unseen: The Gift of Being Hidden in a World that Loves to be Noticed.  

As I was reading this book, I was actually in Seattle for a work conference.  The words the Holy Spirit highlighted for me were powerful.  Some of the words He gave me prompted me to share them with my own girls.  For this book in particular, it was on my heart to read specifically for one of my girls.  Ironically, you never really know who the Lord will touch through your obedience.  So as the girls and I began reading and spending time in this book, I quickly realized that this book was actually highlighted for another one of my daughter’s.  

When my daughters talk about this book, they vividly talk about a specific moment that gripped them and stuck with them ever since.

To paint the picture, the author was talking about her daughter on the night of her dance recital.  She has several children, but she was highlighting one of her children who was adopted. This child was born into a horrific situation. With such a horrendous start to her daughter’s life prior to adoption, the family had navigated pain and setbacks stemming from the abuse and neglect as a little girl.   On this night, however, her daughter was beyond excited. She was beaming with joy and excitement. I imagined she’s telling her mom to hurry up so they can get there because she just can’t wait another second!  She practiced diligently to prepare for this moment.  Her hair was beautifully done.  Her outfit was exquisite. Everything was set for the ‘perfect’ night and the ‘perfect’ performance in front of her family and friends.

They get to the recital.

The girls begin dancing.

Her daughter is dancing as if nobody else was in the room. Her daughter was dancing confidently, beautifully, poised,  and elegantly. She was also dancing off beat and off step with every single other girl. As she’s dancing she can tell that her daughter has no idea what’s happening.  She has no idea she’s off-step with the team and no idea that she is not going with the flow of the rest of the team.

These beautiful moments were painted for us readers as if we were all actually in the recital together with Sara and her family.

Her daughter kept dancing.


Even though she wasn’t in step with the rest of the dance team, she kept dancing.

Even though her teacher was most likely trying to grab her attention, she kept dancing.

She kept dancing.

As her parents, they watched their daughter with excitement and a feeling of pride.  This little girl came from trauma, abuse, and neglect. She’s now dancing on stage with confidence, freedom and joy.

What a miracle! What a vision! What a blessing!

After sitting in this moment, the thinking within the mother began to change: What are other people thinking? What if her thinking begins to change because of the perspectives of everyone else?

There’s a possibility that other dancers who have been dancing for a while might have had the perspective of “what in the world is this girl doing out here with us?”  These girls were probably frustrated.  Perhaps there were girls thinking they were “way above her level” and beginning to question if she should be on this dance team. The parents and audience members in the crowd must see that she’s “off” from the rest of the group.  And the coach is trying so hard to get her attention to get back in step. What if SHE starts to notice everything everyone else must be noticing?

And then, the part that gripped us…

She shared about our Heavenly Father’s perspective.

God was looking at her as if she was the most beautiful, precious sight in His eyes and overjoyed that she was leaving it all on the dance floor.  He was proud of His daughter.  He was looking at her with delight, as His masterpiece. He was beaming with joy at His daughter of royalty.

There’s a perspective that is above all of these perspectives.  That is our Heavenly Father’s perspective. 

The most beautiful words spoken throughout the room this particular night….

“And then there was our Heavenly Father’s perspective”. 

The presence of the Holy Spirit was palpable and it stopped us all for a few moments with grateful hearts knowing our Heavenly Father’s perspective of us is greater than all other perspectives combined.

I doubt she would have kept dancing if she were to listen to the perspective of others. Thank God she listened to His perspective and thank God she kept dancing.

Thank God we have the choice to listen to His perspective, too.

And these are the nights that I love.

It’s just them, me, a good book, and the presence of our Lord.  

These are the nights I treasure when I’m sitting with them as they tune in to a beautifully written book that paints pictures of experiences as if we’re sitting in the room right next to the author actually experiencing God’s goodness with this family.  In these moments, we’re learning just a little bit more about God’s character and who the God we serve really is.  

He is just.  He is powerful and merciful.  He is our Heavenly Father who cares about us showing up on a dance floor and when we’re sitting in a bedroom together reading.

I appreciate how this book highlights the beauty of these hidden moments with Him.  In these small moments where we’re sitting, laughing and even crying a bit at times, these are the moments where He is covering us and His presence is thick. 

Is this something we do every single night these days?  No.  When the girls were younger, we spent hours reading together almost every single night.  As the girls have gotten older and our calendars adjust, so does what our reading can look like.  There’s beauty in that, too.  

We still find time to keep that rhythm going in our home.  We still find time to ground ourselves in Truth and our relationship with the Lord through reading together.  How powerful is that in a room with others?  It’s sanctifying.  

It’s just a quiet house with a few girls and their mom reading.  Some nights are filled with more questions than others and some nights the girls will fall asleep midway through our reading.  Typically, it’s a room that is filled with listening, imagining, learning and connecting.  After we read, we pray.  

And we pray.  

And these will forever be some of the most cherished moments that I have with my daughters.  Evan as they approach their preteen and teenage years, they continue to be some of the most cherished moments we have together for me.  These are some of the most beautiful nights that connect us to each other and to Him.

Our girls are growing up.  Time goes by quickly.  Be sure to grab these moments with your girls, because my guess is that one day, they might look at these moments as precious, beautiful and possibly sanctifying, too.

Let’s turn our Eyes to Jesus because it’s all for His Glory.

In love,

Kassie Leigh