oh yes, He's still GOOD.

"Do you have a wooden staff? Do you have Roman-looking sandals? Do you have a very large artificial rock? Do you have a fake (but realistic looking) chicken? Would you like to donate a very expensive item to our ministry that we can auction?" These are some of the questions that we have been asking in order to prepare for the A Walk With Paul premiere. I have termed my car the "prop-mobile" because it feels like I am carrying the entire ballet inside of my trunk.

Lately in the studio, most of our discussions have centered around aesthetic decisions for the ballet or how the costumes will work with the choreography or where the extras (the friends we have dragged into the ballet) should stand during the scenes. We have been focusing on the details of the choreography, the acting, and the very-hard-to-hear musical cues. This week has been very productive---working up until the last minute so that everyone must run out quickly when we are done so that we can make it to work on time.

With all of the things that need to be done and the work that needs to be put in, I can get pretty caught up in the details. I even found myself wishing that we could have an extra month to prepare. But when I sat down to write this blog, all I could think about was how excited I am for November 21st. I feel privileged to be a part of a production like this. I am awed by the way the Lord has inspired Joel and Tennille. I look forward to seeing how God will provide for the ministry through the auction. But most of all and more than anything, I am so excited because I believe that God is going to change lives through this production. And for that reason, November 21st cannot come soon enough!

Which just reminds me that in the details of life, it's all about the big stuff (i.e Jesus). There are things that constantly try to steal my attention from the joy and hope that I have in Christ. And there are a million things that bring my eyes towards myself when I should be looking to Him. And yes, this is very frustrating. But it makes make truly thankful for God's patience with me and his ever-willingness to bring my focus back to Him. He's just really great like that :-)

"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."(2 Cor 4:18)

So there ya go, there's my thought-nugget for the week. And I hope that you are as excited as I am for November 21st! Please be praying!

God bless and bless our God!
Cathleen

Today I stand amazed at our God's faithfulness. Each day I wake up and wonder how He's going to do it, how He's going to supply all that I need personally and all that we need as a ministry.

When worry, fear and frustration creeps in He's consistently reminds me "I've got this". He teaches me EVERY DAY to leave it at His feet

And you know what? I am so encouraged when my head hits the pillow and I reconsider my day, He shows me how He's done it. It's often not how I expect, but how boring would life and my walk with Him be if He only accomplished things just how I expected Him to?? That's the excitement of the road He's leading us down. Not knowing how or when but only being sure that He will. That is His promise to us, that He will provide in every way, in His perfect timing. And He's never late. 

As I look at where we are as a ministry, I am overwhelmed with the ways the Lord directs us, through counsel, through prayer, through peace.  

I'm blessed with the way He unifies us, though difficult sometimes, we have all decided we are willing to walk through it to receive what He has for us on the other side. And He's quick to show us how He wants to use us when we obey, truly amazing.

I'm encouraged by the people He has standing with us, family, friends, prayer partners, pastors and congregations, the support and encouragement we daily receive is mind blowing. 

But that all goes hand in hand with His promise to us; that He will supply our every need and He will refine us, teach us, move us and redirect us as He sees fit. I know the vision is great, but our God is greater and stronger and eager to show us how much He loves us. I pray that I will be eager to show Him how much I love Him by trusting Him, obeying Him and just spending quality time with Him each day.  I pray that encourages you, just journaling what He's currently doing in my life encourages me. 

As we hit our 30 day count down to our big premiere of A Walk with Paul, we are excited (and breathing very deeply!), the production is so much bigger than Joel and I are capable of putting together (even with the help of 8 wonderful women) but I know that is exactly where the Lord wants us so His strength and power will show through, we have no choice but to rely on Him! It may feel so redundant but we really appreciate your prayers, we currently are praying for energy, stamina and focus! Especially during the 2 o'clock hour, when the giggles and exhaustion sets in. Oh we have a lively bunch, I can honestly say my sides hurt every day from laughing so hard, these ladies are so great and such a bunch of fun. Now back to cracking the whip...

Thanks so much! We love you all.

Blessings,

Tennille

Questions and Answers

Do you ever wonder why God does things, like make you go through something hard, or put you in an uncomfortable situation? I just finished reading "The Shack" and it makes you think, or at least it made me think. Recently my family found out that my Grammpa has pancriatic cancer, and I hate it, in fact it makes me want to cry just thinking about it. It makes me want to be mad about it and yell,"why God, why?" Well the answer is clearly stated in His Word. "For my thoughts are not you thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and snow come down from heaven, and so not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace." -Isaiah 55:8-12

He knows the exact number of my Grammpa's live, His timing is perfect eventhough it might not be mine. He is in control in everthing! What a comforting thought that we don't have to worry about anything. One of my favorite verses is Philippians 4:6-7 which says, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in verything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."
What a great God we have! He has given my Grammpa peace and I pray that I would have that same peace and confidence in Him. He is the Great Healer, and I pray in faith that He can heal my Grammpa.

On a lighter note, classes are going well, and "Paul" is coming together, slowly but surely. Since the beginning of the year, we, as a company, have been struggling with being united, as you might already know. Well, I believe that the Lord has been working and changing our hearts and I think this verse sums it up. "If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition of vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to you own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus." Phillipians 2:1-5

Blessings,
Mr. Whittacker

" Our Lord is determined that we shall feel and recognize this hourly dependence, for He alone permits us to pray for 'daily bread', and alone promises that 'your strength will equal your days.' Isn't it best for us that it should be so, that we may often go to His throne, and constantly be reminded of His love? Oh! how rich the grace which supplies us so continually, and does not refrain itself because of our ingratitude!... O Lord Jesus, that we would bow at Your feet, conscious of our utter inability to do anything without You, and in every favor which we are privileged to receive, we would adore Your blessed name and acknowledge Your unexhausted love."
- Charles H. Spurgeon

This past Friday we had the privilege of dancing at Patriots Landing. a local retirement home. One of our biggest supporters, Grandpa Pratt (Jim), made this program possible. What a blessing it was to fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ of an older generation. We danced to six of the nine songs in the "Worship Project", one of the pieces of our repertoire. It was wonderful to talk with the residence after we danced. What an encouragement to hear patrons of the faith say how the Lord used us to bless them. How Jesus could take mere youths to declare His glorious praises is a humbling thing. Lord make us more grateful for what You, in Your sovereign grace, allow us to partake in!
If you would like to pray for us, we would love it. There is a probable space available to us for starting Surrendered School of the Arts. Please ask the Lord for wisdom and provision to be imparted to our leaders as they continue forward with this exciting prospect. God is so good to supply all that we need! The Lord used this piece of scripture to confirm to me that He is pleased when we seek His will above all else.

" In that night God appeared to Solomon, and said to him, "Ask what I shall give you". And Solomon said to God " You have shown great and steadfast love to David my father, and have made me king in his place. O LORD God, let your word to David my father be now fulfilled, for You have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth. give me now wisdom and knowledge to go out and come in before this people, for who can govern this people of yours, which is so great?" God answered Solomon, " Because this was in your heart and you have not asked possessions, wealth, honor, or the life of those who hate you, and have not even asked long life, but have asked wisdom and knowledge for yourslef that you may govern my people over whom I have made you king, wisdom and knowledge are granted to you. I will also give you riches, possessions, and honor, such as none of the kings had who were before you and none after you shall have the like." "
2 Chronicles 1:7-12

-Holly Hill

Hey everybody!

I hope you all are enjoying the change of seasons and all the beauty that comes with it as much as I am! Well...time certainly is flying as we are starting our sixth week of our second season! Hard to believe! It seems as if we've all been doing this forever and yet at the same time it feels like summer shouldn't quite be over yet:).

As some of you may know, we had our very first official performance last Friday night for the Hymn and Gospel Sing at Puyallup Foursquare Church. The audience(hate that word, so let's just call them 'fellow worshippers') was so great! Once a year, the older generation in the church gathers to sing some good 'ol hymns and just simply worship, and they include us! Let's just say, for a first performance, it went pretty well! Of course, as all first performances usually go, there are always some things that go "wrong" from our puny little human perspectives. Someone forgets choreography(me), they start playing the wrong music at the wrong time, etc. But, you know what? None of that really matters. The important thing is is that Jesus is lifted up, and not just when we're on stage but in all that we do. "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving," (Col. 3:23-24), and, "...Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven," (Matt. 5:16). This is why we do what we do! This is why we get up everyday, put on tights, fix our hair in a bun, rehearse for hours, come to your church and dance~So that others may see our worship and join us in praising our Creator! Why? Because He deserves it! He deserves our everything.


Hope you've been able to understand my blabbering! Remember that the Lord has good plans for you, and He loves you so much that He died for you! I pray that you will be encouraged in these simple truths and that Jesus' love and grace will encompass your every step! Bless y'all!


P.S. Sorry to those of you who cringe at the sound of "y'all." Being the proud southerner that I am, I just had to throw it in there! :)

~Sarah

Well hello hello, fellow Paradosi enthusiasts! We are five weeks in, and going strong. Choreography is progressing flawlessly and every day the studio is filled with a permeating euphoric bliss. As each day of strenuous classes and rehearsals come to completion we beg to continue... even for a few extra minutes. Our bodies are like machines, and our dancing produces nothing less than perfection. We, as dancers and as people, never experience trials of any kind; the Lord has blessed us with our own personal heaven on earth! It's extraordinarily marvelous!


If you just read that and immediately wanted to throw up, I applaud you. The above paragraph is a blatent example of an error many believers these days make: painting the Christian walk as a disgustingly indefectible lifestyle. We have all fallen into the trap. I'm going to be completely 100% honest with you. I'm not perfect. (Gasp!) Neither are you. We are actually quite far from it. We're going to mess up. We're going to fail. It's inevitable, and there's nothing that anyone can do about it. Sorry.
Now that you're sufficiently depressed I'll proceed to the best part, the good news! We don't have to be perfect! I'm going to go ahead and repeat that for you. None of us has to be perfect. We're not going to do everything flawlessly. We're not going to have our lives in a constant state of immaculate order, but guess what. That's why Jesus died for us. Romans 5:8 tells us that while we were at our worst; the most foul, unsightly, detestible person we could be, Christ died for us! He didn't wait until we had our lives in order. He didn't wait until our bills were paid, or until we cleaned ourselves up, or until we went to church consistently every Sunday of the month. He found us at that time in our lives when we were the worst scumbags imaginable. He picked us up out of our filth, gave us pure hearts and renewed minds, and adopted us as children and heirs! (Gal 4:3-7)
So let me ask you, does this mean we have no need to strive for holiness and excellence? If we will never be perfect, and God has that all taken care of, should we even try at all? Of course we should! Paul states in many of His books that we are to imitate Christ in order to become more and more like Him every day. He says that we cannot know or see God if we do not pursue holiness, (Heb 12:14) and that our very faith is validated by what we do! (James 2:26) We are to be a constant reflection of Christ in every area of our lives.
Essentially, who we are as people no longer matters. Our human failures are trumped by the fact that we are covered by grace. Sure we will have bad days, but our Daddy will always be faithful to guide us, provide for us, and care for us. All we have to do is look to Him. (Matt 6:25-34)

In conclusion, I'll briefly inform you of what is actually occurring in Paradosi currently. We have a show coming up this Friday, the 'Hymn and Gospel Night' at Puyallup Foursquare Church. The company will be performing (oh how I hate that dreaded word!) four of our newest pieces from 'A Worship Project.' We have been pounding out the choreography like an army platoon, and finally we've all but put the final touches on the dances. Please join us in prayer for the Spirit to move mightily this Friday and that His anointing will fill each person to overflowing.


Well, that about wraps things up.
God is good!
~Cara

Can’t believe we’ve already been back for a month. All I can say is the Lord is good!!!!

In the past week we have been hugely blessed by so many people who have supported us. It is on my heart to thank you.
Last Saturday we were able to spend close to 4 hours with Chris and Tawnee Tatro at their photography studio in Seattle. Chris was able to capture some stunning shots and we are extremely thankful for the big way they blessed our ministry. You will be seeing some of his work very soon both on our website and in posters.
We also were blown away by Katie Garwood and Lori Plyler as they sewed costume after costume for us. Many nights Katie was up until 2 am, serving so diligently and Lori sewed all the way up until she left on Thursday morning. We cannot thank you two enough.
And Friday we were lucky enough to have three of our biggest supporters join us in the studio for the day. Marie Skaug (a long time family friend to the Delancy family) come down from Oregon to teach class for us. Debbie Durham (Tennille’s God-Mother who teaches for us weekly and is our company counselor) and Mary Delancy (Tennille’s mom) also watched class that day.
I know that there are many more individuals that support this ministry either financially, spiritually or by being so faithful to pray for us and we just want to thank each of you. We do not take you for granted and we love and appreciate each of you more than we can express. In 1 Corinthians 12 we see that we are the body of Christ. There are some hands, some feet, some eyes, but we are each vital in advancing his kingdom. I just love how the Lord has brought so many of his servants alongside us as a ministry. As dancers alone, we can’t do much. But the Lord has been so faithful to bring along his hands and feet in ways we could never have imagined. So on behalf of each of us, I say THANK YOU.

This week in studio we finished two new pieces from Worship Project. The first was called Come and Listen by David Crowder. I love that that is our opening piece. The words are so perfect. “Come and Listen to what He has done. Praise the Lord for He is good.” That is why we are here: to tell the world what he is done, to draw each person into free worship, to praise him with the highest praise! The other piece ends our program and is the Doxology. “Praise God, from whom all blessings flow. Praise him, all creatures here below. Praise him above, ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.” As we danced this piece on Thursday I found myself tearing up. I stood there with my arms lifted and I was reminded of what an awesome privilege it is to glorify our King. It still amazes me that the Lord would find our worship pleasing to him. And not only that, but he desires that we come to him and worhsip. During the week, I read in Hebrews 4:14-16 that we are to come boldly to the throne of grace. We are to enter in with confidence so that we may receive mercy and grace. How amazing that we have a Savior that walked as we walked and although he was tempted, never sinned. And that same sinless Savior loves us so much and desires a relationship with us. He wants nothing more than for us to come sprinting into his throne room and sit in his lap and adore him. I just want to encourage each of you reading this with that. Don’t be afraid to run boldly to your Father God. He loves you more than you know and desires your whole heart. So raise your hands and say boldly, “PRAISE OUR GOD FOR HE IS GOOD!”

Blessings!
Amanda