Dancing Through Life

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Book: Read Dancing Through Life for Free Online
Authors: Candace Cameron Bure, Erin Davis
Tags: Religion/Christian Life/Inspirational
same kind of costly love that Jesus gives me. Since He died to pay the penalty for my sins, I’d say that’s a pretty tall order.
    Even though these passages do inform the way Val and I treat each other, they aren’t just a list of rules. They’re much bigger than that. When we follow God’s plan for marriage—when Val loves me sacrificially, following the example of Christ, and when I submit to his leadership as an extension of submitting my life to Jesus—we are painting a beautiful picture. We are a living exhibit of what Christ’s love for His people looks like in action.
    Deciding what I would and would not do during my DWTS journey is an example of what these principles can look like in real time. Val wasn’t handing down absolutes. He was supportive and loving, always championing my dream. But when he saw something that might not work to my benefit, he spoke up. I wasn’t a renegade, determined to do whatever I wanted without his insight. I talked to him at every step of the journey, asking for his opinion. Ultimately, I wanted to make choices that he and I were both proud of.
    Because this is a rhythm that we’ve embraced as part of our faith, making the choice to alter the rumba together wasn’t a big deal. We are a team and a true partnership. We want what’s best for each other, and I was happy to go to Mark with my concerns even though I knew how much pride he takes in his choreography. Asking Mark to change it could have gone another way, but it didn’t. He respected me and was a class act, changing the move without hesitation.
    But the rumba battle didn’t end there! Who knew the dance of love could feel like a war? During conversations with the costuming department at the beginning of the week, Mark said that he wanted to go shirtless for this dance. Remember that I said that I wanted to be modest in front of millions of people in that first show? I believe strongly that modesty is about so much more than what we wear or don’t wear (more on that in a minute!), but Mark’s proposed wardrobe choice didn’t fit into my definition so I pushed back. In the video package that aired with the live show, I sounded pretty peeved at everyone including Mark about him being shirtless, but only after I felt like I was being joked about a little too long. It was all in good fun, but this was a real concern of mine and I didn’t want to be dismissed. So, I took the opportunity to say again that my life revolves around my relationship with Jesus Christ and I wanted that to be portrayed and made sure my voice was heard, having input in all our decisions, making them together.
    In the end, I was proud of the rumba Mark and I performed. The dance told a beautiful story of sensuality as opposed to raunchy sexuality. Our costumes fit a definition of modesty that was cohesive with my understanding of God’s heart on the issue. And that dance was hard! While I didn’t do it perfectly, I learned a very difficult dance and felt I performed it as well as I could. And as Mark’s mom said to me several times, “God loves a trier! Now, get on with it.”
    “I’m a Sexual Woman!”
    Ultimately, Mark and I didn’t score well in this round of the competition. We ended up with 7s across the board. The judges criticized the extension of my arms and picked up on the fact that the hip movement was difficult for me. I don’t know if it was the difficulty of the dance as much as it was allowing myself to let go without feeling disrespectful to my husband. But I knew that despite giving it my best, I didn’t really encapsulate what a rumba is. To be honest, it was kind of a crash and burn, but I felt more relieved than anything. That high bar that terrified me from the week before had been lowered and I felt greater freedom to improve going forward.
    There wasn’t much time to rest in that relief, though. In the live interview after our dance, cohost Erin Andrews wanted to know how I merged my faith with the dance of

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