Why I Dance with Passion

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die . . . a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance. ~ Ecclesiastes 3:1-4

 I often describe my writing as “lyrical stories that dance with light.” My debut novel is called, Dance of the Dandelion, and I have two other completed manuscripts titled Dance from Deep Within, and Dancing After the Wind. Hmm. Do you see a recurring theme here? Yes, I love dance. It’s a huge part of who I am, how I live, how I write, and even how I relate to God.

I have had the honor serving as a worship dance choreographer and director for eighteen years, and I have discovered that dance is at its core, a form of communication. It can be used in as many ways as words themselves: worship, praise, prayer, intercession, warfare, prophecy, evangelism, teaching, and yes, even fun and entertainment.

Throughout my writing, dance becomes a metaphor for life: for the willingness to step beyond yourself, to embrace the wonder about you, to move in harmony with the universe. Yet dance is an actual physical expression as well. As joy and celebration build within, they require an outlet. And so, our hands and feet begin to move, our bodies begin to sing and flow, releasing emotions from our hearts and culminating in dance. Even releasing the heavenlies deep within through our fingertips and toes.

Dance is a fundamental form of human expression. It can be found throughout history in nearly every culture. It can be found in the Old Testament as a form of celebration, praise, and worship. Dance is often a community expression, drawing us together in unity and love. David danced before the Lord with all his might, and God was well pleased. Even Jesus spoke of his frustration with the generation around him by saying in Matthew 11, "We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge and you did not mourn.” Yet how often do we stifle this wondrous outlet?

Most churches today that incorporate contemporary choruses sing songs about dance. “Dance with me, oh lover of my soul.” "Dancers who dance upon injustice.” “We will dance on the streets that are golden.” “Dancing with my Father God in fields of grace.” The list goes on and on, but do we take it seriously, or do we stand still and sing the words, hampering our bodies from becoming living, breathing expressions of praise. 

Romans 12:1 instructs, "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship." Of course this scripture has many applications, but I prefer to take it quite literally.

Dance may or may not be acceptable in your church’s culture. However, I encourage you, on your own, at home, in your prayer closet and throughout your life to offer up your bodies as living sacrifices of praise. Embrace and enjoy the wonder of dance. Take time to relate with God through this amazing form of expression. And, as you've probably heard me say before, join me as I explore the unforced rhythms of grace. 

Entre-author

The new hot thing this year seems to be coming up with one word to encapsulate your goals. Even before I noticed this trend, I had spotted my word for 2012 in a quote from Mary DeMuth on Author Media. Are you ready for it…Entre-author. A friend asked if this had something to do with an author entering, like the French entre vous. Actually, I think it does. To my understanding it is a mix of entrepreneur and author. Therefore, I suppose it is a writer ready to enter the big leagues.

This word captured what God had been laying on my heart for the last half a year . You see, I started my novel writing journey as an art and a ministry. At some point I realized in order to succeed, I would have to understand writing as a craft and a business as well. But just late last year, it hit me that I had two teenagers headed for college and needed to start making a serious income from my writing. As my debut, small-press, medieval novel struggled for sales, I watched my crit partner’s first “marketable” novel thriving. My desires began to undergo a change. While I still wished to touch lives, I now wanted to provide for my family through my writing as well.

Of course the question that remained was whether or not I could write to market while achieving my artistic and ministry goals, but I determined to try. At my agent’s urging, I prayed for several weeks for a marketable idea. Finally, a title dropped into my head, and a story began to unfold in my mind.

As I sat down during NaNoWriMo to pen my first “market-driven” novel, an amazing thing happened. I chose my hot genre, my popular setting, and even focused on plot for once in my life. Each time I had a decision to make, I asked myself what would be more entertaining. But as I did so, my voice and themes still found their way into the novel with little effort. The book still fit my “Dina Sleiman ~ Dance with Passion” tagline. It still depicted intimacy with Christ. And as I sat in church the first Sunday morning after I started it, God even gave me a vision for a worship dance scene that I could weave organically into the plot and setting. Something I hadn’t dreamed of for my Scarlett O’Hara meets Jane Austen novel.

Last week my agent sent this Virginia set historical romance off to a bunch of publishers, and truly, I couldn’t be happier with it. Who would have guessed? I can write a novel to market and still love it myself. I learned something important through this experiment. The outer trappings of the novel are not what matters. If God is in the mix, His purposes will be accomplished. The heart of the novel is what counts.

October Baby

(As seen on Inkwell Inspirations)
I don't think I've written a movie review before. Anywhere. Ever.

In fact, now would probably be a good time to confess that I'm not the biggest movie fan. I rarely feel like there's enough time to connect with the characters and so prefer TV series and novels.

But this movie is an exception on so many levels, and I really want to help spread the word. Not only did I quickly connect with these characters and want to join them for the ride, I enjoyed every minute of it. This movie touched me deeply. I cried throughout. It moved me, and it made me think. With the possible exception of the big Hollywood movies like The Blind Side and The Chronicles of Narnia, I've never seen such a fine Christian film. The cinematography was stunning. The acting was great. And the story was powerful. Add in an awesome sound track by some of my favorite bands, and I was one satisfied customer. 

About a year ago, a friend of mine, Cecil Stokes, told me that he was going to be a producer for a movie that would tell the story of an abortion survivor. This is not really mentioned in the previews, but I think that detail is one that Christians will want to know about. For the daring subject matter alone, this movie is worth seeing. When the heroine is undergoing unexplained physical and psychological symptoms, her parents are forced to finally admit to her that she was adopted after surviving a failed abortion. Along with her hunky co-star, she takes off on a journey of discovery to try to make sense of her life. The intense issue is dealt with in a sensitive matter without falling into preaching or didacticism. Which is pretty amazing. The message is carried through the emotion of the actors more so than through any indicting speech against abortion. In addition to the pro-life emphasis, the movie also portrays a lovely story of healing, forgiveness and hope. A subplot of the movie addresses control, which is an important issue I find often overlooked in Christian circles where "submission" of children, wives, and parishoners is often stressed without any balancing teaching on the dangers of a controlling and domineering leader.

To me everything about this movie was just lovely and perfect. Surprisingly (or maybe not), it didn't fare well with some of the big national reviewers, and so I would like to address this as well. While everyone said the cinematography, lead actress, and supporting actress Jasmine Guy were amazing, and even admitted that the movie avoided being preachy, it seemed that overall these reviewers didn't "get it." The primary complaint was that the script wasn't strong and fell apart in the middle. I disagree. And so do the millions of Christians who put it in the top ten during it's first week in the box office. The reviewers said there were too many "coincidences." But of course, they don't understand that in the lives of praying believers such "coincidences," also known as miracles, are normal, even expected. God at work in the lives of man is reality to us.

In this story, God didn't just fix everything, the heroine had her own tough decisions to face, but God did guide her along her path to the people and information she needed. Another complaint was that the comic characters on the road trip were unneccessary. I would say unneccessary or not, they were funny and endearing and brought an extra sparkle to the film. Many Christian movies are too issue driven and on the nose. I felt the road trip scenes gave a great coming of age feel to this story, which were very believable in the life of a homeschooled Christian girl. In fact, I loved the way Christians were portrayed in the movie in general. Broken, flawed, and utterly human, yet filled with a hope in something greater than themselves.


This film has an awesome ending, that will not only leave you encouraged and satisfied, but sighing as well.
And when you go see it (and you need to) be sure to stick around for the closing credits. You will get an "extra" that you won't soon forget in the form of an amazingly touching testimony by one of the actresses. After watching this movie I remembered that I've cried my way through pretty much every well-made Christian film that I've seen. Because they have something secular reviewers don't understand. The anointing of the Holy Spirit.

In closing, I also mentioned that this movie made me think, which I wouldn't have guessed possible since it concerns a subject I've already given a tremendous amount of thought to. The part that struck me, though, was when the director shares in the closing credits that they wanted to be sensetive and bring healing to the "post-abortive mother." Those are strong words. Again, without being preachy, those simple words reminded me that an abortion does not stop you from being a mother. It only changes whether you are the mother to someone who is dead or alive.

A big congratulations to Cecil and everyone involved in this movie for bringing God's beauty to the earth and advancing His kingdom through this powerful film.

Have you seen October Baby? What thoughts and feelings did it leave you with? What Christian films have touched you the most and why? What Christian films have not worked for you and why?