Naomi Porter
Psalms 34:4-5 says,
"I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame."
Hello, my name is Naomi Porter. I would like to share with you a time in my life when this psalm became very real to me.
Dance has always been one of my greatest joys. I love using my body in movement as an instrument to worship the Lord. About ten years ago I suffered a fall that resulted in a lingering back injury. My questions for God were many. I wondered why He would allow pain that kept me from my love of worshiping Him through dance. About a month after my 18th birthday, I had back surgery to correct a herniated disk. During my recovery, another - more painful - blow was dealt. The importance of dance in my life was second only to my friends and youth group. I attached so much importance to this group of friends who attended the church my parents pastored. My greatest fear was losing these relationships, and as a pastor's daughter I was already wary of rejection. While I was stuck in my house recovering from my surgery, I received news that all of my friends had left my church and were all going somewhere else. This may seem like a small thing, but I felt they had rejected me by rejecting my church and my parents.
David once lamented in Psalm 55:12-14, "If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it; if a foe were raising himself against me, I could hide from him. But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend, with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship as we walked with the throng at the house of God." I didn't realize until later that God was stripping me of all my misplaced affections and priorities. I had placed too much stock in what people thought of me and in my identity as a dancer. God met me in that low place. He delivered me from my fears by allowing them to be realized and then showing himself faithful to fulfill me.
"Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame."
