Don’t Let Your Dreams Lie Dormant: Teri Secrest’s Story
A Word of Introduction (from Joan Hunter)
Teri Secrest is an excellent example of pursuing a dream at any cost!
As a child, she always wanted to learn how to play the piano and how to dance. She couldn’t take dance lessons until later in life; however, she did become an accomplished pianist playing a wide variety of genres ranging from contemporary to classical. Her first love was always to worship God.
Later in life, after the age of 50, she wanted to fulfill her dream of dancing. Teri wanted to be able to worship the Lord with graceful dancing like she’d never experienced before. She is very tall and wanted to learn how to dance with great grace and skill.
When the worship team was playing during meetings, she would flow with the music and dance with such a high level of grace and ease, despite her unusual dance build. Teri became absolutely breathtaking to watch and landed herself a position on a fundraiser for disadvantaged children. She and her dancing partner were awarded a score of 10 out of 10 from all the judges!
What dreams are lying dormant in your heart? Follow Teri’s example and you might be surprised where God takes you! His thoughts are higher than our thoughts, and His ways are higher than our ways.
Teri’s Story (written by Teri Secrest)
When I was five years old, my mother and father came to us, their five children, and announced they had a big surprise for us.
They had been saving money so each of us children could take lessons. We could choose either piano lessons or dance lessons; however, we couldn’t do both.
Being the youngest, I got to choose last. My immediate response was, “I want to take both!” My parents lovingly explained that there wasn’t enough money for both. I chose piano and it turned out to be a wonderful part of my life along with playing the flute. In my heart, however, I always longed to dance.
Once I got married and had children, there always seemed to be something else we needed to spend our money on. Dancing got pushed to the very back burner.
One morning a few years ago, I woke up and thought, “This is it! If I don’t learn to dance now, I never will!”
Another unusual thing began to happen around this time. I noticed that every time I went to a conference of some kind, if there was any kind of music at all, especially praise music, all I wanted to do is to jump up and dance! With no training at all, I was a little self-conscious, but my heart would not let me stay seated!
One time in Chicago, I was in a faith-based conference. A man I had never met walked up to me and told me that he had a word for me. He said he had seen me walk past and had inquired of the Lord about me. He told me that the Lord had responded, “This lady lives to praise Me!”
Wow! I had never heard such a thing before. So I got to thinking about the idea of dance as a way to praise the Lord.
My dream had always been to learn how to do the waltz. I love watching people waltz across the floor. When I was little, I had even tried to waltz on ice skates.
Finally, I got up the courage and signed up for ballroom dance classes. I loved it! One day, my phone rang. The lady on the other end said she was from an organization that was hosting a huge gala to help raise money for underprivileged children who wanted music lessons. They were hosting a Dancing with the Stars competition in a few months and asked if I would consider being a celebrity dancer in the competition! I almost fell out of my chair!
After months and months of practice, aching feet, and avoiding hurricanes, the competition finally took place one Saturday night. I was the oldest dancer there! To my absolute joy and surprise, my professional dance coach Allan Alday and I won the championship first place trophy! It was one of the most exciting experiences in my life!
Teri Secrest
www.TeriSecrest.com
