Prayer In Motion, LLC

LET THE SPIRIT MOVE YOU

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Prayer in Motion, LLC Newsletter
July 29, 2005

Dear Family and Friends,

Today, July 29^th, marks the 2 year anniversary of Prayer in Motion, LLC! And what an amazing couple of years it has been! I can honestly say I’ve never worked harder but never learned so much, felt God so present and had so much fun either. It has been a time of learning to balance work, home, self, family and friends, learning to trust myself and God and move beyond the fear, learning new ways to structure my day as well as how to surrender the ultimate control and even learning how to plan programs and choreograph while driving the car!

The ladies’ retreat at St. Mary’s in Adrian was a huge success. Over 100 women laughed and cried and moved in unison to the prayers I was led to share with them. My morning retreat at Cottage Retreat Center in Jackson was a lovely diversity of women sharing in movement to replenish their spirits after a long, cold winter. In my day retreat at Manresa I was privileged to minister to many wounded spirits battling personal illness and injury as well as a host of family issues. It is so amazing for me to see how God uses me in such dramatic ways. My most recent experience was with 243 vacation Bible school children at St. Francis. I worked with groups of about 30 children ranging in age from 4-10 teaching them Jewish circle dances. They really kept me moving!

My two programs for the American Business Women’s Association were a challenging adventure with a happy ending. My workshops in Grand Rapids and Atlantic City were each scheduled for the last seminars of the last day of the conferences. While I feared attendance would be low because of this, each was attended by more women than any other seminars of the conference (80-100 women each)! I learned to negotiate a lapel microphone and hotel sound systems (which on one occasion accidentally piped my music into all the other seminar rooms!) and work with meeting planners and union technicians, bringing my simple message of God’s love to a roomful of powerful, successful women. I was blessed to use some music that was written and recorded especially for me by a dear friend and superb violinist, Gabriel Bolkosky. As I witnessed the women’s tears as I led them through a meditation of letting go of whatever they needed to turn over to God, I knew I had correctly discerned my call to do these programs.

I am happy to report that I have many new programs booked for the coming months. Most immediately upcoming is a program at Mercy Bellbrook Retirement Community on August 19^th. Thanks to my sister Jan for marketing me there! October will bring a couple of programs close to home for a change – both in Saline! I have a women’s retreat at First United Methodist Church. This program came about because the woman planning the retreat saved an article published about me in the Saline Reporter when Prayer in Motion first started. Talk about the Spirit moving in amazing ways! Also in October I will give a program for the mom’s group at St. Andrews Catholic Church, a great lead provided by Pam Smith, a wonderful supporter of mine. I am also thrilled to be holding another retreat day at Manresa on November 19^th. Much to my delight I am getting to be a regular out there. I will do an Advent Tea at St. Mary Mystical Rose out in Armada thanks to a referral from my friend and fellow dancer in Christ, Joan O’Connell.

Amidst all the wonder and excitement of doing God’s work the vertigo persists. It has been 18 months now. Fortunately I have been blessed with an ability to keep moving despite it. More debilitating than the vertigo though is an injury to my ankle I incurred in late April. I strained the sub-tibial tendon which has made walking, let alone dancing, quite painful. Much to my sadness I had to cut my dance classes from my usual 7 per week down to 2. After weeks of waiting and calling daily, I finally got into an ankle specialist with the University of Michigan’s Sports Medicine clinic. He referred me for physical therapy and I am beginning to feel evidence of healing. Praise God! Between the exercises for the vertigo, the Alexander lessons and now my ankle, I have pretty near another full time job!

Also on my blessing list for these past few months is a class that I was privileged to take through Concordia University, Introduction to Worship Dance, taught by Joan O’Connell. It was a 2 credit class that met for 4 Saturdays this summer, jam-packed with information and experiences for learning. While I learned a lot about the history of dance in the church, choreography and modern dance itself, I was affirmed in many ways by the knowledge that I somehow mysteriously already had without any training or education. It was amazing to read the words of great liturgical dancers that were exactly the same as I have used in my programs during these past 2 years to explain how and why praying through movement works. Clearly these insights were already put in me by One greater than I.

It has been quite a full and amazing few months! And I am so blessed by all of your love and support throughout these past two years. Each one of you has given me a special and unique gift in you. I cherish you all and this wonderful life I get to live!

Prayer in Motion…Let the Spirit move you!
Janene

Isaiah 25:1 (NIV) O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things, things planned long ago.