Dancing Through Life by Candace Cameron Bure, Erin Davis Read Free Book Online Page A

God wasn’t looking for the biggest and tallest son to be king. He didn’t need someone extra handsome or extra rugged. God wanted someone with a heart like His. Here’s a snapshot of how Samuel finally found him.
    Samuel: Is this everybody?
    Jesse: Well . . . actually there is one more. He’s the baby of the family. I’m sure he’s not king material, so I told him to stick with the sheep.
    Samuel: I’ll decide who’s king material. Go and get him.
    “So Jesse sent for him. He had beautiful eyes and a healthy, handsome appearance. Then the L ord said, ‘Anoint him, for he is the one’” (v. 12).
    That handsome boy was David and he would go on to be one of the greatest kings in Israel’s history. He wrote much of the book of Psalms and turned the hearts of the entire nation toward God. Sure, he was handsome, but it wasn’t his external appearance that impressed God. In 1 Samuel 13:14 God describes David as a “man according to His heart.”
    Society may have been looking for a big and tall king, a strong king or an intimidating king. But God wasn’t looking at external stuff. God peeked into the inside and chose a king who would show off the things of God.
    Sure, what we wear matters, but I didn’t speak up about modesty on DWTS because I wanted to stick to some list of fashion rules that “they” consider modest. (Who are “they” anyway?) I wasn’t interested in sparking a conversation about external stuff. I get that that’s where our culture tends to focus. I live in a world that seems to be all about external appearances. But that’s not where the Lord is looking for my beauty. He looks at my heart. I wanted to portray a modest heart, one clothed in the qualities of God like humility, righteousness, holiness, and strength. A heart filled with that kind of good stuff that can’t help but ooze out from the inside to the outside.
    As I look back on my DWTS journey, I hope that I sparked a conversation about something bigger than midriffs and hemlines. My specific convictions in those areas might not be your convictions, but they are true to my understanding of God’s heart for modesty. They do fit through the filter of what my husband thinks is okay. And they are an external reflection of who I am on the inside.
    Hide It Under a Bushel? No!
    Erin’s question at the end of the rumba was confirmation that the show’s producers wanted me to be portrayed as a woman of faith. For each pre-show video package the producers cut hundreds of hours of footage, during many of which I didn’t talk about my faith at all. But I think the producers realized early on how much my Christian walk related to some of the audience so they chose to piece together a storyline that in some way related to my faith and my family.
    It wasn’t my mission to go on DWTS and launch a conversation about modesty. Just like it wasn’t necessarily my mission to go on the show and talk about my faith. It was always my mission to be true to who I am. It wasn’t my primary goal to share Jesus Christ with the world, but that’s a big part of who I am. It’s natural that I would want to talk about it. Likewise, being a happily married woman committed to saving parts of myself for my husband is who I am. It’s natural that I would want to talk about that too.
    It reminds me of that old song you might have sung in Sunday school about our “light.”
    “Hide it under a bushel? No! I’m gonna let it shine!”
    That sweet little children’s song actually comes from a sermon that Jesus preached.
    “You are the salt of the earth. . . . You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” (Matt. 5:13–16)
    I want to shine like a bright light for Jesus in