God worked wonders with ballet show

Carolyn Ridley

Published Tuesday, October 6, 2009

It was more than wonderful! It was spectacular! It was more than we imagined! This is not an exaggeration.

The dream of Ballet Magnificat coming to Natchez was a reality on Aug. 21 at the Natchez City Auditorium.

It was like the seed of a baby, after planting, took months of work and nurture and on the night of the ballet, the baby was born! It was giant step of faith for our little group, but we chose to trust our God. When the night arrived and the curtains opened, the work and effort were menial compared to what we witnessed at the performance. “Hiding Place” was excellent.

The fundraiser was a learning experience for all of us. We saw God move in very special ways to make this dream, this baby, come to life. For every disappointing “no,” we had a prevailing “yes.” We had to keep our blinders on and keep trusting and believing in the vision that God had given us.

Russell and Angela Wagoner of Anruss Salon and Gifts and Dr. David and Julie Timm of The Natchez Pediatric and Adolescent Clinic were the first to support our efforts to bring Ballet Magnificat to Natchez. We will be forever grateful for their gracious sponsorship. We also had numerous businesses, churches and individuals who purchased ads for the program to help offset our expenses.

There were volunteers throughout the community who stepped in and helped with publicity, ticket sales, meals, stage production and many other areas of the project that are too numerous to list.

We can say for sure that we knew the project was too big for us, but we were reminded that professionals built the Titanic and amateurs built the ark! Little becomes much when we place it in the Master’s hand.

With that trust and a lot of help and support from the many individuals and organizations throughout the community, we can call “Hiding Place” a success. A special thank you to all the many volunteers who gave of your time and energy in any way, to The Natchez Democrat for great publicity, and to Parkway Baptist Church for being our host site for event information and ticket sales.

The work was tremendous. The end result was worth it. We’ve had very positive responses from those who attended and extend heartfelt appreciation to you also. We ask you in advance to share your experience with those who missed this year’s performance so that next year’s attendance will be even greater.

We thank Ballet Magnificat for their humility of heart to come to Natchez and serve the Lord in gladness through the gift of dance. Last, but not least, we thank our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who makes all things possible. We serve an awesome God! We are making plans to have Ballet Magnificat return. Keep your eyes and ears open as we allow God to show Himself strong through a mere group of available amateurs who will trust Him to do it again. See you next year.

Carolyn Ridley, along with Dorothy Sylvester, were the local coordinators for Ballet Magnificat.