Answers to prayers we didn’t pray

This is Jane.  She is also known as “Nightbirde,” her stage name.  She recently got a golden buzzer by Simon Cowell for her performance on America’s Got Talent and her song was # 1 on US iTunes song sales chart the next day. 

It’s not just her singing that’s extraordinary – it’s her story and her character.  She has been battling terminal cancer for the past two years.  But she remains grateful and hopeful.  She sees her pain but she also chooses to see the mercy- this is an excerpt from her blog:

“I remind myself that I’m praying to the God who let the Israelites stay lost for decades. They begged to arrive in the Promised Land, but instead He let them wander, answering prayers they didn’t pray. For forty years, their shoes didn’t wear out. Fire lit their path each night. Every morning, He sent them mercy-bread from heaven. I look hard for the answers to the prayers that I didn’t pray. I look for the mercy-bread that He promised to bake fresh for me each morning. The Israelites called it manna, which means “what is it?”

That’s the same question I’m asking—again, and again. There’s mercy here somewhere—but what is it? What is it? What is it?

I see mercy in the dusty sunlight that outlines the trees, in my mother’s crooked hands, in the blanket my friend left for me, in the harmony of the wind chimes. It’s not the mercy that I asked for, but it is mercy nonetheless. And I learn a new prayer: thank you. It’s a prayer I don’t mean yet, but will repeat until I do.”

You can read her incredible blogs online (https://www.nightbirde.co).  Her story and her words remind me of a Bible passage:

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”1 Corinthians 4:16-18

Lockdowns, cancelations, uncertainties and other challenges dishearten us.  But we can be renewed day by day as we fix our eyes not on what causes us anxiety but on what is unseen – the things we take for granted, evidence of God’s love and presence in hidden corners and silent moments.  After all, what is essential is invisible to the eyes (The Little Prince, Antoine de St. Exupery) – faith, hope and love.  And the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13).  No matter our circumstances, we can choose to love and be loved by God, a mercy that can never be taken from us.  That truth is the secret to our joy and peace when the world is dark and chaotic.

Jane chose the name “Nightbirde” for her stage name because the birds were singing outside her window one night as if the sun had come up even though there was no proof of it yet.

We too sing for the eternal glory that is to come though it is still night. We sing for the day “the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings” (Malachi 4:2 NKJV).