My Love Song.

Imagine sitting in the dark caverns of a prison~ a prison you've been in for years. It's almost midnight, and usually at this time of the night there are only a few noises you hear: the clinking of someone's chains when he re-adjusts in the darkness. The sound of water drip-drip-dropping in the corner. The sound of a rat scurrying across the hard ground.
On this random night, you hear something unexpected break the inky silence: you hear singing. And the singing you hear is coming from the most unlikely source: Paul and Silas, two fellow prisoners who just spent most of the day being tortured.
Things started out great for these guys. On sailboats, on the beach, and throughout villages, they preached beautiful messages about the love of God. People responded in mass numbers. Then, rather suddenly, they were arrested, tortured, and thrown in jail.
Know what I love about Paul and Silas? They really lived the kind of life they preached. When Paul said he'd learned to be content and lean on God in every situation (Philippians 4:11-12), he wasn't just stringing together pretty words. He really lived that way! Acts 16 is proof: instead of wallowing in defeat, or having a giant cry fest, he and Silas started to sing and pray.
Those prayers and hymns threaded the deafening darkness, and according to Acts, the other prisoners were all ears. Imagine hearing about hope in a place so hopeless. Imagine hearing the way Paul and Silas spoke to their Lord and knowing maybe you too could have a relationship with Him.
They didn't give some flashy rock opera performance or dazzling sermon. they just sang and prayed. The Bible says an earthquake ripped through the jail's foundations after that. The doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose. Not only did God not leave them during their inprisonment; He actually used the situation to minister to the jailer, who became a believer (Acts 16: 29-31)
I think when we're in one of those bizarre situations we never saw coming, praising Him with shaky voices, playing guitars with trembling fingers, praying and singing and asking questions (which is OK~ He's big enough for the questions), people are very likely to notice. Like Paul and Silas, we live the hope we always talk about. God is beside us in darkness, and He's working the situation out for our good. That kind of love is worth singing about.
I didn't see these situations coming, but I'm rolling with them. I'm still making funny jokes, enjoying life, and trusting in God's timing. In the past few months, I've been able to live out the hope I believe in. My life is a song back to my God.
I'm not losing heart through the unexpected. Even in the darkness, I'm letting the song in my heart, the worship anthem of my crazy beautiful life~ rock the world.

~Poppins