Miracles on stage

I applaud you, Sunshine Academy. Here's why.

Rewind two years ago.  There was this precious little girl who (in my opinion) totally stole the show. It was our sweet Piper girl, and life pre-cancer was busy for our little performer. The following year, I had been invited back to the show to see a little girl in my Sunday school class perform. I found myself distracted by the thought of wondering when or if I would see Piper grace the stage with her presence again. I ran to the foot of the cross time and time again, reciting Isaiah 40:31 over Piper's life. That she would run and not grow weary; walk and not faint; soar high on wings like eagles.

Before I became an urban missionary, I worked for five years with special needs kids. I loved it, too. From babies that were born at 24 weeks and spent the first few months of life in the hospital before they were taken home by their parents; to children diagnosed with a low-functioning autism diagnosis and getting ready for kindergarten: I was blessed to play even the smallest part of a support for them and their families. And I prayed. My goodness did I pray. For their survival, for their development, for their cure, for the words I believed they would one day utter: I prayed.

When Piper was being born, I set an alarm to wake me up every hour while my sister-in-law was in labor so that I could cover her entry into this world with prayers of safety for both her and mama. What I am so happy to see now is that those prayers have not expired, and I believe that God still intercedes on her behalf, cancer or no cancer.

When Arellia announced a few weeks ago that Piper was going to be in a performance, I jumped for joy! Look at God, I thought. I forgot about those prayers, but he had not. It is funny how a desperate prayer said one year prior had been lost in my memory bank, yet not lost on God. The show would go on, and so would our Piper girl. It was the group that she performed with that caused these eyes to weep.

Of the eight children that performed that night, five of them had been covered in my prayers at one point during their life. The little girl whose heart had been operated on more times that anyone else I had ever heard of; the little girl whose smile far exceeded the attention her wheelchair brought her; the little boy who stole my heart at Sallie Cone and his little sister, too. And of course, our Piper girl. All of these children with different diagnoses and accompanying prayers. The show was amazing and God allowed me to see that He had heard my prayers for each child and was showcasing it right before my eyes.

At the end of the song, the performers huddled into a circle facing inward.  It was then that a precious little girl was lifted high from within them, and the realization that Piper was "flying high on wings like eagles" was being displayed from an ever-present God whose timing in all things is always perfect.

Please consider to #prayforpiper.