A Cracked Phone and an Out-of-Tune Piano

God will use the imperfect to demonstrate His perfection - He will use the despised to demonstrate His glory.  1st Corinthians 1 addresses that way that God will work:
27But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;28and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,29that no flesh should glory in His presence.

God does not call us to be perfect before we come to Him and receive His salvation - no, He takes us just as we are, undeserving of salvation, and makes us like He is, giving us a new identity in Christ.  He will take imperfect people and shine His light in and through them, and He will take seemingly insignificant people - and things - and bring forth a work that will radiate His nature.   He specializes in bringing the extraordinary out of the ordinary - He is the God of transformation!

When and where God shines His light, wonderful things can happen.  And, the evidence of His hand is all around us.   Even through the imperfect, the touch of the divine can be seen.  That's a reminder from 2nd Corinthians 4:
6For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.7But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

On Easter Sunday this year, an 18-year-old high school senior from Minnesota took out her cracked I-Phone and began to play her grandmother's out-of-tune piano and sing.   Now, just over a month later, Molly Kate Kestner's video of a song she wrote a year ago called, "My Daughter," has gone viral on the Internet, racking up over 7 million views...and counting.  The song tells the story of an abused young lady, who then becomes pregnant in a moment of weakness, raises a son, and discovers the love and forgiveness of God.

In an ABC News story, Molly Kate is quoted as saying that, “I might have not experienced it but I talked to people that had been through it but they didn’t have the confidence to share it with other people...I was crying when I was writing it. … It’s a really profound song.”

Molly Kate has been playing the violin and singing for much of her life. A participant in the show choir and chorale group at Austin High School in Minnesota, Molly Kate told KTTC Television that she began posting her songs on YouTube to share with family and friends. Last year, she taught herself to play the piano and shortly after, was inspired to write "His Daughter."

The idea came to her while she was working at her dad's store. She grabbed a crumpled, old piece of paper and started writing. "Bursts of inspiration," as she described it, would come to her in class and in the middle of the night, so she used her smartphone to write most of her lyrics and song ideas.

In the interview with the television station, she said, "My biggest heart and passion is for people of my generation.  She said that her song starts out sad, but she used higher notes to inspire and give hope to others. At the beginning, the song's chorus repeats, "If there's a God out there, please hear my prayer...." and later changes to "There is a God up there, who heard my prayer".

"I don't think there's a person in this world who hasn't been lost or confused and that's why I feel this song can be that beacon of hope," Kestner said. "Even if you think there's no way to get out of that hole that you're in, there's hope and someday you're going to look back and realize this was all part of a reason and you just need to keep going."

The KTTC piece points out that Molly Kate's Christian upbringing plays out in most of her songs. She has aspirations of attending a Christian college and becoming a motivational speaker and youth development counselor.   She wants to be "someone that spreads that message of what you let define you does not have to be your circumstances or what you see in the world around you...It can be who you want to be, as long as you work hard and are true to yourself."

Molly Kate Kestner graduates in a couple of weeks.  She will represent Minnesota in the Distinguished Young Women national scholarship program in Mobile next month.

Lyrics.com has posted the words to the song.  The story is told of an abused young lady, seeking out love who, on one night, even after encountering the light of God...

...she decided one drink was alright,
and one thing led to another.
Next thing you know, 9 months go by,
she's a mother.

And as she laid there in that bed.
Stroking that small angel's head.
Tears streamed down her eyes.
She cried...

"If there's a God out there.
Please hear my prayer.
I'm lost and I'm scared,
and I've got nowhere else to run.
I've come a long, long way.
But I'm not sure I can be the best mother...
So if you're listening, could you give a helping hand.
To your daughter."

When the young lady grows to the age of 99, she tells the story of God's love to her son, saying:

"There is a God up there.
Who heard my prayer.
I was lost and afraid.
And I had nowhere else to go.
I had no clue, what to do
And then He sent me you."

So if you're lost and afraid,
and you feel so alone,
don't worry child,
cause there's a Father who will love you as His own.
Just like he loved his daughter.
Like he loved His daughter.

This song offers an incredible message of hope and forgiveness, telling the story of God's unconditional love. And, I don't want to ignore the pro-life element to it, as well - a troubled, pregnant young lady who decided to give birth to a precious baby boy.

There's so much you can take away from this story. The song, well, reminds us of what I was sharing yesterday - God does not forget us. Even in your darkest moments, even when you make mistakes - and we all do - the compassion of Christ is reaching out to us. Our Father's love is strong, and we can be strong in it.

Molly Kate can be a great illustration and inspiration to us about using the tools available to us. Of course, she has amazing talent in singing and writing songs. What is striking to me is that she did wait to go into a recording studio and have her songs professionally recorded, although that has now taken place, and "My Daughter" is now available on ITunes. She took what was at hand, and the strength of the song, and the Lord's anointing on it, caused it to connect with people. But, her resources included a cracked phone and an out-of-tune piano - but God uses those imperfect elements to express His truth. That is a lesson to all of us, and it's a lesson from the song: the Lord takes the imperfect that is surrendered to Him, places His stamp upon it, and reflects His glory.