Songs in the Night

I grew up in a family of singers and musicians. I was raised listening to both Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) and Black Gospel…on the same radio station (our town was one of the few that played both styles on the same station, which seems providential). They both influenced my musical taste and development.

Around age two, I began singing with my mom, dad, and two older sisters. When I was a little older, my dad taught the three of us how to sing harmony around the piano. We eventually sang as a group and later merged with our three “cousins.”

There were a couple of ladies at our church who we all looked up to. One was a young lady named Cecelia, who was beautiful and sang like a star. She invested time and encouragement in our giftings. She made us feel seen and validated.

When I was around age twelve, there was another lady in our church who really impacted my life. We called her Sister Dottie. She didn’t have a college degree and sometimes her wording was imperfect, but everyone in church would attest to this fact: If she said that God had told her something, you could “take it to the bank”! Whatever God revealed to her would happen, and she wasn’t afraid to tell you what she had heard or seen.

So, there I was, a slender preteen, and some of my church friends and I had recently completed catechism. We had learned the rudimentary principles of the faith, and now we would be publicly confirmed in front of the entire church. I was both excited and nervous. Our church wasn’t very big, maybe two hundred members or so, but it felt like the spotlight was on us. Sister Dottie was praying over someone else farther down the line. What if God revealed something to her about one of us that was super embarrassing?

While I waited for the elders to lay their hands on my head, I began to pray silently. I asked God to forgive me for any and every offense that came to mind. And then, just like that, she was standing before me. My eyes were closed so I could concentrate, but I knew her voice. It was Sister Dottie. She began to speak: “The Lord would say to you, say not in your heart that you are small, but you are great because I live within you.” I stood dumbfounded, hanging on every word. She instantly had my attention. This was so true! This is how I thought of myself.

Then I recall her saying that “God is going to take you around the world singing for Him.” And He would give me “songs in the night.”

Even as a twelve-year-old, I knew this was a God-sized dream. I wasn’t someone people would have looked at and said, “Oh yeah, I can see that happening!” No, only God could make it happen. At the time, I thought that “songs in the night” meant He would give me song ideas after 10:00 or 11:00 p.m. I didn’t understand until later in life that Sister Dottie’s words meant God would give me songs in the dark valleys of my life. When circumstances were difficult or seemed uncertain, I would have to walk by faith because sight would not be an option. In those dark nights of the soul, He would sing over me and through me.

God did all that He promised through Sister Dottie and more! But it required something of me. I had to cooperate with Him and those He sent to help me. I had to act on what I had heard and believed to be true, even when it seemed impossible. That fresh-faced young girl had some living to do—she needed to know God in the barren places. As part of that process, He showed me people in Scripture who were just like me with different details. As I read His Word, He taught me about Himself in how He cared for these individuals and responded to them. Who He was, is who He is—the forever “I Am.”

I learned He is not afraid of the dark. When He steps in, He brings the light into the darkness. He sings over us, His beloved children. And sometimes He sings through us as His prophets and exhorters. Amid my struggles and mishaps, He perfectly positioned me to be in the right places at the right time.

Through my music ministry, my eyes have been opened to the war we are fighting as believers. Some battles are won with fists and weapons. But in the spiritual realm the most lethal bullet is often a timely word, prayer, or request spoken with wisdom and passion.

Tune in to hear Nicole C. Mullen this Tuesday and Wednesday on LIFE TODAY. Adapted from It’s Never Wrong to Do the Right Thing by Nicole C. Mullen. Copyright © 2025 by Nicole C. Mullen. Published by Esther Press, an imprint of David C Cook. Used by permission.