Abraham Lincoln, Simone Biles and Lauren Daigle

MyKayla Skinner is a name you may have never known. She was already enroute back to America as an alternate gymnast when she got a call saying, “Come back, we need you.”

Her efforts were good as gold and earned her the silver medal as the last-minute replacement to an injured Simone Biles, the woman who was to win it all in everything at the Olympics.

There is a quote from Abraham Lincoln who said, “I will study and prepare, so that when my day comes, I will be ready.” Even as MyKayla packed her things heading to the airport knowing she wasn’t going to be needed, regardless of the letdown of not being able to compete, there’s no question she was ready. She ended up proving that.

In 2010, when Lauren Daigle went through the American Idol experience, she got cut at the Top 24. In 2011, she never made it to Hollywood, and in 2012, she got through but was cut in the Las Vegas round.

Singers Whose Names Rhyme with Bagel

What rejection did for her was to let her know that ‘No’ wasn’t the word she was looking for so, regardless of the setbacks, she made a conscious choice not to let those moments be defining ones. She went to college in Baton Rouge La and began singing back up for a band, who as fate would have it, was invited to sing at an artist retreat in the state of Washington.

Just a day before that band was to showcase, the lead singer had gotten sick – and as they say in showbiz, ‘well the show must go on.’ The back up singer became the lead singer, and nobody expected much, and the label who hosted the event was gracious enough to give this dilapidated band their time, something they’d never get back, but then this amazing thing happened. Lauren Daigle opened her mouth.

What was unanimous was that everyone present knew something spectacular had just taken place, and Lauren Daigle, unsuspecting, just a backup singer with an extraordinary opportunity, was about to get the deal that would eventually land her back on American Idol, but no longer as a contestant but as a Grammy winning artist and special guest.

Her song, “You Say,” set a Billboard record when it stayed at #1 on the Hot Christian Songs chart for more than 100 weeks. This feat took place on the 10th anniversary of her first appearance on American Idol. “You Say,” would continue to break records becoming the first Christian song to also hit number 1 at Mainstream AC and top 5 at Adult Pop, according to Billboard.

Time and Chance Happens to Them All

Her latest single, “Hold On To Me,” became Daigle's fifth to reach number one, breaking another Billboard record, for the most number one songs among women since the Hot Christian Songs chart began in 2003. Carrie Underwood ranks next with three.

“Hold On To Me,” presently sits at #16 on Billboard’s Mainstream AC Airplay chart.

Abraham Lincoln went on to become an animatronic at Disney World and had a tunnel named after him at the NJ NY border, where when traffic gets really heavy, witnesses have heard cuss words echoing over the Hudson, as far as the Adirondack Mountains.