Thelma & James Dare God to Answer in Raw New Song ‘Parking Lot Prayers’

This is a little bit out of the ordinary for what I would normally post, but a friend sent me this song this morning and I was blown away by the desperation and the honesty in the lyrics and the delivery. I think a lot of people might feel seen by it the way I did just now, so I’m writing about it anyway.

Thelma & James are not “Christian artists” in the typical sense. As far as I can tell, this is the first directly faith-related song in their discography. Even this song itself is not “Christian” in the ways that most “Christian music” is. Some people might be thrown off by how directly it cries out to God, in a way that could even be interpreted as disrespectful or irreverent. Before you turn off the song or write me an email though, I ask that you really listen to the song and read some of my thoughts below. In this article, I want to dive into the lyrics of the song, compare it with one of my favorite Psalms, and make the case that this kind of crying out to God isn’t just Biblical — it’s necessary.

Some context

Thelma & James is a musical duo composed of married artists MacKenzie Porter and Jake Etheridge. After a video of them singing together went viral on TikTok, they decided to launch the project, signed with Big Loud Records, and have released multiple songs blending their country-pop and indie-folk sensibilities. This past Friday, they released their debut EP Starting Over, which includes the song “Parking Lot Prayers.” I am a sucker for guy/girl duets and emotional acoustic country, so I’ve been listening to their singles as they’ve come out, but beyond my own taste I think they have a really cool thing going on that is only going to grow from here.

Psalm 88, the passage of Scripture that I see this track echoing the most, is a heartbreaking plea to God set almost directly in the middle of the book of Psalms. It’s placed within “BOOK THREE,” a collection of songs mostly written during Israel’s exile, an extremely dark and confusing time in the nation’s journey. Because of this oppression and heartache, many of the Psalms express a deep, and borderline heretical, ache and cry for deliverance from God — and Psalm 88 is potentially the most hopeless of this collection.

Some lyrics and some Scripture

Over the next few paragraphs, I am going to do my best to walk through this song, point to its clear and direct overlap with Psalm 88, and then share some closing thoughts at the end. Let’s dive in.

Verses

Jake starts off this song with a series of heartbreaking lyrics, making it clear that this is not a surface-level country song or a sweet love ballad. It’s a reckoning with constant depression, family struggles, Alzheimer’s, and an endless list of hard things in the world that don’t seem to add up when there is supposed to be a good God in control of it all.

The Psalmist starts off in a very similar way: he lays out his troubles and doubts, describing a lack of strength that mirrors the depression Jake sings about.

In the next stanza, as Mackenzie joins in to back his pleas, they continue the lack of logic in the hardships of the world. The latter two lines are heartbreaking, describing a failed effort to prevent a friend from drunk driving, leading to an implied death and a mother crying at the funeral. This is a very “country” line, and a situation that happens all too often, and Thelma & James can’t seem to make sense of it.

In Psalm 88, the writer reckons with the same thing: losing someone they cared for deeply. Instead of companions to lean on, it feels like God has taken them away and left only darkness.

After the chorus (which we’ll get to in a minute), Jake and Mackenzie continue to highlight the things they’re seeing that don’t add up: bad things happening to good people and a world that’s falling apart. In the midst of the confusion, they fall on their knees, begging to be pulled out of the darkness.

Similarly, the Psalmist points to a world of death, destruction, and darkness surrounding him. He asks God if He will ever show His face, or leave him in the dark.

Chorus

This first line of the chorus is shocking, and very intentionally so. It’s a crazy way to pray to God — but it’s an honest one. You can hear the desperation in the lyrics and delivery: the singers have nowhere to go other than God, but they aren’t sure if they can even trust Him.

After listing out the troubles and hardship in his life, the Psalmist also turns to God, crying out and spreading his hands to the heavens.

I love this stanza so much. It’s beautifully written and holds a lot of different emotions and ideas in tension. It’s steeped in country music language, with lines like “the business of listening” and the visual of “parking lot prayers.” It’s extremely human, holding a willingness to be honest with God about doubt. And it’s bold, ending with a dare to God to answer. It’s so honest it feels heretical — but that’s what makes it work.

In the same way, the Psalmist cries out desperately, feeling like God has rejected him. The language is similar: daring God to answer prayers poured out in the Psalm.

Some thoughts

As I was writing this article, I ran into a friend of mine and showed him the song I was working on. We listened together, and I could tell he was really connecting with it. As the song came to a close, he pulled out his phone, opened his calendar app, and after a pause, said: “I prayed that exact prayer exactly a year ago, sitting on top of our school’s parking garage.”

I had heard this story before, and walked through this journey with him, but I asked him to tell me more about that moment. He talked about months of family hardship, health issues, and despair over the state of the world. In the same way that Thelma & James cried out, my friend had sat in a parking lot, talking to God. He prayed a wild prayer that night: “Father, I’m done with this wrestling and this hardship… I desperately need to see you move in my life.”

After laying this out, I asked what happened next. He simply said, “everything changed over the course of a year.” It’s true. I saw the Lord pursue him, and I saw him pursue the Lord with everything he had. Many of the hardships stayed, but he increasingly saw God’s hand in his life, and is now closer to Him than ever.

This friend prayed a crazy bold prayer. God didn’t zap him or punish him. He loved him. The Psalmist prayed bold prayers in hardship and leaned on God. Thelma & James prayed a bold prayer, daring God to show up. That’s all God wants in our lowest lows: our honesty and surrender. He meets us there, holds us in the hurt, and redeems it in His perfect timing.

So if you’re reading this and hearing this song, hurting and wondering where God is in the mess of the world, dare God to change your mind. He might just do it.