Carol Burnett has had an illustrious career as an actress and comedian, but it wouldn’t have happened without a stranger’s kindness. While studying at UCLA, Burnett went to a party and tried to sneak some food home in her purse. A man approached her, praising her for her performance earlier that night.

He asked her plans, and Burnett told him she wanted to perform on stage in New York. He wondered why she didn’t go after that dream, and Burnett replied that she didn’t have any money. The king stranger offered to loan her the money on three conditions. First, she had to repay the loan within five years if she could. Second, she couldn’t share the man’s name publicly, and lastly, she had to help someone in a similar situation in the future.

Burnett agreed to the terms, and her life changed forever. She moved to New York, quickly started in the acting business, and became a household name. Burnett kept her promise of never sharing her benefactor’s name but discussed the moment. She shared, “He never told me his reasons for helping me in the manner he did. But as the years have gone by, I’ve been able to unravel the mystery of this man, at least to my own satisfaction, and in the process, I’ve discovered a powerful spiritual principle to use in my own life.”

Burnett said she “stumbled upon the key clue” in the sixth chapter of the book of Matthew. She said, “Suddenly, some verses seemed to leap out of the page: ‘When you give a gift to a beggar, don’t shout about it as the hypocrites do. When you do a kindness to someone, do it secretly, and your Father, Who knows all secrets, will reward you’” (Matthew 6:2-4).

Now, these verses are Burnett’s favorite scripture passages, and she believes the man who gave her the money was following Jesus’ message. She concluded, “I was convinced that the man was sincere. And I believed, furthermore, that the good Lord was giving me, Carol Burnett, a strong and unmistakable push.”

This mystery benefactor gave Carol Burnett the push she needed to start her career out of the kindness of his heart. He saw a struggling student with a dream and did what he could to help her along the way. Because of this man and his kindness, Carol Burnett has had an illustrious career, making audiences laugh for decades.

We should all be like this mystery benefactor, helping those in need when we can and passing along an act of kindness. You could be helping the next Carol Burnett start her career.