recounting His faithfulness
I just want to remember this day as the day I saw God’s faithfulness so evidently in my life. I am still experiencing that same faithfulness every single moment I breathe, but I just want to share what He has been doing in my life for the past 24 hours. But in this 24 hours, I know you’ll also see how God has been moving even in the years before.
Around 9AM, I woke up thanking God for 2 things that mark this day in a special way.
First is it’s a K-pop boy group called SEVENTEEN’s comeback day.
This is special because it’s their first comeback that I’m actively participating in as a carat (that’s what they call their fans). Haha! It’s the first time I donated funds for streaming too… and I’m still thinking if I should buy their album for the fan sign raffle event…
Weeks before D-Day, SEVENTEEN’S official Twitter account kept a poll that will form a sentence towards the end.
Just before sitting down to write this, I was in a Leadership 113 class where I giddily shared to my classmates how God speaks to me through K-pop song lyrics and for this comeback, He did! From the teaser tweets to the lines from their title track, Ready to Love.
like an ode to God
and God’s daily invitation for us
I even decided to bike and catch the sunset while listening to the whole album. And God let me behold His love in the sky and clouds hued with rose quartz and serenity, and through the fiery sunset I stared at as I listened to the 13 members sing new songs that I barely understood.
a line from Heaven’s Cloud, the first track on the album
With those scenes and the soft sounds from my earphones, I am made aware that indeed, love has no limit. It can transcend what my heart can contain and my mind can grasp. It goes beyond the walls of our home, albeit it’s where I first experienced it.
I also got to complete portraits of all 13 members just before the clock hit 12:00AM!
The second thing I thanked God for was the release of Rhea Rodriguez’s first ever EP called Hangarin.
I’m so grateful for this because God, in His sovereignty over my creative pursuits, reminded me of a long-time dream project of mine: to create an album artwork for a musician. I first wrote it in 2014, between the pages of a special notebook where I record His faithfulness through the years.
Notice how only 2 remain unchecked. God is so good!
7 years later, the Lord would fulfill the words I left unblurred. Not for a band, but for a sister in Christ which makes it all the more dearer to me. Ever so often God reminds me that the way He answers prayers is beyond our expectations.
I first met Rhea during a prayer ministry training around 2019. We were in the same table and only talked for a short introduction. Then we became classmates in Leadership 113 that started last November 2020. And that’s when she eventually reached out to me for the cover of her first EP. March 12, 2021—the first time we talked via audio call about the project, I just knew that the Lord was behind all this.
The Holy Spirit saturated that first conversation. And a couple of weeks later, I worked on the illustration in a way that I only could have done out of the abundance of creativity that our Maker has. She gave me a raw copy of the songs’ recordings and I listened to it all night as I was painting.
I’m so happy with how it turned out…which is rare for me, since it’s my hobby to be critical of my own work. I gave her the final artwork last April, and today I got to see a lot of people share screenshots as they listen to her songs. I hope you listen to it too. They’re all beautiful and I believe God will speak to you through them.
I started this day grateful and I’m ending it the same way.
Other things happened on this day, June 18, 2021. Other things I’m thankful for, and other things I’m not yet ready to write about. Haha. Hindsight is such a gift. Let’s use it to recount how faithful He has been, and how faithful He still is.
I just wanted to recount that. The Lord’s faithfulness is in keeping promises, in being mindful of us, in showing up in unexpected ways, and how He is always ready to love us.
Faithfulness made most evident when He gave Jesus to live the life we should’ve lived, and die the death we should’ve died–in our place.
Faithfulness seen and known through the resurrection of Christ Jesus.
Faithfulness experienced when humble and contrite hearts receive the gift of salvation and forgiveness.
Faithfulness that’s new every morning.
Faithfulness that remains steadfast, even when we are faithless.
Faithfulness that allowed me to share all of this to you.
Great is His faithfulness!
I pray that you get to experience it too.
I know you will.
Sometimes it just takes hindsight and recounting.
