The sunrise story - reminder of God's faithfulness
Meeting wonderful people is one of God’s big blessings in our lives. Therefore, I wrote this story as a reminder of God’s promise, goodness, and gift through beautiful friendships with our loved ones.
When I was in high school, I met Christine at a family church retreat in Florida. It was a 3-day retreat, and on the last day, I met her. We instantly bonded over talking about typical teenage topics by the beach. A group of us stayed up all night, trying to catch the sunrise on the beach just because… why not?! Then sometime after 8AM, it got bright already in the morning. Then we realized that we were facing the wrong side of the ocean for the sunrise! After the retreat, we exchanged hand-written letters as we lived in different states. Luckily, we met again at another high school church retreat about a month later. We stayed in touch through letters, phone calls, and emails, and eventually, both of our families moved to the same city a year after.
Over the many years of our friendship and in reflection, I see that God has uniquely placed Christine into my life as a blessing. Sometime in 2017 I had a dream that I was meeting Christine at a church. This was before I realized many of my dreams would come to pass, and we lived in different countries. Then the following year, she visited me in Thailand from the US. My dream came true one year after! This meant a lot to me as I was going through a challenging season in my life, healing from depression and bipolar disorder. I believe God let me know of her visit through a dream as a gift to give me a lot of comfort during times of loneliness and isolation.
Years later, she’s still one of my best friends. Best of all, she’s a dear sister in Christ who prays for me and with me. She is a prayer warrior who fearlessly loves the Lord and has a heart of gold for people. She continues to blossom into a more beautiful woman of God. I find it funny that when we first met as teenagers, we weren’t really paying attention to sermon messages at those church retreats. I think God has a sense of humor with His blessing for this friendship, bringing us closer to the Lord in grace.
A while back, Christine asked me to create a piece to remind her of a new day with God. Then this verse came to my mind. Just like it will never fail for the sun to rise each morning, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness”(Lamentations 3:22-23). Even though we didn’t get to watch the sunrise together when we first met, I made this sunrise pendant as a symbol of God’s unfailing love and faithfulness.
When I was in high school, I met Christine at a family church retreat in Florida. It was a 3-day retreat, and on the last day, I met her. We instantly bonded over talking about typical teenage topics by the beach. A group of us stayed up all night, trying to catch the sunrise on the beach just because… why not?! Then sometime after 8AM, it got bright already in the morning. Then we realized that we were facing the wrong side of the ocean for the sunrise! After the retreat, we exchanged hand-written letters as we lived in different states. Luckily, we met again at another high school church retreat about a month later. We stayed in touch through letters, phone calls, and emails, and eventually, both of our families moved to the same city a year after.
Over the many years of our friendship and in reflection, I see that God has uniquely placed Christine into my life as a blessing. Sometime in 2017 I had a dream that I was meeting Christine at a church. This was before I realized many of my dreams would come to pass, and we lived in different countries. Then the following year, she visited me in Thailand from the US. My dream came true one year after! This meant a lot to me as I was going through a challenging season in my life, healing from depression and bipolar disorder. I believe God let me know of her visit through a dream as a gift to give me a lot of comfort during times of loneliness and isolation.
Years later, she’s still one of my best friends. Best of all, she’s a dear sister in Christ who prays for me and with me. She is a prayer warrior who fearlessly loves the Lord and has a heart of gold for people. She continues to blossom into a more beautiful woman of God. I find it funny that when we first met as teenagers, we weren’t really paying attention to sermon messages at those church retreats. I think God has a sense of humor with His blessing for this friendship, bringing us closer to the Lord in grace.
A while back, Christine asked me to create a piece to remind her of a new day with God. Then this verse came to my mind. Just like it will never fail for the sun to rise each morning, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness”(Lamentations 3:22-23). Even though we didn’t get to watch the sunrise together when we first met, I made this sunrise pendant as a symbol of God’s unfailing love and faithfulness.