Take a deep breath. Relax into the silence and indulge in the unknown. Trust that God will help you cross the bridge and escape the desert. Trust that He has a plan for you amidst the gaps in your life. Having this trust and walking through life with God through successes, mistakes and times of doubt is what Hailey Echan, an alum of Seattle Pacific University, calls readers to do in her book, “An Ordinary Saturday.”
Echan graduated from SPU in 2022 with a degree in Communications and Journalism. During her time at the university, Hailey served as a Resident Advisor from 2020-2021 and the Editor-in-Chief for the Falcon during the 2021-2022 school year. Post-graduation, Echan spent an entire year in a ministry training school before being granted the opportunity to serve overseas in East Asia.
“An Ordinary Saturday,” allows readers to acknowledge the wonderful successes of life while also taking solace in the waiting periods of our lives, or as Echan likes to call them: the “gaps.” Echan has struggled with the uncomfortable nature of being in a gap and acknowledges this is where people, including herself, tend to make the most mistakes. However, when God brings us out of those gaps, we can see His plan for us unfold.
“I struggle a lot with waiting. I don’t always like to admit that as one of my downfalls, but if writing this book has taught me anything it’s that I make a lot of mistakes in the seasons of waiting, the seasons of transitioning to the next big thing,” Echan said. “Now that I am in such a wildly different country, surrounded by a variety of people, His consistency is all the more highlighted.”
Echan began thinking about the book while attending SPU but had no idea what she would write. The decision to commit to the process did not occur instantaneously. Rather the idea to write, “An Ordinary Saturday,” became a reality as Echan engaged in a repeated evaluation of her relationship with God, especially through tough moments.
“I thought to myself, there are a lot of things I could write about, but what does He want me to write about? It was only upon reflection that I realized my desire to write grew alongside my desire to become closer to God,” Echan said. “So, I just began to write. A majority of the inspiration stemmed from when I was in a mental health clinic for six weeks. It was at that time that God spoke a lot – more like I was finally in a position to be willing to listen to what He had to say.”
Echan connects her journey of writing to her ever-growing understanding of God and believes that reflecting on her past through the book has helped her truly accept God in her life.
“Before writing this book, I was a Christian who knew of God but didn’t necessarily know Him or love Him to the extent that I do now,” Echan said. “He used this book and the writing process of this book to remind me of His faithfulness and show me parts of who He is that I didn’t realize were missing in my own mind.”
Staying faithful and pushing through hardships was difficult, but Echan did not falter in her faithfulness. She also gained something beautiful through her persistence: an everlasting friend and Savior.
“Somehow I always came out of the plateaus with a desire to grow closer to Him. It stopped being a box to check and transformed into my everything, identity and life. He and I became best friends, as cheesy as that sounds,” Echan said. “He also became my powerful Savior and Compassionate King. There’s still so much more to grow in with Him, but it’s wild how transformation occurs when we take the time to reflect and rejoice in who He is.”
Despite how difficult it can be for a person to accept their mistakes and reflect on their past, Echan did not do it on her own, especially not as she wrote this book.
“My favorite thing about this book is that I wrote it with God. That’s not me saying it’s equivalent to the words written in the Bible, His Word,” Echan said. “What I am saying is that every word typed was typed for Him and with Him. I prayed over the pages, the words, the storyline, all of it. Not only that but the content that is portrayed through the words, that was all because of Him.”
While there are many messages revealed through references to scripture and personal anecdotes from Echan in “An Ordinary Saturday,” her biggest hope is that people can begin to see God as a permanent fixture in their lives, one that never truly leaves their side despite their struggles.
“ I pray that the words written on those pages, at the very least, remind people that God is not one who pops in and out, His footprints are everywhere, even in the gaps,” Echan said. “And in turn, we are invited to not just pop in and out of His presence, but to dwell with Him through it all.”
To check out “An Ordinary Saturday,” click here.
