His Eye Is on the Sparrow

This is how my God is good
Every painful moment made in His image
I know all things end where they should
He waters agony like seeds of beauty
This is how my God is good.

“This Is How My God Is Good” by Daniel and the Sparrows

Daniel Lim ’17 has learned a few things about painful moments, agony, and the God who allows both to come into our lives. And he can’t help writing songs about it. 

“Music has always been ‘my thing.’ In my situation, that is how the Lord has provided for me,” Daniel says. “Really, almost beyond my own understanding, He has provided for me through music. That's a rare thing, and I can’t really claim a lot of credit for that.”

Seafaring missionary upbringing

Born in England and raised in Singapore, Daniel spent most of his life traveling the world with his parents, who were—and still are—missionaries with Operation Mobilization, an evangelistic ministry that transports the gospel via ships and other means to ports, cities, and countries globally.

Daniel’s parents originally met while serving on an OM ship, so it seemed to naturally follow that Daniel would be “on board” with becoming an OM missionary himself. In 2010, he joined the crew of the OM ship Logos Hope.

The Logos Hope was refurbished in 2009 to transform it from a car ferry into the largest of the two ships sailing the world for Operation Mobilization. When the Logos Hope docked in Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and other ports, nationals were welcome to board, interact with the crew, and take advantage of everything the ship had to offer.

“The Logos Hope is a book ship,” Daniel explains. “It provides affordable literature to people in places that don’t have affordable literature.” Daniel worked in the book hold and also in the book fair’s café as a connect leader, facilitating the ministry of conversation, music, and connection between the locals and the ship’s crew.

The Logos Hope also offers some health services. “The whole thing is about bringing knowledge, help, and hope to the world,” Daniel says. 

For Operation Mobilization, these connections with “locals” lay the groundwork to build relationships and present the gospel. When Daniel’s two-year service with the Logos Hope ended in 2012, he left with a treasure trove of experiences and memories—and his future wife, Stephanie, whom he met on board the ship. Daniel and Stephanie married in 2013 and are now the parents of two children.

Introduction to Moody

Daniel heard about Moody through Stephanie ’09. She had been a music major at Moody before joining the Logos Hope. When the couple visited her parents in Union, Illinois, it wasn’t long before the subject of Moody Bible Institute came up.

Wanting to pursue his bachelor’s degree but still uncertain about where, Daniel decided to visit Moody’s Chicago campus. “I felt strongly that this was where I was going to end up,” he says. “This was my prayer. I said, ‘Lord, if You want me to go to Moody, You’re going to have to close all the other doors.’ And He did.” 

While at Moody, Daniel wrote music and continued to nurture a moniker he had begun in 2012, Daniel and the Sparrows. He’s quick to admit that the name is a little misleading.

“It’s not a band; it’s just me,” he says with a sheepish grin. “It’s from the verse in Matthew that talks about how the Lord knows every sparrow that falls and how much more precious are you than that? In my mind, there are a lot of people that I meet in this world that are treated by their fellow human beings as really no more than a sparrow. So with Daniel and the Sparrows, I'm trying to bring these stories out into the light.”

He had no idea that within just a few years, he would not only write about life’s falling sparrows, he would become one.

First bout with cancer

Daniel graduated from Moody in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in Communications. He then joined the One Way Ministries team as an audio production manager and as the producer of a prayer resource designed to inspire and educate the world to pray for different topics. And as always, he continued to write songs—“songs to celebrate the goodness of God,” he says on danielandthesparrows.com.

In 2020, a follow-up doctor’s appointment began with the word no one wants to hear: cancer.

“It was testicular cancer. I didn’t even have time to process it. I went to the doctor, and two days later I had the surgery. And it was good news. It hadn’t spread, so I didn't have to do chemo. I didn’t have to do anything. It was just surgery, and I was done.”

The perfect job

The following year Operation Mobilization came calling again, inviting Daniel to serve as an artist mentor. Daniel was excited. “Basically what they were saying was, ‘We want you to come on [with OM] to do Daniel and the Sparrows full time!’” he says.

For Daniel—a prolific writer, world traveler, and musical inventor who loves to foster creativity inothers—it was hard to imagine a more perfect job. He collaborates online with songwriters from all over the world, and his production skills have even taken him to Benin, Africa, to build a recording studio for a group of Christian songwriters and musicians.

“They use songwriting as a platform to foster peace between Christians and Muslims,” he says. “The problem is that they have studios in the Muslim part of town that don’t allow Christians there. The Muslims won’t go into the Christian studios because they tend to make things sound very Western, but this group emphasizes indigenous sounds that have content that focuses on the middle ground of peace.

“They said, ‘We have the budget for a studio, we’ve raised support, but we don’t know anything about building a studio. So they called me! I did the research for them, planned out the gear, flew there, set up the studio, and taught them how to use it.”

The group is now establishing a second Christian recording studio in the Muslim region.

“They are amazing people,” Daniel says. “They’ve developed such strong relationships with the Islamic area in north Benin that the government now uses them as the point liaison entity to communicate with the people there.”

Discipleship for artists

In 2022, Daniel participated in OM’s “Incarnate” discipleship program for artists. “It’s like an arts-in-ministry camp," Daniel explains. During the 16-week program held in Budapest, Hungary, Daniel mentored young artists and also connected with fellow creators, fueling his vision for a songwriting community.

One of those fellow creators was Silvina Erwin, director of training for OM’s Inspiro Arts Alliance, who was asked to lead worship soon after she arrived. “Jet-lagged, Daniel and I ran to the piano and planned the worship environment for the following day,” Silvina says. “For me, it was one of the best weeks of my time in Hungary!”

Silvina says Daniel has been a breath of fresh air for the program. “Daniel’s gifting and flexibility made the job easier and enjoyable. Ideas started to flow, and we started to dream about pioneering a songwriting community online. Today, that community is reality.

“For many artists, the path forward isn't clear. Individuals like Daniel exemplify what’s possible through artistic expression and serve as mentors, showing others how it can be done. We need cheerleaders like Daniel to encourage artists along the way.”

Return to Moody—and to an old foe

In the fall of 2023, Daniel added yet another adventure to his skill set. Still working full time for Operation Mobilization, he returned to Moody as that semester’s EverPraise professor. EverPraise, a Moody worship collective, is an ensemble that features contemporary worship and performs at campus events like Founder’s Week, Candlelight Carols, and weekly chapels. EverPraise students also enjoy writing, recording, and performing original music—a perfect fit for Daniel’s talents.

But during a busy semester of new challenges and full schedules, an old foe returned. “The cancer came back on the lymph nodes on my spine,” Daniel says. “It was small, and my doctors were looking out for it. They said, ‘We can’t biopsy it because it’s on your spine, so we just have to watch it.’”

For months the cancer wasn’t growing. “Then in December, I got my scan, and it had quadrupled in size,” Daniel says. “I was doing a retreat for EverPraise. So I was hanging out with my students but thinking—okay—I have cancer! I kept a lot of it to myself for quite a while.”

This time, chemotherapy was ordered, and Daniel couldn’t continue his work with EverPraise in 2024. “The chemo was ridiculous. It was seven-hour days, five days a week, and completely wiped me out,” he says. “I couldn’t function at all.”

When Daniel thinks back to those weeks, he also thinks about the overwhelming emotions that came along with the second diagnosis and the grueling treatments.

“Anger was not my go-to emotion. I think I was grieving quite a bit. I was grieving because I knew I was going to have to suffer, and my family was going to have to suffer. I was grieving the loss of another period of time that I thought I was going to have.”

‘There was value in music’

Daniel’s music played a comforting part in his health battle.

“Daniel and the Sparrows took on a very profound role in my life over the past few months in a variety of ways, in personal ways,” he says. “I interacted with my music in a way that was unique to how I used to interact with it. But I also began to see and understand that there was value in music that I otherwise had not seen.”

Sylvina knew about Daniel’s second bout with cancer and observed how he processed both the diagnosis and the treatments.

“Daniel has remained positive,” she says. “It has emboldened him to speak truth with kindness. Despite challenges, he continues to dream about future projects, and his enthusiasm is truly contagious.”

Daniel wrote “How My God Is Good” after his second cancer diagnosis. “I realized that this is how my God is good,” he says. The song can be heard on Spotify and on YouTube, and it was featured during Moody’s 2023 Missions Conference. “I feel like it epitomizes this cancer journey that I’ve had.”

Though there are more tests and scans in his future, Daniel’s prognosis is good. And he knows for certain that his God is good.

“He didn’t give me cancer,” Daniel says, “but it’s just like Him to use these ugly things to bring about something more beautiful than before, right? That’s just His nature.”