Displaying only custom post types that's custom date fields values are either today or in the future

Displaying only custom post types that's custom date fields values are
either today or in the future

I'm using the following custom WordPress query to display data (events)
from a custom post type on the homepage of my site:
$posts = new WP_Query(array('post_type' => 'events',
'posts_per_page' => '3',
'meta_key' => 'event_date',
'orderby' => 'meta_value_num',
'order' => 'ASC'
));
This works as expected,however, as the nature of events is that they are
always in the future i have a requirement that within the above query i
need to filter out any post that's custom field 'event_date' is in the
past, I also still wish to display, events occurring on the current day.
I've tried post_status => future but this only displays unpublished posts
whereas all of my events are already published. Any insight is much
appreciated Thank you