Month: June 2014

The one where we tell you a secret…RE-post 10 months ago and still applies!

/ samandang

“In God we trust” is our familiar, all-American go-to phrase, but how do we do that when we are all bound up by fear? Fear is holding you back right now. Me too.

Scripture talks about many times when God asks His people to do something crazy, irrational, and dangerous! How about Abraham when God asks him to leave his land, his family, and everything that was familiar and comfortable to him to head out to an unknown destination? Think he was full of fear? You betcha. God’s message to him: “Fear not.” The same applied to Joshua, when he was to lead the children out of the wilderness and into the promised land. He saw some giants and everyone around him was in a panic. God’s message: “Fear not.” Scripture tells us not to fear over a hundred times! I think He is sending us a message.

Many times we think, “I will take the leap when it looks a little more certain.” Or, “If God gives me a neon sign, it will be less scary.” Let me tell you, faith is not about living “safe”. It never has, and never will be. Our “safety net” is always Jesus. It is not our bank account, the economy, our stuff, or other people…purely Jesus. If we waited ’til everything was safe and certain, we would accomplish very little for God or anyone else.

What are you afraid of? Losing a loved one? Losing your nest egg? Not being accepted by others? Never knowing your purpose in life? People are always telling us, “Oh, I could never do what you guys are doing!” What they are really saying is, “I am too afraid.” I want to let you in on a little secret…

SO. ARE. WE.

Man, it feels GOOD to get that out! Do you think for a second that we aren’t afraid? We are afraid of living in a new country where the people don’t speak English. Plus, it’s hot there — really, really hot — and I hate heat! We are afraid of what people must be thinking. (Our families aren’t exactly running beside us with pom poms.) We are afraid that all of you won’t sow into God’s mission for us. We fear people can’t relate to us anymore. The point is, we are afraid.

What would you do for God if you knew you couldn’t fail? He is big enough. We all have fears. We can not run from them! Stand up to fear, look it in the eye and say, “NO! My God said to fear not!” Our lives cannot be ruled by fear, but by the Word of God!

We are at the place of looking fear in the eyes as we are called out to live and be full-time missionaries in Thailand. So, we do it afraid. We lean on His strength and activate the age old saying, “In God we trust.” Can we ask you, our friends and family, to do the same?

We finished our monthly support letters and they will be going in the mail this week. We need to start the last part of this process, which is raising the money to go. We need financial support for our airline tickets, transportation, passports, work visas, first monthly expenses, and much more. The reality is, we need to raise $16,500 just to go.

When I wrote that number down my first reaction was, “Oh Lord, give me more faith”. My second, much stronger reaction, is to remember what God did almost exactly three years ago. We needed $32,000 to go to New Zealand. The night before we boarded that loooong flight, we still needed $9431.13. We had no idea how He was going to do it. A lot of you remember that night, because for many of you, God did a miracle in your heart. You got to meet the God of miracles — to see a church give an offering that was the exact dollar amount — TO THE PENNY. God’s big. Real big. He expanded all of our faith. He grew it! It was an incredible time, and many of you sowed into it. We got to hear many faith stories of how God used that night to change lives. What an honor to see His glory! What IF God is who He says He is, then can we trust Him?

So He reminds us. Sometimes daily. “Fear not.”

There it is. $16,500 to leave in two months. We are praying we raise half in the next three weeks. We really need to get Tessa’s passport and my work visa…like, yesterday. If you feel called to be His hands and feet, please hit the ‘donate’ button on top of our blog. Airline tickets are already jumping up, so we are hoping to get them booked in the next few weeks. Will you join us in this journey? We want to give these kids a new hope, one where they go from losing all the light in their eyes to finding the One who brings the light. We need to hear their cries. They are crying. We may choose not to listen, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t crying. We have to do this because…God said go!

In His grip, Samm & Angie

p.s Come out tomorrow to The Crossing for a live album recording and we will have table set up selling jewlery, we would love to talk to you guys!

We bought some land…

/ samandang / 2 Comments

Jeremiah bought a field. (Jeremiah 32:1-15) Now you tell me, why in the world would a man go out in the middle of a war and use his money to buy a field that an invading army would, within days, come and take over? How about you hold on your cash dude? After all, the Babylonian army was right outside the gate! They were coming! It didn’t look good for them… at all. But, Jeremiah bought a field.

Yes, investing in real estate is usually a wise investment. Buy some land, hang onto it a few years, then sell it to make a profit. But, he didn’t have a few years! He didn’t even have a few days! The Babylonians would soon own all real estate and they would be held captive. Jeremiah, being a prophet, even knew this! Nobody in their right mind would go and buy land in this time! Why then? Had he lost his mind? Was he in complete denial? No. He bought that field for one reason: God told him to. I can only imagine the flack that he got from his friends and family. He bought the field as an act of faith. It was a symbol of faith in His God, despite the fact that it made no sense at all. He knew who held his future as well as the future of his people. It was an act of faith.

The Israelites, no doubt, were afraid. Their whole life was to be turned upside-down. Everything they knew as familiar would be no more. Jeremiah, even being afraid and even though it seemed ridiculous, put his trust in God and bought a field.

This story spoke VOLUMES to me. I am going to share my heart, in hopes that it will speak to some of you. This moving to Thailand thing seems exciting and exhilarating, I am sure. While that is true to some degree, the truth is that after you step out in faith, fear will be knocking at your door. The moment you put your big toe in the water, fear rises up. I am struggling. I am human and fear is a real feeling. I am nervous to leave everything I know and love to go someplace unknown. It’s always so hard to let go of something you know and trust and grab hold of something unknown. When you were a kid, you would play on the monkey bars, right? The thing about monkey bars is that you have to let go of one rung to go to the next one and the next. This is no different. The problem is, it’s not faith.

Hebrews 11:1 “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about the things we cannot see.”

We are making this crazy move because God said so. So, we are putting our faith in the knowledge that He knows what will ultimately be best for our family in the end. He sees the future; we do not. The Bible is clear about the fact that we cannot even think or imagine what our life will look like if we put our trust in Him. So with white knuckles, I hang on to that. On to Him.

All of us are going through something. A divorce you never saw coming, kids that are hooked on drugs, cancer, struggles to pay your bills… Whatever it is, I honestly believe we might all need to go buy a “field”. (Not a literal one.) What does that field represent? It represents you trusting God completely with your life and future. All your eggs are in His basket. Jeremiah bought a whole field. He didn’t make a deposit or arrange a payment plan. What’s the cool part? God’s word came true. It always does. Even though Jeremiah would not be alive to see it, God did bring them back where they would establish their life again on that land.

I can’t tell you what it’s going to be for you. Only He can. I can tell you that your “field” needs to be something that doesn’t appear to make sense. It will be something that scares you. Something that, without Him, would be impossible. Jeremiah demonstrated to the people that this captivity would not be permanent – that God would do what He said. I love verse 25, after all he prays and acknowledges God for, he does what we all do. He doubts God’s power. He basically says, “God, you gave our land over to Babylon, but you told me to buy a field! What the…?” He knew God could do all things. Yet, he was human and he had doubt… just like me. He wasn’t in disobedience, or even delay. He did it, but afterward he questioned God. I so get that. Don’t you? God’s answer: “Is anything too hard for ME?” It’s like a riddle of sorts. How the heck are you supposed to even answer that (not like He needs your answer…)? This has been my journey thus far. Walking in obedience. Acting in faith. But still doubting.

I want you to know that we are not super-human with some superpower of faith. We, just like the rest of you, have to get out of the boat, buy the field, kill the giant, etc. Let’s encourage each other to take these steps of faith.

He is fully able, nothing is too hard for Him.

The cat is finally out of the bag?!

/ samandang / 2 Comments

When we close our eyes and think about Thailand, we see a few specific girls’ faces. These girls have haunted our thoughts, dreams, and lives. We are faced with the question…now what? Now that we have seen and heard and, most importantly, felt. Now what? When statistics on a page go from a number to a face with a story, we can’t just do nothing. We have realized that when it comes to bringing justice to the things that break God’s heart, everyone (and when we say everyone, we mean if you have handed the keys of your life to Christ) has a role in bringing justice and hope to mankind! After years of praying, fasting, seeking wise council, and praying some more, we are ready to do our part! We are officially moving to Thailand in August!

After going to Thailand in April and seeing what God was doing through Destiny Rescue and the total transformation that was happening in these girls’ souls, we knew we wanted to be a part of this! When we came home, we sat down and really mulled it over. This time we knew the cost and what it would involve. We don’t take it lightly. After a few more weeks of prayer, we came to this conclusion: if we don’t, who will? We have known for a while He was transplanting our hearts there. We are excited that Destiny Rescue has asked us to come on board and be full-time missionaries with them in a job that will fit perfect! The journey has already been challenging, but it’s also amazing to see how God has already shown up in amazing ways. He has opened up doors that “should” have been shut. We are so humbled and afraid at the same time. We are planning to leave mid-August…yeah, we have just 2.5 months to sell all we own, get all of our funding in place, find a house and transportation in Thailand, get all our visas and passports ready, then prepare to jump with Jesus! Being full-time missionaries means we rely completely and totally on support from the body of Christ. This is no small nuggets for us! We are used to making our own way just like everyone else! This part of our “job” – let us assure you – is not easy. To humble ourselves and trust God – that He will bring it in – goes against the grain! Yet, we are confident that if we walk in faith doing what we can, He will do the rest to provide and pave a way!

So, we are asking that you would get alone with God and ask Him if you are to play a part in this. Either a one-time gift to help us get to Thailand, or a monthly commitment to keep us there! Maybe you have never supported a missionary before. Maybe you haven’t even met one! Either way, we all know that it takes all parts of the body to bring the gospel to all the world! No one job is more or less important – it literally takes us all.

We have been and will continue to ask God to speak to you about if you are to have a role in this! We are asking Him to bless you and deepen your walk with Him. He really is worth it all. Jesus is so incredible in the way He loves mankind. His love is so furious, He calls us to become uncomfortable for the sake of others who have yet to have the veil lifted from their eyes. He allows us to play a part in helping others look at the cross in a completely new way, so that they see true, sacrificial love. He uses us to help others know a God that radically adores them and has a plan for their life, no matter how broken.

We hope and pray that He expands your heart in so many ways. We pray that He shows up in a powerful way in your life, wherever you are needing Him right now. We are overwhelmed and honored to share this journey with you all.

Psalm 33:5 “He loves righteousness and justice; The earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.”

In His grip,
Samm & Angie