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When you were a kid did you ever jump off a dock into the water or, better yet, jump off the top of a cliff into the water? Maybe you are all braver than I but I remember those seconds that seemed like hours when I would stand at the edge thinking and deciding if I should jump, weighing all the possibilities and outcomes in my nine-year-old head, the “what ifs”. What if I get hurt? What if there’s a rock right below? What if I never come back up? What if…

 

Why after 30 years are we still being controlled by the “what if” monster? Even when we want to take that risk, when we want to jump in we still play with the “what if” monster, so much that we often times decide not to jump. We live in regret for the rest of our lives wondering,”what if I had?” WHOA! There’s that monster again. But on the other side! That’s right, he plays both teams: one he tries to stop you from jumping, and the other when you don’t jump but should have he asks, “what if I had jumped?”

 

It’s not really a monster, per say. It’s a little thing we surrender to called FEAR. It’s what prevents us from jumping in, fully into the life God has destined for us since the hand of time began. It’s what dictates how much of our heart we give someone. It’s what keeps us from changing the world around us: fear of man, fear of failure, fear of pain, fear of regret. Everything you could ever want is on the other side of fear and you will NEVER know what incredible possibilities are over there if you let the roadblock of fear get in the way. But how do we demolish this little irritating life sucking monster?

FAITH. Faith and fear cannot exist together. Faith is described in Hebrews 11:1 as being “certain of what we do not see”. It is an absolute belief that God is constantly working behind the scenes in every area of our lives, even when there is no tangible evidence to support that fact. Fear on the other hand is weakened faith. Every time we let unbelief dictate our thoughts we let fear control our emotions and choices! This is not something we can muster up. Faith comes from by hearing the word of God, either you believe 100 percent of what the bible says or it’s all hogwash. Scripture says faith is a gift (Ephesians 2:8-9) that comes from the gift of the Holy Spirit! Be confident in the God that you have given your life to. Know that He knows our thoughts and our deepest fears! However, the bible is clear we must move on from our fears to produce stronger faith. This process is not without trials, in fact, adversity is the most effective tool that God uses to strengthen our faith. That pattern is evident in scripture. God takes each one of us through fearful situations, and as we learn to obey God’s Word and allow it to saturate our thoughts, we find each trial becomes a stepping-stone to a stronger and deeper faith. It gives us that ability to say, “He sustained me in the past, He’ll carry me through today and He’ll uphold me in the future!” When we succumb to fear we are telling Him “I don’t trust you or you are not big enough to conquer this!” As a fellow “what if” monster entertainer I too need to remind myself daily that He has already gone before me, to recall all the things He has done in the past. He will make a way. I encourage you to grab hold of what you know is true. There is something in your life right this very minute that you are debating to jump or not to jump. You are hearing the “what ifs”, turn it around and whisper, “but what if it’s incredible?”

Trust HIM. Do not get to the end of your life – which we don’t even know the expiration date on – and be full of the other “what if” monster.

 

 

What are you waiting for? JUMP.

 

 

The “what if” Monster

/ samandang

May madness…our plans!

/ samandang

Since coming to Thailand we have consistently asked the Lord “how long”…how long He would have us here working and serving Him with Destiny Rescue. We committed in our hearts and to DR for a year, but suspiciously wondered if it would be longer.

Our hunches were right. We are halfway done with our year and know that it’s definitely not time to go. Even thru the hard hard stuff, we know He is saying we will stay. We are anticipating great things this year and have already watched Him blow our minds and stretch us so far we thought we might crumble. He is good.

Many of you know we will be coming home in May! God has come thru already in so many ways, initially we thought it would be Angie coming for 6-8 weeks, however we didn’t have any peace with that. We knew that we could be gone for half the time if the both of us went but we had no way of making that happen. No one could watch the kids so we felt stuck. So we prayed. A lot. Then one day we had a lovely couple over for dinner and we were talking and out of the blue they said, “ we would love to watch your kids!” After praying and praying some more and countless people raving about how awesome and godly people they were we decided to do it!

God has also come thru on our plane tickets! It’s not cheap to buy them as most of you know, but God has provided once again! We purchased tickets this week! There are a few reasons we need to come home for the month of May,

      1.We need more MONTHLY donors! After a few people that haven’t been able to fulfill their commitment we are asking if you would think about giving 25, 50 or 100 dollars a month to keep us living and working in Thailand!

2.Schooling- Sam has been homeschooling and though it has been ok, we have seen major challenges with it. Our kids not knowing any other expat kids AND not speaking Thai has left them lonely and not really ever leaving the four walls of our house. Our kids need some friends and we feel God is calling us to put them into the international school. We need to raise $6000.00 total for both our boys for the year. Our boys are excited at this possibility of having friends!

3.Angie’s tailbone. Four years ago Angie’s tailbone started hurting and has become worse over time. We have tried many things with no relief really. We have found a place that does therapy for this certain thing, we are hopeful and have heard such great things! Someone has even offered to pay for our treatments while we are home! We cannot imagine Angie being pain free when sitting or moving but are anticipating results!

4.Last but not least, we want to catch up with all our current supporters or at least most of you! We plan to have an event where we can share our hearts and tell you stories. We are so grateful for each person’s support and all of the prayers. We are grateful for all the care packages and love you have remembered to send us! (We KNOW it’s not cheap either!) We love and honor each one of you!

So there you have it, a lot of things to happen in a short amount of time. We are asking all of you to pass this on; we have had donations and supporters who we have never even met. God takes care of each one of our needs! Though He has covered the cost of tickets we still need to raise money to actually be there, friends of ours have graciously invited us to stay at their house to reduce costs and we also have someone who we might be able to use their car while at home. So its just the food and airports and everything we do while there! We are hoping to raise 800.00 to cover food, gas, airport and traveling expenses. If you would like to help us please donate right here on our blog!

We look forward to catching up with friends and family and meeting new friends while home. This is definitely a step of faith for us. It’s actually harder to do this then it was to go to Thailand. We have to put our faith in Him that He will care for our kids, faith that Angie will find relief in her back, faith that He will raise the money… that we aren’t doing all of this to be at the same place we are now. Faith He will keep us safe and will line up all the divine appointments! We know the God we serve, and we go when He says GO!

See you May 12!

Love, love & love! xo

IMG_4851Samm & Angie

“Prone to wander..bind my heart to thee.”

 

That single lyric in the famous hymn has always resonated with me. Frustratingly so actually. How is it that after all He has done, all I have seen Him do and experienced His presence, I could still be prone to wonder?

Better question? How, after all He has done does He even tolerate me “wandering” like some lost sheep? He is incredibly patient. I think we can all agree we would have given up on ourselves long, long ago. Those of you who disagree are lying. As humans we are not a very patient species.

Being in Thailand has in fact cemented me seeing when I start to even begin to wander…BAM! You can find me flat in my face in a corner curled up in the fetal position. It’s a different ballgame…I could pretend better, longer, that I was “fine” back at home. Here there isn’t that margin of holding it together.

Wander=WHAM!

 

1 Chronicles 29:14-18 hit me hard this week, especially verses 17,18

 

He tests the heart; He knows our heart, our intentions. Our truest selves. There is no pretending with Him. The cookie cutter Christian we all tend to become and then boldly declare we are different from the “other” Christians. Nice try. He knows..Oh He knows all right. He knows if we have a desire in our heart to really know Him, let alone the last time we just sat with Him. I am not talking about reading our devotions and say a prayer. I am talking about Him and us. In an awkward silence, in an uncomfortable position waiting for Him to show up…no agenda just sit. When was the last time we did that? The same kind of relationship we display to our spouse who has come home after a long trip. Where we eagerly greet them at the door. Excited to just “be”.

For me? It’s been a while. Honestly. I’d like to write to you all and share the mission field is full of lifted up-connected-to-Jesus-people… not to say there isn’t of course. However it’s also full of regular people who choose to just walk their faith out. People like you, like me. With battered souls, dusty bibles and weary prayers. That’s what I LOVE verse 18. David just put out there “ God keep our hearts right and loyal to you”

Prone to wander.

Regardless of our sheep like tendencies, He is there. Ever loving. Ever patient and full of grace. I can testify to that, because as soon as I get my head on straight again and turn my eyes to His face I can see He hasn’t moved. Not even one inch.

There is NO ONE like our God!

NO ONE!

Prone to wander indeed.

/ samandang

Underwater

/ samandang / 4 Comments

I have sat at this darn screen a dozen times trying to think what I should write to tell all of you..whomever “you” are these days that read “us”. Words fail. I stall at the first sentence. I cannot simply put into words what life has been like for us since we came. Thankfully this week a woman I just met somehow did put it into words. She said to me “Angie living in Asia is completely different from living in the states, you are living in a place that less than 1% knows the name of Jesus.” Then she went on to say ” you will have to learn how to breathe differently, in America you can breathe air..here you learn to breathe underwater, and even when you learn how it will still feel like you are breathing thru a straw..not ever quite able to catch your breath fully.” Wow. I was stunned. That was it. Learning how to breathe a completely different way. No WONDER it’s hard! It’s not a bad thing, it’s just different and completely new! I walked away that night thankful for… A. I love when my heart can be articulated into words. B.I knew that we can learn this new way to breathe!

Somedays I close my eyes and think back to when all I could ever do was hope and pray into the dream of being a part of the solution for these kids! I am so thankful that this is my job! Doesn’t mean it’s not without “head- smacking -the -wall” days! He has pushed us to limits we didn’t even know were there..let alone thought we could withstand. The whole dad stays home and schools the kids and mom goes to work all day has turned our world upside down! Many many people here are shocked that we would switch roles, move our FOUR kids across the w630px-Hold-Your-Breath-Underwater-for-Long-Periods-of-Time-Step-3-2orld( In Thailand that is an unbelievable amount of children)…all we can reply with is ” Do whatever it takes”. Jesus has set us free of so many things that should have enslaved us for a lifetime, He has honestly made us new. I think these kids should be offered the same freedom…if that means I learn how to breathe underwater, then hand me a straw.

There isn’t a life out there that hasn’t had to whether the storms in life. We have two choices when we go thru the storms of life..and one of them is NOT to opt out of storms. Jesus said, “ In this world you will have troubles.” So that much is guaranteed. I believe Peter walking on water is such a picture of what life looks like when we do both of the choices. When he begins this miracle He fixed His eyes on Jesus, he took the first step, which is always the hardest one when you walk out your faith..Looking at his Savior, did he see himself walking on the water and think, “ ahh I can do this, I can walk on water..” Then as soon as the storm began he took his eyes off Jesus and onto His fear, I can’t walk on water that’s craziness! Two choices, to go in His strength or flex our own measly muscles.

                                                           Even when He humbles us He is so gentle.

I cannot tell you how much I relate to Him in this season of my life. The moment I took my eyes off Jesus, just for a moment here..I began to sink. It has become VERY clear to me that I can do nothing apart from His strength. That Philippians 4:13 is the real deal and I need to cling to that as my lifesaver. When I have 36 emails, 12 interviews, 8 meetings and heaps of people who I want to know, encourage and be friend…and then split that with being a mom to 4 children that need their mom non stop, being a wife and a friend to all of you overseas…oh Jesus can I just sit on your lap and hear what you have to say? Sometimes it’s the quiet love of our God in our souls that gives us the boldest strength. His well never runs dry, we can scoop as much as we want and drink from that! It’s a good thing too because my well compared to His is a Dixie cup!

Want to encourage you, if you are sinking…go to Him. Everyday. How can we pour out our lives unto others if He isn’t filling you up? You won’t be pouring out long and it won’t be good tasting stuff either. If we are walking with our Savior closely, than we should resemble Him in everything we do, more grace for others, more love, more peace and when I see myself in Chaos City I know right quick that I haven’t soaked with Jesus very much.

This was from my devotion recently..

“If we take our eyes off Him and stare at the storm, at the danger, we will surely sink. We will never go to the millions trapped in the darkness suffering abuse, disease, famine, injustice, loneliness or hopelessness.”

Lets tattoo this one on our hands and feet to remind us that when we are His hands and feet to a dying world we need to remember whose strength we must go in..

 I can do all this through Him who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:13images

My Dixie cup muscles…

/ samandang

You walk into a room, there are several chairs situated around the room. Not a soul in sight, so you look around to which chair you will take your seat. There are a few wooden chairs, a wooden rocking chair, and a recliner. Which chair will you naturally choose? If you are like most my guess is the recliner or whichever chair looks the “comfiest”. This is not an exception either. In our culture we are always choosing the most comfortable choice. We try on bed after bed looking for the perfect one. So much that we have a remote to give us the best comfort possible. We shop for cars and unless we have to we only choose a car that is comfortable. Case in point? The invention of the Snuggie! Now none of these “comforts” are bad..per se. All except the Snuggie I can understand…however there becomes this mindset that we are afraid of being uncomfortable that as Christians we cannot afford to surrender to.

We want it all. The American dream. The job, the family, the church, retirement…but sometimes we are unwilling to become uncomfortable to reach these goals. Especially when it comes to going after God. We want to ask Him for His blessings, His favor, and His glory in our life. However are we willing to give it all up, or even half of it? We think if we jump off the edge for Jesus that it too scary and we can’t give up the things that “comfort” us. Not even knowing that when we give those things up we sign up for a life that yes is uncomfortable but also is fully alive and finding your true purpose in Him. To find Him, really find Him and be in His presence and see Him move there is apart of us becoming uncomfortable. That will look different for everyone, but I know that our God honors obedience. So He will show you what that looks like for you.

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BUT Man I am thankful He brought me to an uncomfortable place..

All of it, because it has already brought me so much closer to my creator. I am depending on Him for all of life’s needs, for Him to go to bat for me! He is speaking to me t
hat when I remain uncomfortable for Him, I remain truly comforted by Him. I cannot tell you the times that I have wept just feeling his presence wherever I am.

I promise you there is something you can get uncomfortable in. Maybe its just praying for a stranger at Target, maybe it’s to tithe, maybe it is selling everything and letting Him take your destiny. I have no idea. I do know that it is worth every tear, every worry. To know Him there is nothing nothing nothing like it. Embrace sitting in that hard wooden chair…the view is so much more amazing.

I hope that this inspires you, not anything but inspire. This is my PASSION to see His kids live out their destiny; one uncomfortable decision after another!

Take a seat.

/ samandang

15, 9, 7, 3

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You have probably seen these posts on my Facebook account or maybe even you repost it. The numbers every week. 15, 9, 4 17…number of the rescues that week. What you haven’t seen is their faces, hear their laughs, or know their story. Each girl that has been rescued is represented by these numbers. I wanted all of you to know they are not just numbers they are lives. Even for me who sits and talks with them every day it’s hard to believe what they have come out of. What they have over come! There is this one certain girl that works at the café where I do all my work. She is smart, bright and sassy. A girl I can relate to! Although she is young I can see Gods hand all over her life. I see how her and the others braid their hair, apply lip-gloss, and fuss over teenage acne behind the counters. I see their story. Then in the midst of me praising Jesus for all He is doing, Destiny Rescue staff sit around me each engrossed in their laptops as they do their part in the story. Some that are working on all the media things you see, some who are the rescuers that physically get the girls out, some who have English lessons with the girls everyday…no matter who they are or what part they play they all represent a piece of who Jesus is.

 

They have sacrificed much, loved well and chose to keep going when faced with the tough stuff of living in a foreign land. It brings tears to my eyes when I think of what Jesus did for each one of us on the cross. He sacrificed everything, He loved us without boundaries, and He left all His comforts of heaven to live in a foreign land. That’s what I see everyday. I see Jesus…as He is. The lover of our souls, wishing that we all would do life with Him, that we would all get uncomfortable so that another can feel the love and grace that is ours to own. Heaven is waiting with bated breath for the next soul…to say yes to God, to be completely engulfed in His amazing freedom.

 

He knows our name. We are not just a number to Him. I don’t wish that these girls are just numbers to you, they represent everything Jesus is.

 

Go do something that scares you today, remembering that it might just change another’s destiny.

I saw Jesus today

/ samandang

This journey has left us both speechless of Gods goodness and also challenged by the things that have happened. When the awesome God moments come along we try and share them with all of you to encourage you in your walk with Him and to urge you to trust Him for bigger things in your life. We can’t wait to share with you what He has just done…

So one of the challenging things that we have been experiencing is finding a car, it’s been on our prayer lists and we have been praying for this since we came here. Right now we are borrowing a DR car that we shall say is a tight fit…but we have been extremely grateful for it. The car search has been literally nothing.. We budgeted for a certain amount to find out you really can’t get anything for this amount except maybe a little two door car. The cars here don’t lose their value so you basically get kind of a junky for about 3-4000. Honest. So the guy that actually found our house, which we are eternally grateful for texted Samm, a picture and info on this truck he found. It’s a 1990 Suzuki truck, its in pretty good shape, has over 300,000 miles on it but its very spacious and it’s a diesel so it will cost less to drive. We called them on Friday and they had already showed it to someone that night and they had given them until Monday to make a decision so we would have to wait at least till then to find out. So we gave it to Jesus.

In the meantime let me fill you in on a wish we have had in the back of our head since three years ago when we found about Thailand…some might have heard about the famous Lantern Festival.. It’s this beautiful amazing festival that people have on their bucket list. Where 10,000 lanterns are released into the night sky to symbolize letting go of your problems and worries. It’s so magical and beautiful and well we have secretly wanted to go for a long time. I was looking last week about it and realized it was this coming weekend in Chaing Mai.

 

We realized something… that God was possibly orchestrating this whole thing, that He was that good…Here’s why..

The car we loved is ..

  1. A truck in less than our budget..this is unheard of normally, they tell us.
  2. The truck is sold by other Christian missionaries (a great thing since they speak English)
  3. The truck is in the same city as the festival
  4. The time we would go is this weekend also the exact same time as the festival

It seemed too perfect. Too good to be true. But what about these other people that were probably planning on buying the truck…

So Samm looked at a car on Friday that was a two-door teeny tiny clown car. I called it that because I imagined our big ole family coming out of the car one by one..ya know like the clown cars in the circus. Either way it was a car and it was in our budget. So he went to drive it got two blocks and it ran out of gas. Like literally stopped…Ok Jesus we won’t buy that car.

Then Monday comes and Samm is literally bartering (as best as one can when they speak no Thai) he was thinking about getting this other car that would literally eat up our entire budget for a car. I at that exact moment got a phone call from THE truck owners saying” So really cool thing, the people who saw our truck are very much wanting to buy it but they felt all weekend that God wanted you to buy it, that your family is supposed to have it so if you still wanted it they are willing to let you have it but if not they are ready to buy it today..ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME? Who does that? Well turns out the said buyers are Christians too. WOW. Like holy WOW. HE IS GOOD!

So we are going to Chiang Mai on Friday to buy a truck that someone passed up because God said so on the weekend we have been dreaming about for years on a budget that is less than what we had intended…HUH??

I have shared this story to several people here and they are literally astonished, the price alone is a GOD thing!

But as it is written, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined the things that God has prepared for those who love him.” 1 Cor 2:9

Believe Him for the goodness you are seeking, let your feet wander unto unknown territory that your faith raises up to a new level. He has good things, even though they are hard things they are for our good..Trust Him.

Go do something Crazy for Christ!

Love the Platt’s

You simply can’t make this stuff up!

/ samandang

The Big Secret…

/ samandang / 6 Comments

I think its safe to say we as Christians go along in life praying and asking Him for things that we think will make us happy or create the life we have always thought would fulfill us. Many times our prayers go unanswered, leaving us frustrated and confused. Maybe He does answer it but ultimately leaves us empty and unfulfilled.

We read the scripture “trust the Lord God with all your heart” in proverbs. We have heard it a million times. Problem is the putting into practice part…well that’s really hard! What does it look like to actually trust a God who we know loves us and is bigger than anything? Somewhere along the path of adulthood we have forgotten what trusting would actually look like…

Trusting God, your maker looks like how you trust a bridge when you are driving over it…maybe you’re like me and don’t actually even trust bridges. How about every time you drive your car you trust that the breaks will work when you need them to, so much that you are not thinking “gee I wonder if these breaks are going to give out” every time you stop. Funny how we trust a hunk of metal made by man than a God who made man?! This kind of trust comes from somewhere; it comes from a place of knowing the one you put your trust in. Knowing that He no matter what is good. That He desires to have the kind of relationship with us like He did with Adam, where they walked and talked. Once you really understand who He is and that He has characteristics and feelings, It’s a lot easier to trust Him…but it’s still hard sometimes.

Trust me..I know! Not just getting here or raising all the money to stay here. No no no those are the insane things that I have to trust Him with; there really isn’t another choice. But I find myself here..wrestling daily with trusting Him for so many things big and little.

I started to take note of them, because I was overwhelmed and also a bit surprised that I was struggling to A. let go of ALL control and B. trust Him with so much daily things. I literally walked around these last few weeks out loud saying to Him in these moments “ No God I trust you, you made the earth” or “ I choose to trust you because you made the ocean” I know I am crazy, but it helps give me perspective.

Just a few things:

  • Riding on the back of a motor bike in a foreign country with crazy traffic, “ I choose to trust you Jesus”
  • Going to eat at several dodgy places where you know the Dept. of health would shut down in a second, watching all four of my kids take spoonful’s.
  • Every time we get into that tin car with Tessa on my lap and my boys riding in the back, no seatbelts or airbags. Again with the crazy traffic. My husband is such a good Asian driver.
  • When I see spiders as big as my hand in the shower, yea all trust went out the window as I screamed in panic for samm.
  • Living in a neighborhood where you stand out as much as Frosty the Snowman would.
  • Looking at buying a car and seeing that they do not lose their value here and so that makes them double what you budgeted for. Currently trusting Him for that.
  • Afraid of mosquitoes that carry dengue and Malaria.
  • Afraid Tessa will drink too much of the water here and get sick.
  • Seeing people having to stop supporting us due to something in their lives

DO YOU GET IT?

It’s a choice to actually trust Him. I choose it because His track record is good. If you gave your life to Jesus, than actually give it to Him. He will fulfill you. Your life can have meaning and purpose. You know deep down that you were made for so much more. You’re just afraid to trust Him.

Don’t be. That’s exactly where the enemy wants you, afraid to step out and see that Jesus is more than enough and trustworthy. If he can lie to you about Gods goodness than he can keep you from fulfilling your destiny in this world. I’ve been saying it all along; we are no different from you. We simply started to take Jesus at His word and see if He really is who He claimed to be.

Guess what. He totally 100% is.

Go do something scary!

Love The Platts

Go do something scary!

Love The Platts