jesus

Necessary Ductwork

/ samandang

Being very honest and transparent, writing this post is more challenging than other posts I’ve written. Even other fundraising posts. Because this time, what we are asking for is funding for foundation building and restoration so that we can go the long road here.

When you renovate a house, you want your dollars to go to the fun stuff you end up using and seeing every day: the hardwood floors, the fancy new appliances, the patio furniture. But sometimes more of the budget is eaten up by the stuff you won’t even see, but is necessary, like replacing the ductwork. If you’re like me ductwork is not what I want to spend my time or money on, but I know its 100% necessary.

Writing posts to raise funds, like this one, kind of feels like that. What we are asking you to invest in is the ductwork. Samm and I choose to work “jobs” that don’t give us a paycheck. And we rely on all of you, to essentially share some of your paycheck with us, to fund us to be able to do what we do. The big and fun things to share about in our work is like the new appliances… the number of girls being rescued! Or like the new furniture… girls finding meaningful jobs after going through the SOAR program in the future! Those are absolutely fun and celebratory moments! And truly the end goal of your partnering with us financially is toward those achievements.

But your partnering also funds the ductwork… the essentials of life, like toilet paper and dentist visits and car repairs. It’s funding our ability to stay in this long term, and we are in need of a break right now. Life in Thailand is an adventure for sure; but just like your life, it is life. Highs and lows. Kids fighting and snuggling. Samm & I fasting together in prayer seeking Jesus, and getting on each other’s nerves. Seasons of intense nose to the grindstone working, and seasons of rejuvenation, reconnecting, and preparing for what’s to come.

What’s to come is big. So big. We feel it so deeply. But first, the ductwork. Will you partner with us in the ductwork? Will you invest in our crazy ole family to take a deep breath and fill up before we embark on a season of crazy pouring out? If it’s on your heart to give towards that here are some of our immediate needs. Would you pray about fulfilling one, or partnering monthly for the next year or even beyond? We are so grateful to partner with YOU to go and do the thing that God has asked us to do.

Plane tickets: $1200

Down payment on living arrangements $2000

Purchasing some vehicle and insurance $4000

Set up costs. Ie. beds, dishes,  $2000

Whatever you can partner with is meeting the smaller daily needs, our next season of ministry, and ultimately the gleaming hardwood floors: girls who have been freed from exploitation, living life in relationship with Jesus, thriving, full, happy, and with a good future ahead of them.

Thank you for being a part of the solution, CHOOSING not to sit on the side lines hearing the sad stories and saying “ah man that’s so bad someone should do something about that”

Thank you for DOING something about it.

Can’t thank you all enough.

Big Hugs from the Platts.

To Donate:  https://andgodsaidgo.com/donate/

Prone to wander indeed.

/ samandang

“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!

I saw Jesus today

/ 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.

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!