“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:11
I have heard this verse so many times before…
…but you know those moments when you say, “Yeeeah, I’ve read this hundreds of times and never understood it this way before…..this is so crazy!”
Well all I can say is, thank You Father for new revelations!!
This past week that scripture has started to sink into my heart in a different way. Abba is showing me just how true His Word is through the story of one of His precious daughters – a beautiful local from Myanmar named Shin Thant.
Shin Thant is 22 years old.
Her family is Buddisht for as far back as she can remember.
Tradition and religious strongholds run deep in this culture.
But God’s love runs deeper.
Father got ahold of Shin Thant’s heart and she became a believer 4 months ago!
To give a little backstory:
Last year my squad was here in Yangon and started to see a movement of the Holy Spirit working in the hearts of many locals here. We ended up leaving a small team here while the rest of the squad went on to India. The team stayed for an extra month to disciple and pour out to many of the new believers while getting them connected with a local pastor.
It was through one of the believers from last year that Shin Thant came to know “Teacher Chuckie” after we left. Chuckie is from the Philippines and has been a missionary here for a year now to help start a church plant from NewLife Church in the Philippines.
Shint Thant immediately connected with Chuckie because Chuckie used to be a dancer and Shin Thant is a ballerina. Not only that, but her dream was to go to the Phillipines to study dance!
As they built a friendship, Chuckie began to talk to Shin Thant about Jesus and how much He loves and cares about her and her dreams. She also told Shin Thant so start praying for Him to make a way for her to study dance in the Philippines.
Sharing her testimony with us, Shin Thant has made it very clear she did not like Christians beforehand. But the more she was around Chuckie and felt the peace and joy that exudes from her, the more her heart became softened.
After any efforts of her own to try to get to the Philippines, Shin Thant finally decided to pray and ask God to make a way for her to study dance there.
To her surprise, doors started opening and before she knew it, she was at a ballet dance school in Manila!
She got involved with NewLife Church (where Chuckie is from!) and saw freedom, joy, and love there in a way she has never seen or experienced before.
She says that before she became a believer, she thought that the Bible was just a book full of children’s stories.
>>> NOW, she says God actually speaks to her through His Word!
A few months ago, she says she would pray and her faith was strengthened by seeing God answer her prayers.
>>> NOW she says she simply has faith and everything else follows that!
The growth we can see in Shin Thant in such a short amount of time is absolutely incredible! She sees in the spirit, smiles with real joy and her passion bubbles up and overflows into the people around her. She speaks of the Lord’s goodness in her life.
Part of Shin Thant’s testimony has also been very challenging however.
Her family found out that she became a Christian and was becoming very involved with a church and community in the Philippines. Her mom cut off her funding to go to school and made her come home.
What her mom didn’t know is that the Friday her daughter returned to Yangon was two days before our team arrived….and now Shin Thant is joining in fellowship and being discipled by 8 overseas missionaries as well as her close friend Chuckie!!
What the Enemy intends for evil, God uses for good!
She is now back in Yangon but still dreams of returning to the Philippines to finish her dance training. Ultimately she wants to open her own ballet studio here in Yangon.
She told me today over lunch that Myanmar doesn’t have local ballerinas. All the dancers here are foreigners.
As I listen and have become more connected with this beautiful girl, I see the anointing on her. I can sense how Holy Spirit is going to use her as a dancer here to break chains, bring freedom and release even more of His goodness over this nation.
Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
Isaiah 43:18-19 (NIV)
He has a plan and a purpose for my sweet friend that even I do not know the fullest extent of.
I stand in awe of His faithfulness, pleading the blood of Jesus for protection over my sister and interceding on her behalf that He will make a way for her to go back to the Philippines and open doors for her to eventually run her own ballet school here in Myanmar.
Please pray for Shin Thant as you think about her. Pray for her family to come to know Jesus as the Way, the Truth and the Life! Pray for the calling Abba has placed on her for dance and that she would continue to taste and see that He is good!
As Father continues to make a way in the wilderness for Shin Thant in this new season, know that He too is opening doors, softening hearts and moving in supernatural ways in your own life. He has only ever had plans to prosper you, to give you hope and a future. When you call on His name and seek Him with all your heart, you will find Him!
“Surely as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will happen.”
Isaiah 14:24 (NIV)
“At the right time, I the Lord will make it happen.”
Isaiah 60:22 (NLT)
