Dustin.Lammiman

Reflections on 2012

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Last night as I celebrated the beginning of a new year with friends and family we reflected on Proverbs 3:5-6:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.

It is amazing to think back on the year and realize how many times God has made my paths straight. A year ago I was getting ready to drive back to Yellow Grass after a much needed Christmas break. I didn’t want to go. It wasn’t that my internship experience to that point had been horrible, but I was feeling very discouraged by a lack of progress. I was half way through my eight months in Saskatchewan and the two things I was responsible for, a kid’s club and Sunday evening Bible study, had just barely gotten started and were already in danger of dying due to a lack of attendance.

Looking back on my time in Yellow Grass now I see a much different picture. By the time I left in April the attendance at the kid’s club had swelled from ~10 kids a week to over 20 most weeks. More importantly, these kids were being taught the Bible and the gospel message and other adults in town became excited about what was happening. The Sunday evening Bible study never grew much, but the small group of Christians that met faithfully every week began to see its value as a time of encouragement where they could fellowship, pray together, and imagine what Kingdom work in Yellow Grass might look like in the future. So, while in January I didn’t want to go back to Yellow Grass, by April I wasn’t sure I wanted to leave. God had indeed made my path straight and was doing great things in small town Saskatchewan. I was very encouraged to go back for VBS in August and see how he continues to work.

2012 brought many other blessings to me for which I am very thankful. I graduated with my Bachelor’s degree in Theology from Alberta Bible College and I traveled Europe for a month with a good friend. Now I feel that the path in front of me is winding again. I’m not really sure what God has in store for me next but I’m itching to know. It is frustrating at times when I feel like I am just spinning my tires and going nowhere. But if I look back I can see that God has straightened the winding paths for me in the past, and so I can be confident that he will continue to do so in 2013 and beyond.

So, how did God make your paths straight in 2012?