He Shall direct your paths...

He shall direct your paths…

Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”

He who promised IS faithful! I’ve seen this over and over during my time here in Ethiopia and just looking back at the path that has led me to this point. This morning Amber, Christina and I caught an early taxi to church so we could go to one of the Adult Bible Fellowship (Sunday School) classes. We were told that the classes were split up by age groups, but there were no signs or people to directs us and since we had arrived so early there were no people in the classrooms yet to tell us which one we should join in on. We met an American couple named Alan and Susan who were heading to their class with a treat that looked like doughnut holes! Although I would have normally let my belly do the leading and followed them into their class, they seemed much older and we thought we should keep searching for our age group. When we got to the last door, there was this sweet Ethiopian man who welcomed us right in and said that we were in the right place. “Woohoo! Alrighty then,” I said and sat us right up on the front row. There were no other people in the class at that point so we kindly accepted his offer and helped ourselves to some coffee and tea as we anxiously waited to meet the other people in our class. Slowly the class began to fill up and everyone was so welcoming as they all came over and greeted us and asked where we were from and even offered us kolo to snack on. Our excitement slowly faded to confusion as we realized that the room was filling up with men – most of them over the age of 40 – and most of them Amharic speaking. “Ummm…are we in the wrong class?!” Since I’ve never been known to be shy, I volunteered to ask. I turned to the first man and asked politely, “Is this class taught completely in Amharic?” (At this point we would’ve been in big trouble unless they were going to teach a full lesson on fruits, pronouns or body parts.) “Haha, oh no honey – chicarr-yellum” (this means no problem). Whew! Good thing, I thought! Then it hit me that we were still surrounded by all men, so I turned to another man and politely asked, “Is this a class for men only?” “Haha, oh no honey – chicarr-yellum!” was the response I received again. Only this time, I wasn’t so sure. But since we had already drank the coffee and we were sitting on the front row AND we were the only non-Ethiopian, non-males in there…it would have been really tough for us to just get up and leave. We just settled in, opened our bibles and prepared ourselves for the lesson that Ayalew was getting ready to lead. I was open and ready to learn, but I had no clue that the lesson we were preparing to hear would have been so perfectly prepared for ME and for the current condition of my heart. About 5 minutes into his lesson it was completely apparent to me that we weren’t in the wrong classroom after all and that it was no accident that we ended up there. Ayalew led a beautiful discussion about trusting completely in the Lord and reminded us of some of the many, many times He was so faithful to his promises throughout the Bible. God knew that this was exactly the encouragement I needed at this time. (He ALWAYS knows!) Ayalew even left us with this wonderful poem by Horatius Bonar”

“Thy way, not mine oh Lord, however dark it be

Lead me by Thine own hand, choose out the path for me.

Smooth let it be, or rough, it will be still the best,

Winding or straight, it leads right on toward Thy rest.

I dare not choose my lot, I would not if I might,

Choose Thou for me, my God, so shall I walk aright,

The kingdom that I seek is Thine, so let the way

That leads to it be Thine, else I must surely stray.

Take Thou my cup, and it with joy or sorrow fill,

As best to Thee may seem – choose Thou my good and ill.

Choose Thou for me my friends, my sickness or my health,

Choose Thou my cares for me, my poverty or wealth.

Not mine, not mine the choice in things of great or small,

Be Thou my Guide, my Strength, my Wisdom and my All.”