Don't be a door stopper

Do you ever feel like doors are being slammed in your face left and right? Now, I don't mean actual doors, however that could apply too if you'd like, but I mean those missed opportunities and failed relationships, things like that. Have you gone through a season in your life where you begin to wonder if God maybe forgot about you and your plans? Well we know God doesn't forget about us courtesy of Deuteronomy 31:8: "It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed." So if God goes before us, He can't forget about us, in fact He is preparing the way for our next journey. So that "door" that just got shut in your face, I think it was God's way of saying "That wasn't good enough for you." He saw what was ahead, He knew what would happen, and like the loving God that He is, He closed that door to protect you.

Now, I don't know about you but I don't always see that as protection, I get mad and frustrated that things aren't going my way. Why didn't I get that job? Why wasn't I allowed to finish school at Texas Tech? Why didn't this relationship work out? And my personal favorite: Why aren't things going the way I planned, where did I go wrong? So when I run after that closing door and stick my foot in it to prop it open I always get hurt, stuck or injured. Trying to do it my own way only causes pain, because a slamming door isn't meant to be stopped by your hand or foot...you have to just let it close. I have to remind myself of this analogy so that I will allow God to do what is best and stop fighting it.

I have wasted so much time dwelling on missed opportunities or failed relationships. I have sat on the doorstep crying, wondering why I have been shut out, and why I can't just be let in? I think my heart will change and my life will have peace when I start seeing the slamming doors as blessings. If my hope truly does come from the Lord, then I will find joy in the fact that another door will open and it will be prepared for me...I don't know about you but that makes my heart happy. A journey created just for me by the God that I love so much!

I've had a door close on me just this week, and it stinks but I think the words in this verse bring me more hope than that one thing ever could have provided:

"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 upon 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. I will be found by you," delares the Lord, "and will bring you back from captivity." Jeremiah 29:11-14


AMEN!