He is definitely the God of the closed doors... we only want to see Him as God of the open door. In prayer I was reminded about a time early in our marriage right after Tanner was born. We were very young and very poor. We paid our tithes first and the rest just worked out. Young love! I was still on maternity leave and at the end of my paid portion. I'll never forget that morning when Bryan came right back after leaving for work. He is the most honest, hard-working man I know and prides himself on always doing the right thing. That's why this was so hard to take. He had been fired for not properly reprimanding an employee for waiving late charges. The owners didn't feel he had been harsh enough. It was so bizarre and unwarranted. He had been such a great manager... had articles written about him in the local paper... numerous awards... and yet, here he was... coming home wrongfully fired.
Here's the rest of the story... God allowed it! He wanted to show us that He is our source and not any job. He had such a better job for Bryan that would start him on the path to the career that he now has. He knew that we were new parents and needed him to be home in the evenings, on weekends and holidays (which wasn't the case at the other job). He would have never just gone out and searched for this job if he was still in his comfort zone. When he walked into the new job God had orchestrated, they said, "Where have you been? We've been interviewing for months and haven't found one candidate! You are the perfect person for this job!".
We mustn't be afraid of our circumstances and must always recognize that God is in control of it all... even the bad things could be that part of the tapestry that is necessary for the beauty of the bigger picture of our lives! Sometimes in the midst of what seems to be our darkest hour, He is working out the details of the biggest miracle that will blow our minds! I could write BOOKS about all the doors that continued to open after that day. Proverbs 3 became a banner around our hearts... especially verses 5-6 "Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." He didn't say we had to be super spiritual or overflowing with knowledge and wisdom (or even half-way understand what He's up to), but just "acknowledge" him in all our ways and he orders the steps!
7 comments:
I don't like closed doors! :) It is hard to except at times! Even knowing that He knows best does not make it easier! Goes against my nature of being in control at all times!
Kayla
I know... I, too suffer from being a control freak! I have to remind myself continually that He DOES close doors... you would think it would get easier and we would accept it quicker each time... but no--that's not the case!
Love this blog.... such words of encouragement and wisdom regarding where Ragan & I currently find ourselves in the "job world". Sometimes my biggest battle is trying to open & close doors when I think they should be... instead of letting God fight it for me! So utterly human at times....
Thanks, Crystal! I'm glad to be connected with you in bloggy world... loving your blog!
I've seen a couple of closed doors myself. At one point, every time I randomly opened my Bible, I found myself at one of the passages "knock and it shall open". I believe there are four passages that say that, that's all I saw. And I knocked as hard as I could, and subsequently went through one of the hardest, yet most healing, periods of my life. January 2002. One of several life-turning altars in my life. Closed doors look devastating, til you see what's behind Door #2!
Love ya!
Thanks for sharing that, Val... I like that... what's behind door #2? That will be our new question when we face those closed doors... love you right back!!!!
Isn't that just the way it happens? We scream "WHY?" when all the time God truly knows what He is doing. His name is GOD, after all. You would think us humans would catch on to that after a while... :-)
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