Struggling with loads of laundry, clutter in the kitchen and chaos in your life? Stress can easily steal our joy. Trish Berg reminds us to simplify the small stuff and find Joy in the Journey.
I like to know where I am going. I like to see the path ahead of me light up like the fourth of July on a hot summers night guided by the glow of diamonds in the sky and the sound of loud explosions echoing in the air. Instead, my path sometimes seems dim and can be blocked by closed doors. Sometimes, God opens doors, and sometimes He closes the doors that are in front of me. And most of the time I struggle to find the difference between the two.
Many years ago, it looked as if God was opening a door for me at attend Allegheny College in Pennsylvania. I applied, got accepted, went, and returned home after only one semester. The door was clearly closed there for me, and I was left wondering I had gone in the first place.
Start over.
God opened the door for me to attend Baldwin-Wallace College, and that is where I met my husband, Mike, where we started our path together in this world. I am not sure why I had to walk through the first door to get to the second, but for some reason I did. Now, over twenty years later, I am who I am partly because of that first closed door.
Not too much later, God opened a huge door for me to earn my masters degree, which opened the door for me to teach college. Then He opened some amazing doors for me to begin writing articles, books, and become a speaker for womens events. I thought the fireworks were exploding in the sky lighting my path, and suddenly, He slammed another door shut when two of my books were canceled by the publisher.
Start over.
I went back to teaching college since that is what I knew. God then opened some doors for me to not only teach as an adjunct, but as a full-time instructor. I settled in, saw the fireworks again, and then slam!
Start over.
Another door sis closing in my life and I am left with stubbed toes and a bruised ego wondering how I can misread so many open doors and closed doors. Is it me? Do I not walk where I should? Do I try to make my own path and not seek Gods will?
I have been thinking a lot lately about the doors in my life and what God wants from me. I dont have all of the answers, but the more I seek Gods peace, the more peace I find. I am left believing that God uses the doors of our lives to lead us where He wants us to go, not just in our education, our careers or our families. But in our hearts, our faith and in our souls.
Now I am starting to view the closed doors of my life as protection from God, not lost opportunities. Think about it this way. If your home was on fire, the closed door to your bedroom would protect you from that fire so that you could survive the heat and flames and escape through a different path.
So God opens doors to encourage us, and He also closes doors to protect us. And though He may not always light our journey up like the fourth of July on a hot summers night, He does continue to lead me through the doors of my life.
And as long as He doesnt give up on me, I wont give up knocking.
Start over.
