It's Day 281 of The Red Shoe Project and I awoke to rain. That's right, this morning was overcast and rainy. I opened the door and let Pauly take a look. Yeah... he had no interest in going for a walk any more than I did. Half an hour later, however, the rain had stopped, and being the good master that I am, I threw on my RED flats, grabbed the leash and took Pauly out. It was still too early to tell whether or not the rain would be back or not, so we got out while we could.
Recently God spoke to me about a door of ministry He would be closing.
"Don't take it personally, Gail!" He said.
"It's just easier this way."
"Paul and his companions traveled
throughout the region of Phrygia
and Galatia, having been kept by
the Holy Spirit from preaching the Word in the province of Asia. When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to."
Acts 16:6-7
SHUT DOORS: Why do we make this so difficult for ourselves?
So often, God is simply directing us on the way in which we should go. He closes doors so we know that's not the way. Sometimes there are doors that
"in the natural" should be open. It doesn't make sense that they are closed. Perhaps you've earned it! - or - It's open to everyone else! - or - You're the most qualified! Maybe it's "the next natural thing in line" for you.
"There's a way that appears to be right,
but in the end it leads to death."
Proverbs 14:12
God knows best! His ways are not always "the next natural thing in line." Think of it like this: Let's say the door that you're supposed to go through is the 10th door. If the nine doors before it were all open, you'd spend a lot of time in places that you didn't belong. When time is of the essence, He locks the doors to make it easy. You try this one -- it's locked -- so you move to the next. That door's locked too! -- so you move along to the next and the next, until you find the open door.
Now if you find an open door, and you realize that you don't belong there. That's what we call "A TEST". If you know you don't belong there, get yourself out -- collect your gold star for passing the exam and move to the next door. You can't use the excuse that the door was open so you must belong there. Nice try, but it doesn't work that way.
Sometimes... the door was originally open, and you were in fact meant to be there, but now it's time to leave. Whatever was meant to happen has taken place. There's nothing more to be done there. That season of life is over.
Sometimes we step through the threshold but we stick one of those wedges in the door. We're afraid the door will lock behind us and we wont be able to get back in if we want to. Perhaps our heart is tied to something or someone in there? -- good or bad -- it doesn't matter. God says the time has come to move on.
I know that there have been times in my life when somehow my brain or my heart, or all the little voices in my head fed me 1001 excuses as to how that couldn't possibly be true. Of course I belonged in there! Oh... God told me to walk away. God told me that wasn't for me. God even showed me that it wasn't to my benefit, but even with all that... I stayed. Did He have to pick me up, carry me out, shut the door and lock it? Yup! He did. But looking back, a lot of time was wasted due to my delay.
This time, however, it's different. He's not talking about all that. He's just directing. The Bible says...
"The Lord makes firm the steps
of the one who delights in Him."
Psalm 37:23
He's telling me straight out, in advance, He's going to shut a door. How interesting it is that He also told me not to take it personally? So often we do, don't we? Instead of just accepting that God says it's time to go, we want to point fingers at people.
- "Why are you doing this to me?"
- "Why won't you help me?"
- "Why won't you stay with me?"
- "Why would you hurt me like that?"
And it's not any of that at all. That's our flesh wanting to make something out of nothing. God's closing the door! Interesting! That's "A TEST" in and of itself.
Don't just get yourself out of there,
keep your mouth shut in the process!
"OUCH!"
Time to kick off my RED shoes
and ponder those things awhile!
Gail
