Doorways

"This is the message from the One who is holy and true,
the One who has the key of David.
What He opens, no one can close;
and what He closes, no one can open:"
~Revelation 3:7

Something I have prayed repeatedly this year (in a few different scenarios) is that God would "open the right doors and close the wrong doors."  I'm striving to get better at knocking on the doors I would like to go through... not only praying but putting forth some real effort on my end, taking appropriate assertive action (applying to grad school, pursuing potential adoptions, applying for desirable jobs, etc.), and then trusting God to open the path or to close it and show me a better one!

Trust is easier said than done when a door you would love to see opened seems to be barred shut.  We have all faced situations where we longed for and prayed for something and even moved toward it wholeheartedly, then the door closes in our face.  Sometimes it takes years to understand how you are actually better off without that thing or person in your circle, and sometimes you just have to trust God without understanding why it had to happen that way.  Waiting always requires faith and patience, and deferred hope is hard and painful.  But I'm reminding myself today that God's ways are higher than our ways.  His thoughts and plans are higher than mine.  He sees the much bigger picture and knows the potential ripple effects of our every decision.  He has always been faithful to meet my needs, and He knows and cares about the desires of my heart.  God is trustworthy and powerful and kind, and His timing is correct.  He is progressively transforming me to be more like Jesus.  And He is not withholding any good thing that would be beneficial to His Kingdom and to my life in this season.  

May I get better at discerning His voice and knocking on the right doors!!  And when I get it wrong, may His will be done, and not my own. ❤

"I know everything you have done. And I have placed before you an open door no one can close. You have only a little strength, but you have obeyed My word and have not denied My name." ~Jesus, Revelation 3:8