Closed doors can lead to new opportunities
"He will direct your paths."
- Proverbs 3:6 (NIV)
How many times have we said, "If God would just open the door."
God is the opener of doors, but he is also the closer of them. I have found, in my life, that the biggest direction has come during times of closed doors.
I remember the first time I realized this. I was reflecting on my life and was feeling rejected. My health was declining and the person I thought I was going to be with for the rest of my life backed out of the commitment. I was listening to a Christian radio station and I heard a woman say, "Disappointment is His appointment,"
Later, I came to understand it as, "rejection means redirection."
Pondering those words, I thought to myself, "Could this be true?"
The rest was history. Within a year I met my new husband.
The next closed door came when I was no longer able to work. My 18 years as a nurse were behind me. What would I do now? I had so much loss, and felt so sick.
During my prayer time I heard God say, "Write."
After that, many new directions came for me to write. I started learning that rejection does mean redirection.
Jesus experienced closed doors in his life, even before he was born. When the birth of Jesus was imminent, his parents traveled to a far away destination in order to meet the demands of a decree.
When they arrived there, his father, Joseph, approached the innkeeper for a place to stay, but he was turned away.
The Innkeeper made it perfectly clear, "There was no room for them at the Inn" (Luke 2:7 NIV). But wait; they were directed to the stable with a manger, where Mary gave birth. The most glorious event of all time happened in an unlikely place. At just the right time, God opened another door.
This Christmas season, if doors seem to be slamming shut in your life - doors that don't appear to open no matter how hard you kick and scream - it could be possible that a loving father is directing you to a new way for your life; one that only comes through closed doors.
• Annettee Budzban is a Christian author, speaker, life coach and nurse. She can be contacted at annetteebudzban@aol.com or (847) 543-8413.