Thankful for Closed Doors

When I was younger, closed doors were more than a little frustrating. In fact, they could be, at times, just plain irritating. No, no… I’m not talking about physical closed doors, but rather those opportunities, dreams, plans, hopes that get shut down for whatever reason. You think you’re headed in one direction and the door slams in your face and leaves you feeling a bit lost and puzzled. Yep, those type of closed doors.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that those closed doors are often blessings in disguise. Oh, it may not seem like it at the time, but eventually, other doors open. Often, those doors hold even better opportunities than the original doors.  Now, I’m not saying that I no longer get frustrated by those closed doors, but I do appreciate them more. At least when the door is closed, I’m no longer in limbo – waiting to see how things are going to pan out with that particular opportunity.

I’m thankful that the Lord closes doors, so we know that it’s not the path that He wants for us at that time in our lives. Yes, lately, we’ve had quite a few closed doors. The funny thing is that these closed doors have left me with more peace than frustration. Oh, there are still many doors that we may walk through, but we’re continuing to pray that the Lord fully opens only the doors which He wants us to walk through. That way, when the time comes, we can walk through the open door with confidence and peace that we know this is the path/opportunity/dream that the Lord wants for us.

As we wait for the doors to open (and close), we continue to pray and seek the Lord’s guidance in our lives. We thank Him for forgiving us when we find ourselves trying to pry open a door that has already been closed. We thank Him for guiding us down the right path, and being patient as we figure all of this out.

Note: I wrote this post up yesterday as part of Thankful Thursday, but I got distracted by a few things that needed to be done around the house and never hit publish. So, I’m hitting the publish button today.