Welcome to my "Open Window"...a place of hope, encouragement, and adventure as we journey down the road from "Closed Doors" to the new opportunities God places in our pathway. I hope you will take the time to go back and follow the trail of mixed blessings and fears, failures and triumphs from the past and side-trips in the present. Perhaps it will conjure up some of your own special memories, and be an invitation for you to share with others. I look forward to spending this time with you!
What Do You See Outside YOUR Open Window Today?
Remember: "When God closes a door, He always opens a window!" You never know what might be out there waiting for you!
I hope The Beatles will forgive me for linking up their wonderful song with these photos of the deer on my "Long and Winding Road"
Somehow it just seemed to fit. So bear with me!
The Long and Winding Road
The long and winding road
That leads to your door
Will never disappear
I've seen that road before
It always leads me here
Lead me to your door
The wild and windy night
That the rain washed away
Has left a pool of tears
Crying for the day
Why leave me standing here
Let me know the way
Many times I've been alone
And many times I've cried
Any way you'll never know
The many ways I've tried
And still they lead me back
To the long winding road
You left me standing here
A long long time ago
Don't leave me waiting here
Lead me to your door
But still they lead me back
To the long winding road
You left me standing here
A long long time ago
Don't keep me waiting here
Lead me to your door
Songwriters: John Lennon / Paul McCartney
Somehow, this quote by TobyMac just seems to fit my life right now...
How often do we beg God to open doors for us and to make things happen, but then we just stand in the way holding on to the "door knob" and won't let God take over!
I know I am guilty of this, so I am praying that He will see through my inability to "let go and let God" and just take control.
I know God is in control, but I'm still trying to call the shots and make things happen in
my time, my way.
Lord, help me to seek Your way first and foremost.
On this long and winding road of life, please always
Lead me to Your Door!
Amen!
P.S. to my blogging friends...I apologize that I haven't gotten around to visit your posts this week yet...just seems to be one of those weeks. Trying to get caught up. I haven't even written my 'sermon notes' for the week... Yikes! Hang in there with me, friends. I am kind of being pulled in different directions (mostly in my head...) Thank you! I knew you'd understand.
Do you wonder about this saying? This particular sign/door was a birthday gift from my son and daughter in law, who create signs for a living. I was deeply moved by this one as it showed that they knew about my blog title/theme "Closed Doors, Open Windows", based on the quote, "When God closes a door, He opens a window." The above can also be said, "When God opens a door, no man can shut it!"
What this tells me is that God is in control of my life...He opens doors for me and no one else is able to keep me from entering it. It also tells me that when I think all hope is lost, and it appears that there is no other way to go, God opens a "window" of opportunity that comes directly from His hand.
I know from personal experience that God does this for His children. That is how I began writing this blog in the first place...Click HERE for the beginning blog, way back in 2010..., and then here again when we came to another "closed door" about a year or so later...
And there are so many other examples, too numerous to share here, but in each and every one God was always faithful to open that "window" for us just when we needed it most. There were also many times that God opened doors that no man could shut, even when they may have tried...because God had a plan for our lives and He was the one doing the opening and closing.
So, yes, this little sign speaks volumes to me. There could be no better gift. We may be approaching such a door again in the near future, and we pray that God will continue to be faithful to open and close the doors that are best for us, no matter what we or others may think! I know He will...He always has, and He does not change!
This particular saying did originate with God, way back in Isaiah 22:22 and then again in the book of Revelation 3:7-8, in God's message to the church in Philadelphia...which was also known as the "church in revival".
Revelation 3:7-8
7. "And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write,
These things says He who is holy,
He who is true,
He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens."
8. "I know your works.
See, I have set before you an open door,
and no one can shut it;
for you have a little strength,
have kept My word, and have not denied My name."
Has God opened any special doors for you lately, or at other times in your life? Have you experienced the wonder and joy of knowing that what God hath opened, no man can shut? It's truly a marvelous blessing, isn't it?
I had an unusual experience today. I had an appointment for a follow-up for a procedure I'd had last year, and while chatting a bit with the doctor, (a true full-blood African woman who is a very proficient, highly educated female specialist/surgeon), she asked me where I lived, and I told her "out in the forest"...and that just hit a chord with her...which started an avalanche of pent up frustration, anxiety, stress, loneliness, sorrow, you name it...she needed to unburden herself...and said how much she wished she could live in a cabin in the woods somewhere and just get away from it all, but she is trapped in her profession and cannot get away... But she "loves what she does," and puts her whole heart into it, and cannot find anyone to assist her whom she could trust to take care of her practice the way she would...and therefore she just cannot get away...and there are so many issues with her extended family who depend on her financially and otherwise...and yet "no one...not even her mother, or any of her nine siblings that she has helped through college and otherwise...not one of them would ever pick up the phone or come visit her just for her...without wanting something from her...not one of them would even give her a gift because they think she has it all..."
On and on this dear younger, professional woman went...I am old enough to be her mother...and she just poured out her heart to me as if I were her counselor or doctor. instead of the other way around...and I let her continue...the time just flew by...the rest of the office was outside our door...waiting for the doctor to move on to the next patient...and I imagine they thought I was in there taking up her time and pouring my heart out to her...little did they know that this Doctor needed a doctor...and was literally crying on my shoulder...
I hugged her and told her I loved her and that Jesus loves her...she is a "born-again believer", by her own testimony to me...and she prays to the Lord and asks Him to help her...and to find someone to help her in her medical practice so she can take some time off and get away by herself and/or with her own husband and children. I shared what few words of wisdom I could come up with while sitting there praying the Lord would help me to help her. Truly, the best help that I could be was to let her talk and for me to listen.
She said she wished she had a "girlfriend" to go to lunch with and just be silly and have a friend who wanted to be with her just for her, and not for what she could do for her. I felt guilty that I was about to actually go meet a friend for lunch, who was literally waiting for me at that moment in a restaurant, wondering why I was so late...No, I didn't tell the Doctor that, and I wanted to invite her to come along...but there was that full waiting room waiting for her...and her nurses and office staff outside the door wondering what was taking so long...
As she finally left my cubicle to move on, she hugged me again, as I assured her I would be praying for her...and praying that the Lord would send the help that she needed very soon.
I left that office feeling burdened for my doctor "friend". Made me wish I had the expertise and training to go in there and take over for her so she could take some time off and get away...but that's pretty crazy. However, I do know Someone Who knows exactly how to take care of her every need, and so tonight I lift up Doctor_____ to the Lord. Jesus already knows about this...and I'll bet help is already on the way.
On the way home from this appointment I was listening to the JoyFm Radio , which is something I've really missed since I retired and don't get to listen to the radio in the car very often anymore...anyway, they played this song, "With Every Act of Love" by Jason Gray, and the part that really stood out to me was the section in the middle that I've highlighted below in the lyrics....
Sitting at the stoplight He can't be bothered by the heart cry Written on the cardboard in her hands Oh, but when she looks him in the eye His heart is broken, open wide And he feels the hand of God reach out through him As heaven touches earth
We bring the kingdom come (Oh oh oh-oh oh oh oh) With every act of love Jesus, help us carry You Alive in us, Your light shines through With every act of love We bring the kingdom come
There's silence at the table He wants to talk but he's not able For all the shame that's locked him deep inside Oh, but her words are the medicine When she says they can begin again And forgiveness will set him free tonight As heaven touches earth
We bring the kingdom come (Oh oh oh-oh oh oh oh) With every act of love Jesus, help us carry You Alive in us, Your light shines through With every act of love We bring the kingdom come
God put a million, million doors in the world
For His love to walk through
One of those doors is you
I said, God put a million, million doors in the world
For His love to walk through
One of those doors is you
We bring the kingdom come (Oh oh oh-oh oh oh oh) With every act of love Jesus, help us carry You Alive in us, Your light shines through With every act of love We bring the kingdom
We bring the kingdom come (Oh oh oh-oh oh oh oh) With every act of love Jesus, help us carry You Alive in us, Your light shines through With every act of love We bring the kingdom
With every act of love We bring the kingdom Come With every act of love We bring the kingdom come
And, as I was driving and praying for my doctor friend, these words from this song really struck me...I thought the appointment today was going to be about me and my issues... (which were minor, by the way), but God had something else in mind altogether...
God put a million, million doors in the world
For His love to walk through
One of those doors is you
I said, God put a million, million doors in the world
For His love to walk through
One of those doors is you.
Did you hear that? This applies to YOU as well, my friend! I didn't share this story today for any "glory" for me, because this was something totally out of the blue, with no planning or forethought on my part at all...it was one of those "God appointments"...and why God chose me to be the one this dear woman decided to unburden herself upon I don't know...but I pray that it helped her in some way. It was totally a "God-thing"...nothing to do with me at all. I was just one of those
"million, million doors in the world for His love to walk through..."
This old door has been standing up against my garden shed for the longest time. It is weary and worn, weather beaten and riddled with dry-rot. The paint is brittle and chipped, peeling away the layers of time, revealing a colorful past. Its hardware~corroded with rust, wooden edges and seams~
laden with dust.
Surprisingly the pane of glass is still intact~how? I cannot fathom.
What is so intriguing about this old door? Why does it beckon
me to come near...to take a closer look? Is there a story here?
Some secret it held secure ...a mystery of a life
now long gone?
Perhaps. Imagine how many human souls passed through
this old door...welcomed home after a long journey....bid farewell at the beginning of a new adventure...hurriedly opened and closed too many times to tell what stories lay behind this sacred fortress.
An anxious wife watched as her husband drove away each morning...did she ever wonder if he might not return some day?
Regretting words spoken in anger, wishing she could shout through the window, "Come back! I'm sorry!"
The young mother watched through this window as her little boy played safely in the yard each day. I wonder how often did she call his name from this same door..."Time to come in and wash up for supper!"
Was that same woman rejoicing when she saw her tall, strong soldier son returning from the war..throwing open this old door and running out to embrace him, showering him with kisses as tears of joy ran down her cheeks?
Did the hard working father faithfully turn the key in the lock each night, sliding the bolt, making sure his family was safe from harm?
How many people knocked on this old door? Who was welcome...who was turned away?
Yeah, this old door has a story to tell, but it will hold those secrets securely just as it guarded this old house from harm for many years.
I can't just throw it away. Could you? Would you?
Jesus beckons to us today, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me." Revelation 3:20
Would you open the door?
I did.
Postscript: This is a rerun post...originally written way back in January of 2013. Sad to say, not long after writing this, this wonderful old door blew over in the wind and broke to smithereens...we tried to salvage what we could of the wood and door knob/lock, but most of the wood was too rotten with age...it had served its purpose for many years, but after me telling its life story it just blew over and disintegrated. Such is life...once we have served our purpose here on this earth, we return to the dust from which we were created and our souls are called away to our heavenly home. My prayer is that when my life's story is written some day, it will tell a story of love and grace and courage...because of my Creator, Savior, and Lord...without Him, my life would be meaningless...How will your life's story read?
Revelation 3:8: "I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name."
Even though the above message is given to the church in Philadelphia at the end of the age...I am claiming it as God's message to me today. This is personal! You see, I've been attending this "writer's conference" the past few days, and I must admit I am exhausted and have just a little strength left in me. My greatest temptation this morning is to crawl back into bed and pull the covers over my head and say, "I'm too tired, I'm sick from coughing all night, my Nyquil didn't work, and I would rather just stay home and recuperate!"
To be quite honest, I've felt a bit discouraged in my so-called writing career as I've heard over and over again from so many just how difficult it is for a first time author to get a book published in today's market. Afterall, the Rick Warrens and Max Lucados and Jerry Jenkins don't come along every day! One must have a have a unique message that has a waiting audience clamoring to purchase your long awaited masterpiece.
But then there have been those voices which have risen above the others saying, "Don't give up! Be true to yourself and the message that you believe God has given you. You may need to redefine your purpose and the direction in which you are headed in order to reach your desired goals...but don't quit now!
"I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it." Yes, I like that voice; It's God's voice above the din...Yes, Lord, I will listen to Your voice and trust that You will guide me in the right direction. That way I can't go wrong!
