Revelation 3:8 I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.

A new door cannot open until we have the courage to close the one behind. Sometimes, it could also be procrastination that keeps us from closing the door. Maybe it is we don’t like change so we keep it open. For me, it is all the above at one time or another. So many times the Lord has shut the door and shut it hard for me to move on.He knows I will not move forward unless I am forced to do so. Sometimes, I still find myself looking at the shut door so long that I fail to see the door that  HE has opened.

We tend to want to control our lives thinking we know the best direction. However we serve a God who sees the future.  His ways are higher than our ways. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. When our lives don’t work out the way we planned it, trust it is because God knows best. God shuts a door and forces us to take a different road. Instead of being bitter or upset, let us be thankful we serve the living God.  His  plans for our lives far supersede anything we could ever ask for or imagine!

Every day, it is a process. Every day is a GIFT, not a GIVEN. What are we going to do today that is going to have a lasting impact on others, for heavenly rewards and for our character to grow?

I find myself many mornings saying, I hope this is not a character building day. HA But, joking aside, each day should be character building days. Even the days when we get it terrible wrong, we learn from it.

Over and over the last couple of weeks, I keep repeating the words of Garth Brooks famous song, Unanswered Prayers. ” Remember when your talking to the man upstairs, just because he doesn’t answer doesn’t mean he don’t care. Some of God’s greatest gifts…. are unanswered prayers.

Truly thankful for the prayers that were unanswered for he knew best. Thankful for the doors that have been shut hard. For the ones that have shut that I don’t know why yet, trust that HE KNOWS. Lift my eyes to the one that KNOWS.

There is a quote that says,  “Shut the door until the noise of the world is gone. In prayer and silence shall your strength be. And in a gentle whisper, you will hear the voice of God. “

We have to do our part . YES, the Lord shuts doors many days but sometimes,  he says you have to step up and  put your faith into action also.There are times we know we should jump up and shut the door, keep out the devil as the old church song says.  He will guide us and be with us each step of the way.

Lord, teach me to praise you for the doors you have opened as well as the doors you have closed~Amen ~