Looking for God to Open a Door for You? Me too!

When you decide to close a restaurant (like I did) or make any kind of career change, well-meaning people are quick to offer up a lot of advice. Lately, I’ve been hearing a lot of comments that sound like this:

“Well, you know, when God closes one door, he always opens another.”

I know I’m cynical, so I can’t help thinking, “Just because there’s an open door, that doesn’t mean I’m the one meant to walk through it.”

Exhibit A:

Where did this phrase originate? And why is it always attributed to God? A little digging turned up this fun fact:

In 1605, Miguel de Cervantes now famous work Don Quixote offers up this quote:

“When one door is shut, another is opened.”

— Miguel de Cervantes

Then Johann Richter, Helen Keller, and Alexander Graham Bell all said:

“When one door closes another door opens but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.”

Yep. Apparently they all said those exact words. Weird, right?

I can think of a lot of “open doors” in the Bible and the people who walked through them paid dearly:

Remember when Abraham took Sarah’s maid to be his wife so he could have offspring through her? Open door. NOT a good idea to walk through it!

Or when Saul went into the cave and didn’t see David, who cut off a corner of his robe. “I could have killed you, but I didn’t!” He had a clear open door, and he didn’t take it. You know why? Because it would have been a bad idea!

The time wasn’t right.

And here lies the million dollar question:

How do you know when the time IS right?

I did find one instance where the phrase “open door” is actually used in the Bible. Paul says that God “opened a door for him.” But here’s the kicker: he immediately regretted walking through it.

“Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me, I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia.” (emphasis mine)

He then gives thanks to God for using the trip to spread the gospel. Of course, that’s a lesson for another day. God doesn’t waste anything. That open door, though it didn’t yield what Paul had hoped, still brought glory to God.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how to know which doors to walk through and which to leave closed. We want the decision to be easy.

1. Open door.

2. Walk through it.

But not every open door is a great idea. In fact, there’s a dilapidated house next to my neighborhood. I walk past it everyday on my way downtown. A lone rickety rocking chair beckons from the porch. I bet the front door is unlocked. I tried to get one of my kids to test it, but they were afraid a ghost would follow them home.

The Scary House on Main Street

Some doors should remain closed forever.

Back to our problem. When should we try the doors in front of us? I came up with a list of questions to help me decide.

1. Does walking through this door compromise my personal values in any way?

2. Will walking through this door negatively affect my family?

3. Do I have the knowledge, skills, and support necessary for what this door will ultimately usher Into my life?

It’s obvious to me now that when I go searching for an open door what I’m really looking for is a miracle. I want God to show up in a big way, like he did on the third day when the stone had been moved and Mary and Mary Magdalene discovered that the tomb was empty or like the disciples who later huddled together in a room and mused that, “though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’

That’s all I really want. And isn’t that what you want too?

Peace.

Want more good stuff?

Additional Resources for this Post:

The Next Right Thing by Emily P. Freeman

What to do Next: Taking Your Next Step when Life is Uncertain by Jeff Henderson

Art for your House—I have this piece hanging in our upstairs loft!

Print by Lindsay Letters

How 9/11 Changed My View of Motherhood

They say that your worldview is forever shaped by the way the world is when you are in your 20s.

When I was 27, my world changed forever.

This week, I watched coverage of the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy in the United States, and like you, I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I heard the news. I was a new mom, with a two-year old and a brand new baby. That baby was only a week old, and when the twin towers fell, I felt my hopes and dreams for that child fall with them.

To be sure, that day changed the world for all of us, bringing evil near and replacing freedom with fear. In those first days and weeks, I wondered what our new lives would look like. I remember my heart beating fast as I thought about about all the “maybes'“ and “what ifs” of a future I could not see.

In time, two more children joined our family, but I no longer fear for their future. I no longer worry over the circumstances that will shape their lives.

Is it because the world is safer now than it was twenty years ago?
Is it because I’ve buried my head in the sand and decided to turn my head from violence, disaster, sickness, and war?
Or is it because I simply have more courage today than I did back then?

After all, didn’t Jesus command us not to worry? (Matthew 6:25-34)

That last one is true, BUT NO, the real reason I don’t worry as much is because I finally realized that:

God’s solution to big problems has always been a baby.

Those helpless babies I rocked twenty years ago are part of God’s plan to restore the world.

It was Isaac,

the first son of God’s promise to Abraham, who became the legacy of a great nation.

It was Moses,

whose mother tucked him in a basket and sent him down the river, who delivered the Israelites from Pharaoh.

It was Samuel,

whose mother dedicated him to God before he was even born, who became a priest, a judge, and a prophet, and who anointed both Saul and David as kings of Israel.

And it was Jesus,

who came to us as a baby and saved the world from sin. It was him who preached of sacrifice and love and who ultimately calls us not to hide but to be a light in this dark world.

Whether we have children or not, we all started out as babies, and we all have the same opportunity to do good wherever we are.

For what it’s worth, it’s never too late to be whoever you want to be. I hope you live a life you’re proud of, and if you find you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start over.

—F. Scott Fitzgerald

Looking back, I’m embarrassed that I felt fear for the new life in my arms. After all, God trusted me with that child (and three others). And as long as the earth continues to turn on its axis, I believe he’ll keep using babies to bring peace and hope. Mine are growing up fast, and I’m so proud of them.

Want more good stuff?

Safety is not the Goal

A few years ago, we had a really big snow in Georgia, fondly referred to now as Snowpocalypse 2014. It shut down school for a whole week. During that week, I received a lot of communication from teachers and friends via email, and every one of those exchanges ended with the words, “Stay safe and warm.”

Lately, I’ve noticed the trend returning with comments on social media echoing the sentiment:

“Stay safe!” we shout to each other from a distance.

And I don’t know, there’s something about that word—SAFE—that gives me pause.

Safety used to be synonymous with comfort and peace. Safety was a security blanket I could carry around like a good luck charm.

And I guess that’s why SAFE doesn’t seem like the right word right now. We are in a very uncomfortable season. Many of us are dealing with overwhelming anxiety rather than peace. Safety not only feels out of reach, but also—and I know this will be controversial—irrelevant.

Irrelevant?
Stay with me.

Do you remember that line in Chronicles of Narnia, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, when Susan first learns about Aslan the Lion?

"Ooh" said Susan to the beaver. "I'd thought he was a man. Is he-quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion."

And the beaver replies, “Safe? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.”

Susan was about to meet a King, and he was going to change her life.

In this scenario, a discussion about safety is irrelevant. The beaver is giving Susan an introduction to an empowered future.

Like Susan, we too crave safety. No one from Atlanta will ever forget Snowpocalyse 2014. The prevalent sentiment du jour was “safety above all else.”

But it was too late. Roads iced over. Traffic halted. Power faltered. Cars were stranded on the side of the road. Few carried the resources they needed—extra blankets, water bottles, protein bars, and waterproof shoes.

We just weren’t ready.

Were we ready for a global pandemic capable of taking down all of humanity?

No one was ready for Covid-19, even though scientists actually did warn world leaders decades ago that a virus similar to this one was not only possible, but also probable. They said it would change our lives.

And it has changed our lives.

In the name of safety, we wear masks and use hand sanitizer. In the name of safety, we cancel school, concerts, sporting events, and church. In the name of safety, we gather at a distance and call on our friends. via technology.

I like safety. But you know what I like more?

Empowerment.

Empowered people are not derailed when life throws them a curveball. Instead, they use whatever resources are available to ensure they are ready. Masks and hand sanitizer are resources, not crutches. Warm socks and bottled water are resources, not security blankets.

You can be empowered AND responsible.
You can be empowered AND adventurous.
You can be empowered AND still be safe.

President George Washington quoted Micah 4:4 throughout his life. In fact, historians cite more than 50 times that he included this one verse in his correspondence: “Everyone will sit under the own vine and under their own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the Lord Almighty has spoken. All the nations may walk in the name of their gods, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever.”

The good news of this passage and so many like it is that we don’t have to be afraid. (Psalms 16:1, Proverbs 28:26, Joshua 1:9, Ephesians 6:10.)

Empowerment is all about being ready. When you are empowered, you allow yourself to be defined by opportunities, not limitations. (Remember, like Susan of Narnia, we have met a King!)

None of us were prepared for Covid-19, but some of us were already prepared—in the sense that we encountered something new and instead of hiding in fear, we pivoted and made adjustments and began ordering our lives around a new reality, one in which we were ready and equipped.

In this season of uncertainty, I am not asking for safety. I am asking God to prepare my heart. (Psalms 16:7, Psalms 27:8, Psalms 28:7, Psalms 139:23)

Believe it or not, Snowpocalyse 2014 only dropped two inches of snow. Two inches! But it crippled Atlanta, not because it was so much snow, but because the snow simply arrived at the wrong time. Schools and businesses both dismissed around noon that day, quickly turning Atlanta’s interstates and surface streets into ice rink parking lots. My own husband was stranded in his car, and ended up spending the night with a family he’d never met because he simply could not get home.

Want to know what finally ended this catastrophe? It wasn’t anything the government did. And it certainly wasn’t us.

It was the sun!

Isn’t that a beautiful image?

My prayer is that in this season you’ll allow the light of Jesus to change your life, too. You may never feel safe.

But you can feel strong.
You can feel empowered.
You can feel prepared.

And then you will feel peace.

Let’s spend less time talking about our fear and more time doing something practical to mitigate it. You have one very powerful weapon available to you—your own body. True, it’s the one thing we most fear losing, but it houses both our heart and our brain. You can love others by showing respect in public. (Don’t be awkward; wear a mask, use hand sanitizer, don’t hug or shake hands.) Care for your neighbors in creative ways. We don’t know what this fall will look like, but let’s go ahead and prepare our homes for the additional time we’ll probably be spending there. Make it beautiful, a place of welcome and respite for those who are close to you.

And lastly, prepare to be disappointed.

But don’t let the disappointment derail you.

You were not only ready for this—you were made for it!

Want more good stuff?