A Season of Closed Doors, Letting Go and Stepping into the New
I don’t know about you, but I get rather nostalgic this time of year. As the year rapidly ends, I start looking back at where I’ve been, where I’m at and where I’m going. Did I accomplish my goals? Did I move forward in those that were not completed or did I completely disregard the goal and need to carry that over to the new year? I am happy to say, quite a few were completed and honest enough to say some were completely ignored.
In certain areas, I had such hopes that I would be walking into something amazing, seeing dreams and desires fulfilled but as the year has unfolded, and now drawing to an end, I can clearly see the doors I believed to be opening were in fact shutting. The hopes and dreams that I had placed on these doors were not to be. I met this with a mix of sadness and excitement. Sadness, because it means a big change for our entire family. Excitement, because that means that God has something even better for me as well as for my family. In fact, my entire family will be in this process this year- facing closed doors, having to let go and having the courage to step into the new. But I trust God. As I hope you will too. He is trustworthy with our dreams, our hopes, and every area of our lives. I trust that the reasons behind such closed doors are for my own good and it will be infinitely better than anything I could come up with. That excites me. One of my favorite verses is Ephesians 3:20
20Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
I love that God always knows best and that I rest in the assurance that it will be more than my very human, very limited imagination could come up with. That excites me! And it should you too. He is a God of abundance, not just enough or less than His best. Our faith mixed with His power is a recipe for an exciting adventure.
With the realization that change would be coming, I needed to fully let go of what I thought it should be and embrace the process of change that I will embark on this next year. Change is always hard and a tad scary and those that say it isn’t, are completely lying! But, seriously, change is a part of the process to grow and become everything that our Heavenly Father desires us to be. My heart and desire are to always to walk in the will of God, what ever that looks like. I realized that the dream that God gave me, I put my spin on it, on how and where it would be played out.
Isn’t that just like us? Since the beginning we have been battling self-will. Wanting things our way, in our time, instead of His. We try to second guess Him and decide how the dream should look in every way. When we do that, we curb the creativity of God and can end up settling for less than His best. Now, I’m all for goal planning. I spend a month, writing my goals, the steps to achieve them, scriptures to stand on and then creating a vision board that encompasses it all. It is truly one of my favorite times of the year. The excitement of what’s to come and the anticipation of the process to get there, inspires me to no end. I absolutely love the challenge of it all.
Then there is the flip side to this. Change can be difficult and filled with endless questions. Are we really ready to let go? We will really be ready to step through the new door, what ever that looks likes when we are presented with it? The questions could go on. When faced with these questions I just remind my self that God will walk with me through it all. That just as I desire the best and do my best to help my children, He will do even more than that for me, His daughter.
So, tonight, as we bring to a close the year 2018, I challenge you to not fear those closed doors, but embrace them. I challenge you to let go of your ideas of what things should have looked and trust God with your dreams and your future like never before. And, finally, I challenge you to walk boldly through the new door presented to you.
Father please help us to recognize and accept the closed doors in our lives. Please give us the courage to let go of our expectations and accept your will. You have our best at heart. Give us the courage to walk into the new with all the boldness you have given us as your children.
Happy New Year and Hook’em Horns!