can any progress really be made unless we are willing to leave somethings behind and walk with trembling feet through new doors of uncertainty?
I was bemoaning and making an idol out of the mistakes I had made in this past season of my life. How many of you know that God will always sneak through a message your heart most needs to hear even when you aren’t wanting to hear it?
I was reading an online daily devotional from Elijah List and Randy Walter’s words hit the the bull’s eye on my resistance. I was seeing my surrendered flag as repentance – when all it really was, was guilt.
Randy said in his own bemoaning season he heard the Lord say, ” You’re not going to get very far until you stop massaging your guilt over the past. That doesn’t impress me…because you confuse it with repentance. Woe is me is not the same as forgive me and help me move on. If you really want to please me don’t wave your past mistakes like a flag of surrender. Just learn from them and I’ll be happy.”
And just like that God’s arrow of love, grace, and redemption pierced through my resistance landing smack dab into the fragile tissue of my heart. With raw honesty I admit to you, I woke up this morning not wanting to spend time with God at all. BUT, God clearly had another plan.
There are often messages God is trying to get through to us and he will keep gently pursuing us until we are ready to listen. For me, the verse was Isaiah 60:1. I had seen it pass before my eyes at least five times in the last week. It says, “Arise [from spiritual depression to a new life], shine [be radiant with the glory and brilliance of the Lord]; for your light has come and the glory and brilliance of the Lord has risen upon you.”
The past season of my life did not go as planned. I’d been pushed down one too many times. I found myself spiritually depressed. Empty. Unfulfilled and afraid to move forward. My legs had not yet recovered from the fall of perceived failure and I wasn’t sure I was ready to try them out again. My heart was aching and felt like any hope it held was constantly finding a hole to seep out of. I was so tempted to place my white flag in the ground and walk away.
Months back, God had showed me a vision of an open door before me. I didn’t realize at the time that the Jewish year of 5778, which is now here, is also referred to as “the year of the open door”. I am no expert on the Jewish calendar and all the significance it holds. It wasn’t even until recently that I even knew it existed, but this was a sign even this gal could understand.
There is an open door God has opened before me and before you. I have been peeking through at times, but mostly, I’ve been hiding on this side of certainty. I’ve been letting the whisper of perceived failure define me and immobilize me. Because the truth is the open door, requires me- requires you, to abandon somethings and let go. For me I needed to forgive myself and not hold onto the guilt of my mistakes. There is a lovely quote that broke a little tether of the guilt that was wrapped around my heart when I read the words, “I never lose, I either win or I learn.” God was preparing my heart so that today he could break the rope completely with his truth!
The challenge before us is this , WILL WE TRUST GOD AND WALK THROUGH THE DOOR HE HAS GRACIOUSLY OPENED BEFORE US OR NOT? What do you need to lay down so that you can walk through? Is it shame? Guilt over past mistakes? Is it fear of the unknown? Is mistrust or doubt? We all have our struggles – those things we are holding onto that keep us hiding from further pain.
God may just be trying to crack open your heart to a message you need to hear right now in this very moment! Pause and create some stillness to listen…
What my dear is God asking you to dust yourself off from so that you can walk through this new door of opportunity in your life and take hold of the destiny He has for you to ARISE AND SHINE?
He was sending me a very clear, beautifully displayed message. In true God like fashion he was speaking right to the heart of my struggle. He saw how I was weakened in battle, falling to the ground exhausted and weary. But as I was laying there, knocked off my feet and dazed by the fall, he hadn’t forgotten me. He leaned down and whispered in my ear, “Get up my sweet child. Get up from the dirt. Dust yourself off and move on. This is not the end. NO! It is just the beginning. The door is open. Will you take my hand and let me lead you through?”
This is your new beginning my sweet friend. Your door of opportunity awaits. But there is one more thing I cannot forget to tell you. Your progress will not come without a price. Paul states clearly to the Corinthians in the verse above that there is a WIDE-OPEN door ahead, but there are also many adversaries. The enemy will always attempt to steal your light. He will whisper to you as well. Trying to get you to tremble with fear and doubt that the door is for you. Don’t listen. GOD WILL ALWAYS PROVE TO YOU- YOU CAN! YOU, MY FRIEND, WERE BORN TO SHINE!
Your door awaits. I pray you find the courage within to take God’s hand and let him lead you through!