“Quiet down before God, be prayerful before him. Don’t bother with those who climb the ladder, who elbow their way to the top.” Psalm 37:7 (The Message)
I chose not to complain when God closed the door to an experience I had been counting on since April 2017. I had waited patiently for 18 months for this, what I thought was a sure thing … and it turned out to be a solid “no.”
Instead of allowing myself to sink into depression or getting angry, I chose to believe God had something better, that His dream for me was far greater than what I had been hoping for, and He needed me to get out of the way before He could give it to me.
Two days later I was in the car with our daughter and my phone rang. I get telemarketing calls all the time (as I’m sure you probably do, too), and so I dismissed it as it was from out of state and I didn’t recognize the number. Two minutes later up popped a voicemail. I don’t know about you, but telemarketers rarely leave me a message. I played it back and it was someone I had reached out to three years prior! I didn’t even remember who this person was, it was so long ago.
My first thought was … is this God’s answer to my prayer for the past three years? Wow – when God answers, He does it in amazing ways. I was excited and couldn’t wait to call this person back, but needed to because I was in the process of picking up our youngest from school and thought it would be better to get somewhere quiet so I could concentrate.
I called my husband and filled him in, excitement mounting even more and talked to my daughter as well. What a testimony I was thinking … all because I surrendered to God. I was smiling because I thought, “He sure answers prayers quickly when I get out of the way!”
I made the phone call which lasted quite a while. It appeared to be going well, but soon became evident it had taken a drastic swerve toward the “closed door.” I still had a choice, but I knew as a Christ follower I could only have one answer and that was “closed.”
I was left wondering … Why would God open a door from three years ago only to close it so quickly?
Come back next time for the conclusion …
© Cheri Swalwell 2018