by Crystal Mohrmann
One of the things that never ceases to amaze me about by the way’s bread for your journey is how often I am able to directly relate the week’s lesson to whatever is going on in my own life. I also always find that in the days after bread for your journey, I run into reaffirmations or reminders to remember the lesson.
This week, the most significant aspect of our discussion (for me) came from the idea that often, God will open the door for us, but that it is our responsibility to take the initiative to step through it, even when it looks like it could be dark inside, and trust that he’s going to be walking with us the whole time and carrying us when we can no longer walk ourselves.
Personally, I’ve had to walk into several dark places and I’ve more often than not, gone kicking and screaming. Because sometimes, I don’t think God gives us the choice. He gives us the extra push we need to get where we need to go when we can’t get there ourselves. However, most of the time, I think God does give us the choice. He opens the door to an opportunity and let’s us decide to walk by it or to walk through it. Right now, in my life and in my search to find the right place to pursue my passion, I am standing at one of God’s open doors. By opening this door, he’s sending me a lifeline, so I won’t drown in financial and other stresses, but from my perspective, what’s inside doesn’t look like what I thought or expected. And so I struggle with the same question I did a few weeks ago when I posted my last blog. Then, the question was do I let go of the rope? Now the question is do I walk through the door? Both involve blind trust, but I think if anyone is worthy of that trust, it’s God.
And so, I’ve been pondering that since last night’s bread for your journey and attempting to build enough courage to walk through a door that leads to a future that’s unknown. Interestingly enough, I decided to relax tonight by watching an old episode of the TV show, “Everwood.” Typical enough, right?
Well, do you remember those “reminders to remember” that I spoke about at the beginning of this post? Yeah, one of those popped up in a reference to none other than the flood story that Heidi talked about earlier this week on the blog and which was also one of the readings from last night. In the episode I just so happened to be watching (season 3, episode 18 if anyone is interested), one of the character’s says, “Maybe I’m like that person that didn’t realize that God sent him the boat or the helicopter…when the flood came…[m]aybe God did answer my prayer, but I just didn’t realize it because it didn’t come in the form I was expecting.”
I know, subtle right? If that wasn’t further encouragement to walk through the door, I’m not sure what else would be.
William Blake once wrote, “There are things that are known and things that are unknown. And in between, there are doors.”
We are, as humans, constantly treading the divide between what’s known and what’s unknown. We, as Christians, however have faith on our side…faith that although so much of our lives is unknown to us, there is nothing God does not already know about us and our journey. He opens doors for us on purpose. And sometimes, we need to step up and let our faith help us move through the door to the unknown even if it scares us, even if it doesn’t come in the form we were expecting.
Imagine this: You and your best friend have decided to take a road trip. You have no idea where you’re going, but your best friend assures you that he knows how to get there and knows what will be there when you arrive. Your friend doesn’t promise that you won’t get a flat tire or take a wrong turn by accident along the way, but he does promise that you’ll be together on the journey and will end up exactly where you’re supposed to be. Do you go with him or do you walk away from an incredible opportunity because you’re scared of what “might” happen along the way? I don’t know about you, but I trust my friends enough to know that if they say they’ll get me where I need to go, then they will. I believe God deserves that same trust.
So ask yourself: are you ready for a road trip with God?
If your answer is yes, then walk through the open door.
Following in Dustin’s footsteps, I’ll leave you with a song from Jeremy Camp called “Walk by Faith.”
