“God will not allow you to be tested above your powers, but when the test comes
He will at the same time provide a way out, by enabling you to sustain it. “
1 Corinthians 10:13
In the popular musical the “Sound of Music” Sister Maria, when confronted by a momentous decision which was to change the entire course of her life, spoke the well-known line of assurance: “When God closes a door, somewhere He opens a window.” Millions of Christians who have faced many closed doors (heartaches, trials, and disappointments) in their lives will rise up to say a hearty “Amen!” to her confident expression of faith.
In fact, many of the world’s great have achieved their most heroic accomplishments in the face of “closed doors.” John Milton wrote Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained after having been afflicted with total blindness. Beethoven wrote some of his greatest music, including his Ninth Symphony, after he was almost completely deaf.
Sister Maria was right when she said, “When God closes a door, somewhere He opens a window.” She was right because she was merely echoing the words of the scripture above: God may permit trials to come our way but with every trial He will also provide a way out. Does this sound like a sentimental “greeting card” assurance? Not to the believer who takes his/her stand at the foot of the cross of Christ! There in the darkness which shrouds the noonday sun we see the shining light of God’s eternal love - a love from which no “closed doors” can ever shut us out. (excerpt from Daily Walk With God by Herman W. Gockel)
We live in a time of closed doors because of the Covid-19 virus. We also are living through a heat wave this week, as I write this, and are closing our windows so that we can turn on the air conditioning! All this can lead us to be both physically and mentally closed off to the world around us and cause us to be upset and cranky within our spirit. Do whatever you can to open windows and doors sometime during each day and encounter the world that God has put around you just outside your door. Make peace with the birds and the squirrels. The birds especially have a way of talking back when you imitate their call. It can lighten your heart just to have these kinds of conversations and “NO”, your neighbours won’t think you are nuts! If they do and they say something, invite them to join in your fun!
God has placed so many things around us to lighten our hearts and spirits when we get downcast that will help us to open the doors and windows of our soul to Him and give Him the praise and thanksgiving that is His due! I watched a little child of just one year of age play with a garden trowel almost too big for her to lift yet it brought me joy to just watch her play with a little bit of dirt as she mimicked her mother planting some garden flowers.
It is little things like this that God provides to help us live victoriously in trying and
difficult times. Victory Gardens in WWI and WWII not only supplied food to eat during times of shortages but also promoted positive things to do that helped the psyche as
well. In 1939 the “Dig for Victory” campaign was started in Britain and it was so successful that within three years 1.7 million community plots were started while private gardens with produce numbered 5 million. Your garden could be on your kitchen window ledge your balcony, or in a little patch in your front yard.
Using the analogy of war to describe a viral pandemic may be controversial, but as
we join our little Victory Garden spots it says we are in this together and it gives us
something to share with our neighbours even at two metres or six feet apart!
“How is your little bit of garden doing?” is a great way to engage someone else and get
beyond your feelings, or being troubled by loneliness and feeling shut-in!
God help you to see open doors and windows of possibility in your life!
~ Pastor Roger
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