When God Shuts a Door

We were so excited! In Elizabeth Illinois there used to be a camp, and at this camp there was a cabin type house. And the camp allowed Pastors and their families to stay there for a week each year for free. There was a pond for fishing and swimming and all kinds of livestock to look at and the cabin itself was HUGE! There were like 8 bedrooms! And there were all kinds of board games, and also a foosball table, and a hammock out back. We started planning this trip long before we took it. Dad had everything lined up like he always does. It was set to be a great and much needed vacation for a weary pastor and wife and their six kids!

Just days before, Joe and I decided took a sudden interest in walkee talkees. We knew we would be out in nature and have hiking trips and we wanted an awesome way to stay in communication with one another. We were completely convinced that walkee talkees  would make this trip THAT much better! The only problem was that at this particular time there was only one set of walkee talkees in the house...and they just happened to belong to our kid brothers Andrew and Caleb, who were maybe 6 and 5 at the time.

So we did the mature, elder thing to do....we snatched them away from the brothers. To our demise they of course resisted. But through either a trade or our pure force….I can't remember exactly which it was. We either traded them something (that most likely was no where worth their walkee talkees) or we used our big sizes and forced them to just give them to us. I want to think that it was the former.....but we were sin filled pastors kids, so most likely it was the latter. Oh wait, you thought all pastors kids were angels? Well my apologies for bringin light to that line of thought! Lol!

Anyways, a few days before the trip the boys (as we called them) got upset about these walkee talkees. After watching us use and interact with them their jealousy got the best of them. Now that I think about it, I'm almost certain we traded something for these walkee talkees. Is my family the only one who does this?? Your sib has something completely fantastic, you want it. So you go and grab something you own that will entice them. And you trade items. Much like native Americans!

Most of the time it worked out great for both parties and the trade "stuck". But other times it didn't go so hot. The trader sometimes saw the other sib with their traded item. And just the very sight of them using and enjoying it (if it was a toy) or how good they looked in it (if it was a clothing item) incited jealousy like none other.
The Thing you traded you had forgotten all about, but now seeing it enjoyed and flaunted before you, suddenly it becomes the very thing you want back! But alas it is in the arms of another owner! And this is exactly what occurred just days before the trip. Joe and I thought our trade was secure, and set in stone. But alas the boys grew restless, somehow the sight of Joe and I using them enticed them and they brought their case before the “judge” (aka:dad).

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oe and I thought our possession of those walkee talkees  was coming to a quick end. But much to our surpise, Dad told the kid brothers that they had made a trade and would have to stick with that. But he must’ve told them something else, because when they left that conversation with our dad, they both had a slight smirk on their faces. That is when dad approached Joe and I.  As we reveled in and high fived to the fact that we had just one these walkee talkees, dad approached us and said very simply “You are gonna kick yourselves.”

Joe and I looked at eachother completely puzzled. “Puh, yeah right dad! We have these now free and clear! What do you even mean we are going to kick ourselves?” I asked defiantly (I was an extremely strong willed child…now you know where Miriam gets it eh? Lol).

“I just mean that you’re gonna kick yourselves.” And that’s all dad said. But he said it in such a way, like he knew something we didn’t know.

But Joe and I just shrugged it off. We were too happy and content with the walkee talkees we had NOW, with what we could SEE right before us.

And we forgot all about dad’s warning “You are gonna kick yourselves.” That is until we got into the van to leave for the trip. There we were all crammed into our conversion van. The three youngest had all been strapped into their seats, and us three eldest had taken our seats. Joe and I laughing and giggling about and still reveling in our walkee talkees. The boys (Andrew and Caleb) didn’t seem bothered, or even jealous of our walkee talkees. That is when dad handed a brand new walkee talkees out. He had 4 brand new, more mature looking walkee talkees. You have to understand that the walkee talkees Joe and I had were as “kiddish” as they come, They were purple and had huge buttons and a very kid looking design. These four new ones my dad had bought were blue, and had no kid features. They were adult type walkee talkees. With a morse code chart.

Joe and I got wide eyes. And that’s when dad’s simple phrase hit me “You are gonna kick yourselves.”

Jealousy burned! And we desperately tried our best to come along side the boys and offer them their kid walkee talkees back in exchange for the newer, better, more mature ones. But they would not relinquish them! Their slight smirk was now a full blown smile. They had waited and it paid off!

They listened to what my father had said about the fact that he had bought brand new ones specifically for this trip. In fact my dad had bought these even before Joe and I got the boys’ walkee talkees. My dad had planned all along to give us these…but we had settled for the lesser, only because we could SEE it and we could have it NOW!

We cried out to dad…claiming that the walkee talkees we had now really were the boys’ and they had wanted them back and we were now willing to give them back, but dad just told us “I told you, you were gonna kick yourselves.”

And that’s all he said.

Fast forward to today. That story illustrates well what God has been teaching me lately.

Sometimes we have something, maybe a certain position, or an item, or a friendship, or whatever. And we think it is THE BEST THING. And then it gets taken away for whatever reason. And we throw a fit. We try to get it back…but it’s gone. And we ask why. We know God is in control and we know He could have changed things to work so we could keep it (whatever it was). But He didn’t and now we are left wondering why. Recently I lost something. It wasn’t much, but I finally had an opportunity to use my love of writing for the Lord, and then it was taken away. I was just getting into it and excited about it and God shut that door.

And I felt crushed. But then God brought to mind this story of the walkee talkees. And reminded me that sometimes, later on down the road I will understand and see why things get taken away. I too quickly get caught up in the “kid looking walkee talkees”…those things that I think are the absolute BEST, when really there is something even greater coming down the road (better walkee talkees). I can’t see them, but I must be like my younger brothers were, letting go of whatever it is that I thought was BEST and wait for what is even BETTER! My heavenly Father (much like my earthly father) has something bigger and better planned down the road, but we may miss it if we keep scrambling to keep those “kid walkee talkees”, those things that we love but God us showing us that we need to let them go.

Sometimes He shuts doors because He has something greater planned down the road. So the question is are we going to trust him and hold out? My younger brothers didn’t really know if my dad actually had the new walkee talkees. They had heard him say he had them but he never showed them. They had to trust in something they couldn’t see. I had to do this when I lost a baby last year. It was a super early miscarriage. People kept telling me that God was good and that He would grant me another baby down the road. I couldn’t see any proof of that…but just like my brothers, I had to trust that in the fact that my Father had a plan and would make all things beautiful in His time. And He did! He gave us Rachel! But even if He hadn’t, He told me in His Word that He does work all things out for good. I’ve heard it said that sometimes bad things happen because of our sin…sometimes because of the sin of others…sometimes because of Satan (think of Job), and other reasons,  but really that matters not because by the time that “bad” gets to you, it is God’s will FOR YOU! He only allows what He desires to happen.

So what are your struggling with today? Has God shut a door? May I implore you to wait! He has a plan, just like my earthly father did. He has something BETTER down the road. Right now things look blurry and what you lost seems like the BETTER thing, what could possibly be BETTER than ____ (fill it in with whatever door God has closed.)

But I assure you there is a BETTER! We may never see that BETTER here on earth, but we will one day in heaven! And no one will say “it wasn’t worth it.” So don’t kick yourself! Let it go and trust in what you cant see, be like my younger brothers! Don’t cling to your little walkee talkees, wait for the better ones to come!