Open Doors

At Christmas this year, a friend gave me a little door. I know this sounds strange, but it was a Christmas tree ornament that was a small, black door. She told me that she knew it was random, but that God had told her that I needed that door. She also said that she had no idea why God wanted me to have the door, but she had to include it. I just chuckled as I knew exactly why God wanted me to have that gift. 

Several years ago I led a single women’s small group. One thing that was said there was that “Uncomfortableness = Greatness.” This was quite a profound statement, but when broken down it was simple. When you walk through the uncomfortableness you get to greatness on the other side. We used a door to represent this saying. God needed to remind me of this door. He used a special friend to do so. 

This door went on my Christmas tree and when I took it down I decided that the door could not be packed away until next year. In fact, I had already packed it away when I decided that I needed that little door to be seen on a regular basis. I dug back through my decorations bin until I found it. I hung it in my bathroom where I see it every day. Every time I look at it I know that God is telling me about open doors and that I will experience uncomfortableness when I walk through one, but there will be blessings on the other side. 

This little door also inspired my word of the year. Phrase of the year for me because one word just doesn’t cut it! If you recall, I always tell you about my word of the year that I try to use to inspire my life. I use Bianca Olthoff’s method of finding my word(s) of the year. Last year, “Seek and Grow” was what God put on my heart. After getting past Christmas and New Year’s, I do some self reflection to go back and dig into what I learned and how that word of the year affect me. That is what this post is about today. My reflection on “Seek and Grow.”

I had so many new opportunities last year. One thing that I felt God was pushing me towards was speaking to others and sharing my testimony. Never had I ever considered doing that out loud. To write about it is one thing, but to speak about it is another. Using “Seek and Grow,” I told God that if he provided me the opportunity, I would accept it. He did. Between January and June God gave me five opportunities to share with others what he laid upon my heart. I grew from every one of those speaking engagements. He empowered me to preach my first sermon in July. Another “Seek and Grow” opportunity. I had these same experiences at work too. I would “Seek and Grow.” I showed a cow- twice. I sure grew from that one! 

God taught me another lesson from this as well. Sometimes we can seek too much. When we do that we grow, but in the way that we realize we must have boundaries. I did that to myself in my church life. I said yes to so many things that my “Mary” heart had to become a “Martha” and I became overwhelmed and burned out. Nursery, tech team, Hope group leader, and participating in 2 other Hope groups. Saying yes to opportunities that didn’t bring me closer to Jesus, but in reality they closed the door on Him. I let the busyness of service take over my life. I could not draw close to him because I was exhausted. All I wanted to do was sit at the feet of Jesus and learn about him and how to love others well. I prevented myself from being able to do this because I was so busy working on all of these different projects that I just burned out. I couldn’t even do some of the things that I thought God was leading me to do because I just couldn’t take on another church project. Even though I did all of this, I still grew. I grew because I realized that I couldn’t work myself to a frazzle and expect to have enough of me to grow closer to Jesus. “Seek and Grow” was definitely a year of saying yes and growing and learning from when I did. 

This year, when I sat down to pause and listen for direction for my new word(s) of the year, I had 3 words that just resonated with me. These words go together and when moved around have slightly different meanings. My phrase that I adopted for 2025 “Boldly Walk Forward.” I think that little door from my friend is also supposed to represent this for me. When I see an open door, I need to boldly walk forward. I need to get to the greatness on the other side. 

God is calling me back to my writing. Last year, it was speaking. This year, it’s writing. I have heard several times recently a word on being called or the calling on your life. I think that little door is also supposed to remind me of this. When God calls us to do something, we need to trust that we can boldly walk forward because he has us. He doesn’t call us to do things we are not equipped to do! Hearing and knowing what he wants from us can allow us to boldly walk forward because He wants us to experience greatness on the other side! How’s that for a pecan?! I look forward to seeing what God has in store for me when I approach the doors he puts in front of me. Let me approach them with the boldness he equips me with- not with a meek and timid way. Let 2025 be the year of open doors!