The end is not the end; rather it's a bend in the road

A few years ago, I got into a situation where God's will seemed unclear. I had an open door in front of me but I wasn't sure if God wanted me to walk through it. So I prayed fervently that God would close that door if it was not His will for me. The door stayed open. I prayed again.  The door stayed open.  It seemed clear that I should take this path and I proceeded, cautious, and yet believing God would stop me if I was going the wrong way.

But God didn't stop me, and that path led me to numerous difficulties and finally a dead end.  A dead end.  What?!  I couldn't believe it.  I had prayed about this; I had asked for wisdom and for the door to be shut if it wasn't right for me.  Why would God bring me to a dead end without bringing anything good from the situation?  Now please do not think that I see myself as the ultimate determiner of what is good.  However, in this case I couldn't even imagine any good ever coming out of it (and I have a pretty good imagination).

A couple of years later, I came across this quote by Helen Keller: "When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us."  It seemed like God was telling me to move past the situation, that by fixating on it I was blinding myself to other lovely things He had planned for me.  I finally accepted the closed door and began looking around for the new door God had opened.

Quite a bit of time has gone by since this happened and I'd pretty much forgotten about my journey down the dead-end road.  There were beautiful things to see once I stopped staring at my closed door and took a look at the world around me.  Of course, once I was content with the new paths I had found, what should appear but that same dead-end road!  Only this time, instead of a dead end, I am able to see the faint outline of a totally different path, worlds away from what I had originally thought the path would lead to.  This new path is still being cleared, but I see that it may lead to an outcome I didn't even have enough faith to imagine.

What is God teaching me?  That just because things seem to be immovable, ruined or lost doesn't mean that's how God sees them.  If I think a situation is beyond repair, instead of giving up or pouting I should be craning my neck to catch a glimpse of the awesome thing God is going to do next.  1 Cor. 2:9 says, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him."  Now that's a door worth staring at.