how to be thankful for closed doors in life

Lately I have been feeling a lot like Sarah in the Bible: impatient and desperate for God’s promises.

These past three months in Columbus have been some of the most joy-and-blessing-filled moments of my entire life; nonetheless they have also been overflowing with fits of confusion, heartache, and temptation to take things into my own hands.

After I moved home, my mind quickly assumed I would achieve the ideal lifestyle: my job would fulfill my heart’s desire of happiness in the workplace, I would finally have the husband I’d been dreaming about for years and our marriage would be everything I’d hoped it would be, we’d be close to friends and family and be able to spend loads of time with everyone, and we’d have plenty of things to do to keep us busy.

Let me let you in on a little secret: just about none of that happened.

While yes, we are closer to friends and family than we’d ever been before, we barely have time to see them.

While yes, I do have the husband I’ve always dreamed about and our marriage has been amazing so far, it’s never what you imagine it to be!

Friends, let me also remind you of something else I learned the hard way: your life will never be perfect, so don’t ever allow yourself to fall victim to that lie. It might seem all “good and dandy” right now, but trust me; road blocks will come, and they won’t be little mounds that you can just skip right over and barely notice were there.

When these obstacles hit in my own life, I like to try to take things into my own hands and force my way through them. A lot of times I think, “maybe this is God calling me to work harder!” or “maybe this is God calling me to endure and keep going!”

Friends, while this can totally be the case, what I’m about to say next makes those situations all the more difficult: sometimes it’s definitely not the case.

Sarah (who was Sarai at the time) realized this when she gave her servant Hagar to Abraham (who was Abram at the time) as a wife to have children through her. Hagar treated her with contempt which brought her pain, frustration, and confusion. God still wasn’t fulfilling His promise, and now she was suffering even more than before! What was going on?

Check out this cute post on Instagram by Light and Lotus:

I don’t know about you, but for me, it can be so easy to forget this! And, just like Sarah, I often go through the worst in order to be redirected to the best.

Sometimes we find ourselves wandering in the wilderness, wondering where to follow God next. We get so caught up in the emotions rocking our world that we don’t stop to relax, pray and simply chill the heck out.

So this week, I challenge y’all and myself to take a step back when a door slams in our faces. When something gets tough, be tougher than your fears or those voices screaming in your head.

Take a deep breath and read one of my favorite quotes from Kirkland’s. Take it to heart and live it out this week! We are strong, courageous and more than conquerors, so believe it (Romans 8:37).