Door Life: Processing Transition

Doors throughout Peru, December 2018

On my recent trip to Peru, I kept getting drawn to doors. Wooden doors, metal doors, shiny doors, painted doors. They were closed and they were open and I couldn’t stop thinking about them.

I thought about something I had written a while ago:
Shut heavy doors. 

Closing doors can be scary. 

Especially heavy ones - backed with the weight of emotions, opinions, fear, uncertainty, sorrow, insecurity. 

The ones that are more comfortable left open - for a short time. 
But don't be afraid to shut those doors. 

Firmly. 
Take your hands off the knob. 
Back away. 

For in shutting heavy doors
comes freedom, and faith, and new opportunities. 

It becomes a whole new world
of hopes, and dreams, and courage. 

Shut the heavy door.

My boyfriend Luis proposed to me on this trip to Peru, and although I haven’t had a whole lot of time to process it yet, a lot of doors are involved in this journey. As excited as I am, I’m also nervous. It’s a lot of changes coming at once for me. A shutting of old doors and opening new ones.

I’ll be moving to Reading, and our support system there is amazing, I’ll get to be a part of Transform Church, God is doing great things in the city of Reading, and I’m excited to build a life with Luis and see how God is going to use us. However, my heart is heavy knowing that I’ll need to shut some doors also. I’ll be moving away from my hometown and my beloved church family and not getting to see everyone as frequently. I’ll be changing houses and most likely jobs. I’ll be settling into a new normal.
I’ve warned Luis to give me grace as I’ll probably cry a lot of happy and sad tears throughout the next few months if the past few weeks are any indication. But it is good. The Lord is faithful.


Because of my newfound fascination with doors and what God was teaching me through them, I started looking up Bible verses about doors, and as I did, I learned some things to ponder.

Jesus holds the key to doors and guides us.  
Revelations 3:7-8 – The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens. “‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.”

Open doors lead to new opportunities for life and ministry, despite adversaries. 
1 Corinthians 16:9 – “for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.”

The Lord guards our going out and coming in. 
Psalm 121:7-8 - The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.

Shut the door and communicate with the Father, listening to His heart. 
Matthew 6:6 - But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.’

Jesus is our door. Through Him, we have life, protection, and guidance. 
John 10:7-18 - So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason, the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

Sometimes getting an open door requires us taking action.
Matthew 7:7-8 - “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.”

Look at the doors in your life. Are there doors that need to be shut that you are holding open with all your might? Are there doors that need to be opened that you are leaning against, trying to hold back all the unknown that it may bring?

May the Lord bless us and keep us as we shut heavy doors. 
May His face shine upon as we open new doors. 
May He be gracious to us in the transitions, creating space for us to process and giving us new perspectives. 
May the face of the Lord be revealed to us as we look closely at facets of His character and spend time with Him. 
And may the Lord give us peace as we navigate the opening and closing doors throughout our lives. 
(Numbers 6:24-26 – Door version written by me)