God Opening New Doors: When You Thought the Chapter Was Over
Today's testimony is brought to you by our Heavenly Father.
Have you ever seen a runner so worn out from a race that he crawls across the finish line and collapses? This recent test/trial had me crawling to the end. My brother and I were talking about that yesterday. Sometimes it takes all we have just to keep going.
I can't help but feel like that is the point. The Lord wanted me to be reduced to the point where I had to completely rely on His strength just to crawl.
I want to share how the Lord led me through this and how, through confirmation after confirmation, He made a way for me to do some work again.
Last week, a good family friend messaged me and asked if I would diagnose their car. They were tight on money and needed help. In the past, I had felt the Lord leading me away from working on cars, so I would refer people to my friend's shop. This time, I felt the Lord giving me peace about it, and I actually felt kind of excited.
A couple of days later, I had the car and was back in action. After a little while, I found the issue and relayed what the needed repair would be. It felt great. I missed that sense of accomplishment I get when I find the cause of a problem.
From the beginning, I felt that this could be a ministry opportunity if the Lord made this happen. I could encourage people to let the Lord lead them into the correct payment. In fact, I felt that was going to be a huge part of this. If they felt that this was supposed to be a gift, then who am I to say differently?
Working on the vehicle was great. I felt accomplished, I diagnosed the vehicle, and I felt blessed that I could encourage someone to seek the Lord.
The day after, though, I felt frustrated. I wasn't sure if this was a one-time thing or not. So I prayed and told God how frustrated I was and that I didn't know what to do. Would I be able to continue this? I want to keep doing this!
He gave me peace about it, as if He was saying, "Relax and trust Me."
The next day, I got a call and a word from a brother: "The Lord says you've done a good job! He is going to put you on a new path."
After praying about it, I felt this was confirmation that the Lord was allowing me to work again. It felt like God opening new doors right in front of me.
Yes!! I was so excited not only to start doing this work again but to have the Lord's blessing on it. Using it as a ministry to help people is just a whole new level of awesome.
On Sunday, as my friend and I were talking about this very thing, another friend walked over and said, "Hey, I have this car that we can't figure out what's wrong with. Would you be interested in looking at it?"
I laughed out loud.
Look at the Lord work!
He opened a door, and now He is bringing everything needed to make this work out. Sometimes God opening new doors doesn't look anything like we expected. Sometimes He closes the door we thought we were supposed to walk through, teaches us to completely depend on Him, and then opens another one in His timing and for His purpose.
Here I am at the beginning of something new again, and I am excited!
Thank you, Father, for one more day. Amen.
