With skillful hands He led them. Psalm 78:72

When you are unsure which course to take, totally submit your own judgment to that of the Spirit of God, asking Him to shut every door except the right one. But meanwhile keep moving ahead and consider the absence of a direct indication from God to be the evidence of His will that you are on His path. And as you continue down the long road, you will find that He has gone before you, locking doors you otherwise would have been inclined to enter. Yet you can be sure that somewhere beyond the locked doors is one He has left unlocked. And when you open it and walk through, you will find yourself face to face with a turn in the river of opportunity–one that is broader and deeper than anything you ever dared to imagine, even in your wildest dreams. F. B. Meyer

How my heart leapt to read the above passage in my daily devotional a couple of weeks ago, as I made ready to travel to Colorado to visit my publishing house, still pinching myself that this was really happening, that I had finally found that door left unlocked for me (I knocked on doors for twenty years before I found that ‘one He has left unlocked.’).

I look back now with thankfulness that the publishing doors I lingered overlong at, and those I occasionally tried to pry open, remained locked to me. For the past several years my prayer has been, “Lord, I’ll just keep writing, and knocking, and trust You to shut every door You don’t want me to go through. You can see what’s on the other side. I can’t. You know the right door, and the perfect time for me to reach it. Open and close them as You will.”

“Thy will be done.” In the words of Father Tim (At Home in Mitford, by Jan Karon), that’s “The prayer that never fails.”

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