Open Doors

Time goes so quickly, doesn’t it? And with it doors open and close. I want to share with you about one door that has been open to our family all summer and the year before.

We have been taking care of two children down the street (during the day), three days a week. We liked having them in our home, and they loved being here. We tried to involve them in our daily tasks, and it worked to an extent. They loved Bible stories and we taught them spiritual songs. But now the summer is over, and their mother had asked for them to be with us for the school year also. That was fine with us, but she called last night, and told us she was moving. As I was thinking about it later, this thought occurred to me, “That was a door that just closed, that has been open to us all sumer and the year before. A privilege we had, to show those children the way to Jesus, is not there anymore. Did we use our time wisely; did we take advantage of our open door?”

We have open doors every day—our trials. God is always giving us trials that are open doors. Every single trial we have is a chance to be an example, to show someone what Christ was like. Oh, dear sisters, take those privileges to be examples seriously! They are so important! We can be having a trial, that the Lord has designed to encourage someone else, but the devil wants us not only to damage ourselves by acting in an ungodly way, but to discourage others. He wants them to think, “Well, so-and-so did that, and they claim to be saved,” or, “See, they aren’t acting right, either. I guess nobody ever can be really good, really submissive to their parents, like the Bible says,” etc. Don’t you known the devil is happy when he gets two people or more discouraged by one trial?

And the Lord is also there. Holding grace for us. Grace that, if we would take it, would turn our failures int victories. But, dear sisters, grace is just not handed out automatically. We have to pay a price for it. If you pray, asking the Lord for grace, and then just expect your prayers to go through without humbling yourself and asking the Lord to give you meekness and a more selfless heart, nothing will happen and then the devil will be even happier because most likely you will get discouraged.

That happened to me. I could not understand why I was not getting the help from the Lord. As always, there was a reason. In my case, I had my trouble in striving with others. The reason I wasn’t getting the grace I needed was because I had pride in my heart. I couldn’t stand others coming out better than me, in ideas, etc. I was not consciously being proud, but when I asked the Lord why I couldn’t get grace, He showed me. And when I humbled myself, He gave the grace I needed. Once I had that grace, I could take advantage of those open doors, which are open to us all.

I have a baking business, and one morning I was really rushing to meet a deadline. I had fifteen dozen cookies to bake, and the lady needed them by 7:00 am to take to work. I had overslept, and was trying to hurry to be through on time. I must have bumped the table—anyway, something caused a big tray of cookies (about 7 dozen) to come crashing down to the floor. I was devastated, to say the least, for the first minute. Then I asked the Lord to give me grace and said, “Thank you, Lord, for this trial,” and began to pick up the pieces. That was an open door to show that there is victory in a trial like that. Even though no one was watching, it helped me—it was another step closer to living with God. Isn’t the Lord good to us? He knew I was in a hurry, He knew that I needed to have those cookies knocked off—even though that was not what I would have thought. He had opened a door for me to be an example for Him, and, since I took advantage of the open door, He blessed me for it. Because, instead of an embarrassing situation of not having an order filled in time, I was ready and waiting.

There have been open doors when I haven’t asked the Lord for grace, and they closed, and the opportunity to be an example was gone. We have open doors right now. Doors that are open only a little while, and then close quickly. A lot of times we don’t look past the trial to see the door God has opened for us.

If you take advantage of those open doors the Lord gives you, and get the grace you need from God, other people will wonder, “What is it that makes so-and-so so sweet, so willing to help?” It is the grace of God, shining out from you. And, since you took advantage of those doors and did well in the sight of the Lord, it opens more doors to sink further into God’s grace. I desire your prayers that I may also take advantage of every door opened unto me.

Your sister,
Abigail Spinks