“When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.”
~ Alexander Graham Bell
Remember that God knows us intimately. He will never gives us more than we can handle (even though it seems like it sometimes). My Mother always said “God never closes all the doors without leaving a window open for you”. She was also found of telling me that “everything happens for a reason”.
These common sayings are more than colloquialisms. They are fundamental precepts of our faith. Do we really trust God? Do we really have faith that He not only knows what is best for us, but capable of leading us there if we let him?
For many of us, our trust of God never goes beyond the intellect. Our hearts and actions have fallen short of what our mind tells us. We know it’s God. We know God loves us. We know God’s leading us where we need to go. But we just can’t seem to let go of our illusionary control. We lack the faith and trust to truly let go and let God.
So why do we have such a hard time letting go? You can analyse this question to death, but it’s always going to get down to one emotion; fear. The reason we have a hard time trusting God and letting him run our lives is fear. We want to be in control. In a way, we want to be God. We constantly question Him and ask “why”? We are afraid that if we don’t plan everything, run everything, and control everything – the whole world will fall apart. In reality, we control nothing but our own attitudes, thoughts, and decisions. But, we keep trying.
When we truly decide to turn our will and lives over to God, everything changes. We are more confident, we are happier, we live in the present, we are relaxed, and tend to have better relationships. It shouldn’t be difficult to imagine a loving God that cares so much about us that he wants a close relationship with us. He wants to help us and guide us in every aspect of our life. But, He also loves us so much that he refuses to take away our free will. So, we can choose to listen and trust or we can choose to ignore and do our own thing.