29 Jan If You’re Looking for Direction (Guest post by Vicki Simpson)

Today’s post is brought to you by a friend of mine: Vicki Simpson. If you’ve ever met Vicki, you’re not likely to forget her! Vicki is an encourager and builder of people’s faith. For the best part of 20 years she has come alongside pastors and their churches to bring encouragement and an expression of the supernatural power of God that is relevant and at home in a contemporary church setting. She is known for her down to earth, transparent style of ministry, warm humour and ability to communicate to all ages. Vicki blogs here. 

You’re standing at the cross-roads of life, looking to the left and right and you’re needing… Direction.

If I had $1 for every time someone told me “I need direction”, I would be a richer woman than I am now. (Note to self: explore business potential of that idea).

At the cross-roads one can assume that open doors are good doors, an invitation to enter and that closed doors are bad doors…keep the heck out of there!

Life is full of doors. They’re swinging open, slamming shut, all around us, everyday.  To be taking our life’s direction from closed and open doors alone can cause one’s head to spin.

Yes God opens and closes doors, but so does the doorman at the Hilton.  It helps to know the difference.

Personally, I have found that closed doors have often preceded significant opportunities and open doors before some of life’s biggest temptations.

In 1992 a door opened before me.  It was a door of promotion where I was employed at the time.  I’d call it “promotion on a platter with all the trimmings” including a massive pay rise and lots of prestige.

It looked like heaven had opened this door for me!  Promotion comes from the Lord, right?  My ship was coming in, or was it my chickens coming home?  Oh I dunno, let’s just say it looked AWESOME!

But it didn’t feel right. I so wanted it to be God’s plan!  There was a smile on the face of my bank account …but not in my heart

I turned down that door. There was nothing morally wrong with it, it just felt wrong for me to walk through it.

God didn’t close that door. I did…in faith.

It sounds clichéd but as one door closed another one opened. It was the opportunity to join the staff of a ministry and to be “apprenticed” to the senior minister.

That door did not look as inviting on so many levels. It required me to relocate geographically, to live somewhere I didn’t like and leave all I knew and loved back home, including my family (and that cushy job).

Oh and did I mention the pay? No? Probably because there wasn’t much.

But my heart was more than smiling. It was bouncing off my ribcage with excitement.

That door was one of the most significant doors I have ever walked through in my life. I stepped through that door into my “calling”.

Your heart isn’t the only factor in choosing your direction, but it is one of them, especially when God’s voice is living in there too.

What about you? Ever closed an open door or pushed open a closed one? How has God answered your prayer for direction? Leave a comment below: