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TheDiscipleMD

Many years ago my wife and I were prepared to move to a certain town and at the last minute things fell through. We ended up settling in another town that was close by. In retrospect, the change in where we lived ended up having a great impact for the good in our lives. While this kind of event is commonplace, I don’t think we should always pass it off to “chance.” Certainly “chance” plays a role in this life, but I believe the Lord does watch over, protect, and at times, help us. He also knows our needs, and can assist in guiding our lives in ways that are best for our growth.

There is a television show called “Intervention” where families confront a loved one and try to get them to make changes in their lives that will bless them, and make them safe and happier. If families hold such interventions in this life, I imagine that the Lord intervenes from “time to time” in our lives. Sometimes when changes come about in our lives we feel great disappointment. That is only human. Perhaps you recall a line from the family musical “The Sound of Music.” In it, the Reverend Mother is quoted as saying, “Whenever God closes a door, somewhere he opens a window.” Doors close all the time in this life. Often we don’t really know why! Sometimes the closing door leaves us shut out, felling pain and sorrow; but, as Helen Keller is quoted as saying, “When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.”

Whether God opens a new door, or a window, I think the message is the same. I have heard numerous stories of individuals whose life has been altered for the better, due to a tragedy; be it the loss of a loved one, loss of a job, heath challenge or a myriad of other obstacles. But the realization and recognition of such opportunities for those challenged, often doesn’t come into focus for months, years, or even decades.

I don’t know, for certain, if Heavenly Father intervened in my life and that of my family when we lost our opportunity to live in that town. But I do have faith that Heavenly Father does intervene, at times, in each of our lives. Let us have faith that He has a hand in guiding and directing each of our lives. In so doing, we will not miss seeing the “open door, or window” that is before us. We will not linger in front of closed doors and wallow in our pain. We will take the needed steps towards new opportunities, and new adventures as we let Him take us by the hand into the light of a new day. ‘Divine Intervention’ is only real to those who have faith. And that faith has the power to reveal the ‘Hand of God’ to all those who so seek ‘for they shall find.’ (Luke 11:9)