You’ve heard it all before: when one door closes, another opens. But it’s often hard to be optimistic about the prospects of a new door opening when you have just had one slam shut in your face.

Trust me, I have been there before (multiple times) and it’s not fun.

Perhaps you have lost a friend that you thought you’d have forever. Or maybe you have been knocked back by various job interviews and your bank account is going anywhere but up.

What about when your partner tells you they no longer love you and suddenly, the relationship ends right before your eyes. Or when you begin to see things moving ahead, then out of nowhere you stall – or worse, find yourself back at square one.

These examples aren’t uncommon and to be honest, they are just my experiences. But you know what? They won’t be the only closed doors I will have to deal with.

A major lesson I have learnt from relationships ending or missed opportunities is the reason why we struggle with the end result. We flip the coin hoping for heads but fail to remember that there is an equal chance of tails.

When we recognise and appreciate that not everything is going to turn out the way we planned or hoped, we can prepare ourselves mentally and emotionally (to an extent) for the worst case scenario.

That’s a hard thing to do. I get it. But it’s also really important that we don’t get so caught up in our own little world and become so confident in ourselves and others, that we forget that people mess up.

And it’s because of this that nothing is certain.

Alexander Graham Bell famously said, “When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.”

He wasn’t wrong.

What if I told you that you might be missing opportunities that have been specifically designed for you because you’re not walking away from the closed doors.

That’s a scary thought. The fact that there could be something better. It’s kinda comforting, but simultaneously a bit of a joke, right? Because how could there possibly be something better in store for you than what just got taken away from you?

Well, let me break it down. (Because each of those closed door experiences led me to bigger and better opportunities, and you better believe God’s got the same plan for you!)

3 reasons why closed doors aren’t always a bad thing

1. his timing is better than ours

Even though it might feel like it, closed doors aren’t always a “no” from God. You’ll be surprised at how many times an opportunity slides and you’re devastated, but then a few months or years down the track you know exactly why it happened the way it did.

Sometimes you’re just not ready. God knows you need to experience other things before that door is opened completely for you. It’s not a “no”, it’s a “not just yet”, “don’t rush this” or “you still have some growing to do first”.

2. we need to realign our focus

I like to think my spirit animal is a meerkat. Distraction is something I struggle with. We can be mid-conversation, but if my favourite song comes on the radio, I’ll make sure you know that my favourite song is on the radio.

But sometimes we become so distracted that we place opportunities, relationships, careers and anything other than God, on a pedestal. This is where closed doors can help us realign our focus. Essentially, see it as a tap on the shoulder from God saying, “hey, remember me?”

3. it’s not a god-door.

The doors we come across aren’t always placed there by God. We can find ourselves stumbling across opportunities that others have given to us, or perhaps that we believe are a great opportunity.

Here’s the thing though: God knows best. So naturally, He may close doors that you really want to walk through in order to protect you. It’s easy to see that in hindsight, but while you’re standing there fiddling with the key trying to get it open, it’s downright frustrating.

Not all doors need to be opened. And when we realise that our God is a God who both closes and opens doors, it’s a lot more comforting knowing that His plan doesn’t stop there.

While the closed doors I experienced may have hurt more than I’d like to admit, they were necessary. Not only for moving forward, but for my own personal growth and my confidence in God.

Losing those relationships absolutely shattered me. However, it also taught me that your circle matters and you need to choose the people you do life with wisely.

Each one of those job interviews I got knocked back from made me feel like I was not enough. But after every closed door, I managed to land a brand new client for my own business. Not to mention, fast forward a year and I’m now doing that full-time!

Are you still waiting for your prayers to be answered?

Have you recently experienced God telling you “no” or anything but what you want to hear?

I want to encourage you to trust in His plan for you. Take each closed door as an opportunity in itself to learn more about who you are and who God is.

Keep smiling. x