FUTURE DOORS
August 4, 1973. That is the day my husband and I said I do. We would have been married 47 years this last August. We were so full of excitement for the future and what it would bring. Our future brought us so much happiness. We had three children and were busy being parents and all that brought. My husband preached at small churches in the area who did not have a full-time preacher. He was such a good speaker, who spoke from his faith filled heart. This ability spread to his love of boy scouts, being a scout leader and even teaching leaders how to lead the boys. He spent summers at scout camp. He loved the boys and gave them comfort when they were first year campers and wanted to go home. He led our two boys to become Eagle Scouts. He was a chaplain at camp for many years until camp told him to not come anymore, because of his health and fear of him falling. We dreamed of a time we could retire and buy a camper. He wanted to go throughout the US preaching God’s word. I wanted to follow him with that dream. What a great dream for the future! But the year 1999, started the spiral of knowing that future was not to be.
My husband and I started down a sometimes-scary-worrisome path, not having any idea what the future would bring, not even knowing what the next day might bring. His 10-year illness kept him captive to the reality that his future was crashing down around him. He had a debilitating depression caused by his illness, that swallowed him whole and became his focus. In the middle of those years, our active daughter was busy with her life and her future dreams. During those years, we were blessed to have five grandchildren. There was much joy but also sorrow at the lost future that was not to come. My husband became focused on the lost future instead of making the best of each day he was given, which in turn caused his past to become darkened by regret.
There is so much I can say about those years, but that is not the focus of this particular blog. I told you those things about my husband, because I want you to realize that sometimes our hopes and dreams of our life here on this earth, do not happen and they turn into a future that we never imagined. Have you ever had dreams of a future that did not come about? Those of you who are older, think back to the time when you were full of dreams. Those of you who are younger, middle aged, what about your future dreams? What do you think the future holds for you? I want to stress here that it is good to have hopes and dreams for a future here on this earth. That is one thing that gets us all out of bed in the morning and keeps us going to work or school or whatever our particular future hopes might be. How we spend our days will affect our future. Also, how we look at the past will define our future. God created us for a particular purpose. But when our hopes and dreams do not come about, some of us just get stuck there and do not move ahead. We are so overwhelmed by the dark future ahead that we cannot remember that God is our light towards a better path of life. He is that glimmer of hope. In the darkness, we can always find the light-that glimmer of hope that is waiting for us to find and reach out towards.
Sometimes I weep about the lost past that did not work out like I thought it should. But when I do that, I am wasting so much of my time and draining the very energy out of me that I need to have for today that leads to my future. If something does not happen the way that we think it should (like the effects of this pandemic), we need to remember that God is still in control. He is still on the throne. There are so many prayers that I felt were not answered during those years, I just referred to. But then when I take a look back now, I see that God was working for my good, for my future without my husband. God has plans for your future and He is helping you work through what has happened in your past, to become who He has planned, all along, for you to become. Let’s look at some verses in the Bible. Let them guide you through tomorrow.
Isaiah 55:8-9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.”
Ephesians 3:20-21 “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever, Amen.”
James 4:13-14 “Come now you who say, Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit. Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven; A time to be born and a time to die.” (we will look at all of these “times” listed in this chapter, in future blogs-in the meantime, take a look at all those times listed in this chapter.)
We are not assured another day on this earth. If you need to forgive, if you need to tell someone you love them, if you need to put those things that are holding you hostage to your past truly behind you, do not delay. We are not promised tomorrow or a future that we have dreamed of. If you have not accomplished something that you have dreamed of for years, maybe it is time to set that aside and strive for something else. I feel strongly that if I am not able to accomplish a dream I have in the past or right now, that maybe it is not the right time for that dream to come true. Maybe God has a better timing for me in my future! Don’t stay in your comfort zone, step into your faith zone! If something does not work out, we have to have faith that God has a better plan for you. If God wants us to do something or have a dream, it is going to happen. But if He does not-it is not going to happen. God is leading us into our destiny and our future. If we become so stuck in our past, how are we going to be able to go into our future and fulfill what God has planned for us. Sometimes, we are waiting for things to change but God is waiting for us to make a decision to put that in the past and go into the future that He has planned for us.
I have plans to fly to Virginia, to visit my grandbabies, that I have not seen in a year because of this pandemic, over the Thanksgiving holiday. What is in my future? Will I be able to go visit them? I do not know what this earth is going to give me in my future. But I know one thing for sure. God is all knowing. He is all loving. He is my father and only wants the best for me. If it is safe for me to fly to Virginia, I will have those babies in my arms.
Forty-seven years ago, when I said those marriage vows before God, did I even have a thought that my words “thru sickness and in health,” would be tested. I realize now that was part of my past that has made me the person I am today. The good and yes, even the bad!
Yes, we have to make plans for the future! We have to “pack our bags” for our trip into the future. We have to go thru that open future door with the assurance that God is there with us. Guiding our steps and holding our hand when the path gets too rough and full of “mud puddles” that this life can leave for us. Don’t stay in that door of the past, which is like a weight holding us back. We must stand in the present door and make the most of our day. We have to have faith to step through that future door with the full assurance that God is waiting for us to come live with Him in heaven one day. We have to learn from our mistakes in the past, live today for the Lord and step into that future door, with faith, love and conviction that I am looking forward to my home in heaven! Jesus died on the cross with His arms wide open for us. God is waiting for you to go thru that future door, with His arms wide open for us to come into our forever home! What does your future door, that is standing wide open for you, look like? There are only two future doors for us to go thru: heaven or hell! What does your life, right now, show the door you are going thru? Don’t be afraid of the door that leads us to eternity, but rather realize that door is actually your birthday into eternity with our Lord!
I have, within the last few months, had blogs about our past doors, our present doors and now, our future doors. If you have not had a chance to read those blogs, I ask you to now, so they can all be pieced together. The past reaches into the present and programs the future, through your recollections and your internal rhetoric about what you perceive to have happened in your life. That future door stands open, waiting for you. Reach for it, even if it is not what we had planned for our future!
Till next time! Keela