This Side of the Blue Door

The door pops a stark shade of blue.

I was immediately moved when I first saw this photo. It caught my full attention as God gave a visual image of myself walking to front step of this brick house. While waiting for the door to swing open, I postured myself knowing there was an ocean of exciting opportunity on the other side. I noticed how I did not sit waiting, but stood ready. It felt all too familiar.

Against all instincts, I refrained from knocking on the door in this moment. This felt weird, being that I know the commands of Matthew 7:7, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” NASB. I did not told knock on the door to announce my arrival, because I knew He had been preparing this moment for me. In staring at this picture I heard God speak, “Let me open this door for you”.

This visual of myself in a grey t-shirt, dark washed jeans, with tears rolling down my face on the porch step is exactly where I am in life. So much was confirmed as I received this mental picture from my Father. Everything around me reminds me that I need Him. My husband and I desperately need Him to point us  where we are to be and what we are to put our hands to.

Four months ago, the pre-Ramparts me,  would have been so angry in this season of waiting, but I am not. I have never felt closer to my Father. On this side of  blue door the I am witnessing God work and move. He is teaching me things I would have never known if I had walked straight into a season of harvest.

“Oh that we might know the Lord! Let us press on to know him. He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of rains in the early spring” -Hosea 6:3 NLT

I am learning is that there are many of us gathered outside the blue door. It is here we must surrender our questions, dreams, and shame. This not an easy thing to do, but rest follows in releasing control. Not one cry is unheard. He bottles every tear (Psalm 56:8). What if  how we practiced waiting changed? What if we prayed with intensity, as if our lives truly do depend on it. What if this time was not seen as wasted days, but an endless hours  to learn and go deeper? This would alter everything.

In writing this my heart breaks for my brothers and sisters who have camped in a season waiting. The weight of years of praying for healing, restoration, or miracles is heavy. Let us surround these friends with empathy and understanding. Let us cover them in words of encouragement and comfort. I do not have all the answers, but I do believe we are to never stop praying. We may feel sorrow, but we are not weak as we walk in the plans God has for our life. He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of rains in the early spring (again, Hosea 6:3)

“I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit” -Romans 15:13

Press in my friends. On this side of the door, His presence tastes equally as sweet.