By Doug Creamer

How many of you struggle with left and right? It has always been a challenge for me. If you tell me to turn right, there is a reflexive action that will happen. My fingers will move to pick up an imaginary pen. I am right-handed and I will pick up the imaginary pen with my right hand.

When it comes to following directions, I am proficient. I have friends who struggle to get from place to place. If I go someplace one time, I can pretty much get there again. My best friend lived out in the middle of nowhere that required many turns on twisty roads, but I was always able to find my way there.

Google Maps helps us find our way. If I am going someplace new, I will look at Google Maps and then bring up street view so I can see what corners and turns look like in real life. I am a very visual person and these aids can make a big difference.

Doors can pose the same challenge as directions: “Should I go through that open door?” Open doors are inviting, but they are not always inviting us through them. Many people keep their doors open on a nice, sunny day, but that does not mean it’s an invitation to enter. Doors in many ways represent choices that we have to make in life. Do we go through the door, take advantage of the opportunity, or do we walk past the door?

I think that many people believe that when God opens a door for us, it will mean we are heading down easy street. They believe that everything is going to work well and that there will be no problems. While I firmly believe that when God opens a door for us it is intended as a blessing, I also believe that open doors often equate to growth opportunities. The blessing comes with challenges that will grow our faith and trust in God. An open door means that God wants to bring us into a deeper, more mature relationship with Him.

An open door often means that God is giving us an opportunity to develop skills and abilities that He sees in us. That implies that we will have to work hard and push ourselves in order to grow into the opportunity. As we grow and improve our skills and abilities we will discover the many blessings God intended for us.

I ran the cooperative education program for most of my career. I placed students on jobs and had a training plan for their growth and development as student workers. Maybe it is because of this background that I firmly believe that God has a training plan for us. He wants to develop our character. He wants us to know we can trust Him. He wants our faith muscles to grow strong.

Think about King David’s training plan. He fought the lion and bear long before he defeated Goliath. After Samuel anointed him as king, his father sent him back to watch the sheep. He served King Saul by playing music for him. He also served Saul as a military leader long before he was in charge of the entire military. Some of David’s earliest followers were thieves, thugs and the rejects of society, who he trained to become his mighty men. All of these combined to train David into a great king.

If God has opened a door for you, then I want to encourage you to be strong and courageous as you walk through that door of opportunity. This door does not lead to easy street. God is going to require you to step up into this opportunity, to grow, to mature, to build skills and hidden abilities, to overcome and to work really hard. You will have to depend on God and build those faith muscles. But I firmly believe that God has hidden some wonderful blessings for you along the way. He sees great things in your future, but some of those things are going to require you give it all you’ve got. I believe you can do it. Take God’s hand and head on through that door, that opportunity, God has for you.

Contact Doug Creamer at PO Box 777, Faith, NC 28041 or doug@dougcreamer.com.