I was five months pregnant with our first child. To say that I was in the nesting mode would be an understatement. Raouf had already made a beautiful wooden cradle for our little one. I was taking classes on Lamaze to help with the birthing process.
Life was good.
Then we made the annual trip to the government office to renew our residency permits. Should be a routine matter, right?
It’s amazing how a baby can make you forget you’re living in a closed country.
“You have ten days to leave the country,” the man said matter-of-factly. Seeing the puzzled look on our faces, he added, “You’re a threat to national security.”
Hormones raging, I blurted out in Arabic, “I’m five months pregnant, how can I be a threat to national security?”
Thankfully, my husband had more sense than I did and said nothing, except to thank the man and lead me out of the office.
I packed up the house and Raouf did the necessary paperwork. In ten days, we were crossing the border.
Over the course of the next twenty years, there would be many more doors to close and borders to cross. I began to see a pattern in how God revealed himself with each change, sudden or expected—he went ahead of us and protected those we left behind.
Did changes leave me without questions? Hardly, but they did leave me with an increased understanding of God and his faithfulness.
If you’re struggling with closed doors, I want to give you a gift—the first chapter in my new book When Doors Close: Changing Course in Missions Without Losing Your Way. Click HERE to download your free pdf today. I pray that it will encourage you and remind you that others have walked this way before you. If you find it helpful, I’d be honored for you to purchase a copy at your favorite online book distributor. It’s available in both paperback and ebook format.
As I share in this first chapter, and as you are perhaps facing a closed door today, take time to reflect on the open door through which you walked into service. Ask the Lord to remind you of his call and the confidence you had in taking that first step. Remembering that will help you to face with confidence the new way he’s guiding you today.
This is the way, walk in it. Isaiah 30:21
Grace and Peace