Finding Strength to Leave Closed Doors Behind

A Prayer When Struggling to Embrace God’s Plan Instead of Your Plans

Can I be honest?…

Sometimes I want what I want. I can find it hard to let go of my plans even after they have fallen through. I can hold on to them for days, even weeks and months. I can grieve their passing. Anybody? 

Trust is key to walking out God’s plans for my life when I envision a different plan than what God has planned for me. When His plans don’t look anything like I imagine at all. 

Often the things I want never happen. And I will be honest again. It hurts. 

So then what?

So what do you do with your plans when God has other plans? How do you find the strength to let go of what you want and embrace God’s desires for you instead? 

God has made an extraordinary promise to all His children having a little trouble letting go of wants and desires to embrace His. He has written His promise to us in Psalm 37:4 (ESV), and it reads, “Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” 

We have to look very closely at that promise because it doesn’t mean what we think it means at first glance. It doesn’t mean God is some dream-fulfilling wish-and-want making genie in a bottle that we get to rub a lamp and out pops our dreams and plans. (I know. Sometimes I have wished He was too.)

However, it means so much more. It means God will take those yearnings and dreams within our hearts and work a greater magic. He will take special care working in our hearts to help them match His. He will change us to desire His plans because His plans are more significant anyway.

Our God is the Master Planner and plans BIGGER  than we can even think or imagine. He even put it down on paper in Ephesians 3:20, “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us.” (ESV)

So today, if you are struggling to let go of some plans of your own that have perhaps fallen through or are not working out as you planned, we have a place to go to find the strength we need. We are welcome to come boldly to the throne of grace to find help in time of need. Quite simply, we pray. 

We will find prayer is the answer to many things and the first step in leaving behind closed doors to walk expectantly through the ones our Heavenly Father has opened for us.  

Let’s walk through what God has for us together, shall we? Let’s pray together. 

Dear Heavenly Father, 

I thank you for opening doors of possibility and closed doors of protection. 

Please help me not linger too long over wasted opportunities or because my plans failed to come to fruition as I had hoped and planned. 

Instead, help me walk through the open doors you have set before me with a willingness, expectation, and an absence of fear.

Please give me the strength to walk away from doors I find closed. They are opportunities not meant for me at this time in my life. Help me wait patiently for the right doors to be made known unto me. 

Not every opportunity will be my opportunity. So prepare me for the exceptional opportunities you have created that are unique to me.  

I pray for your favor in all I do, for it is your favor that will always bring me success. 

TrustIng in your plans for me is something I am learning. 

Thank you for being patient with me as I grow. 

In Jesus Name. Amen. 

See you in the field, 

-Susan