Revelation 3:8

How many times have your plans been changed by some sudden event in your life? That may very well be the providence of the one who both walks by our side, and yet goes before us. It is true that Father knows best.

Looking back at life has made me realize even more that it is God who puts doors before us. Each one is an opportunity to share in something with Christ. The places that we have been, the people that we have met, and the wonderful experiences we have known; wouldn’t you agree that it must have been the hand of the Lord that opened those doors?

Sure, some doors have been difficult to enter, but wasn’t it at those times we felt his presence even closer? We have passed through other doors with unspeakable joy. Some we prayed for, and others were simply a gift of grace.

Even in our retirement God has opened doors that it is a pleasure to go through. Some are at the homes of old friends; some are churches that have given me an opportunity to tell the story of Jesus once again. Each one has opened to smiling faces, warm hugs, and glad reunion. Truly God is good, and it is still a wonderful world.

Christians have been given the keys to the kingdom. For the great theologians there are deep meanings to that truth; but to my simple faith I feel as though we have been given the keys to the doors of one another’s heart. We share life’s joys and heartaches, and we are one another’s neighbor; we also travel side by side to the house of God. When we step inside the doors of our church, there is a joyful peace that we cannot explain, but we immediately feel at home.

“Feeling at home in the presence of Jesus
Needed and happy and free
Just feeling at home
Feeling at home
Feeling accepted, loved, and forgiven
A part of His warm family
Just feeling at home
Feeling at home.”