When God Opens Doors

I have recently been struck with amazement at how God moves in the lives of His children; how, in very short space of time, He can so very clearly reveal His will.  Of this I can testify personally.  Only God could lead so clearly, so radically.  Technically it all began four weeks ago, though I can see God’s preparation long before…

Several months ago the Lord began to work in my heart, preparing me for His purpose.  Through a series of events that I will not detail the Lord brought me to a place where I felt willing to do whatever and go wherever He called me.  I had been praying that God would reveal His will to me; I was just waiting for His call.  Fast forward a few weeks and I was counseling at the Daughters of Destiny Conference (daughtersofdestinyconference.weebly.com).  My co-counselor was my friend, Bethany, whom I hadn’t seen in a while.  Over the course of the week she told me about how God had been leading her to spend three months in Alabama.  She was going to be working at Adullam House, a home for children whose parents are in prison.  At some point during our conversation she casually said that I should think about going too.  I laughed and said something about it sounding like fun, but I didn’t really think about it as a serious possibility.  I don’t recall thinking about it again until the last day of camp when I said to Bethany: “I’m seriously thinking and praying about Adullam House.”  Now, anyone who has helped with Daughters of Destiny (or any type of camp ministry) knows just how tired you get by the end of the week.  As usual, this happened to me and the barrier between my thought and speech was down.  :-)  So, when I made that comment to Bethany it was as much of a surprise to me as it was to her!  Until that moment I didn’t realize how much I had been thinking about the possibility.

In order for you to understand just how quickly God’s plan unfolded I need to pause here and give you a bit of a timeline.  I first heard about Adullam House sometime during the week of October 19^th.  On the 25^th, the day the conference ended, my family and I travelled from my home in southwestern Virginia to Gettysburg, PA for a 60^th anniversary party.  We then spent the following two weeks in PA and travelled back home Sunday, November 9^th.

On the ride to PA I looked up the website for Adullam House (adullamhouse.org) on my phone.  As I read everything on their website I felt more and more interested in being a part of their ministry.  However, being extremely tired and not able to think very clearly, I decided that I should commit the following week to pray about this possibility.  I wanted to be sure that my interest was not coming out of exhaustion or an “after camp spiritual high”.   As I prayed I felt God pulling my heart more and more in that direction; I just couldn’t get those babies out of my mind.  By Thursday, October 30^th, I was pretty certain that God wanted me to go.  Up until that point I hadn’t mentioned anything to my parents about my interest in going to Adullam House; I had wanted to be certain that God was indeed calling me to go before I set the ball rolling.  I was not at all sure what my parents would say, after all this was quite sudden.  But all of my nervousness was unnecessary; my mom and dad were very supportive of my desire to go and encouraged me to keep praying and look into it further.  (My parents are the bomb!)  Practically overnight going to Adullam House went from maybe to when.

On Monday, November 3^rd I called the folks at Adullam House with a long list of questions.  I believe that I expected at least one red flag throughout that conversation; you see, even though I felt that God was leading me to go I was still expecting Him to close the door somewhere.  The first time I expected the door to close was when I spoke to my parents; but God had kept the door opened.  The second was during that phone call; yet, once again, the door remained opened.  By the end of my phone conversation I could hardly contain my excitement; it seemed more possible than ever that I would be going.  The two most obvious doors had remained opened wide.  Even at that point I was still unsure if this was God’s will.  After all maybe God was just testing my willingness to follow Him, like He did when He asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son.  I then had a series of “tests”, things that had to happen before I knew that this was indeed God’s will.

The first test had to do with actually getting to Adullam House.  I had three possible options: Catch a ride with Bethany, drive myself, or fly.  Bethany was planning to leave November 10^th, stop by my house for a few days and drive to Alabama on the 12^th.  If I chose to go with Bethany that gave me only two days to pack and wrap things up at home; the other two options would give me the flexibility of choosing my departure date.  The latter two options made much more practical sense but I really didn’t like the idea of driving all by myself and was even less fond of flying down; I decided that I would call Bethany and tell her that I felt that I needed at least a week at home before I could leave.  I didn’t want her to feel like she had to change her plans to accommodate mine, and told her so.  However, her answer would play a big part in whether I went or not.  Much to my surprise Bethany was willing to adjust her departure date to include me.  We decided to leave November 15^th; here was yet another door standing open.

One of the things required by Adullam House in the application process is that all prospective “interns” have a written note from their doctor stating that they are physically and mentally capable of caring for small children.  Acquiring this note was going to be interesting, I thought.  You see, I was still in PA and would only be home for five days before leaving again and appointments at my doctor’s office are usually booked at least three months in advance.  The probability of being seen by my doctor was very slim.  I called the office in hopes that I would be able to just walk in and have my doctor sign the piece of paper.  Unfortunately, because I haven’t been to the doctor in years, I had to make an appointment.  My heart began to sink as the lady I was speaking with told me that they had no appointments for the week I was home; here it was, God was closing the door at last.  But wait!  She was telling me that they did have an appointment open for the Thursday I was home.  I felt that it was nothing short of a miracle; God was still saying go!

The last thing that I needed to happen before I would be 100% sure that this was God’s will was being able to get together with two dear friends.  I had promised them that we would get together in November after my life slowed down a bit and, since it was important to me, I really wanted to make sure that it happened.  After looking over the events of the coming week I had thought that Tuesday would be the best and only day that I could really meet up with them.  But because I wanted to make sure that I could see them I didn’t specify a day, figuring that I would just make it work whatever day worked for them.  I sent my friend, Emily, a text and waited for an answer from God as well as her.  She replied saying that Tuesday would be best for her and Hannah.  I don’t know why I was so shocked by her response, the Lord had been so obviously making everything else happen; why would I have thought that this would be any different?  Now I KNEW that God really did want me to go to Adullam House; I have never before felt so clearly called by God.

Essentially God brought all of this together, from the time I first started praying until the day I arrived, in 22 days.  Fourteen of those days I actually knew I was going and only five in which I was able to pack.  My head still spins when I think about how quickly everything fell into place.

My last week at home was really crazy; I was very thankful for all the experience the Lord had already given me in packing for a three+ month trip.  :-)  Everything had fallen into place so quickly that it seemed like I was just floating through the packing process; it felt so very surreal.  Even after putting my things into the back of Bethany’s vehicle it didn’t seem like reality.  I was going, and I knew that I was, but somehow it hadn’t hit me yet.  Even now, after being here for a whole week, it doesn’t seem real.  Every night I go to sleep half expecting to wake up in the morning and find myself in my room at home.  As I look back on the last three weeks I can hardly believe how the Lord brought me here.  He opened so many doors that, by my human estimation, should have remained closed.  I am so excited to see what God has in store for me these next three months.

I apologize to those of you amongst my family and friends whom I did not have the opportunity to personally tell this story; I really wanted to be able to tell each of you, but time flew so quickly.  I plan to use this blog to keep you all as updated on my activities here as I am able.  As the Lord brings it to mind I would appreciate your prayers as I seek to follow and serve our precious Lord Jesus here at Adullam House; my love to you all.