There are plenty of times in life when a door will close, and yes, another one opens. However, we don’t always see this at the time. Sometimes we dwell on what we didn’t get and just take the next door that opens without realizing that the first door was closed for a reason. Think about it, if the first door hadn’t closed you never would’ve gone through the second one.
The first time I recall this happening in my life was in 8th grade, when I had applied to two alternative high schools in the area because I did not want to go to my town’s regular high school. One of the schools I applied to was a regional high school where students from surrounding towns could be accepted into the Agricultural Science and Technology program. The other was another regional school run by the state, which happened to be in my hometown, and was a voc-tech high school where there were twelve different vocational programs a student could choose from to spend their high school years in.
Of course, I had really wanted the first school… though now I’m not sure why. But when I got a wait list letter from them, I was upset. Luckily, I had gotten into the voc-tech school so I didn’t have to attend my town’s high school. It wasn’t until I was really getting excited about going to the voc-tech school that I received another letter from the first school again saying that a spot had opened up and I could have it. I didn’t take it though, and ended up spending the next four years at the voc-tech school. If I hadn’t gone, I would not currently have the crazy, weird friendship I have with my best-friend and I would not be friends with a few of the other people I met there.
So, God closing that door really worked out well.
“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.'” – Jeremiah 29:11
A similar situation happened three years ago when I applied to the Connecticut School of Broadcasting for video and radio production, but though I was accepted to the school, my loan application didn’t go through. A few months later, after applying two days before the deadline, I was accepted to a state university, from which I graduated just last month. Now, if I had not gone to that university I would not have met a few of the great classmates I had, my amazing professor/advisor and I would not have worked in the school’s TV studio where I learned so much about television production.
Again, that was God at work when I was denied that loan for the broadcasting school, but it took me quite some time to see this.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” – Proverbs 3:5-6
In the past year or so, I have gotten better at remembering that He is in control and is guiding my path. And now, as I am currently looking for a job and as my mom and I are making a decision about where we should move, remembering that God has it in His hands has taken a ton of stress off our shoulders. God has always kept us on the right path and shut the wrong doors that were hanging ajar so we would not stray from His plans.
Why would He stop now?
When were some times in your life where one door closed and another opened? Did it work out better for you?
orangeowldiaries 
I like your perspective, I want to entertain the thought of God playing its divine hand in what is completely out of our hands,and making the right call for us :)
My entire life fits into this. My mother’s death, my dad’s introduction to my step-mother (who was the reason we ended up at the churches we did that led us all to Christ). Relationships, school, failed jobs — all of them.
The most recent would probably be job wise for me. I was laid off from a very well paying job, couldn’t find work for ages, applied to go back to school, got a job and decided to give up school for that job. 10 months later, that job fell apart and I was forced to quit. None of it made sense at the time. Scott and I were broke – so badly that we had to choose between buying groceries and paying our bills, or paying our rent and letting everything else build up. I ended up getting a temp job, and three weeks before that job was over (despite them offering me a full-time job afterwards), I was called by the newspaper I now work for and offered a position as a full-time reporter. It was the hardest time Scott and I have been through, yet looking back, we can totally see God’s hand in it all.
It’s always a pattern that we see God’s hand in it all AFTER everything happens, ha. But we are never guaranteed an easy life – we all have to go through trials to grow and learn that we cannot do anything on our own apart from God :)
I’m also happy to see that you and Scott have overcome all these trials and that you are in a good job position now :)