It's a seemingly small, tiny moment I still remember vividly to this day. Our daughter, Janie, was desperately sick in the ICU--unconscious, high fever, unresponsive. My dear sister and husband insisted I go to a hotel room nearby for a few hours of sleep while they remained with Janie for the night. Exhausted, I fell into bed...but felt jittery, tearful, frightened, alone. Despite bone-deadening fatigue, I'd be able to fall asleep shackled by this fear and sorrow.
And then His still, small voice spoke to my heart. I don't how else to describe it. A gentle, peaceful whisper to a thirsty, terrified heart--"I am the Door." Words I had read days earlier in the Gospel of John. "I am the Door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture." (John 9:10)
His voice spoke Truth and peace into my very soul--I am the Door. I am the Door in the midst of all this fear, uncertainty, sadness. Walk through Me and find rest for your soul. And I did...and for the first time in days, slept. Knowing that my Savior had our girl and was holding her in His arms. And no matter what happened, He would have us too. For He was the Door in that wall of fear and sorrow.
Why this sudden vivid recall of this particular memory? I don't know--the Lord suddenly brought it to mind, but I have to believe our Good Shepherd knows someone out there needs to be reminded today that He is the Door.
He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life...and He is the Way through your sorrow, your suffering, your terror, your depression, your pain, your uncertainty. He was the Door, He is the Door, and He will be the Door forever and ever.
I just found these words I scribbled down weeks ago. They are from Nabeel Qurershi, a brilliant Pakistani American physician, who was a former Muslim, dramatically converted to Christianity and who then became a powerful apologist for Christ. Nabeel recently died from stomach cancer at the age of 34. As he endured the horrors of his terminal cancer, Nabeel shared these words:
"If you are going through something right now, if you are suffering and struggling, what I have learned is that there is some door that the suffering and struggling has opened for you that would not be open if you were not struggling or suffering. Walk through that door. Or dwell on that door and praise God for that door. Take advantage of that door. Don't waste your suffering."
Nabeel did that in the midst of his battle with cancer. He walked through that door and has impacted untold thousands through his testimony. And now, having walked through the ultimate Door, he rejoices in glory.
There is always a door. No matter what sorrow, what terror, what perplexing hardship you are going through right now, there is always a door. And that Door is Jesus. He is the Doorway through the suffering. He is the Doorway that will enable you to endure that suffering. He is the Doorway to hope, joy, and peace in the midst of that suffering and on the other side of that suffering. He is the Doorway that will ensure that your suffering--every painful shred of it--will somehow, someway, be used for your ultimate good and His glory. And He is the Doorway to no-more-sorrow, no-more-separation, no-more-struggling, no-more-fearful-uncertainty, abundant, perfect, glorious eternal Life.
Walk through that Door today.
To God--the Door, our Door--be the glory.
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