Can you think of a time in your life when God slammed a door shut right in your face?

I sure can.

I was once a freshman in college, and I was majoring in nursing at Middle Georgia State in Cochran. I had a part-time job as a teller at a local bank, and I loved every aspect of it. I was happily living at home. I was in a relationship that I sincerely thought was “the one.” All was well with my family and friends.

In my mind, I had the ideal situation, and I was, at that time, heavily considering never leaving my hometown. I wanted to forgo the whole "moving off to college" experience. After all, I had it all there in my hometown. Why did I need to step outside of its cozy walls?

Then, for almost two years, it seemed like every answer from God was NO. He shut every door that I so wished to walk through.

I watched my family suffer.

I found out that nursing was not for me.

I lost two friendships that I had treasured for years.

I watched a relationship end, no matter how many times I tried to mend it.

God shut the door of my comfort zone and what I thought was my “dream life.”

It was the most painful experience I have ever gone through.

I think that the reason closed doors hurt so much is the fact that we have a plan. We have an ideal life that we ourselves have designed, and we think that this is the right plan. We arrogantly run ahead of God. And when our loving, kind Father sees us rushing into something that is out of His will and will ultimately not be in our best interest, He slams that door shut.

All too often, we become obsessed with what could have been, and we attempt to open that door, even though it has been shut for a reason.

We try to fix and continue with a relationship that isn’t working. We try to force and fit ourselves into some place we simply don’t belong. We chase after a dream that obviously isn't for us.

The end result, however, is always the same; whether it takes a long or short period of time, we learn that there was a reason that a door was shut in the first place.

Maybe it led to hurt. Maybe it led to discontent. Maybe it led to heartbreak, missed opportunities or pain.

Sometimes, it is better to only have to wonder what was behind that door than having to experience it firsthand.

I’m a big believer that God doesn’t shut a door to hurt us. Instead, He shuts it so He can provide us something greater, something more beautiful, something more powerful than anything that we could have ever planned or concocted for ourselves.

Maybe God has shut that door in your life. You just knew that that door was the one that led to where you were supposed to be, but God is telling you no. You keep banging on that door, begging God to open it. Maybe you're even considering trying to force it open.

I encourage you to leave it shut.

Fast forward to today, and I am reassured and so thankful that God knows me better than I know myself.

He knew that there would have been a part of me that always would have wondered “what if” had I not gone off to school.

He knew that there is a part of my heart that yearned to interact with and teach high school students.

He knew that my heart hungered for those friends who would steer me on the right path and walk with me toward our dreams.

He knew that the relationship that I was so incredibly set on simply was not right for me.

These desires and needs created in my heart are, after all, from Him. He knows me as only the Maker can intimately know His product. He knew that the biggest way to bless me was to close a door.

If we wrench our gaze from the closed door and turn around, I think that our eyes would be opened to God completely demolishing a wall that once held us in. We walk into a blessing that never would have been noticed, had we kept our eyes and mind on the closed door. And why suffice for a door created for other people when a wall has been blown away just for you?

So, yes, God closes doors. He has certainly closed many in my life. And I am so thankful He did.