My beautiful Tewahedo Orthodox sister, I know you’ve been standing before that door, praying with tears, hoping it will open. You have fasted, pleaded, and waited, believing it was the answer to your prayers. Yet no matter how hard you knock, it remains shut.
Take heart, my sister. Not every closed door is a denial. Sometimes it is one of God’s greatest acts of mercy.
Our Heavenly Father, who sees the end from the beginning, knows what we cannot see. While we only see the beauty of the door before us, He sees what lies beyond it. He knows which paths lead to peace and which lead to sorrow. He knows what would strengthen your soul and what would quietly draw your heart away from Him.
The closed door is not a sign that God has forgotten you. It is His loving protection.
Perhaps He is shielding you from a relationship that would wound your heart, an opportunity that would distance you from Him, or a decision that would bring regret instead of peace. In His mercy, He often withholds what we desire because He is preparing something far better for our salvation.
As Tewahedo Orthodox Christians, we are called not only to pray for open doors but also to accept closed ones with humility, trusting that God’s wisdom is infinitely greater than our own. His will is never meant to harm us but to lead us toward life, holiness, and eternal joy.
So do not spend your strength trying to force open what God, in His wisdom, has allowed to remain closed. Continue in prayer. Continue in fasting. Continue in repentance. Continue in thanksgiving. Place your hope not in a particular outcome, but in Christ Himself.
The door that is truly according to God’s holy will does not require striving in the flesh or compromising your faith. When the time is right, and when your heart is prepared, He will open the door that no one can shut.
Until then, trust His timing more than your understanding.
Sometimes God’s greatest blessing is not the door He opens—but the one He lovingly keeps closed.
Selam Seyoum