Article by: Paulette Philips
Many rooms in my house bring me comfort. In the bedroom I have everything I need — I can sleep, rest, read, eat, watch television, and do my nails.
Another comfort zone in my house is the kitchen. We congregate there for meals, for creative cooking, and to linger over mugs of coffee and conversations at the table. I can talk on the phone and still get my chores done in the kitchen. There is one room in my house, however, where I am most uncomfortable. This is the hallway.
The hallway is a long, dark corridor. You would likely never sit down and relax in a hallway, for they generally contain no furniture. No windows open on the hallway to bring sunshine or gentle breezes. The doors along the hallway usually are closed and occasionally locked. It is an ominous and foreboding place to be.
The hallway is not really a room at all; it is only a means from one place to another — a transition. While change and new direction can make transition a “hall of fame,” unfortunately they can also be places of shame. Transitions may prompt us to unleash fury and anger and times of failure. In the hallway, we often want to back up on God, to blame Him and to get bitter.
Perhaps as you read this, you are in a state of discontent. You may even be miserable in your Christian faith because you have expectations and promises from God that have not yet become a reality. You have read the scripture, prayed, and believed that God will do a specific thing for you personally or for your family, but it just has not yet happened. Your hopes, dreams, and promises are unfulfilled.
Woman of God — remember you are not alone! Your Father, who knows when a sparrow falls to the ground, knows when you fall also! God is with you in the dark, transitional times of your life. The scripture tells us that He will never leave us or forsake us. Whatever you are enduring in the hallway, just know that events and circumstances in your life will not and cannot cancel the promises of God for you.
You Have Purpose
God designed you with purpose and intent. His goals for you are good. If God, who created the entire universe, the galaxies, and everything on earth, can keep His world in balance and functioning, then He can keep you. If God can keep the earth revolving, the seasons in balance, the flowers blooming, the animals reproducing and the harvest growing, He can surely see you safely through the difficult hallways of change. Psalm 139:13-14.17-18 confirms this:
For you formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb
I will praise you, for I am
Fearfully and wonderfully made;
How precious also are your thoughts
To me, O God!
How great is the sum of them.
If I should count them, they
Would be more in number
Than the sand.”
The next time you walk on the beach and the sand collects between your toes, remember that every grain of sand represents a thought God has toward you! You are unique and have a purpose that only you can complete. Don’t lose heart, for the events of your life were no accident. God knows what you have been experiencing.
Everything you have been through has a purpose from God. Every friend you have had and neighborhood you have lived in has had a purpose. Every job you have ever held and every job you have ever lost had a purpose for you. God never abdicated His control. Everything has a purpose under heaven. Proverbs 4:18 says:
The path of the just is like
The shining sun that shines
Even brighter unto the perfect day.
The longer you serve the Lord, the brighter your life can shine to others. You may ask, “Well, why am I in the middle of so many problems then? I wish God would explain to me why this has happened!”
Job’s Dark Hallway
In the Old Testament, the richest man in the East was a man named Job. He had the perfect blessed life. Satan had come to God and said, “If you remove all Job’s riches, Job will curse You to Your face.”
And so God allowed Satan to test him. In a single day, Job lost all 10 of his children in death. He lost all his herds, camels, flocks, home, and lands. Yet, he did not curse God, but exclaimed, “Naked came I into the world and naked I will return. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Next, Satan received permission to attack Job’s health. Scripture tells us Job was stricken with horrible sores. He had gone from riches and happiness to poverty and illness. I would say that Job was in a difficult hallway of transition.
However, the end of the hallway would come for Job. The test over, God restored everything back to him. Job was given back double all that he had lost.
Often we hear the story of Job and forget an important fact: God NEVER explained to Job why he went through that difficult period of his life. God does not have to explain anything to us. We may never know the answers to our questions until we get to heaven.
Another Old Testament character that went through the transitional time was Noah. Because Noah was a righteous man, God decided to spare Noah from the destruction of the world. Noah built an ark as directed by God and further obeyed Him by preaching repentance to the crowds. When the flood came, Noah and seven other family members escaped God’s judgment.
Safely in the ark, they knew they were protected, yet look at how long how long these eight people were on that boat. Genesis 7:11-12 and 8:13-14 tells us that Noah and his family were on that ark for one whole year and ten days! Can you imagine the extent of cabin fever? Leaving behind their old life, they knew a new future lay ahead, yet they had not yet received a promise of what it would entail.
Surely Noah felt uncertain of how to start over, and had questions about the outcome of it all. Was he discouraged that he didn’t see the sun for over a year? More than once Noah probably said, “How much longer, Lord, will I have to clean up after those elephants?” Did anyone get seasick? Was the stench of that situation overwhelming?
The hallway of transition between the old life and the new life had to be difficult. All Noah had was the assurance that God had provided the ark as a means to obtain His purpose, which was to start over and repopulate the earth. Events and circumstances did not and cannot cancel the promises of God.
Twenty-four years ago when we moved to Tennessee from Alabama, we had a very difficult time financially. Central was a small and struggling church that could barely pay for moving our family. They certainly couldn’t help us with house payments until our Alabama home sold. For 10 months, we had to make two house payments.
On paper that was impossible. We were in a hallway of transition. One ministry was over but the next ministry had not fully begun. But God provided during the transition. Even though money was tight, every month extra money simply showed up so we could make two house payments! When our home in another state finally sold, we no longer had that extra money. Our faith had grown tremendously.
