The church’s youth were having a yard sale at a vacant gas station in town to help raise money for their mission trip to Jamaica and I, among others, were going dropping off items for the sale all week in preparation for it.

I drove there one evening for what I thought would be a short stop to drop off a couple of boxes. I had my 7 year old daughter with me in the car and I promised her I would be just a moment as I left her in the back seat with the car running. As usual, she was reading a book and didn’t even look up from it as I left the car. I got out of the car, unlocked the gas station door, left the key in the door since I was going to lock up again in a moment, propped the door open and carried in the two boxes from the trunk of my car.

Evidently I did not prop open the door as good as I should have because it shut the first moment I accidently hit it with a box I was carrying.

I put the boxes down and pushed against the door. Nothing happened. I kept pushing and nothing continued to happen. After much more pushing, it dawned on me that I was trapped in the gas station. I yelled to get my daughter’s attention, but she was too lost in the book and too insulated from the sound of the a/c in a running car to hear me. My phone, keys, and anything else that could help me were all in the car, or the door. I started putting my shoulder to the door and the door still wouldn’t budge.

After what seemed like a lifetime of moments, the sun was beginning to set and I was becoming increasingly desperate to escape. While there aren’t any real bad parts to Clayton, this wasn’t one of the best. And even in the best cars that are left running get stolen. Of course, I wasn’t worried about the car as much as I was my daughter who was I the car. She was so small, I wonder if she would even be noticed. My heart began to race as I ran through all the worst case scenarios that going through my usually calm, and collected head.

I was trying to think what window I should break when I decided to take a moment and pray. And in the prayer, God spoke to my heart and said, “Pull instead of push.”

The door easily opened when I stopped trying to push the door open, but instead pull it.

And in that moment not only did I feel like an idiot, I also felt convicted that I am missing out on many other blessings from God just because I’m not asking for them in prayer and instead relying on my own wisdom and strength.

Scripture is clear, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Matthew 7:7).

God is waiting to open the doors in your life. Stop trying to do it yourself. Stop relying on your own wisdom and strength.

May we all turn to God in prayer that the doors to His blessings might be opened to us.