{"id":237,"date":"2026-04-25T08:47:45","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T13:47:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/?p=237"},"modified":"2026-04-25T08:47:47","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T13:47:47","slug":"the-door-i-finally-opened","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/2026\/04\/25\/the-door-i-finally-opened\/","title":{"rendered":"The Door I Finally Opened"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<!-- POST TITLE: The Door I Finally Opened | Week 5 | Statement 5 | Saturday -->\n<style>\n@import url('https:\/\/fonts.googleapis.com\/css2?family=Oswald:wght@400;600;700&family=Lato:ital,wght@0,300;0,400;0,700;1,300;1,400&display=swap');\n.su-wrap{--stone:#4A4A4A;--ash:#F0EDE8;--gold:#C9933A;--shadow:#1C1C1C;font-family:'Lato',sans-serif;color:var(--stone);max-width:700px;margin:0 auto;padding:2rem 1.5rem;line-height:1.8;font-size:1rem}\n.su-tag{font-family:'Oswald',sans-serif;font-size:.65rem;letter-spacing:.25em;text-transform:uppercase;color:var(--gold);margin-bottom:.4rem}\n.su-sub{font-family:'Lato',sans-serif;font-size:.85rem;font-weight:300;color:var(--stone);margin-bottom:2rem;letter-spacing:.03em}\n.su-verse{border-left:3px solid var(--gold);background:#f2ede5;padding:1.25rem 1.5rem;margin:1.75rem 0;font-style:italic;font-size:1.1rem;color:var(--shadow);line-height:1.6}\n.su-verse cite{display:block;font-style:normal;font-family:'Oswald',sans-serif;font-size:.7rem;letter-spacing:.15em;text-transform:uppercase;color:var(--gold);margin-top:.5rem}\n.su-beat{font-family:'Oswald',sans-serif;font-size:.65rem;letter-spacing:.25em;text-transform:uppercase;color:var(--gold);margin:2rem 0 .4rem}\nhr.su-rule{border:none;border-top:1px solid #ddd;margin:1.75rem 0}\n.su-callout{background:var(--shadow);color:var(--ash);padding:1.5rem 1.75rem;margin:2rem 0}\n.su-callout .su-beat{color:var(--gold);margin-top:0}\n.su-callout p{margin:.4rem 0 0;line-height:1.65;font-size:1rem}\n.su-sign{font-family:'Lato',sans-serif;font-style:italic;font-size:1.05rem;color:var(--stone);margin-top:2rem;padding-top:1.5rem;border-top:1px solid #ddd;line-height:1.8}\n.su-foot{font-size:.72rem;color:#bbb;margin-top:2rem;padding-top:1rem;border-top:1px solid #eee;font-family:'Oswald',sans-serif;letter-spacing:.12em;text-transform:uppercase}\np{margin:0 0 1.1rem}\n<\/style>\n<div class=\"su-wrap\">\n  <p class=\"su-tag\">Seven Statements from the Cross &bull; Week 5 &bull; Saturday<\/p>\n  <p class=\"su-sub\">Statement V &bull; Week 5 Wrap-Up &bull; A word from Lance<\/p>\n\n  <p>Hey family,<\/p>\n\n  <p>This week was personal for me to write. Because I have been on the wrong side of that door. More than once. For longer than I want to admit.<\/p>\n\n  <p>I have been Brett, saying fine when fine was the furthest thing from the truth, watching the people I loved most feel something was wrong while giving them nothing to work with. The performance felt like protection. It was actually just a longer version of alone.<\/p>\n\n  <p>I have been Caleb, carrying the theology that a man of faith should be able to handle it himself, that the need for more than prayer was a confession of insufficient trust. I held that belief long enough to do real damage with it, to myself and to the people who were trying to reach me and could not find the door.<\/p>\n\n  <p>And I have stood where Gabe stood, knowing that the thing I was keeping behind the door was the thing doing the most damage, and standing there anyway because the cost of opening it felt higher than the cost of keeping it closed. It is not. It never is. The cost of keeping it closed is always higher. We just pay it more slowly so it is harder to see.<\/p>\n\n  <hr class=\"su-rule\">\n\n  <p>The door I finally opened was one of the hardest things I have done. What was on the other side was not what I had built it up to be. What was on the other side was the healing I had been trying to reach through prayer alone for years, while keeping the door closed to the people God had placed in my life to help carry it.<\/p>\n\n  <p>We go to God for forgiveness. We go to God&#8217;s people for healing. I knew that sentence before I understood it. It took opening a door I did not want to open for the difference between knowing it and understanding it to become real.<\/p>\n\n  <p>We are only as sick as our secrets. That sentence is not a cliche. It is a diagnosis. And the treatment is naming the thing, out loud, to someone who can actually get underneath it with us.<\/p>\n\n  <hr class=\"su-rule\">\n\n  <p>Jesus said two words from the cross. I thirst. He named his need plainly and trusted the people around him to respond. That is the whole model. Not performing. Not white-knuckling it. Not praying the same prayer hoping this time will be different while keeping the door closed. Naming it. Out loud. To someone safe.<\/p>\n\n  <p>If this week landed on something you have been keeping behind a door, trust that. The door is not going to get lighter from this side. Open it to God first. Then open it to someone he has placed in your life. The healing is on the other side. It has been waiting there.<\/p>\n\n  <div class=\"su-callout\">\n    <p class=\"su-beat\">This Week&#8217;s Truth<\/p>\n    <p>Be human enough to acknowledge your need. God already knows what is behind the door. He is waiting on the other side of it.<\/p>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <p class=\"su-sign\">See it from God&#8217;s seat. He already knows what is behind the door. He is waiting on the other side of it. Stay in step with the Spirit.<\/p>\n\n  <p class=\"su-foot\">stumbleup.me &bull; #StumbleUp &bull; #SevenStatements &bull; #OpenTheDoor<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Seven Statements from the Cross &bull; Week 5 &bull; Saturday Statement V &bull; Week 5 Wrap-Up &bull; A word from Lance Hey family, This week was personal for me to write. Because I have been on the wrong side of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":238,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-burden"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/SU_20260425_BLOG.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":239,"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237\/revisions\/239"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}