a time of refining

This is what I read this morning in my time with the Lord:

Psalm 66

For the director of music. A song. A psalm.

1 Shout with joy to God, all the earth!

2 Sing the glory of his name;
make his praise glorious!

3 Say to God, "How awesome are your deeds!
So great is your power
that your enemies cringe before you.

4 All the earth bows down to you;
they sing praise to you,
they sing praise to your name."
Selah

5 Come and see what God has done,
how awesome his works in man's behalf!

6 He turned the sea into dry land,
they passed through the waters on foot—
come, let us rejoice in him.

7 He rules forever by his power,
his eyes watch the nations—
let not the rebellious rise up against him.
Selah

8 Praise our God, O peoples,
let the sound of his praise be heard;

9 he has preserved our lives
and kept our feet from slipping.

10 For you, O God, tested us;
you refined us like silver.

11 You brought us into prison
and laid burdens on our backs.

12 You let men ride over our heads;
we went through fire and water,
but you brought us to a place of abundance.

13 I will come to your temple with burnt offerings
and fulfill my vows to you-

14 vows my lips promised and my mouth spoke
when I was in trouble.

15 I will sacrifice fat animals to you
and an offering of rams;
I will offer bulls and goats.
Selah

16 Come and listen, all you who fear God;
let me tell you what he has done for me.

17 I cried out to him with my mouth;
his praise was on my tongue.

18 If I had cherished sin in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened;

19 but God has surely listened
and heard my voice in prayer.

20 Praise be to God,
who has not rejected my prayer
or withheld his love from me!

The thing that continually stuck out to me was how the psalmist was remembering God's faithfulness. In my study I wrote that word a few times in response to some of the questions. Before I had even read this psalm, I spent about 15 minutes reading through past journal entries. I just love doing that and remembering the lessons God has taught me or the ways that He has answered my prayers. I pour my heart into my journal entries and hold nothing back so it's always humbling to read my heart on the page and more often than not, reading it after a few months, I realize that I was so caught up in the "now" at that point that I was missing the lesson God was trying to teach me. As I read through those journal entries, I saw the way that God had time and time again used my circumstances to draw me to him. And then I read this Psalm in which the psalmist is reminiscing about the same things. His response as he remembers the way that God preserved them or brought them through the waters on dry land, was to praise Him!! As I reflect back on the things that God has allowed my life to experience, I desire my response to be praise and adoration. From singing His glory, making His praise glorious, rejoicing in Him and crying out to Him. That is what I desire my responses to be in regards to what He's allowed me to go through.

More specifically, my thoughts were on the relationships that I've been in. Being 26, I've had my fair share of dating or going out on dates. We're doing a dating series in our HouseGroups so my thoughts were fresh from that last night. I looked at verses 10-12 and realized that this time has been a time of refining. The Lord is getting the junk out of my life and teaching me through the different guys I've gone out with in order to prepare me for my husband one day. They've been hard at times, but my heart's longing is for my response to be to praise God and to cry out to Him!! May I do that initially as I seek the Lord and His will for my life!!!