This past weekend my family and I went to an outdoor event that we had been planning to attend for several months. We were so excited to go! Until we heard how HOT it was going to be. To be completely honest, if we hadn’t already bought tickets to go, we probably would not have gone. But we committed to participate. We bought the tickets. And so we went. The heat was brutal. But the show was spectacular!! And we made memories that day that we will remember LONG after the sunburn has gone away.

It’s a little bit like life. We’re committed. We don’t always get the luxury of a heat index warning. Sometimes we are thrown into the fire and it is brutal! But on the other side of the spectrum life is also beautiful. Spectacular even! All of it…together…God uses in His plan for our lives. And He is more aware than even we are, how brutal, heated, and devastating some days are for us. And how much we need to be rejuvenated.

In Psalm 23:3, “He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for His name’s sake.” Last Saturday, nothing felt better than a cold glass of water and a complete hot shower when I got home. I felt like a new person! And there are things we go through in life that can only be redeemed in our lives by the refreshing that only God can bring. The Living Bible paraphrases Psalm 23:3 this way, “He lets me rest in the meadow grass and leads me beside the quiet streams. He gives me new strength. He helps me do what honors him the most.”

Sometimes life is hard. But trying to escape or ignore it can keep us from the incredible refreshing that God has waiting for us. Today I am grateful that God refreshes our souls. He gives us new strength. And He will help us do what honors Him the most!