Being Prepared through Trials

Friends....I have had a difficult few weeks and some very painful circumstances enter my life in recent days (work stuff), causing me to fall on my knees in prayer and in tears on more than one occassion and cry out to God and ask many questions. I was reading Psalm 54 this morning....(I've been studying the life of David through Beth Moore's book "A Heart Like His"..... now you know where I got the name of my blog!) and even though David wrote this Psalm in response to being attacked by his enemies, and that was not the situation in my case, I was still in awe at the application God boldly shouted out to me. Here are the poignent words of Psalm 54.

"Save me O God by your name, vindicate me by your might. Hear my prayer o God; listen to the words of my mouth. Strangers are attacking me; ruthless men seek my life... men without regard for God. Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me. Let evil recoil on those who slander me; in your faithfulness destroy them. I will sacrifice a freewill offering to you; I will praise your name, O Lord, for it is good. For he has delivered me from all my troubles, and my eyes have looked in triumph on my foes."

And then this is what Beth Moore's commentary said about this passage: "We often want to be called of God, then ushered painlessly into a position of service and honor, miraculously possessing the character our callings require. God doesn't work that way. Our appointments are not about glamour. They're about glory. God's Glory. God often works the same sequence in us that He worked in David:
1. He calls us.
2. He prepares us.
3. He uses us.
4. He prepares us some more.
5. He uses us some more.

The tricky thing about God's preparation is how He prepares us... even through trials. We find ourselves saying, "I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I never would have expected this." Painless or painful, enjoyable or distasteful, God always works to prepare us to serve Him, but He rarely prepares us in ways we expect. Why must we experience such preparation? Because any work we've grown accustomed to is usually a work completed. As soon as we've learned one lesson, He brings another. He will continue to work in us until we see His face, because that's the ultimate moment for which He's preparing! "

I'm so thankful that God loves me enough to allow trials into my life that cause me to stop and strive to become more like Christ. That He wants my life to reflect His Glory more than my own selfish ambition and nature. I know I'm so far from that place, and I can't wait to see where the journey takes me.