Refresh Your Soul: Moving From Spiritually Dry to Well-WateredSample

I am refreshed by remembering God’s faithfulness. By Sarah Valentour

Life often gets away from us. Our schedules fill up quickly and our brains fill up even quicker. We scramble so much to remember that vet appointment, project, or phone call that we forget to remember the Lord. Life is busy; the Lord can wait.

But our spiritual lives crave remembrance just as much as our daily lives—crave and require it.

Remembrance is a living and breathing action intended to fuel our faith. Many of the psalms are examples of leaning on the memory of God’s mighty works and faithfulness. In Psalm 77, when the psalmist is in distress and doubting the sweetness of the Lord, he dedicates himself to looking back at what the Lord has done in order to look forward to what he knows the Lord will do.

Much like the author of Psalm 77, God’s faithfulness feels distant and foreign to me when I walk through seasons of dryness. My tear-stained pillow is proof that I don’t believe God has shown up for me. In the dark corners of my heart, I believe my life is stagnant and lacking. But God is faithful even when we don’t see a physical result. He is constant even if he isn’t acting in the present moments of our lives.

When the world feels in disarray and the walls of our lives are closing around us, stealing breath from our lungs and joy from our hearts, God’s past faithfulness becomes a grounding point. Let us look to the Lord, remembering who he is and who he has always been, and praise him for the mighty works of his hands.

To the God who created the world with his words (Gen. 1); to the God who parted the sea (Ex. 14); to the God who appeared on the mountain (Ex. 19), split the ground apart (Num. 16), stopped the sun in the sky (Josh. 10), trembled the earth (Judges 5), and shut the mouths of lions (Dan. 6).

To the God who healed the sick (Mark 5), accepted the lowly (John 4), raised the dead (John 11), and fulfilled his promises with the death of his one and only Son, Jesus Christ (John 19:28–30).

To the God of the ages, the Ancient of Days, the God of eternity, be all honor and glory and praise forever and ever.

Water Your Soul

In what areas of your life are you forgetting what the Lord has done for you? What do you need to hand over to him in prayer, knowing that he is always faithful?