The Pure of Heart Will See God: Matthew 5:8

During my devotional today I was filled with regret with how black my heart can frequently be. Even with good and Godly actions, much of the time my motives are selfish. I was struck with the realization that I am not always aware of the dark substance that all too often drives me. When I do become aware I can predominantly see selfish ambition, self exaltation, the desire for status, and greed; even as I list some of these murky corners of my heart I'm thinking 'whoa!' and God still passionately loves me?!
Today I meditated on Matthew 5:8, "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." And I was filled with a zealous desire to be purified before Him. Can you fathom the implications of this verse? To see God would be nothing short of of paradise on Earth! The parts of Himself that He has already revealed to me have been so exhilarating; and I find myself crying out, 'More, Lord, never stop!!'.
This was motive enough for me to strip naked before Him and lay at His throne (I guess His throne must be in my kitchen; and don't worry, I was fully clothed). I felt humbled when He gave me the sense that He was forgiving me; and I thought of how Isaiah had a similar revelation when he told God that he was a man of unclean lips; and how he couldn't fathom the thought of serving the almighty God when his heart was as black as it was.
How does all of this relate to the Middle East trip? Simply, I have this uncanny feeling that God is going to draw me insanely close to Him. And that in order for this to happen He will probably take me through the furnace of adversity in order to purify my blemished heart. I asked God the other day on what I was to expect when over there. The following Sunday a friend came up to me during the service, and she said that God had spoken to her the prior night. In a nutshell He told her that I was going to face lots of hardships in order to be refined for His purposes. Her message really witnessed to my spirit. I think that perhaps God was answering my question.
So I leave you with this: when you face hardships in life, no matter how trivial or severe, view them as an opportunity to step into the furnace in order to be purified before your Lord. I think if we see them as opportunities to draw closer to our Father instead of as distractions, or nuisances, that we'll be built up in Christ to a much more effective degree. It's difficult, we all know this, but let's commit together to try our hardest to make the pure decisions in the midst of trials. And according to Matthew, these pure decisions enable us to see God!