February 8, 2022
Sitting in the counselor’s office after months of cancer treatments, I felt exasperated by the loss of strength, energy, clarity, sanity. As soon as I finished one treatment, I entered another. Chemotherapy. Radiation. More and more surgeries.
Tears flowed down my cheeks as I vented my doubts and frustrations. Finally, I finished. The counselor paused for a moment, handed me a box of tissues, and [then said:]
“Resilience can run dry.”
The statement caught me off guard. I always thought of resilience as endless. If you are resilient, the spring always bounces back and the well always renews.
The counselor explained that wells run dry if enough water is removed.
Thirty years of counseling experience, and he’d seen people like me again and again. People living like gravity didn’t apply, as if they didn’t have boundaries, soon found themselves emptied of resilience, using up their reserves. ...
How could I rise again? How could I increase in resilience after I’d been left depleted?
My counselor taught me that rising with resilience meant recognizing my finiteness, including limited resources and energy. I had to give my mind, body, and spirit time to rest and renew. Such self-care is not selfish but good stewardship. ...
Growing with resilience required a shift in my mindset. I had to extend more grace to myself for what I could do in any given day as well as what I needed to leave undone. Though dirty laundry and dishes piled high, I began sensing a deeper trust of Jesus’ ability to heal from the inside out.
I don’t know what you’ve been walking through or what you’re facing, but I do know that Jesus possesses the desire and ability to work for your good and God’s glory. Jesus is the source of your renewal, the fount of being able to live loved, live fearless, and live free.
Several years after meeting with the counselor, I am still learning to grow in resilience. I am still cultivating ways to nurture deep rest and renewal with Christ.
Ripening with resilience doesn’t mean that you won’t lose some of your bounce. Jesus remains able and willing to work in your life whether you feel empty or full, challenged or charged, weak or strong. Today, you can lean into a Savior who is the source of your eternal resilience.—Margaret Feinberg1
Resilience is the quality of being able to adapt to stressful life changes and “bouncing back” from hardship. Resilience is a response to tragedy, crisis, or other life-altering changes that allows us to move on despite the loss. Showing resilience does not mean that a person is unaffected or uncaring about the life change. Resilience is the human heart’s ability to suffer greatly and grow from it. ... We observe personal resilience every day in people who suffer handicaps, deaths of loved ones, and other losses. When people refuse to give up on themselves and the world, even after misfortune, they are being resilient.
Resilience is the biblical norm for Christians. The Bible contains many admonitions to press on,2 overcome hardship and temptation,3 and persevere in the face of trials.4 It also gives us numerous examples of people who suffered greatly but continued to follow God’s plan for their lives. Proverbs 24:16 could be seen as the theme verse for the resilient: “Though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes.”
Paul showed great resilience after his life-altering encounter with Jesus.5 When he was transformed from religious Pharisee to radical Christian, many were not happy with his message. He was beaten, stoned, criticized, jailed, and nearly killed many times.6 One incident especially shows Paul’s exceptional resilience. In Lystra in Asia Minor, he was stoned, dragged out of town, and left for dead, but, when his enemies left, Paul simply got up and went back into the city.7 His missionary endeavors continued unabated. Godly resilience enables us to be undeterred from our mission, regardless of the opposition. …
The believer in Jesus Christ is upheld by God’s power and so is naturally resilient. “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”8 Christians keep bouncing back. The key to resiliency is faith in the Lord:
“The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.”9 …
When a situation seems out of control or does not appear to be headed in the right direction, we tend to write “The End” over the story. We think we know the final result, so, instead of exercising resilience, we give up or take matters into our own hands. Proverbs 3:5–6 is a good passage to cling to whenever we can see only disaster ahead:
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths.”
Choosing to trust in the Lord rather than rely on what we understand is the best way to stay resilient.—From gotquestions.org10
The Olympic Games, Mexico, 1968. The marathon is the final event on the program. The Olympic stadium is packed and there is excitement as the first athlete, an Ethiopian runner, enters the stadium. The crowd erupts as he crosses the finish line.
Way back in the field is another runner, John Stephen Akwhari of Tanzania. He has been eclipsed by the other runners. After 30 kilometers his head is throbbing, his muscles are aching, and he falls to the ground. He has serious leg injuries and officials want him to quit, but he refuses. With his knee bandaged, Akwhari picks himself up and hobbles the remaining 12 kilometers to the finish line. An hour after the winner has finished, Akwhari enters the stadium. All but a few thousand of the crowd have gone home. Akwhari moves around the track at a painstakingly slow pace, until finally he collapses over the finish line.
It is one of the most heroic efforts of Olympic history. Afterward, asked by a reporter why he had not dropped out, Akwhari said, “My country did not send me to start the race. They sent me to finish.”11—From storiesforpreaching.com
Some problems and difficulties can seem like obstacles, but I challenge you to view them as hurdles. Why? Because obstacles are annoying objects that delay or stop you, whereas hurdles are designed to be leaped and surmounted. They challenge you, improve your abilities, and stretch your muscles.
The goal is not to move the hurdle out of the way, as you would do with an obstacle, but rather to learn to leap over it proficiently.
Sometimes you might fume when you see another problem blocking your path. I understand this, because jumping hurdles is not easy. But you are gaining something from this experience; you are becoming stronger, more versatile, and more resilient.
When faced with a problem or difficulty, rather than letting yourself get down over how big and high the hurdle looks and how impossible it seems to scale, I want you to look to Me and to My ability to help you “do all things.”12 Ask Me to give you strength, and then you’ll be able to leap those hurdles with the energy and skill that only I can give.
Are you ready to jump the hurdles? Then let’s go, you and Me together!—Jesus
Published on Anchor February 2022. Read by Jon Marc.
Music by Michael Dooley.
1 Margaret Feinberg, Flourish (Worthy, September 27, 2016).
2 Philippians 3:13–15.
3 Romans 12:21.
4 James 1:12.
6 2 Corinthians 11:24–27.
7 Acts 14:19–20.
8 2 Corinthians 4:8–9.
9 Psalm 37:23–24.
10 https://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-resilience.html.
11 Source: reported on Sydney 2000 Olympics website. https://storiesforpreaching.com.au/sermonillustrations/determination/they-sent-me-to-finish.
12 Philippians 4:13.
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