Resilience
by Pastor Dan
Have you ever met someone at their lowest point or during their biggest struggle? It might be a death of someone, illness, or other difficulty. I recently met a person whose spouse had a heart attack and needed immediate surgery. I asked if I could pray for them, and they agreed. As I ended the prayer, I asked if they were going to be okay, and the response was, “Yes, now that I have received my strength back.”
The Psalmist wrote: “The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart exults, And with my song I shall thank Him.” Psalm 28:7 While this verse is prayed over my children and grandchildren often, I can’t help but ponder the emotional rollercoaster I see in individuals today. Our world needs men and women who can learn what a resilient lifestyle looks like and lives like. Resilience is simply a successful outcome of adaptation through a difficult experience and is fought in our emotional, mental, and physical arena. These successes build character, give confidence and competence in and through that experience. The power gained in coping through those experiences gives us a connection with others who suffer along with a contribution of encouragement to help others through it. This often builds the sense of community in many small towns across the United States.
In my life, I have seen incredible resiliency in two groups of people, and it is my prayer that these examples will encourage you as well. The first group of people is my own family: my parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. I often tell stories of things that I have seen and heard of their life experiences, and I witnessed firsthand the results of their resiliency. Things like spouses dying in childbirth and at young ages, stillborn babies, drowning, illness, and disease. What helped to build resiliency in them through all of this?
The second group of people are those who I have read about in the Bible. I will pick just two for this article because they are examples of the two common themes of resiliency that I have found help me too. The first is Joseph. He was ridiculed and made fun of as a young boy by his brothers and then sold into slavery. I do not have the space in this article to name everything that happened to Joseph in his life, but each success and failure helped to strengthen his resolve. This resolve found a voice when he had the opportunity to get revenge on his brothers. “Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.” Genesis 45:5 Do you desire to live a resilient life? Then learn how to forgive yourself and others God’s way.
The second person in the Bible is Daniel. Despite all the things Daniel did for the kingdom where lived as a slave, still others hated him enough to put him in a den of lions to be killed. After spending the night in the lion’s den, the king came to check on Daniel and found him alive and unharmed. Daniel’s response to the king that morning was this: "My God sent His angel and shut the lions' mouths and they have not harmed me, inasmuch as I was found innocent before God; and also toward you, O king, I have committed no crime." Daniel 6:22 I have seen, learned and put into practice the power of forgiveness by putting my faith and trust in God.
With these examples from the Bible like Joseph and Daniel, along with those that I have known personally, I want to pass on to you that even in a world of hurt and pain, with struggles and heartaches that seem to have no way to overcome, YOU can live a life of resiliency with faith in Jesus Christ through the power of His forgiveness. Even if we have not yet met, you are already prayed for.
May God bless you richly.
-Pastor Dan
Have you ever met someone at their lowest point or during their biggest struggle? It might be a death of someone, illness, or other difficulty. I recently met a person whose spouse had a heart attack and needed immediate surgery. I asked if I could pray for them, and they agreed. As I ended the prayer, I asked if they were going to be okay, and the response was, “Yes, now that I have received my strength back.”
The Psalmist wrote: “The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart exults, And with my song I shall thank Him.” Psalm 28:7 While this verse is prayed over my children and grandchildren often, I can’t help but ponder the emotional rollercoaster I see in individuals today. Our world needs men and women who can learn what a resilient lifestyle looks like and lives like. Resilience is simply a successful outcome of adaptation through a difficult experience and is fought in our emotional, mental, and physical arena. These successes build character, give confidence and competence in and through that experience. The power gained in coping through those experiences gives us a connection with others who suffer along with a contribution of encouragement to help others through it. This often builds the sense of community in many small towns across the United States.
In my life, I have seen incredible resiliency in two groups of people, and it is my prayer that these examples will encourage you as well. The first group of people is my own family: my parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. I often tell stories of things that I have seen and heard of their life experiences, and I witnessed firsthand the results of their resiliency. Things like spouses dying in childbirth and at young ages, stillborn babies, drowning, illness, and disease. What helped to build resiliency in them through all of this?
The second group of people are those who I have read about in the Bible. I will pick just two for this article because they are examples of the two common themes of resiliency that I have found help me too. The first is Joseph. He was ridiculed and made fun of as a young boy by his brothers and then sold into slavery. I do not have the space in this article to name everything that happened to Joseph in his life, but each success and failure helped to strengthen his resolve. This resolve found a voice when he had the opportunity to get revenge on his brothers. “Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.” Genesis 45:5 Do you desire to live a resilient life? Then learn how to forgive yourself and others God’s way.
The second person in the Bible is Daniel. Despite all the things Daniel did for the kingdom where lived as a slave, still others hated him enough to put him in a den of lions to be killed. After spending the night in the lion’s den, the king came to check on Daniel and found him alive and unharmed. Daniel’s response to the king that morning was this: "My God sent His angel and shut the lions' mouths and they have not harmed me, inasmuch as I was found innocent before God; and also toward you, O king, I have committed no crime." Daniel 6:22 I have seen, learned and put into practice the power of forgiveness by putting my faith and trust in God.
With these examples from the Bible like Joseph and Daniel, along with those that I have known personally, I want to pass on to you that even in a world of hurt and pain, with struggles and heartaches that seem to have no way to overcome, YOU can live a life of resiliency with faith in Jesus Christ through the power of His forgiveness. Even if we have not yet met, you are already prayed for.
May God bless you richly.
-Pastor Dan
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