Some of the most beautiful stories of your life is probably going to come from the most difficult circumstances in your life. -GB

Hello Friends. Welcome back to another blog post.
This week, I wanted to share with you a word that has influenced most of my young adult life: Resilience.
The Bible holds a lot of my favorite role models that exuded a lot of resilience. Page after page, you read about people that had to fight to get to what God had instore for them. This to me, is beyond inspirational.
Last week's blog post was about recharging so the fire of God will continue to burn in our life [Please go back and read it if you haven't done so yet]. However, what happens when the devil continues to throw things at us? What happens when the time of recharge is followed by times of hardships? Questions? Difficulties? What then? How do we continue to find strength to keep going?
For an unbeliever or a person with lack of faith, these times of hardships can further turn into a time of doubt and despondency. But for a child of God, this is/should be a time of resilience.
Webster defines resilience in two ways. First is, the capability of a strained body to recover its size and shape after deformation caused especially by compressive stress. Second is, an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change.
Did you know that God designed you with the ability to recover and or adjust to any situation? I can prove it to you. Romans 8:28 states "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." [KJV]
Notice the word "all" mentioned in the verse; implying that everything that happens to the person who loves God is to fulfill His purpose.
The truth about most of us today is that we are looking for an easy life. But there is really no where in the Bible we are promised an easy life. The promise we do have is that God the Holy Spirit will be there with us in the midst of it all.
In light of this, here are three things I would like to remind you of this week
1. You need patience to be Resilient
Good things take time. My violin instructor would say this a lot in class and it stuck with me. 2 Tim 2:3 states "Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." Enduring hardship involves a lot of patience and for some of us, this isn't something that comes naturally. Please don't read the post and expect to be resilient by the end of this week. It will take some time. You will have failed attempts in life, but all of them wont matter as long as you keep going until you succeed. Most of the most successful people we hear/read about today will tell you they didn't experience success at their first attempt. It took them years of trying.
2. You will have to fight to be Resilient
Growing up, I heard this statement a lot: 'the Christian life is not a bed of roses.' Well, it wasn't until I became an adult that I understood the true meaning of that sentence. Roses are beautiful, but they are thorny. In fact, I have a few rose bushes in my backyard, and after getting pricked a few times I can attest to the fact that they're difficult to work with. A well-lived life is not going to be one without scars and difficulties. In fact, some of the most beautiful stories of your life is probably going to come from the most difficult circumstances in your life. In 2 Tim 2:3 which I listed in the first point, we are encouraged to endure hardship like a good soldier.
Well, what does a good soldier do?
He fights and endures hard and painful wars until the end. Gal 6:9 states "And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up." [ESV]. Don't' give up, keep on fighting!
3. You were born to be Resilient
A child ready to walk can teach us a lot about resiliency. No matter how many times that child falls, he/she will get back up and keep trying. In fact, if you are walking today, it is because you were once that child that kept trying and trying until you did it. 1 John 5:4 states "For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith." Faith is very important for resiliency. I can tell you that you were born to be resilient, but if you have no faith to believe that, it will never be used to describe you. John states that it is our faith that provides the victory to overcome the world.
Conclusion
As a child of God, your life and the current or even past circumstances are not mere coincidences. God has a beautiful purpose for everything; but its up to us to be resilient enough to find those purposes.
Start this week by asking God to teach you the true meaning of resilience, then seek Him for patience and the strength to fight through all of the difficulties and then win.
Stay Resilient
❤
Image Credit: Unsplash
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