How do we keep moving ahead amid life’s troubles and difficulties? What does this have to do with our growth and faith? We will explore these questions and more.

Resiliency and Growth

The chief goal in life is growth. From babies to trees, everything created is meant to grow up.

Growth demands, among other things, difficulties and resiliency. The former creates the latter. Resiliency is the ability to rebound quickly during difficulty. It is the trait that allows us to continue driving along God’s road after a series of red lights, potholes, and detours that would otherwise cause us to give up or slow down. Resiliency is adapting to the unexpected curves that come our way.

Like any other character trait, resiliency is developed over time and through practice.

Resiliency starts early

The seeds of resiliency are initially sown in us during childhood by our parents or guardians. Growth comes initially by them, not us, as their actions, beliefs, and words mold and shape ours. Research indicates that from birth to three are the primary years this occurs. Then, as more significant challenges are doled out with reduced help, the more resilient children become.

However, if difficulties are completely absent early on, or if our sole focus is on engineering them out of our lives later, we will forego the blessing of resilience and maturity. Sometimes our trouble is that, well, we do not have enough of it.

Jesus promised His followers many things. One was trouble,“..in this world, you will have trouble..” (John 16:13). Troubles either fuel or flatten us. The choice is ours. When we read the gospels, we see that Jesus intentionally sent His disciples into difficult situations occasionally. For example, He sent them into a wind storm, then approached them later in the midst of it (Matthew 14:22-25). Why would He do this? To teach them about resiliency.

Trouble-free life is not Kingdom living. It is fairy-tale thinking.

Resiliency and spiritual growth

Our level of resiliency during troubled times often dictates our spiritual growth. The parable of the sower revealed that thorns (e.g., the cares and worries of this world) can choke out the word of God sown in our hearts and thwart its intentions (Matthew 13:22).

Think about that for a moment. Lingering worries over our troubles can choke out supernatural blessings.

The only way this will occur is if we lack resiliency in the face of such worries, allowing them to take deeper roots in our life and mind than the word of God. Our ability to bounce back to Kingdom realities may become so delayed that the growth of such thorns can outpace the growth of the seeds planted within us.

A lack of resilience will not only delay our spiritual growth. It can also greatly hinder us from flourishing emotionally, mentally, relationally, vocationally, and even physically.

The big question: How can we become more resilient?

Becoming more resilient can be developed across two aspects: The physical aspect (our bodies) and the non-physical aspect (our minds and soul). An interplay exists between these – they can help or hurt each other. As a connected system, our body can affect our mind and vice versa. Both scripture and science support this. You may have observed this also in your own life.

A. Physical resilience

In the face of difficulties or trouble, the body’s stress response gets activated. Because of the production of neurotransmitters such as cortisol and epinephrine, three highly physical activities happen: our arteries restrict, causing blood pressure to rise, our heart beats faster, and glucose gets channeled into our bloodstream and pumped toward our brains, causing our sugar levels to rise.

In the face of stressors and difficulties, this process is a built-in and automatic attempt to counter the demand or stressor we are facing. These are measurable indicators of resilience. In the realm of neuroscience, several resiliency scales even exist to test how well we bounce back to stressors.

Over time, a lack of physical resilience can have damaging effects on our bodies. Low-grade amounts of cortisol may continue to surge under the radar inside us. The smallest of difficulties may trigger it. As a result, we may find it difficult to shut the flow of stress and anxiety off. Eventually, it can cascade into a disorder (e.g., anxiety disorders). According to many studies, heart disease, stroke, depression, & some digestive disorders are resilience and stress-related diseases.

To minimize these risks, here are a couple of ways we can become more resilient physically:

#1: Stillness

Taking just a few minutes to be still and acknowledge God, especially during difficult times, will calm our system and counter any physical implications. Biblical stillness means to silence our speech and thoughts while being physically stationary before God. When practiced regularly, this can build up our resilience. God says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” (Psalms 46:10).

Our breath is the only movement during stillness. It reminds us of the gift of God’s breath and Spirit within us.

He is God – in us, for us, and around us amid our troubles and winds. When we intentionally acknowledge this, He gets exalted above our troubles and also in the earth. This was the backdrop of Psalms 46:10. Just nine verses above, David wrote: “God is our refuge and strength, our ever-present help in time of trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.” (Psalms 46:2-3).

Stillness is not some new-age meditation practice but an ancient principle the Holy Spirit had penned to help us during times of trouble (Psalms 46).

It was the Lord God that designed stillness with Him as a means to reverse the stress response that could otherwise wreak havoc inside us. In minutes, our blood pressure, heart rate, and sugar levels can return to baseline levels as we become still before God. This causes our parasympathetic nervous system to work to shovel the storm’s water out of our mind’s boat. We indeed are wonderfully made!

Heeding to Psalms 46:10 each day can improve not only our resiliency but also our longevity and physical health.

#2: Physical training

Brain research has shown that regular exercise improves our physiological nervous system by training and recalibrating it to a higher standard. It allows us to tolerate stressful events more effectively when they come our way (i.e., more resilient). Exercise, in part, works because opposing neurotransmitters get produced (such as endorphins). The scriptures echo the benefit of physical training (1 Timothy 4:8). Improved resiliency is one aspect of how it adds value.

However, some people’s nervous system tends to operate on a knife’s edge (due to genetics, trauma, or biological factors). As a result, they may require more frequent stillness before God, exercise, and, if necessary, medication.

B. Mental resilience

A high and long-lasting stress-response short circuits our ability to think, judge, speak and rationalize as we should in the face of trouble. While physical resilience is the ability for our bodies to bounce back, mental resilience is how well our soul, the non-physical aspect of us, bounces back. According to the scriptures, developing mental resilience entails several factors. Let us review a couple.

#1 Choosing the proper object of focus

The first is our object of focus. Resiliency, above anything else, is how quickly we redirect our thoughts back onto a stated goal, vision, or some higher and better purpose during troubling times. While the stress response may still be humming in the background, over time, it will become less “noisy” as the peace of God gets ushered into our minds. Intentional prayer and a change of thought are the primary tools God uses:

As Philippians says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true…pure….lovely…think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8).

What we focus on grows – for better or worse. Keeping a written list of promises, verses, or your life’s mission with you can be helpful. When stressors arise, redirect your mind to them. The more frequently you redirect your mind onto what is good, the stronger and more mentally resilient you will become. Each redirection is like doing a pushup for your soul!

We see Paul applied this principle while going through a storm of his own. While traveling to Rome on an Alexandrian freighter ship as it hugged the coast of Crete, suddenly a great storm ensued. Before the stern broke into pieces by the tumultuous surf and struck a sandbar, the crew was able to hoist up the lifeboat and ended up jettisoning the cargo and throwing the tackle overboard. To say this was a troubling storm would be an understatement. Hundreds on board were fearful for their lives.

However, Paul showed incredible resiliency. First, he willfully set his mind on a higher object of focus: A recent and specific word from God (Acts 27:3). Then, he encouraged others to do the same.

Resilient faith does not deny negative realities. Instead, it sees and faces them for what they are while seeing hope and a greater good beyond them.

#2 Seeing the big picture

The second way we can grow in mental resiliency is by getting into the habit of zooming out to look at the big picture. Resilient people have developed the skill of expanding their view during difficulty to see the greater context. For example, what appears to be a big problem at first glance may be a spec of bacteria under 1000X magnification.

We see Paul also applied this principle while writing to the Church at Corinth. He recounted the shipwreck experience I just mentioned along with various other troubles…“Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea. In my frequent journeys, I have been in danger from rivers and bandits, in danger from my countrymen…..apart from these external trials; I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches…” (2 Corinthians 11:20-28).

However, Paul does not stop there. Suddenly he zooms out and redirects his mind and thoughts onto the big picture and greater context:

..I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to gain, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven…..— was caught up to Paradise. The things he heard were too sacred for words, things that man is not permitted to tell (2 Corinthians 12:1-10).

Anderson translation, I have all these troubles. Some daily. Nevertheless, I focus on the big picture – the good God gives me and a more significant reality of the wonders of Heaven where I will be one day. I make up my mind to keep moving ahead.

Even death, the seemingly biggest event of our lives, is relatively small when we consider the context of Heaven and eternity. It is merely a blip on life’s radar.

The cross was God’s ultimate tool for spiritual resiliency – enabling us to bounce back into life forever after death.

Until then, we do well to continue to grow by leveraging life’s difficulties to build resilience in body and mind, one day at a time.