Be Resilient

My Father once bought me a pocket dictionary when I was a little girl. It was small, had a plastic protective cover, and the type was really small. He told me for every word that I learned, spelling and the definition, he would pay me a dime. I tried to earn as many dimes as possible. Even when it was “test time” and I collected my change, if I didn’t quite get one right, i didn’t quit. I made sure that I reviewed those particular words again first, and cashed in on those the next time!

Look at the word, “Re” silient….RE..to repeat, do over, do again. Isn’t it wonderful that we don’t have to get it all right the first time around? By the same token, what would YOUR persevering strength look like if you always got it right the first time? Would you even know HOW to persevere? How can you really see what you are made of if you don’t understand resilience?

Resilience is extremely critical to your success in life because you take steps back, you will step to the left when you should have taken two steps to the right, you will also walk in a circle when you should have taken steps straight ahead. But you know what…it’s okay!!!

Resilience means I can take what I have learned through my setbacks, my turn arounds, my missteps and rise even stronger and better.

What is resilience? Webster’s Dictionary defines resilience as:

• the ability to become strong, healthy, or successful again after something bad happens

• the ability of something to return to its original shape after it has been pulled, stretched, pressed, bent, etc.

I love the second definition that says “the ability of something to return to its original shape after it has been pulled, stretched, pressed,….”

LIFE is going to pull you, stretch you, press you, and bend you. BUT, there’s a song we used to sing in my old Church that is based on 2 Corinthians 4:8-18. You all have probably heard it before, I’m Trading My Sorrows ,I love this song!! There is a part that declares, “I’m pressed but not crushed, persecuted not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed, I’m blessed beyond the curse, for His promise will endure, that HIS joy is going to be MY strength.”

What does this mean? Resilience is intrinsically a part of how God made us!!

God has got you, it’s all good, this too shall pass, God has put “greater” in you, God always causes you…purposefully CAUSES YOU to triumph!!! I am getting excited just writing this!!!!!

I know without a shadow of a doubt…this press, this stress, this pull, this push, this crush, this abandonment will NOT destroy you. God’s promises WILL endure!!!!!

You lost your job? Okay let’s go through the process, but in the end, let’s Be resilient!!

You and your significant other ended a long relationship? Okay let’s go through the process, but in the end, let’s Be resilient!!

What’s the process? Everyone has a process, “their process”. My process may work a little differently than your process. Not because it’s better, or faster, or easier. It’s simply because it is the process that works for ME personally. Pray about YOUR process, walk it out, cry it out, but MOVE through your process.

I submit to you whatever your process is, it should include you saying the words out of your mouth:

I am RESILIENT!!!

If you look at your story, I promise you that you will see examples of resilience in your life!! Resilience is already IN YOU. Let’s have a rebirth, a renewal of that resilient spirit in you.

Resilience is about reinventing yourself . It’s about acknowledging what went wrong, owning the missteps (if any), regrouping, setting your heart and vision towards the renewed purpose, and begin to move!! Simple? Not always. Possible, ALWAYS!!

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Trading My Sorrows, Written by Darrell Lawrence