Resilience, according to Oxford Languages online, is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; it is toughness. It can also be defined as the ability to spring back into shape.
And according to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, resilience is being capable of withstanding shock without permanent deformation or rupture, and recovering from or adjusting easily to misfortune or change.
Now let us look at some synonyms of resilience: flexible, stretchable, springy and bouncy.
I wonder if the Lord is training His church to be more resilient in Him.
We have been undergoing many trials and for quite some time now as a whole. And these trials have not relented, but have continued to come one after another.
The mark of a strong and resilient church and believer, is the ability to remain steadfast in their faith and loyalty to the Lord despite what comes their way.
And according to the above definitions of resilience we can characterize such a church as able to recover quickly from their difficulties, having a toughness about them and able to spring back into shape when challenged. They are flexible, stretchable and springy. They are resilient!
History proves to us over and over again how the strongest of us are those that have and continue to endure persecution and great difficulties. We are not unaware that the persecuted around the world are at times unnaturally strong in their faith and resilience.
This is because through the difficulties they have faced, they have learned the secret of depending upon the Lord for their strength and help. If it had not been for these difficulties they were faced with, how else would their faith muscles have been stretched so far?
I believe, this is a season that we believers in Christ ought to take advantage of.
We need to acquire a supernatural resilience that can only come from the Lord. And each time we are faced with a difficulty of our own, whether personally or as a body, we must choose to ask God for resilience instead of allowing these trials to snuff out our hope.
We have the choice to become stronger through each battle we endure, or to become weaker.
We have a choice to continue to take our stand in the Lord each and everyday, or to live our lives defeated.
Asking the Lord to help us recover well and quickly from each obstacle we are faced with is our act of faith in His promises. He promises to be with us, to never leave us, and to join us in those moments where our faith is challenged.
Countless times we see God’s children faced with the impossible of situations and He always comes through for them.
God can make us resilient. He can strengthen us. He is our strength and we can come out stronger with each trial we walk through.
Let us live our lives where when faced with trying circumstances we then allow our faith to grow, our trust in Him to grow, our awareness and understanding of who He is to grow, and our character to grow.
Let us choose to mature and grow up in Him and become the resilient body of Christ we were made to be.
