Living Resiliently

Resilience

What is it? Resilience can be viewed in many different ways but ultimately it is the ability to thrive in life and to call on inner strengths in times of challenge to grow and change.

Lyn Worsley describes resilient responses:

- Recovery - ability to recover quickly and to bounce back to how they were before adversity.
- Sustainability - sustaining life patterns and maintaining positive relationships while simultaneously managing some kind of trauma.
- Post-traumatic growth - personal growth, new insights leading to an enhanced ability to adapt*

I am - self concept

- I am likeable
- I am caring and considerate
- I am respectful
- I am responsible
- I am positive and optimistic

I have - social resources

- People around me
- People I'm accountable to
- Role models
- People who help me

I can - self efficacy

- I can talk to others about my concerns
- I can find ways to solve problems I face
- I can control myself
- I can figure out a good time to talk or take action
- I can find someone to help*

Areas of life that help build resilience

What is going well - do more of it.

Tough stuff happens

People in the Bible who show resilience despite difficult situations

Caleb

Began in Egypt in slavery - freed from slavery during the exodus

Was chosen to go in and spy out the land - glowing report and faith on God.

Due to the behavior of others wandered 40 years in the wilderness, then fought to gain the land.

Then said - now i will take what I've been promised.

What qualities helped him in this process to be resilient - to bounce back after incredible disappointment and hardship?

Numbers 13:30 NLT
But Caleb tried to quiet the people as they stood before Moses. "Let's go at once to take the land," he said. "We can certainly conquer it!"

Numbers 14:6-10 NLT
Two of the men who had explored the land, Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, tore their clothing. [7] They said to all the people of Israel, "The land we traveled through and explored is a wonderful land! [8] And if the LORD is pleased with us, he will bring us safely into that land and give it to us. It is a rich land flowing with milk and honey. [9] Do not rebel against the LORD, and don't be afraid of the people of the land. They are only helpless prey to us! They have no protection, but the LORD is with us! Don't be afraid of them!" [10] But the whole community began to talk about stoning Joshua and Caleb. Then the glorious presence of the LORD appeared to all the Israelites at the Tabernacle.

Faith - the Lord is with us - faith community

Joshua and Caleb were the kinds of leaders who saw that the land they explored was “exceedingly good” (v. 7, niv, niv). But the other men saw only giants and obstacles and were filled with fear. Joshua and Caleb saw the possibilities, but the others spread a bad report. Ask the Lord to help you to look up and keep your focus on him—and to not miss the beautiful things along the way*.

The faith dynamic allowed Caleb to see the situation differently. The giants were still there but his faith enabled him to focus on God's promise instead of the circumstances.

We see this again when he goes to take Hebron. This land had some of the strongest people, but drawing on faith in God and his promise he rose to the challenge.

Numbers 14:24 NLT
But my servant Caleb has a different attitude than the others have. He has remained loyal to me, so I will bring him into the land he explored. His descendants will possess their full share of that land.

Joshua 14:6-15 NLT
A delegation from the tribe of Judah, led by Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, came to Joshua at Gilgal. Caleb said to Joshua, "Remember what the LORD said to Moses, the man of God, about you and me when we were at Kadesh-barnea. [7] I was forty years old when Moses, the servant of the LORD, sent me from Kadesh-barnea to explore the land of Canaan. I returned and gave an honest report, [8] but my brothers who went with me frightened the people from entering the Promised Land. For my part, I wholeheartedly followed the LORD my God. [9] So that day Moses solemnly promised me, 'The land of Canaan on which you were just walking will be your grant of land and that of your descendants forever, because you wholeheartedly followed the LORD my God.' [10] "Now, as you can see, the LORD has kept me alive and well as he promised for all these forty-five years since Moses made this promise-even while Israel wandered in the wilderness. Today I am eighty-five years old. [11] I am as strong now as I was when Moses sent me on that journey, and I can still travel and fight as well as I could then. [12] So give me the hill country that the LORD promised me. You will remember that as scouts we found the descendants of Anak living there in great, walled towns. But if the LORD is with me, I will drive them out of the land, just as the LORD said." [13] So Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave Hebron to him as his portion of land. [14] Hebron still belongs to the descendants of Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite because he wholeheartedly followed the LORD, the God of Israel. [15] (Previously Hebron had been called Kiriath-arba. It had been named after Arba, a great hero of the descendants of Anak.) And the land had rest from war.

Caleb had strong:

- Community - faith - eg victorian bushfire resilience
- Family
- Work - purpose

Women who delivered israelite babies in Egypt and Moses parents

Exodus 1:11-17, 19-21 NLT
So the Egyptians made the Israelites their slaves. They appointed brutal slave drivers over them, hoping to wear them down with crushing labor. They forced them to build the cities of Pithom and Rameses as supply centers for the king. [12] But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more the Israelites multiplied and spread, and the more alarmed the Egyptians became. [13] So the Egyptians worked the people of Israel without mercy. [14] They made their lives bitter, forcing them to mix mortar and make bricks and do all the work in the fields. They were ruthless in all their demands. [15] Then Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, gave this order to the Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah: [16] "When you help the Hebrew women as they give birth, watch as they deliver. If the baby is a boy, kill him; if it is a girl, let her live." [17] But because the midwives feared God, they refused to obey the king's orders. They allowed the boys to live, too. [19] "The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women," the midwives replied. "They are more vigorous and have their babies so quickly that we cannot get there in time." [20] So God was good to the midwives, and the Israelites continued to multiply, growing more and more powerful. [21] And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.

Exodus 2:1-9 NLT
About this time, a man and woman from the tribe of Levi got married. [2] The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She saw that he was a special baby and kept him hidden for three months. [3] But when she could no longer hide him, she got a basket made of papyrus reeds and waterproofed it with tar and pitch. She put the baby in the basket and laid it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile River. [4] The baby's sister then stood at a distance, watching to see what would happen to him. [5] Soon Pharaoh's daughter came down to bathe in the river, and her attendants walked along the riverbank. When the princess saw the basket among the reeds, she sent her maid to get it for her. [6] When the princess opened it, she saw the baby. The little boy was crying, and she felt sorry for him. "This must be one of the Hebrew children," she said. [7] Then the baby's sister approached the princess. "Should I go and find one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?" she asked. [8] "Yes, do!" the princess replied. So the girl went and called the baby's mother. [9] "Take this baby and nurse him for me," the princess told the baby's mother. "I will pay you for your help." So the woman took her baby home and nursed him.

This is a great example of bouncing back under difficult circumstances

Again, faith in God's promise is so important.

But lets look at the things Moses' parents did.

Thinking about:

I am
I have
I can

How did they put these to work even when there was a death threat over the life of their baby.

What strengths so we see then using?

E.g. Family Education Community etc

Next week we'll look more closely at the areas of resilience.

* The Resilience Doughnut: The Secret of Strong Adults; combining strengths to thrive - Lyn Worsley, The Resilience Doughnut 2012
* As above
*Praying through the word