"Being Brave- Resilience!"

² Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you are involved in various trials, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. ⁴ But you must let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.

James 1:2-4

This week’s word in our Being Brave study is Resilient. And while resilience can mean many things (having hope, being flexible, persevering, taking the smallest step forward), today we are going to focus on resilience as choosing to continue in the struggle.

Author Kelly Johnson tells a story about visiting a wine-tasting at a vineyard in Napa. Their guide was discussing how different types of soil produce different variations in the grapes, and therefore cause differences in the wine. This guide mentioned,

“ ‘We want the vines to struggle. Vines that struggle produce better fruit.’ She went on to explain that when the vines struggle to get water…they form deeper roots. These stronger deeper, deeper roots bring forth fruit that is richer, fuller, bigger, and juicer. Simply put, the struggle creates fruit that makes better wine.”

What an amazing picture that creator has built-in to His creation, that so beautifully parallels our own lives. I don’t think that it is a coincidence that Christ uses the picture of a vine when encouraging us in John 15 to abide in Him in order to produce fruit.  (I am the vine, you are the branches. The one who abides in me while I abide in him produces much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5)

Is your fruit the fruit of struggle? I venture to say that it probably is. There are very few of us who reach adulthood never having encountered a difficulty. And while some of our struggles may seem a little more severe, we each can point to things in our past that were not inherently pleasant to walk through. Our scripture today reminds that in these struggles, though, we can consider our strivings joy, because we know that God is using these tough circumstances to bring us to completeness.

John Wesley (the founder of Methodism) talked a lot about Christian perfection, and I think this idea of completeness is what he meant. It’s not that we will ever be completely perfect in our own right, but that God is making us whole, perfecting us in love, sanctifying us to be the people He wants us to be. God doesn’t want us to struggle, and doesn’t cause the hurt to happen, but He does redeem the bad for good, if we let Him. He can take these trials and turn them into something that will grow us in to people who are more patient, more compassionate, more loving, more kind—basically people who look more like Him.

I think it is especially important for us, as employees of Methodist Family Health, who work with those we know face struggle on a regular basis, to model this idea for those we see on a daily basis. As I was leading a game with some kids at the Little Rock RTC on Monday night, I was reminded just how fresh some of their struggles are, and how much they see their circumstances as their "normal." I was asking them to write down some fun anecdotes to read aloud for a guessing game, and there were so many I had to filter because they were full of hurt and disappointment. I think we have to stay tied in to Christ during our hard times, because everyday we try to help kids who are trying to figure out how do that, as well. We can't give up, not only for ourselves or our families, but also for our clients. 

No one wants to face struggle in their lives. It’s just not the kind of thing we look forward to. However, the old adage holds true—most of us are either on the way out of a difficulty, in the middle of one, or getting ready to face one. My prayer for each of us is that we can remember to look to God as we face the struggle, and relinquish control in order to let Him grow us during this time. May God take the vines that are our lives, and grow them deeper and stronger, which will lead to richer, fuller, more complete fruit (and lives!)