Resilience and Spirituality Resilience and spirituality are two aspects of life that are related. Resilience is the personal ability for an individual to overcome a difficult life circumstance. Spirituality is a person’s belief in a higher being. The effects of resilience are strengthened through spirituality or they are weakened due to a lack of spirituality. The belief in a higher being results in comfort, confidence, and endurance throughout the trials of life.
The Bible provides many examples of characters that exemplified a resilient attitude. In addition to biblical concepts, professionals view resilience and spirituality to be linked. The greater one’s religious beliefs, the better they experience the tangible benefits of resilience.Resilience According to Dees (2011), resilience is “bouncing back” (p. 22). Expanding on this, resilience is the ability to effectively recover from a trauma or event that has caused an individual distress.
It is an inner motivation in one’s very soul that allows them to continue on in life after an unexpected setback. Barton (2008) describes the soul of a person as being the “essence” (p. 18). This essence influences every aspect of the person including their mentality, spirituality, and emotions. The soul is directly related to a person’s capacity of achieving resilience. Parker Palmer (as cited in Barton, 2008) says “the soul is like a wild animal—tough, resilient, resourceful, savvy”.
The soul is resilient in itself, yet that resilience can and should be nurtured and strengthened. The journey of strengthening resilience can be separated into stages. Dees (2011), comprised a Resilience Life Cycle that does just that. Within the cycle are three main stages of resilience: Befo. .r a person who is seeking assistance during life’s challenges.
The Bible has a myriad of life stories that exemplify resilience and, therefore, is a tool that one can benefit from during difficult transitions of life. The Biblical characters of Joseph, Moses, David, and Jesus are some of the most well-known characters that display resilience. Each of these men suffered hardships that could result in either downfall or growth. All of the men had a strong faith in God and prevailed over the challenges set before them. Dees (2011) specifically correlates Joseph with the concept of PTG (p. 64).
Joseph suffered betrayal, slavery, imprisonment, false accusation, and more. Yet through it all, his trust that God had a plan for his future allowed him the power to use the trauma as a means of growth. Stories about strong faith and resilience are in abundance in the Bible.
