Transforming Pain into Purpose: The Power of Resilience

The secret of every winner is one word: resilience. Resilience is the ability to bounce back. Why? Because everybody goes through tough times, everybody has failures, everybody has flops. Nobody goes through life with unbroken success. The difference between winners and losers is that winners get back up. [00:47:19]

We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed and broken. We are perplexed, but we don't give up and quit. We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going. [05:31:56]

You can handle unbelievable pain if you see a purpose in it. Now, if you don't see a purpose in it, you're not going to be resilient. But if you see a purpose in it and you see God's hand, God is using this to draw me closer to Him, then you get resilience. [07:04:24]

These temporary troubles we suffer will bring us a tremendous and eternal glory much greater than the trouble. For we fix our attention not on things that are seen but on things that are unseen. What can be seen lasts only for a short time, but what cannot be seen lasts forever. [07:52:31]

I can use my pain to help others. This is the purpose of service. This is called redemptive suffering. It's suffering for the benefit of others. It is the highest and best use of your pain. You get credit for your pain by using it to help other people who are in the same kind of pain. [11:15:20]

God comforts us in our troubles so that we can comfort others. Then, when others are troubled, we're able to give them the same comfort that God has given us. You can be sure that the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with His comfort through Christ. [12:58:08]

Don't waste your hurt. Don't hide your hurt. Let God heal it, and let God recycle it, and let God use it, and let God utilize it, and let God bless other people. Don't waste any pain in your life. I can use it to help others. [14:24:59]

We think that the world is impressed by our prosperity and how we handle prosperity. That doesn't impress the world. The world is impressed with how we handle adversity, not prosperity. We think that our successes give us credibility when God says no, your suffering gives you credibility. [15:43:40]

Your deepest life message will come out of your deepest pain. This is real witnessing. It's Christlike witnessing. It's what Jesus did for you. The greatest witness of God's love is not what Jesus said, it's not what Jesus did. The greatest witness of God's love is the suffering of Jesus. [20:03:72]

You're going to have pain in your life. Now you can either use it for good or you can waste it. Please don't waste it. What we're talking about here is purpose-driven pain. Pain that causes me to worship, to fellowship, to disciple, to minister, to evangelize. [21:02:76]

When are you recovered from anything? You're not recovered until you're helping somebody else. If you never help somebody else, you will never recover from your pain. It's the only way you get out of it. God has wired it that way. When I give it away, it is when Job prayed for his friend that God healed Job. [22:31:36]

Saddleback is a second chance grace place. It's a place where people can start over. It's a place where people who've really messed up can begin again. It's a place where people in pain can find new hope. [23:36:40]