Faith and Resilience: Trusting God's Plan in Crisis

I pastor a church in Scottsdale, Arizona. It's called Impact Church. It started as a Bible study for a pro athlete sports team, the Arizona Cardinals NFL football team. That Bible study eventually opened to the public and now runs about 6,000 people every Sunday in the building.

Isn't it cool to see what God can do with just a seed that's planted? He is faithful, He is faithful, He is faithful.

I've been married to my wife, Natalie, for 25 years, and we have three beautiful children: Kylie, she's 22; Josiah, he's 20; and then Jazzy, she's 13, and she runs the family without question. I also serve as the team pastor, the team chaplain, to the NBA's Phoenix Suns, and I've been doing that for about 22 years.

So that's a little bit of background on me. I gotta tell you, I am thrilled to be here. I truly am honored, I am humbled, and I am gracious to our great God to be here.

This last year for me has been the single hardest year of my life. Nothing even comes close to the hell that this last year has been for me personally. It has been a year of valleys, it has been a year of storms and fires all at the same time.

I lost my grandmother, who I was very, very close to. I lost my 12-year-old nephew; a 12-year-old baby boy went to be with the Lord back in February. This past November, on November 14th of 2022, eight months ago, I suffered a hemorrhagic stroke. It came out of nowhere, and I was hospitalized because of a brain aneurysm, a brain bleed in the basal ganglia area of my brain. That is the middle back area, right on the brain stem area of my brain.

Doctors have told me that if you were going to have a stroke, this is the single worst stroke to have. There aren't any that are any worse. This stroke affects speech, cognition, emotions, and your motor skills. This stroke is one of the worst strokes that you can have. One doctor told me that I should be dead or a vegetable. It's that bad. He said I should count my blessings because I should be dead or a vegetable.

I was in the hospital, and it's interesting because before the stroke, I had no health problems. I mean, I'm not on medication; I don't even take Advil or Tylenol or anything for a headache. I had no health problems. I don't drink, I don't smoke, I eat healthy. And on November 14th, I suffered one of the most dangerous and deadly strokes that you can have.

Here's what's crazy: on November 11th, which was a Friday, my church, Impact Church, our worship team, Impact Worship, released their first-ever worship song into the world. It's called "He Is the Miracle." We did a collaboration with a worship leader named Joelle Barnes, who sings with Maverick City. He has a song called "Promises," and so Joelle did this collaboration with us.

On November 11th, "He Is the Miracle" by Impact Worship went out into the world on Apple Music, Spotify, every music platform. On Sunday, November 13th, that song climbed the iTunes charts and went all the way to number one, which does not happen. It's our first one; we don't even know what we're doing, and it went to number one.

On Monday, November 14th, after having all of this victorious emotion about this song, I had a stroke. To be honest, it absolutely rocked my world. I was in total shock of everything that was happening.

Around 3 PM on Monday afternoon, I was standing in my office at the church, and I had a handful of grapes. I was walking with my 13-year-old daughter, Jazzy, and I just dropped a grape. Then I dropped another grape, and I told Jazzy, "I don't know why Daddy's dropping grapes; like, what is going on?" Then I dropped my cell phone.

I thought it was from earlier that morning because that morning I had done a cold plunge. Has anybody ever done a cold plunge? You know, the ice dips where you get in the ice-cold water, trying to bring inflammation down in your body? So I did a cold plunge, and I thought I must still be a little bit numb from this cold plunge.

My daughter and I got in the car and drove to a store. When we got to the store, I texted my wife, "The weirdest thing is happening; like, I'm dropping grapes. I don't understand what's going on with my hand, but I'm dropping grapes." She says, "Travis, please, please stay there. I'm coming to get you."

I thought, "This girl is just overreacting about everything right now." I said, "What do you mean that's not normal?" She said, "You thought you texted me that I'm dropping grapes, but you texted me a bunch of jumbled-up words."

So she came and picked me up, took me home, and when we got to the house, I said, "I'm gonna just go to bed." She's like, "You're not going to bed; we're calling the emergency line, and we're getting the paramedics here." I said, "Babe, I don't want to do that."

She said, "Well, you need to go to the hospital then." I said, "I'm not going to the hospital; I dropped some grapes, and I'm a man. I'm not going to the hospital." I said, "I'm gonna go lay down for five minutes, and if I still feel weird after one hour, I said one hour, I'll get up and go to the hospital."

Five minutes later, I get up, and something's not right. I told my wife, and she calls the paramedics. The paramedics come; there are about seven or eight of them in my house, and they're doing all these tests on me.

She's trying to talk them into telling me, "He needs to go to the hospital. Tell him; if you tell him, he'll listen because he's not listening to me." This whole conversation is going on, and I looked at this paramedic. I looked him right in the eyes, I'm laying on my back, and I said, "Do you think that I need to go to the hospital?"

He said, "Pastor, as a member of your church, I think you need to go to the hospital." Can you believe God sent me a messenger? You know, God sends us messengers. How many are grateful that God sends us the things that you need even when you don't know that you need them?

That's the great God that we serve. So I get on the stretcher, and I'm being stretchered out of my house, and I'm waving at my family, saying, "It's okay, guys; Daddy will be right back. Don't worry about me; I'm fine."

They put me in the ambulance, and I mean, boom! Immediately, I do not remember anything after that. I don't remember the ambulance ride. I get to the hospital; they do tests and scans on my brain, and they find out that I had a brain bleed, a brain aneurysm. They called my wife; they told her—I don't remember any of this.

Then they put me on a helicopter and helicoptered me to a level one trauma center, a hospital that dealt specifically with strokes. I'm telling you, your life can change in an instant. Here I am in this hospital, and several days into it, they're testing me every hour on the hour.

They come in, and they're testing my eyes, they're testing my tongue, my speech. The whole right side of my body is completely numb. They're getting me to raise my arms, but I couldn't raise them at the same pace. This one would go up; this one wouldn't go up, just barely. This leg would go all the way up; this leg would just barely go up.

They kept testing; they would test my cognition, and they would show me flashcards. They would test my memory about things, ask me simple questions. They asked me my children's names, and I could not remember my children's names. My kids are my everything, and I could not remember their names.

In that moment, I looked at my wife, and I had tears running down my face. I said to her, "Count it all joy, count it all joy." The doctor said, "What did he say?" Natalie said, "It's a scripture from the Bible in the Book of James, chapter one, and it says, 'Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have a perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.'"

You know, it's been a few years since I've been out here because I was coming every summer, and then COVID hit, and then everybody went into freakout mode for COVID, right? We all became just crazy for a while. Then I have this stroke, and me standing here before you right now is a testament of God's supernatural miraculous powers. God still does the impossible.

Can you put your hands together for our God who does the impossible? God does the impossible. I came all the way from Arizona today to tell you guys to count it all joy when you go through various trials. Count it all joy because everybody goes through trials.

The Bible says in Matthew, chapter 5, the words of Jesus Himself, He said that it rains on the just and it rains on the unjust. Life is full of valleys; it's full of plateaus; it's full of mountaintops. But it's everything in between—that's what life is. And you can count it all joy.

I want to give you three reasons why I believe biblically you can count it joy when you're going through various trials.

Number one, you can count it joy because Jesus is our joy. Jesus is our joy. Look at somebody and tell them, "Jesus is your joy." Let them know, "Jesus is your joy."

You know, there's nothing in this world that can give me the kind of joy that I get from Jesus Christ. Nothing this world has to offer gives me true satisfaction, true fulfillment, true peace, true purpose, and true joy. No money, no success, no education, no pleasure, no man, no woman can give you the kind of joy that Jesus gives you.

Jesus is our true source of joy, and I have learned that the devil can take this whole world from me, but you still can't take my Jesus away from me. You can't take my joy. Jesus is my joy.

Listen, whatever trial you might find yourself in today, I want to tell you that God is still on the throne, and He is the one that is ultimately in control. The Bible says that Jesus is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. The Bible says that He will never leave you; He will never forsake you. The Bible says that Jesus sets the captives free.

The Bible says that God is close to the brokenhearted. No matter what you're going through, God goes through it with you, and He is with you, and He is for you. You can count it joy because Jesus is your joy.

The second reason you can count it joy today is because trials create new opportunities. I really want to dig into this for a minute because the trials that you're in today present you with opportunities—doors that will open in your life that would never have opened unless you went through this trial.

It never would have opened. It presents you with new opportunities, with new dreams, with new goals, with new relationships, with brand new beginnings, with opportunities to reinvent yourself, with opportunities to rebuild yourself.

Opportunities, listen, to change your lifestyle. Opportunities to get physically healthy. Opportunities to get emotionally and spiritually healthy. I had a brain aneurysm and a stroke; it's given me opportunities that I would never have had without it.

It wasn't easy to think that way back then, but eight months later, when I look back, it seems obvious now. Have you ever been like that in the middle of a problem, a trial, a challenge, and it's just hell? You're like, "I just don't understand; I just don't get it."

But then you get on the other side of that trial—a year from now, two years, five years—and you look back, and how many of you go, "Man, I thank God I had that trial"? Because perspective is everything.

This stroke, this brain aneurysm, this sickness, this disease, this relationship problem, this divorce, this health issue—whatever it is, it gives you an opportunity that you would have never received without it.

It's funny for me; I completely changed my eating habits. I became like a freak when it comes to eating now. I've changed my—if any of you have seen me preach over the last few years, I don't even look the same the way I used to look because I became like a fitness freak. I'm always in the gym; I'm always working out; I'm always eating almost literally perfect.

It's created an opportunity for me that I never would have had without going through this health crisis. When I was doing my physical therapy, I had all these therapies. I was doing five different therapy sessions every day for six months. So I'm doing speech therapy, cognition therapy, hyperbaric therapy—I'm doing all these therapy things, five each therapy sessions, an hour to an hour and a half.

It became my full-time job. I was not the therapist, but it was my full-time job. I'll never forget my speech therapist; she's not a Christian; she's a doctor. She said, "I understand that you're a preacher." I said, "Yes, I am."

She said, "Well, I had this idea: how about as part of your speech therapy, you preached to me every single day?" How many know I did that deal? Like, that's a cool situation. So I'm standing—it's just me and her in this doctor's office, and I'm just like this, preaching to you, but I'm preaching to one person who's not even saved for my speech therapy.

That would have never happened if I didn't have the stroke. She ended up watching our services online and continues to watch online, following my Instagram and my social media, which all that is is sermon clips every single day.

Come on, how many of you know God is good? He can take a bad situation and turn it for good. Yeah, you're not that excited, but I'm pretty excited about that—that God can take something that seems like it's over and raise it back from the dead.

He turns crucifixions into resurrections. Trials create new opportunities. Perspective is everything. I've learned in life that perspective is everything. Some people have a negative outlook in life; some people have a positive outlook in life, and your outlook shapes your life.

Have you ever heard the saying, "Some people see the glass half empty; some people see it half full"? It's perspective. I know some people; the glass is totally full, and they don't see anything in it. Like, I don't even see a drip in that glass, and I'm looking at it like that glass is overflowing.

Perspective is everything. One of my favorite Bible people is the Apostle Paul. I mean, obviously, our favorite one is Jesus Christ, but in the New Testament, my second favorite is the Apostle Paul. I like Paul because I can relate to Paul.

If you don't know any Bible at all, I want to tell you who Paul was. Paul was a sinner; he called himself the chief of sinners. I have a question: can anybody relate? Come on, be honest. Like, dude, that's me. I might be the chief of sinners in this room today.

I love Paul because in Romans chapter 7, he says, "I don't know why I do what I say I'm not going to do." Can anybody relate to that at all? Like, you're like, "I'm not doing that," and then like three minutes later, you're doing it. You're like, "God, I'll never do it again; I promise. Just get me out of this situation." And three minutes later, you're doing it again.

I can relate to Paul. Paul was not saved, and he imprisoned Christians. He went door to door; if they were Christian, he pulled them out and put them in prison. Paul was not a believer in Jesus Christ until he had this major experience with God. That's my life; I wasn't a Christian until I had this major experience, this moment with God.

I love the Apostle Paul, and what I think I love most about Paul is his perspective. Throughout all of his writings, he gets thrown in prison for preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I've done nothing wrong to hurt anybody; I'm just preaching God's word. I find myself in prison. I'm not only in prison; I'm chained to prison guards.

I love his perspective because he says this in Philippians chapter 1, verse 12. He says, "And I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped me spread the good news."

He's in prison! This is cool. Everything here that's happened to me, everything has helped me spread the good news. I'm on a mission; my entire purpose is to spread the good news. I don't care if it's in a church, if it's in a synagogue, if it's in the desert, if it's on the Swiss Alps, if it's in a river, if it's in a village.

He's like, "Now my goal, my purpose, my dream, my life's mission is to spread the gospel, and guess what? Finding myself in this prison has helped me spread the gospel." He says, "For everyone here, including the whole palace guard, knows that I'm in chains because of Christ. And because of my imprisonment, most of the believers here have gained confidence and boldly speak God's message without fear."

Perspective! Was he in prison for spreading the gospel, or was he in prison to spread the gospel? Was he chained up and put into a prison cell? He was locked up, or was he physically chained up but in this prison cell to spiritually set everybody else free?

It's all about the way you look at life. Paul had a godly, Christ-like perspective. Trials offer you a new opportunity.

Listen, whatever situation you find yourself in today, what are you going to do with it? What are you going to do with this situation? How are you going to move forward? How are you going to use this moment for God's glory?

For me, I end up all over the news—lots of different news stations covering, calling me, wanting to do this article, wanting to put me on TV, wanting to put me in a certain newspaper. I'm all over media. What am I talking about? What am I talking about on the news? I'm talking about Jesus.

You all know that's a miracle in and of itself—the news covering Jesus. The news is usually only bad news, and now the news is going to cover the good news of Jesus Christ, like the best news ever.

This is what God can do if you're willing to use your situation, your trial, your challenge, your storm, your valley, your fire for His glory.

And the third reason is this: trials—you can count it all joy because they deepen our trust in God. They deepen our trust in God.

Have you ever heard this saying that you never know God is all you need until God is all you have? Have you ever heard that sometimes God’s going to knock you down flat on your back to get you to look up at Him?

Hey, some of you are here today, right here, right now, because you went through hell somewhere along the line. You found yourself in trial; you found yourself in a tough situation, and that situation is what woke you up and said, "I think I need God. I think I need God."

Trials deepen our trust; they force us to trust God. They force our dependency on God. You're never as close to Christ as when you're in the middle of a crisis. They force you—sorry, you got no other options.

If you have other options, you'll take them. If you have other options, you'll try them. Have you ever been in a situation where you've got no other options? Either God does it, or it doesn't happen. That's my situation. I've got no other options.

There is no other option. There is no paying my way out of this; there is no manipulating my way out of this; there is no lying my way out of it; there is no cheating my way out of this. There is no other way. My wife can't bail me out; my friends can't bail me out; my kids can't bail me out; the doctors, the professionals cannot bail me out of this. Only God. Only God.