#1 Way to Become More Resilient

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I'm your host, Dr. Axe, and each and every week on the show, we dive deep into the science and principles behind how to grow in body, mind, and spirit and take your health and your life to the next level. Today, I'll be talking about the number one way to become a more resilient person and practical tips to thrive when you're facing adversity.

And really the idea here is, is that when you're going through a crisis in life, it could be a health crisis, it could be a relationship crisis, it could be just something that you hoped would never happen is happening to you and you're in the midst of hardship, how you thrive through that. Now, I'm going to share some personal examples.

Of how I was able to do this when I was told I may never walk again, when I had a spinal infection. You know, and we all go through hardships. I think about also my mom being diagnosed with cancer twice, losing, you know, some of the people that are closest to me in my life, losing businesses, a number of things happening. And how do you thrive through those situations?

And you might be in a situation right now, or you will be in the future, where you feel like you're at the bottom. You are going through a trial. You are being persecuted in some way. And I wanna share with you today, both via science and biblical principles, how you thrive and grow through adversity. And I love what C.S. Lewis says.

He says, hardship often prepares ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny. And if you can start seeing hardship via that lens, it's going to radically change your life. I wanna also say, hey, make sure to subscribe to this channel. Each and every week we're diving deep into these principles of health and healing. If you're not subscribed, you're gonna miss out.

Also, make sure to subscribe to my weekly wellness newsletter where you can find it in the link in the show notes or the link below. Now, I want to talk about resilience and why it's so important. And here's a reality: you're going to go through hard things in life physically, mentally, spiritually. If you don't have resilience, you're going to fall flat, you're going to fail.

And the bigger thing is oftentimes you're not going to get back up. So many people today are not living out their dreams. They're not physically healthy, and they are not thriving because they lack resilience.

And when we're sitting there watching the most inspirational movies of all time, when you're reading an inspirational book, when you're hearing an inspirational story, what all those have in common is that person typically had to be resilient in order to achieve success, in order to win the big battle, in order to win the race, or win back their loved one, or whatever it is.

They had to become more resilient. And today we're living in a society that is trying to make us weaker. That's true. It's a reality. You look at the studies around how, how weak people are today in terms of their mental health compared to 50 years ago. They're much weaker. They're much more feeble, less resilient, less strong. And the reason has to do with what society praises.

Society has actually tries to make you weak so you have to rely more on the government, more on groups and institutions, and less on God and less on yourself. And so it's really important that we foster resilience because the most successful people in life are resilient. And in the Bible, God calls us, Jesus calls us to model himself.

And he was the most resilient person of all time, even bearing a cross. And rising from the dead. Talk about resilient! And I want to dive into this word resilient because it's a very important word in the Bible. And when you look at the word in Hebrew, it's spelled C-H-O-S-E-N, like chosen, which conveys strength, fortitude, and divine support.

Now I want to mention, when you look at the way that most people think about resilience today, we think about, okay, that person's tough. There's sort of an Exterior that's very strong about the person. The person doesn't break down. Maybe they don't cry, but there's a certain level of that we tend to see, or that society or culture speaks to resilience.

And we tend to see this person— again, picture a resilient person— you tend to see a person that is physically maybe tough on the outside in some way. Now, the person might be small, but again, you still see an exterior. Of strength. However, in the Bible, in Hebrew, it conveys strength or fortitude, but again, divine support.

So there's something going on where the strength is coming from the inside, not the outside. And that's the real key. If you want to truly become resilient, there is a strength that happens in your soul and your spirit and your mind. You know, I can remember reading the book Man's Search for Meaning, uh, in the book, uh, written by Viktor Frankl. And Frankl is a psychologist.

He is a survivor of the Holocaust. And he, he actually, it's amazing when you read this book, Man's Search for Meaning, he wrote this book in 9 days after he got out of a concentration camp. And it's one of the best books I've ever read in my life. It's in my top 10 books of all time.

And in this book, he really talks about what allowed him and others to get through These, uh, the concentration camps, and it was via this inner strength of soul and spirit and being connected to God and the principles of God. And so that's key when you think about resilience. The people that are the most resilient are the most resilient on the inside, and they're anchored to something.

Now, one of the reasons why people are so weak today and, and not resilient has to do with their identity, and that's tied to resilience. So When it comes to identity, so, and we hear today a lot of times, you know, I mean, there are kids out there that think that they're— that believe that they're different genders or even animals or things like that.

And a lot of people today have an identity crisis, and kids especially. And it breaks my heart even thinking about how much pain some of these people are in because they don't know who they are. If you don't know who you are, there's a level of pain there because now you can't live out your calling. Now you can't live out your purpose.

You go through life wondering and confused, and that's a lonely place. And so it's important that we recognize and start to understand what our identity is. But this is tied to resilience because the way you build a strong identity is this: you anchor yourself to something else that's stable. That's how you build a strong identity.

So your identity is really tied to others, either like a community or God, and then your roles and responsibilities now that you're associated with those, with those things. So know this, if you want to find your true identity, You find your identity in God and groups. Number one, God. Number two, groups. Okay?

Because like, for instance, for myself, my number one form of my identity is I'm a child of God. Well, what does that mean? Well, think about it. My Father is God and I'm his heir. So I'm a king, I'm a priest. All of those things start to flow through me. So I'm anchoring my identity to another person, to God, and that gives me my identity. Okay?

Which makes me resilient when I'm anchored to the strongest being ever, right? And similar thing with groups. When you're anchored, have, have you ever played sports, right? Most of us have. If you're on a very bad team, okay, a team that is like bad character, bad skill, all the things, you are, you don't feel very supported probably.

Versus if you have somebody on your team that's really strong, they're an all-star, but they also really support you in your own role. You feel a sense of— your team is more resilient. You're winning more. You make it through better hardships. This is why leadership is so important in sports. You think about someone like Tim Tebow or Tom Brady or Michael Jordan.

I mean, these people show great leadership and character, and it actually causes all the other team members to rise up. They're pulled up. They're supported in a way when that happens. And so if you're part of a family that's encouraging to you, If you're part of a family where your parents love you, they pour their heart out for you, they challenge you, they, they care about you, right?

That's strengthening your identity, and that makes you more resilient. And so when you look at this biblical word of chosen here in Hebrew for the word resilient, in order for you to become more resilient, you need to anchor yourself. To God and to other people in your life, like a church group. And that is going to give you a greater level of resilience in life.

I think about when I went through the hardest season of my life, which is actually the past couple years, and I was diagnosed with a spinal infection and I had osteomyelitis, an infection in my bone, an abscess by my spinal cord, and I didn't walk for a year. And I was told by a doctor I might never walk again. It was the hardest thing to hear.

I remember for, for 2 days I just felt like hopeless and despair. And the thing that pulled me out of it, the thing that allowed me to be resilient through the hardest time of my life, was connecting with God and then connecting with my family. My parents flew in, actually, my parents, my mom and dad came and took care of me.

My father-in-law Joel took care of me, my wife Chelsea, and I had some friends caring for me as well through the process. And because of that, I was more resilient. You're less resilient when you're standing by yourself. Imagine if you're trying to fight an army by yourself. You're gonna get— it's gonna be a massacre.

Yeah.

Versus if you have an army around you, it's— there's a big difference. And so if you are going to become more resilient, you need to build a deeper relationship with God, build a deeper relationship with the right type of people, people that are virtuous, people that are purpose-driven, people that truly care about you.

And this is why getting connected into your church or a synagogue in that way is so powerful at making you more resilient and building a stronger identity within you. And part of the other thing that makes you resilient is having a purpose. And studies show only about 25% of people know their purpose.

So if you wanna become resilient, know your identity, tie it to God, tie it to other groups, and have a meaningful role within that group. Like being a father, that's a very meaningful role I have. Being a, you know, the, you know, the chief visionary officer of my company, that's an important role, right? So these give me purpose. And they give me identity. They give my life more meaning.

Now, the Greek word— we just touched on the Hebrew— the Greek word for resilience is hypomone. And this means to remain steadfast under pressure. So imagine somebody who's holding up a weight and there's pressure there. They're able to withstand and hold up under pressure. And that word also means to Remain or abide in. Okay.

And so it's sort of this active endurance, this perseverance under trial. And I wanna mention this. There's a Bible verse, and I believe it's in the Book of John, and Jesus says, abide in me. If you abide in me and I abide in you, ask whatever I wish and I will give it to you. And so he's saying, abide in me.

You know, this is also in the very similar, in the same passages, he's talking about, you are the vine, I'm the branches. Okay? And imagine a vine wrapping itself around a tree or wrapping itself around a branch. You're abiding in something. And this goes back to that Hebrew word. A very similar idea there is, is that you are anchoring yourself.

You are abiding and you are connecting yourself to something else that's more stable than you. And that's what gives you resilience. Think about the story in the Bible where, where, where, where, where Jesus says, listen, don't build your house upon the sand. Build it upon the rock, right?

Because he said that when the winds blow and the rain pours and the sea rises up and it crashes against the house built on the sand, it will crumble. Versus if you're built upon the rock, you will remain steadfast, you will persevere, you will survive, you will be more resilient that way.

So I just thought it was important to note that when we think about resilience, and today there are studies around mental toughness and around, around success, Well, this is what leads to true success in life is when you're anchored into, when you're abiding in, when you're a vine wrapped around a branch, and when that is God himself, when it's Jesus himself, and also being tied into the right virtuous people that also have those similar characteristics.

That's what gives you true strength and resilience, and it comes from the inside, not from the outside. Now, let me get into some of the studies around this as well. There's medical research that shows that people with strong religious faith tend to be more resilient than those who do not have a religious faith.

So remember this, people that are religious have greater resilience than people that don't. A 2019 study found that religious people reported higher levels of psychological well-being and lower levels of depression and anxiety during times of adversity. The study included 1,500 participants from various religious backgrounds.

The results discovered that 75% of participants with strong religious faith reported feeling more resilient. This study indicates when you are anchored into God, to Jesus, someone bigger than you, you become more resilient. I can remember when I was, I was in terrible pain with my spine infection. I haven't, I haven't shared all of this necessarily.

And I, and by the way, because of my background, I know how bad medications are. So I took almost no medications. I took probably 5 total pills the entire time of not walking for a year because I did not want the side effects. And so I decided that I was going to deal with some of the pain. And there were times when I just was suffering so greatly and just crying out to God.

And what really allowed me to anchor in was spending time in prayer and time in praise and worship with God. And again, my family and friends around me, it was like an anchor for me in these things, and it allowed me to overcome the depression, overcome the anxiety. You know, when my mom was battling cancer, my mom had a lot of fear and worry.

And we really continued to bring her back to— she would just, she would meditate and say Bible verses over and over and over again. And that allowed her to get through it. Again, she anchored herself into God and it made her more resilient. Multiple studies suggest that religious individuals have greater resilience. There's another study that was published in 2015.

This was in a journal of psychology and it analyzed 42 studies. So this was a meta-analysis done on 42 studies, and they found a significant positive relationship between religious faith and resilience, including over 20,000 participants across different cultures. The results discovered that 68% showed higher resilience levels compared to non-religious individuals.

So these studies, this is significant. We're talking about if you are a person of faith, And not just faith in nothing, faith in God. Okay? So when you have faith in God, you have a much, much greater level of resilience and mental strength and power versus those that don't have it. One of my favorite writers and theologians of all time is A.W.

Tozer, and he says this: it is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until he has hurt him Deeply. Think about Job, okay, in the Bible. Think about Joseph and his suffering. Think about, uh, the Israelites and what they went through. They went through a time of suffering. Think about Jesus. There was great suffering, and that allowed people to live better lives.

I've shared this recently a few times. You know, when my mom was diagnosed with cancer, I never would've thought in my life that we would go back and say, We were grateful that she had cancer. But looking back now, my mom would tell you she is grateful. And I can tell you, because my mom survived and is happier because of it today, I've been blessed by it.

I've actually— I've been blessed because my mom has cancer. I don't know that I'd be doing this podcast. I don't know that I would've started a functional medicine clinic that was a brick and mortar and now virtual, where I've taken care of tens of thousands of patients. I don't know that that would've ever happened. If I didn't go through a trial in life.

And here's, here's the thing I want you to think about, okay? And this is where this next verse is so, so powerful that I'm going to get into. But when you are going through a crisis in life, look for the gold on the other side.

You know, when we read a lot of mythological stories throughout history, or even read something like The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings, you know, in The Hobbit you have this dragon Smaug, which is guarding the treasure. Right? When you see a dragon in your life, know there's treasure on the other side of it.

When my mom had cancer, because she was able to overcome it, her life was better than if she wouldn't have faced cancer in the first place, likely. Because my mom will tell you, she became more grateful for life. Now she has even more of a purpose of helping other people who are suffering with their health. It gave me a greater sense of purpose.

It drew our family together and gave us a closer bond. Than maybe we would've had as a family. All of those things happened because we went through a hard time in life. And James 1:2-4 says this: Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.

Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete not lacking anything. And Romans 5:3-4 says this: Suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character, and character hope. And so meditating on these verses and what the Bible teaches is, listen, when you are going through a trial in life, simply anchor yourself more to God.

And if you do that, you'll come out the other side stronger. One of the things I prayed for as I was suffering physically with my Spine issue is I said, God, would you not only allow me to grow and improve physically through this afterwards, but would you also make me mentally and spiritually stronger? And my faith has grown because of it. You know, right now I feel even more equipped.

I have one of my closest friends in the world who's going through brain cancer. And because I went through what I went through, I'm better able to have empathy for him. And because my mom went through cancer, very similar thing. I have more empathy. I have more compassion. I have a deeper connection with him because of that.

And I feel more equipped to be able to love him and support him as he's going through this trial in life. So suffering produces perseverance, character, and hope. But here's the reality. It only does it if you're anchored into God. If you try and go through your trials by yourself, which is what most people do, they'll say, well, I don't want to bother people, or I don't want to put people out.

I'm just going to try and bear this as my own burden. You— and it ends up being too much for you to bear, and it ends up hurting you. Think about this. It's like, it's like working out, okay? If you try and lift weight that's far too heavy for you by yourself, you injure yourself, and then in the future you can't even lift as much.

So you, you injure yourself versus if you, you know, do the appropriate amount of weight, but then eventually it becomes too much and you have a friend come up and help you, and another friend, and another friend. Well, then you can bear that load and you can see more progress together. I don't know if you've ever seen this study. It's amazing.

They went and they looked at horses pulling weight and they found a single horse can pull a certain amount of weight. When you add a second horse to the pull, you would think, well, you could— it could— it could pull double the weight. But the reality is it can pull triple the weight. Isn't that amazing?

So sometimes when you actually have someone else by you, You can do not only double, you can do triple and beyond that, the amount of load you could have carried by yourself. Hey, Dr. Josh Axe here. I want to tell you about a simple way to improve your cardiovascular health naturally, the Zona+.

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And I remember, I mean, I continued to pray Psalms 91, Psalms 92, Psalms 93, Psalms 46, which says, God is our refuge and our strength and our ever-present help in times of trouble. So remember that and reflect on that. When you're going through a trial in life. And again, think about this. When you see a dragon, there's treasure behind it. When you're facing adversity, there's an opportunity.

And what I found is when I went through adversity and I overcame it because I was connected to the divine God and following Jesus, because of that, once I got to the other side of it, there was a blessing sitting on the other side. There was a blessing every single time. And sometimes it was financial, sometimes it was psychological, sometimes it was spiritual, sometimes it was relational.

But there is always a blessing there. You know, I think about some of the most well-known people today that have gone through trials in life, and oftentimes they turn to alcohol, they'll turn to drugs, they'll turn towards, you know, another form of an addiction.

But, you know, one person who I think, you know, in recent years we've seen who has been outspoken about turning to God has been Justin Bieber. He's been really open about his struggles with mental health, substance abuse, fame, and personal failures. And he described feeling overwhelmed by the pressures of fame and falling into destructive habits.

But he said his Christian faith is what has helped him turn his life around. He speaks openly about how a relationship with Jesus brought him peace and gave him a new purpose. He often posts scriptures and shares how his faith helps him navigate new challenges. And he actually even said this. He said, when you accept Jesus, he starts to change you from the inside out. And that's true.

And that's a reality. One of my favorite books that also that I read when I was going through my trial was a book called The Hiding Place, which was written by Corrie ten Boom, who was a Dutch Christian who was arrested and sent to a concentration camp for hiding Jews during the Holocaust. And she experienced unbelievable loss. She lost her sister in the concentration camp, actually near the end.

She lost her father early on, and she experienced unimaginable suffering and loss. Yet Corrie, when she came out, she started sharing her faith, and she said it was her faith that preserved her. And trusting in God's plan, was even able to forgive her enemies.

And after the war, this is incredible, she met one of her former guards and chose to forgive him, famously saying, forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart. Her faith in God allowed her to overcome and inspire millions and millions of people. And so the reality is this, is Remember this verse as well.

God uses all things for good for those who love him and for those who are called according to his purposes. And so when you're, again, remember, anchored to God and you are, you become more resilient and there's a blessing on the other side every single time. You know, I think about Martin Luther King Jr. His faith in God was the cornerstone for his fight for civil rights and social justice.

Mother Teresa, Talk about the difficulty in the slums of Calcutta, India, and what she was able to face in taking care of the poor during her life. You know, again, and listen, there are all different degrees and all different types of suffering. Your suffering right now might be physical. Maybe you're battling Lyme disease and you're just exhausted all the time.

Maybe you're battling hypothyroidism and you've tried everything. You're eating really well, you're taking the right supplements, and you're still Not normalized. Maybe you're male and you've got low testosterone. You just don't have that same passion and strength you used to. Maybe you're battling cancer. Maybe you're battling chronic pain every single day.

Maybe you're battling infertility, and you have so much despair because of it. Well, the reality is this: God is with you, and He will strengthen you, and He will hold you up. You know, I remember in in the Bible there's a there's a there's a time when Moses they're fighting a battle. And Moses, when his arms are lifted, they're winning. And when they drop down, they start losing.

So they literally have other people come up and hold his arms up for him, right? Very similar thing. And that's what God will do for you. That's what your close friends will do for you. And so it's important to do that. You know, I had— so I've been part of different groups over time, functional medicine groups, natural health groups, you know, just groups with other doctors.

And here's something that's kind of crazy. I was part of 3 different groups. I got kicked out of 3 of them. And a lot of these people were my closest friends. The first group I got the boot from was, these people were like my family. And the reason why they kicked me out was they didn't want me building my own personal brand and doing my own radio show and a number of other things.

And it was kind of interesting because they wanted me to be doing it for them. And I said, well, I will do it for you, but I also know that God has called me to do radio and do podcasting and do a website and do these things. And, and looking back now, it was so, it was so, you know, kind of ridiculous on their part, but allowed me to then meet new people.

So I had these people that I was very close to, and I had a mentor who, who I really thought a lot of, and he basically said, hey, you're out of this group. And it was really hard for me. And I don't know if you've ever been part of groups and you felt maybe pushed out and on the, like, an outsider looking in of a group. And I felt that way. And I remember getting down and praying.

I said, God, I just really feel like I need mentorship. I need a close friend. I need somebody who I can— I just feel, you know, I feel like I'm all by myself right now in building this functional medicine practice and helping people. But I feel like I need some guidance and connection. Well, a few months later, I was introduced to Jordan Rubin via a friend of ours, Nancy Alcorn, via a ministry.

And I was taking care of women who had been abused and had a really hard time in life. And we, in my practice, we would take care of these women for free. They would come in and we would provide them nutrition care and chiropractic care and, and a number of other things. And, and Jordan had adopted his children through this group.

And then Nancy said, hey, you got, you know, I was writing my first book. And she said, hey, do you know Jordan Rubin? I said, well, no, but I'd love to meet him because I'd read The Maker's Diet. And I was so impressed. And actually, his book, was one of the books we used in helping my mom heal cancer her second time.

We'd read his book and we followed some of those principles of healing, and my mom beat cancer. And so I was so excited to meet him. I, I, we jumped on the phone and he was incredibly generous. And then I eventually went to stay with him down in his house in South Florida. And then now he's, you know, probably my best friend.

And so, you know, but it's amazing how, but again, during that, during that time of when I was going through this adversity of feeling like I Didn't have friends in a meaningful group. God brought this person along.

And again, when you're going through trials, when you stay connected to God, there is gold, there are relationships, there is blessing, there are finances, there are all of those things on the other side of the dragon, on the other side of the challenge. So you need to remember that when you're going through these hard times in life.

And I know it's hard when you're in the middle of it, To see, well, how could any good ever come of this? But it will. There are so many biblical examples of how patience and trust and faith in God led to blessing via adversity. Again, think about Joseph. His trust in God, being sold into slavery, led him to becoming the ruler of Egypt.

Job maintained his faith through severe trials, and God restored his fortunes and beyond what he had.

Yeah.

To start trusting God's plan. Here's a reality. It will lead to unexpected opportunities and blessings. And then patience during those periods often result in personal growth and maturity. Make sure you also aren't just trying to rush through things. Oftentimes there's a level of you become stronger when you walk patiently with God through those things. I love the professor and expert Peter Kreft.

He says, God's delays are not God's denials. They are his perfect timing. Now, I want to remind you of some important principles that allow you to become more resilient. Here's one: some things have necessary endings. Moving forward often requires letting go of the past. One of the biggest reasons why people do not move forward in life, okay, is because they are anchored to the past.

You know, let me give you an example of this. I obviously have— my faith is such a big part of who I am. I don't have to talk about it on the show, but I want to because it's who I am. And I've had people say to me before, well, I'm not going to church, or I'm not a believer in Jesus or God because I was hurt by somebody in the church. Okay. And, you know, one, I'm so sad because of that.

And I'm so sorry if you've gone through that. If you went to a church and you felt judged If you felt ridiculed, if you were hurt by somebody in the Church, I'm so sorry for that. But do you know who else was hurt by the Church in a way, or a religious institution? Jesus. I mean, he went before the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin and was crucified by the Church. And again, it's not the Church.

He was crucified by a religious group. But there are churches, there are things throughout history that have actually killed their own people, martyrs. I mean, I think about Joan of Arc and so many others. I mean, as an example. So no, you're— no, no. Number one, no, you're not the only one. And 2, again, that's why, again, it's not just— it's not just about being religious.

It's about a relationship with Jesus. And so know that if you've been hurt in the past in some way, let go of it and move forward. You know, one of my favorite Bible verses is, fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of your faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross. And endured its shame. Consider what he endured so that you will not lose heart.

So remember that verse, those verses, because again, how do you move forward? How do you become more resilient? You fix your eyes on Jesus. What did he do? How did he live? You become a disciple of him and you move forward in that way and you let go of the past.

I mean, Jesus even says in the Bible, he said, you know, somebody's asking about burying their father or waiting until their father— the actual verse is likely, waiting until his father dies and then burying him and then following Jesus, which could have been years. And, um, and Jesus says, you know, no, let's, let's move forward. Let's move forward.

And so for you, one of the things that I've noticed with people that have a hard time healing physically especially, and mentally, is that they've had something happen in the past. Maybe they've been shamed. They have guilt for maybe something they did wrong.

They were, uh, Maybe somebody told them they didn't add up to something or they weren't of value, and they're still living with that hurt and those words today.

So they don't try and do things in the future, and they're less resilient because it's like they have this wound that's open, and anytime you touch it, they go and they get frightened or they freeze or they go into the corner like a scared child. And you need Jesus to heal that. Be healed in that way and then move forward. Okay?

And so, and by the way, if you have trouble healing and letting go of the past, Work with a counselor. Go to a church and work with somebody that can connect with you and help you get through those things. But it's important that if you want to be resilient, part of resiliency in that Greek word is you're persevering. You're actually moving forward towards something. You're not frozen.

You're not standing still. You're not in that state. So that's important. Now, the other idea here I want to encourage you with is that when you go through trials, you will bear more fruit. There's an idea in the medical community of something called Hormesis or xenohormesis, and here's what this means.

It means that the more something is stressed in a healthy way, the more it grows and flourishes. Did you know that grapes are higher in resveratrol, that key antioxidant, when the summer is hotter and when there's a little bit of a drought and when the farms are called dry farm wines? When you when you don't irrigate it, so its roots have to go deeper. Okay.

So if you stress a grape with higher temperature and lower temperatures, this is why they tend to grow really well in places like Israel and California. California and in the mountains in certain areas of France and Italy because they're on mountainsides. And so what happens is they get more heat and the temperatures drop lower when you have those sort of climates.

And so it actually tends to cause the grapes to have more flavor and more nutrients because of it. And so it's a form of stress. This is actually why function— this is why biohacking works. Like you get in a cold plunge tub or you get your body really hot in a sauna. It's called hormesis, where the stress causes your body to become more resilient.

It's same with weight training, what we've talked about. And so what God is doing is he is pruning you in certain ways. He's allowing you to go through difficulties and hardships because there will be blessing on the other side of it. It's, it's why we put our kids and have, have our kids do difficult things. Like, like, like it's hard.

Like our daughter right now, She's doing swim and she is doing gymnastics. And we have her doing, you know, studying and working hard. And there's a level of pain on some of that. Like, like we discipline our daughter in, in, in, in really, in really, you know, I think really, really healthy ways with her in order for her to be blessed on the back end. Right. This is why we discipline kids.

You know, Bishop Robert Barron says this: God often prunes the branches of our life not to punish, but to prepare us for greater fruitfulness. And so think about resilience in that very same way. Now, if you're going through a hard time in life, here are 3 verses that I love that will give you more strength and resilience. The first here is Proverbs 3:5-6.

Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, submit to him and he will make your path straight. Now, here's the key part of this verse. Trust in the Lord and lean not on your own understanding. We don't, we don't understand. When I had a spinal infection, I didn't understand why God was allowing me to go through that. Now I do.

I do, because I'm more resilient. I'm more compassionate. I'm a better father. I'm a better husband. I'm better because of it. And so lean not on your own understanding. Isaiah 41:10 says this, do not fear. For I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God.

And Hebrews 12:2 says this, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider what he endured so you will not lose heart. Again, think about Jesus. What did he endure? Okay, we know we're fixing our eyes on him. Now we won't lose heart.

Now we have more resilience because of that and modeling that. And knowing he made it through that. Here are some practical tips of things you can start to do to become more resilient right now. Number 1, set aside time each day for prayer and reflection. Have a gratitude journal. I love what A.W. Tozer says, the man who would truly know God must give time to him. Right?

If you wanna become more resilient, if you wanna become more anchored into somebody, you need to devote time to it. And prayer and reflection will help you do that. Okay. Prayer, remember, is a two-way conversation. You're praying to God and you're then sitting there in silence and you're listening to that consciousness.

And reading the Bible allows you to more recognize God, that conscious voice in you that the Bible calls a still small voice. But it allows you to do that more. And, and so, so that, that's one practice that can give you strength. Number 2, read and meditate on the Bible verses that inspire, encourage you. Number 3, attend church services and participate in community activities.

So participate in the body of Christ. Next is seek mentorship from faith leaders or more experienced believers. You know, one of the things that I was told by a mentor of mine who was a pastor, he said this, he said, you should always have a Paul in your life and always have a Timothy.

And so he said, you should always have somebody that's mentoring you, somebody older, somebody more mature, somebody further in life that you are learning from and helping you grow your faith, and you should also always be mentoring someone else. He said, if you wanna maximize your own growth, you wanna put yourself in that iron sharpens iron.

You're being sharpened from above, you're being sharpened from below, and you're doing this with a group of people that are peers that you're going alongside with. So you're getting sharpened in every way possible. So if you wanna maximize your growth and your resilience, you want to embrace the principle of discipleship. And the last thing here is live out your faith in practical ways.

This is what creates the most resilience. Don't sit on the sideline. You know, I think about for myself, one of the things I've challenged myself to do more of is pray for people. And so when somebody is having a hard time, putting my hand on their shoulder, praying for them, asking to pray for them on the phone.

So living out my faith in more practical ways, giving more on a regular basis, serving more the needs of others, but doing things allows you to become more resilient.

And so know this, is that no matter what you're going through in life, both now and in the future, no matter what someone else is, the greatest way to become more resilient, mentally strong, spiritually strong, is to anchor yourself into Christ. And you're going to do that by getting to know him more.

You're going to do it through prayer, through reading, through being active in church and community. Those things will allow you, and then fixing your eyes on him and his word, meditating on those things. And another thing I just want to say, praising God through the storm. One of the things we may do is we may just think, I'm just going to bear my suffering. Well, have joy through suffering.

Okay? Praise through the suffering. And knowing that you will be on the other side. There's promises, there's treasure on the other side. So take joy. In that suffering. It's like a hard workout. You ever have a really hard workout and you were suffering in the midst of it, but you know afterwards you're gonna feel great.

You're gonna take some deep breaths, you're healthier, you're gonna have a great meal afterwards. You are better because you voluntarily suffered in that way and you decided to grow through it. That's how this is gonna work as well for you, is there is treasure on the other side. And I wanna encourage you to follow some of these practical tips or write, write, write some of these things down.

That I shared with you, and I know that because of it, you're going to be much, much more resilient. I want to say thanks so much for all of you for tuning in here to the Dr. Josh Axe Show. Remember, each and every week we're exploring the science and principles behind how to grow in body, mind, and spirit to make you more resilient, more powerful, and to help you live a more purpose-driven life.

Also, make sure to subscribe, like, and share. I just want to let you know, I'm so grateful for all of you. Who are subscribers here, who are listening regularly, supporting regularly. We are changing the world together. And also, hey, when you share this, you allow me to bring on more high-profile guests. You allow more people to hear these true principles.

So just know, I just, I just want to say thank you to all of you that are texting this episode to other people, that are sharing it on your social media. Just know I'm truly grateful. We are changing the world together. I can't wait to see you on the next episode.