Resilience: Tell Your Mountain About Your God

Philippians 4:13

'For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength'.

Have you ever heard the old saying: “Tell your mountain about your God?” I had not come across these words before, so I did some investigation. The reading I did on this quote suggests that we need to look at the areas in our lives that seem insurmountable and hand them over to God, as He is far more powerful than the all-consuming mountains of anxiety and stress that threaten our peace.

Have you ever had a hurdle holding you back from moving forward? I know I have! You wrestle with it over and over in your mind and lose sleep as you try to make a way over or around that mountain, but however you look at it, it still seems threatening.

In my thinking about this topic, I realised that this mountain represents resilience and how I do or do not bounce back from adversity and move forward despite life’s ups and downs. Resilience is learnt through explicit life lessons to teach us how to handle stress and view setbacks as things that do not need to sideline us for good.

• learn from their experiences and grow
• have good relationships with others
• be capable of managing their own emotions and express empathy for others
• have good communication skills
• have good problem-solving skills
• set realistic but rewarding goals and actively work towards them

At SPCC, I spend a lot of time talking to our students about resilience and what it looks like for them. We run a “Bounce Back” program in Junior School to specifically teach our youngest students about resilience and I know that Middle School and Senior School cover this topic in Personal Development lessons too. So, I talk about resilience a lot, but how can I actually display it in my life? How do I overcome the mountains of worry that can be so threatening?

Pray

Talk to God, He is always willing to listen. Know that He loves you and wants to give you the strength and courage to face any obstacle in your path. I talk to God all day, asking Him for guidance and wisdom as I deal with small and large mountains. I know that He cares about every aspect of my life and gives me peace as I move through my work and home life.

Read the Bible

This is God’s word of wisdom for us and there are so many verses that can give you help with your mountains. I use the free You Version Bible app to find verses to give me comfort and resilience, plus there are thousands of simple daily themed study plans that I can choose from to guide me in living a content and grateful life.

Psalm 121

“I look up to the mountains—does my help come from there? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth! He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber. Indeed, he who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps. The Lord himself watches over you! The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade. The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon at night. The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life. The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever.”

Joshua 1:9

“This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Proverbs 3: 5-6

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”

To build resilience we need to pray, read the Bible and commit our mountains to God. However, there does come a time when you must stop talking to God about the mountain in your life and start talking to the mountain about your God.

I encourage you to call out to those mountains. Tell whatever worry, health problem, financial concern, family issue that you have a God who is faithful, will never leave you and will never let you down. The worry, the worst-case scenarios and the lies, that our minds comes up with in the middle of the night, cannot stay standing when they see that the God of the universe is on our side and He brings light and a fierceness with which He fights for His children.

Our words have power. Jesus explained that if we believe what we say, then we can move mountains. Ask God to build your resilience as you tackle your mountain, and He will give you the strength to be able to do so. His character, His faithfulness, and His promises will be enough to fade the mountains into nothing.

I sometimes picture mountains in my mind and label those mountains with the issues in my life, some big and some small. I then talk to these mountains, reminding them that I am resilient and will overcome this problem, as my God is far stronger than my most overwhelming fear. Slowly my worry is replaced with a peace, as I remind myself of how God has looked after my situation in the past and He will do so again. There is reassurance in knowing that I am protected and cared for and that I do not face anything on my own.

Matthew 17:20

“Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.”

Psalm 91:4

“He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armour and protection.”

Today, I will face whatever comes my way with the knowledge that God is building my resilience one mountain at a time. I will pray about my concerns, read Bible verses that remind me of the goodness of God and then step up, look at my problem mountain and remind it that my God is far stronger than any mountain can ever be. Each time I tackle that mountain, I am gaining resilience and a stronger faith in God.

So go on, tell your mountain about your God and see what happens…

Belinda Shields

Acting Director of Student Wellbeing (K-12)