I’m fascinated by people that Rick Newman calls “Rebounders.” Maybe that’s because about once every four years, on average, I find myself punched in the gut by some sort of setback or in-my-face adversity. Sometimes they’re of my own super-talented making. At other times the setbacks come in the form of pain dished out by others, significant grief situations, or life circumstances that are beyond anyone’s immediate control.
To be clear, I’m not referring to annoyances like the allergy attack I endured this morning or the fender benders I’ve lost count of over the years. When I say setback, I mean that somewhere I’ve been body-slammed and whatever I thought progress was has come to a complete halt.
That’s why I’ve been fascinated by Newman’s book Rebounders: How Winners Pivot from Setback to Success. Rick is an award-winning journalist and has spent considerable time researching both the science and the stories of those who have suffered greatly, yet come back powerfully.
Along the way, Rick observed two kinds of people – Rebounders and Wallowers. Rebounders are those who have the skills to bounce back from adversity. Wallowers “tend to be the people who get stuck… and don’t understand why and who remain convinced that their tribulations are somebody else’s fault.”
In setting the table for the stories he tells, Newman suggests four quick ways you can tell if you’re a Rebounder or a Wallower. I’d like to add a fifth from a spiritual perspective. Oh… and if you don’t mind bracing for bad news, Rick says there’s a 67% chance you’re a Wallower. But the good news is that you have the power to change that.
So how ‘bout it? Are you a Rebounder or a Wallower? Here’s where to look for answers: [click to continue…]
You wouldn’t have known from meeting Martha the first time that her life had been a sinking ship. Rewind from the near-poverty this single mother of two sons lived to the day she walked away from her “covering” – an abusive, controlling religious system. Go back a bit further to the time her minister husband left her for another woman. If you dare, rewind a bit more to the night she and her husband came home to find their third son, Matthew, dead in his crib from SIDS.
Life had not been kind. But you wouldn’t know it from the courageous smile, the ox-like willingness to work, and the radiant joy she had in her relationship with Jesus Christ. Sure, Martha had her moments, and could cry with the worst of ‘em. But a heart so captured by the grace of God will cling to it, even when everything else seems lost.
I once asked her why she didn’t just walk away, since loving and serving God had been so costly. I don’t remember any words – just the look on her face that let me know I had just asked the most absurd question possible.
A heart once captured will never let go. [click to continue…]
“Sure I may be tuckered, and I may give out, but I won’t give IN!” (Molly Brown, from “The Unsinkable Molly Brown”)
We spend a lot of time thinking about sinking.
In the mental and spiritual circles I travel in, we focus a lot on discouragement, sadness, grief and such. The most-read article I have written this year is titled, “The Sinking Soul.”
And for good reason. We live in a broken world. Jesus came to heal the brokenhearted. A significant part of the New Testament was written to people who face severe, mind-numbing hostility and pain. And left to our own devices, the devil has sinking souls for breakfast.
But maybe it’s time for a different look. [click to continue…]
When you’re wounded in the battle, knocked down and winded, get up.
When you’re shamed and blamed, defenseless and without excuses, get up.
When your “friends” abandon you in the darkness or point out the obvious by accusing you in the light, get up.
When the enemy comes in like a flood to kick you when you’re down or to rejoice over your wounds, get up.
When the easiest thing in the world to do is just to lie there and bleed, get up!
“A righteous man will fall seven times.” But he will rise again. Get up!
Get up!
I’m fascinated by people that Rick Newman calls “Rebounders.” Maybe that’s because about once every four years, on average, I find myself punched in the gut by some sort of setback or in-my-face adversity. Sometimes they’re of my own super-talented making. At other times the setbacks come in the form of pain dished out by others, significant grief situations, or life circumstances that are beyond anyone’s immediate control.
