Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here (2 Corinthians 5:17)!

If we want to have a resilient core, that kind of inner strength that allows us to bounce back from difficult life events, work through emotional pain and suffering, and be able to tap into the strength that God provides, we must be transformed.

Two of the most resilient people I’ve read about are also my spiritual heroes: Jim and Elisabeth Elliot. Both Elisabeth and her husband Jim were called as missionaries to the Amazonian jungle of Ecuador. When you read their letters and hear their stories, you can see how their lives were completely transformed because of their strong relationship with Jesus. 

The gospel– the good news that Jesus loves us, died for us, and rose again– compelled them to share the message with a tribe that had never heard about Jesus. This tribe was one of the most violent of known people groups and regularly practiced homicide.  This didn’t stop Jim and Elisabeth from going because they believed that Jesus died so that we might no longer live for ourselves but for Him. This is a mark of a truly Gospel-centered, transformed life.

In 1956, Jim and four other men were speared to death while trying to make contact with the Waodani tribe. They were killed by those that they came to share the gospel with. But this wasn’t the end of the story.

Although I know that Elisabeth deeply grieved the death of her husband, she didn’t give up her mission to share the gospel, because she knew God’s love for those people who were in bondage. Elisabeth, her young daughter, and Rachel Saint were invited to live with the tribe two years later. During the several years that they lived with the Waodani people, many responded to the good news of the Gospel.  

Dayuma, a cousin of one of the men who killed the missionaries, became a Christian. She also helped Rachel to translate the New Testament into the tribal language. Many more came to faith including some of the men who speared the missionaries. The Waodani community was transformed by the Gospel message.

Most of us will never be called to the kind of heroism and sacrifice as the Elliots and other missionaries who were martyred, but we do need to develop the kind of Gospel-sourced resilience that they modeled. We can do this by staying grounded in Scripture and having fellowship with other Christians who can support us.